Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

    Now that you know what it means to be a church, I want to tell you about my church experience here in Palenque, Mexico. I woke up not knowing what to expect. However, before going on the World Race, I learned to leave all of my expectations for the year at the door.  Therefore, I was prepared to encounter anything. We all woke up, got dressed and piled into the back of our host’s pick-up truck. We took a thrilling ride into town and turned down a few gravel roads, weaved our way in and out of the streets, and came to a stop in the middle of some small, colorful houses. We hopped out and walked into the small open-air church. We were greeted by the pastor and his wife and felt very welcomed.
    There were only about 25 people present, other than us, but their spirits were high and they welcomed us with a lot of love. The common love of Christ smoothed the gaps created by the language barrier. Lucky I knew some Spanish and could get the gist of most things. Since we came as guests, we sang some songs of worship, did a drama, and shared a testimony. They really enjoy to worship and you feel them pouring their whole heart and spirit into the songs.  The drama we showed dealt with the fact that Jesus can and wants to save you no matter how far into sin you are and no matter what point your at in your life. The members of the church loved the show and applauded loudly at the end. It was so neat to see two totally different cultures come together in the love of Jesus. 

    Next, a younger pastor from a nearby village came to teach to the church. It was incredible to see, hear, and feel the passion in his voice for his people. Even though it was all in Spanish, I got the message:

Athletes, musicians, and artists all become the best at what they do by practicing every day for hours upon hours. Therefore, how can we become excellent Christians if we don’t practice in the Word? How can we be more Christ like and make disciples if we don’t discipline ourselves to be in the Word and to learn more about our creator, our savior, and who we are. The answer is that we cant, so we must practice and be in the Word. God gave us the ability to be great Christians, to strive for greatness, but we must listen to, understand, and practice the Word of God.
 

    As you can see, no matter what the language, we still deal with the same issues and struggles. In the end, we got a chance to invite anyone from the church to the front who was sick or suffering so we could pray for him or her. It was neat to see the handful of people come up front to allow us to pray over them. The Holy Spirit’s presence was definitely felt in the room and we felt the pain of the people who came up to the altar. The Spirit released some of those burdens of those peoples hearts today, as this was confirmed when I caught a girl in my arms as she was being prayed for. Please go to joshbruce.theworldrace.org to read up on this incredible moment. All in all it was a great day and I was very happy with my first iglesia experience in Mexico! Now I’m off to a small village for two weeks…look for an update by the weekend.