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Category: Foreign Missions (Page 1 of 8)

Don’t Fight, Invite

October 7, 2025 / / 0 Comments

We are having so much fun with Breno and Gabi Escobar and Jose Luiz and Isabel Siqueira, two professors and their wives from SerCris Training School in Campo Grande, Brazil. Our GCR Church has partnered with SerCris since its founding in 2002, and the two couples are in Midland for a week to help us kick off our first-ever Missions Month. Whitney and I took Breno to a Texas high school football game Friday, a clash between two state-ranked teams in Greenwood, which also served as the Rangers’ homecoming and a huge Greenwood win. The event provided everything Breno needed to experience at his first ever in-person American football game: the entire community in attendance, sitting shoulder to shoulder on aluminum bleachers, unbelievably large homecoming mums, two undefeated teams making big plays on the field, cheerleaders, two marching bands, and a homecoming queen.

On Saturday, we took Breno and Gabi to Green Acres Miniature Golf, the site of George and Laura Bush’s first date a long, long time ago. Breno kept us in stitches with his unorthodox play–golf balls were flying all over the place–and his soccer-style celebrations. He wound up in the drink once–not in the water hazard that runs across the field of play, but in the waterfall behind the hole! Carrie-Anne destroyed us by hitting three holes-in-one and finishing with a one-under-par 47. She was absolutely on fire! Breno finished by hitting the ball OVER the barn on the last hole, not THROUGH it.

We had both couples over Saturday night to watch college football, shoot pool, eat a massive dinner, and play our favorite card game, 99. Turns out, you can play 99 without knowing any English at all!

 

 

 

 

 

At church Sunday, Breno led our communion time by reading from Jesus’ story of the great feast in Luke 14 and Jose Luiz spoke during the sermon time about all that our God is doing in them and through them in Campo Grande. GCR’s relationship with SerCris goes back to some early church plants in the 1980s and Jose Luiz connected all the dots for us very well. After church, we enjoyed a big lunch together with GCR friends at La Bodega, celebrating a fabulous kickoff to Missions Month.

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We’re using the Travel Narrative in the Gospel of Luke as our guiding text during Missions Month. As Jesus is “on the way” to Jerusalem, as he travels from Galilee to the capital city, as he walks from the place where his ministry began to the place where it will all be ultimately accomplished, he remains focused on the mission. Critical to the mission, Jesus purposefully travels through Samaria, unfriendly territory. And as we watch Jesus interact with people, handle circumstances, and explain things in the mission field of Samaria, we can learn how to interact with people, handle circumstances, and explain things in the mission fields of Midland and Brazil, in West Texas and Kenya and Honduras.

One of the first things we learn as Jesus embarks on his mission journey “along the way” is that his mission is an invitation, it’s not a fight. It’s not about judgment or force. We don’t motivate by fear and we don’t fight; we invite.

The very first Samaritan village Jesus and his disciples encounter rejects them outright. “We don’t want you or your message! Hit the road, bub!” And the Zebedee boys are ticked. James and John, the Sons of Thunder, know exactly how they should respond: “Let’s call fire down from heaven! Do it, Jesus! Let’s incinerate all these hicks! Don’t they know who we are?! Boom! Fire! Straight outta heaven!”

And our Lord Jesus rebuked them. Immediately. Non-negotiable.

It is never our task as disciples on a mission with Christ along the way to destroy the opposition. This is not a fight and we are not warriors! Jesus-followers do not bash people who are not on our side. We don’t judge or annihilate or own anybody created by God in the image of God.

Yet, despite our Lord’s unqualified, uncompromising rebuke, so many of us continue to act like Zebedees. We’re following Jesus, full of devotion and zeal, but some of us will not tolerate any opposition. We won’t tolerate rejection. And we get our feelings hurt or we get angry and we rise up in a show of force to judge and destroy.

Boom! Fire! Straight outta my email!
Boom! Fire! Straight outta my prideful mouth!
Boom! Fire! Straight outta my Facebook post or my forwarded video!

With words and attitudes and digital weapons, we destroy anybody who rejects Jesus as the Savior of the World. Or our understandings of Jesus. Our our other beliefs and practices.

