We pulled up to the church, which was surrounded by shanties and dilapidated buildings. There to greet us at the door was a man by the name of Pastor Angel, who welcomed us warmly into his humble church. Inside, we found a slab of concrete with a roof created only by tarps and wooden beams. The Pastor shared with us that the church began just a year ago with only 7 people. They committed themselves to fervant prayer for their community and immediately began to serve in their neighborhood. Now the church has over 150 members and is growing steadily every week.
Permalink to Praying a Little to Loud
Praying a Little to Loud
Permalink to Recent Reading
Recent Reading
One very compelling book Janelle and I picked up and couldn’t put down has been ¨Secret Believers¨ by Brother Andrew and Al Janssen.
One amazing quote worth noting is this:
¨Jesus Christ declared His divinity in word and deed. His birth was unique, removed from the arrogance of the palace, far from humiliation of the hovel, distant from the hypocrisy of the temple. He is still the fountainhead of humanitarian values. He remains the essence of truth, justice, and equality. He still causes His sun to rise on the poor, the mourner, the oppressed, and the persecuted.¨
Permalink to Catching a Bad Virus
Catching a Bad Virus
The joys of the developing world… accidentally drinking bad water or ingesting dirty food… and subsequently the viruses that come with it 
It´s happened to both Janelle and I already and now it´s happened to our computer!!! Our mac is sick and hopefully we will have a few hours in route to Brazil next week to stop at the Apple store so they can breath new life in it! All that to say there may be a lack of pictures or skyping for us in the next week or so.
We will however keep blogging and be on email- so don´t be shy.
Permalink to Speaking in Other Tongues
Speaking in Other Tongues
Late Thursday evening, a neighbor knocked on the door of the house where we are staying in Lima, Peru. She had seen us around the neighborhood and wanted to know who the gringos were and what they were doing here. After an explanation from our host, she invited us to dinner on Friday. When Friday night came, she showed up out OUR door with three other ladies and plates of food. (We thought it was so funny that the details had been lost in translation.)
Turns out the ladies were a part of a cell group at a local church and Friday was their night to meet. They laid out their Bibles on the table and looked up at us expectantly. Obviously, they wanted us to preach to their group – but there was no one to translate our English into Spanish. Whispering a prayer, Jedd began to speak, mustering up the few words he knows in Spanish.
Permalink to The Church in Lima
The Church in Lima
So, I´ve heard about how open the people are in Peru from friends that have done short-term missions trips here, but never experienced it firsthand. On Sunday, Janelle and I went to our first Peruvian church and were shocked at the crowds trying to get a seat for the next service. This church, Biblica Emmanuel Inglesia, has 7 services every Sunday with close to 700 people filling it to capacity! The fire marshall has repeatedly asked the church to create some sort of system to ensure they meet the fire regulations… And that is where Janelle found ourselves on Sunday. (See photo to the left – this is our friend Marco and his son Joshua waiting in long lines just to get IN to church!)
Permalink to Ice Cream Bars and Coffee Shops
Ice Cream Bars and Coffee Shops
Last week we had the privilege of meeting with two entrepreneurs and touring their businesses. We were able to learn a lot about the lives of entrepreneurs in this city and some of the struggles they face.
The first entrepreneur lives only three blocks from Casa Victoria. About 14 years ago, he gathered the supplies to rig up several machines which together produce ice cream bars. Today, he owns a house where approximately 30 members of his family live. The ice cream operation is in the basement of his house and every day, the women in the family head to the streets to sell the ice cream. Slowly but surely he has built the business to what it is today. Because he has no access to credit with which he could expand his business, his family still lives in one house and struggles to have money for their basic needs such as clothing and food.
Permalink to Shoe Shine Boys
Shoe Shine Boys
Walking across Plaza Grande in Quito, I felt a small tug on my sleeve. There stood a dirty boy about 7 years old, pointing to my shoes. He was one of the infamous shoe-shine boys who constantly beg tourists for a few cents to shine their shoes. With a pitiful expression, he pointed to his stomach, denoting that he was hungry.
Permalink to A Grant from the Government
A Grant from the Government
The city council recently called Casa Victoria and asked that someone from the house attend a meeting in an hour. During that meeting, the city announced that they would be conducting a competition and subsequently providing grants to groups who could put together viable proposals of how they could help the poor areas of the city.
Permalink to Microfinance in Ecuador
Microfinance in Ecuador
A large part of this research trip is to study and understand how microfinance is currently in operation in these different cultures and countries. We recently met with the General Manager for one of the largest microfinance groups in Ecuador- he squeezed Paradigm Shift in between meeting with the morning appointment UN and lunch with USAID. Along with growing this operation from 4,000 clients to 65,000 in five years, he is also the head of all the financial institutions in Ecuador… So talk about meeting the right person!
Permalink to Recent Readings
Recent Readings
I am reading a book called “The Church is Bigger Than You Think” by Patrick Johnston- I feel like what he writes is indicative of what Paradigm Shift is all about:
“The urban poor are the most receptive, but also the most underevangelized. It is strategic to reach them, for the gospel has an uplifting effect when the gospel takes hold of individuals and communities. The great people movements into the kingdom have started among the poor… The pattern has generally been first the outcasts and downtrodden, but this has percolated up through society until eventually impacting the structures of society.”
Our focus is continually on reaching the urban poor with microfinance and the Gospel of Christ.