As ambassadors of Jesus, with Jesus, our message and our mission is never one of judgment or force. It’s invitation. It’s an invitation to share in the love and the blessings and the promises of God. An invitation to an abundant life in and with Christ Jesus. And invitation to be the Good Samaritan. An invitation to pray, to ask God. An invitation to serve others. An invitation to be healed, to be made whole. An invitation to take one’s place at the feast in the Kingdom of God.

“Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full!” ~Luke 14:13-23

It’s an invitation mission. Not judgment. Not force. We don’t fight, we invite. In Midland and India. In West Texas and Western Brazil.

Peace,

Allan

 

CrocktoberFest at GCR

October 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

We kicked off our first-ever Missions Month at GCR Church Wednesday night with what we called “CrocktoberFest.” It was an all-church crockpot potluck and it was fabulous on all fronts. We packed right at 200 of us in the Family Center Gym and there must have been almost a hundred crockpots on the four serving lines. The crockpots contained the usual–soups, pasta dishes, beans, potatoes, lasagna, taco meat, and all kinds of seasoned chicken and pork. But lots of folks got creative, too. There were crockpots with Chick-fil-A nuggets and sauces, Oreo cookies, and — as requested from the Sunday morning pulpit at least twice — ice cream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we shared that amazing dinner together, we gathered all our kids–where are all these kids at GCR coming from?!?– and spent about 15-minutes talking about our congregation’s foreign missions works. We introduced our church family to the missionaries and the organizations that represent our six largest global partnerships, and then we spent a few minutes at each table reading God’s Word and praying for these missionaries by name and place.

We’re spending the entire month of October showcasing our global missions partners because we want our church to see the pictures, to meet the missionaries, the hear the stories. We want our people to know it, to experience it, to own it.

In a lot of churches, “Missions” is just a special Sunday for a special offering for something that other people are doing a long way from here. There’s no engagement. So, the church budget determines, or limits, the mission of God instead of God’s mission setting the budget.

Or, “Missions” is just something the missions committee oversees–a half-dozen people managing the missions budget and staying in touch with the missionaries. And there’s no relationship with the church body. It’s not a partnership as much as it’s a holy banking service for a good cause.

We want all of GCR to get to know our missionaries and our partnerships. We want them to meet the people, to hear their stories, to be inspired by their courage and commitment, to learn to really love these people and organizations.

We engage in partnerships with these people and groups because we can do so much more together than we can as individuals. We’re partners. This kind of partnership brings us great joy when we do our part. And our part in these partnerships is to give our money, to encourage, and to pray.

It’s Missions Month at GCR. I know it’s going to become my favorite time of the year.

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Carrie-Anne, Whitney, and I took in the Zack Williams concert at the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa last night. C-A bought the tickets, so they were on the floor, tenth row, dead center. Outstanding seats and a pretty good show. Zack didn’t seem to have as much energy as he typically brings. He didn’t sing as many of his “hits” and played way too many from his brand new album that just came out like three weeks ago. And he only played 70-minutes. A little bit of a disappointment for Carrie-Anne.

I was most impressed with the band that performed right before Zack, a high-energy, hard-rocking group called We The Kingdom. Evidently, they’ve been around a while–C-A knew many of their songs. Either way, they way outperformed the headliner. It reminded of Van Halen touring to promote their debut album in 1978, opening for Black Sabbath, and famously blowing them away every night.

Peace,

Allan

MRN Honors GCR

May 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Mission Resource Network honored the Golf Course Road Church of Christ last Friday with what they call the Antioch Award for Congregational Excellence in World Missions. The award recognizes the millions of dollars GCR has budgeted and spent on missions through the years, the money our church members give directly to missionaries and missions efforts outside the church budget, and our congregation’s overall commitment to missions, a culture of global awareness and compassion shaped by decades of Gospel-centered discipleship.

I was privileged to accept the award on behalf of our church at the MRN dinner in Dallas Friday, along with Dale and Rita Brown and Eric and April West. The award itself is a giant clock. So, of course, my opening line was something like, “Our elders at GCR have been on me for almost four years to put a big clock in our sanctuary. Thanks, Dan.”

I also just had an absolute blast hanging out with so many people I know and love. All my worlds were colliding as I ran into some of the finest people from the Legacy Church in N. Richland Hills and the Central Church in Amarillo. I can’t tell you how delighted I was to catch up with Mark and Leslie Speck and Matt and Sara Richardson, some of our first and best friends from Central. Plus, just so many wonderful followers of Jesus from so many churches and para-church organizations I’ve had the joy of knowing over the years. The banquet ended before 9pm, but I was still in the ballroom talking and laughing with old friends until after 10p.

Thank you to my good friend, Dan Bouchelle, the president of MRN and my predecessor at Central, for a truly great night. I thank the Lord for the privilege of being the preacher at a great church like Golf Course Road. And I praise him for reminding me of how many good people he’s put directly in my path over the years to love me, teach me, and encourage me in following our Lord Jesus.

Peace,

Allan

Net Fishing

March 18, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Carrie-Anne and I were blessed by God over Spring Break to travel with Travis and Donna McGraw and Bryan and Becky Gibbs to visit some of our GCR missions partners in Brazil. We took off and landed eight different times over the nine days, from DFW to Rio and Sao Paulo and from there to Foz do Iguacu and back, mixing in some incredible sight-seeing while meeting and getting to know some of God’s greatest servants.

Our first stop was in Niteroi, where we were privileged to worship and I was honored to preach with our brothers and sisters at Nathan and Sarah Zinck’s church. Carrie-Anne and I have known the Zincks since our days at Legacy when they were in the beginning stages of raising support for the mission in Niteroi. Nathan translated–paraphrased (?)–while I preached the groaning and glory from the middle of Romans 8. And we sang in Portuguese some of our favorite songs like Love Lifted Me, Because He Lives, Oceans, and You Are Holy. GCR provides financial support for the seasonal interns who work with the Zincks, and it was good to meet them and see where they live.

 

 

 

 

While we were in Niteroi / Rio, we took a train to the top of Mount Corcovado to see the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks the city.  Nathan gave Carrie-Anne and me a personal tour of Sugarloaf Mountain, the 1,300-foot peak that rises straight out of Guanabara Bay and is accessed only by a series of cable cars. I also accidentally ate a grilled chicken heart. And we enjoyed a lot of really good Brazilian pizza.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there it was off to Campo Grande and the Ser Cris Bible School that GCR has supported financially and spiritually since its establishment in 2001. I had met Zanatta, the school’s director, last fall when he visited us in Midland. But what a joy to hang out with his wonderful wife, Leila! And what a thrill to meet the talented professors and staff at this important school. I so enjoyed talking American football with Breno and Gabriela and listening to his deep thoughts on the damage digital media is doing to the Church’s witness and our Christian discipleship–kindred spirits! David was so generous and kind. Jose Luiz was so hospitable in hosting us. It was obvious to see the love these teachers have for one another and the great team they are together. And they merged us right into the jokes and the prayers, the planning and the ministry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ser Cris is an ecumenical training school for preachers, missionaries, and church planters and anyone wanting a good, solid theological education. A dozen different churches have been started by graduates of Ser Cris in eight different Brazilian states. And the numbers of students is finally on an upswing again after some COVID and post-COVID dips.

And I was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday. I spent six-hours in a Campo Grande emergency room with Carrie-Anne, Becky, and Leila. Blood tests, a CT scan, two breathing treatments, and three prescriptions. Total cost for all of it: $330. Socialized medicine? Why not!

We added two days of sight-seeing to the end of our trip so we could visit Parque Nacional do Iguacu where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay all come together at the incredible Iguassu Falls. It took all of both days to see the glorious canyons and hundreds of falls, from the tops of the cliffs on the Argentina side to the roaring and foaming pools on the Brazilian side. I have no words to adequately describe the beauty and the power of these waterfalls. And the hundreds of pictures and video I took don’t come near doing any of it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got home Saturday afternoon, thankfully, the day after one of the worst wind and dust storms Midland has seen in decades. And, yes, of course, I have already been to Whataburger and Abuelo’s.

There are tons of things to write regarding this extraordinary trip. There is so much I am still processing; our time in Brazil was significant on several levels. But let me attempt to share with you today a main takeaway. This is important.

When our Lord Jesus says we are fishers of people, I typically picture one guy–me–holding a rod and reel. Back when I used to fish around the Highland Lakes in Central Texas, I used a rod and reel from a friend’s boat or from the top of Wirtz or Starcke Dams. Fishing, to me, has always been experienced as a solo venture, just me and my line and hook.

But that is not how God sends us out. We’re not sent into the mission with a rod and reel, but with one giant net. Followers of Jesus are net-fishers. God is redeeming the world and restoring all of creation with one huge net and every single one of us has our hands on it. It takes all of us, in our own time and context, with our own gifts and abilities, to drag this soul-winning net all over the globe.

It’s not the size of a volleyball net, it spans the continents and centuries of human time and space. It takes disciples of all ages to hang onto it. And we all play a part in the net’s sweeps and dips. A song written by Charles Wesley here. A plane assembled by Boeing there. A pie baked by a widow in 1843. A sermon preached in the 6th century. An invitation to church. An encouraging word. A check sent. A GCR mission trip to Brazil in the 1980s. A baby adopted. A door knocked. A burden shared. A hospital visit. A Gospel meeting. A Vacation Bible School. A thank you note. An article in that biblical journal. The weaving together of all our individual and meager threads becomes God’s great net.

Do you see it?

The net sweeps across the whole world and back. It turns and dips to snag one more soul, to start one more chain reaction you and I never could have planned or seen coming. While you and I were sleeping last night, the net was moving by the power of God’s salvation Spirit. Maybe there is a soldier in Ukraine or a single mom in Vermont or a taxi driver in Tokyo or a school teacher in Kenya who’s been swept up into the net by the love of Christ since you went to bed last night.

I’m holding the same net that’s being held by Zanatta and Breno, which is the same net still being held by the apostles Peter and Paul. You are working the same holy net that’s being held by Nathan and Sarah Zinck and Eugene Goudeau and Jack McGraw. You think you cover an insignificant amount of square footage in God’s Kingdom. But you really cover the whole earth with our God’s glorious net.

Peace,

Allan

Pray for Kharkiv

February 24, 2022 / / 0 Comments

I know you are aware of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the death and devastation unfolding on the streets and among the people of its cities. I know your heart is heavy. And I know you are in prayer. Me, too.

All war is sinful and tragic. All violence is decidedly against God’s will. The right thing to do today is to pray for God’s peace, to pray for the people on all sides of this unholy conflict, to ask God to intervene and stop the madness.

As you are doing that, would you please pray for some very specific people in Kharkiv whom Carrie-Anne and I love?

Back in 2010, my wife and I spent eleven days in Kharkiv, a fairly major eastern Ukrainian city about 20 miles from the Ukraine-Russia border. We were there to visit and encourage David and Olivia Nelson, a sweet missionary couple we were supporting from the Legacy Church. We love David and Olivia. We missed them terribly in Fort Worth and were very anxious to spend the time with them. What caught us off guard was how much and how quickly we grew to love the Ukrainians there.

I don’t know where any of these people are today. I don’t know anything about them or their families. But I am talking to our Lord about them today and I hope you will join me. I can’t get some of these people out of my head today. Or my heart.

I’m thinking about Andrei, a funny little guy who looks like Billy Crystal but who thinks and talks like he just stepped out of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Super smart. Whoa. Andrei had only been baptized about seven months before we arrived and he was on fire for our Lord. He took off work one day to walk Carrie-Anne and me around Liberty Square and through some of the 500-year-old cathedrals. Andrei also drew blood when he beat my back with a ceremonial branch at a Ukrainian sauna. I think it was meant to honor me. Maybe.

I’m praying for Valerie and Julia. Valerie was my interpreter when I preached and taught during our time in Kharkiv. I remember having to wait on him while he came up with the Russian words for my American phrases like “wrapped around her finger” and “jump for joy.” He told me there is no Russian equivalent for “compels” as in “Christ’s love compels us.” A big red-headed dude who looked like he could suit up and play for your college alma mater right now. Very gentle and kind. He wanted to become a preacher. I have no idea if he did.

I’m thinking about Alexander, a dentist and oral surgeon. He told me in front of everybody that drinking diet soda was bad for my teeth. He spoke really good English except when he said the word “naked.” When we were reading Genesis 1 out loud he kept saying “nak’d,” just one syllable.

I’m praying for Yelena, David and Liv’s Russian language teacher. She taught Carrie-Anne and me the only Russian we know. We still say “lublu” sometimes, the Russian word for love. And Victoria, the elementary school teacher. Robert, the preacher at the Baptist church on the west side of town. Sergei, who once served hard time in a Ukrainian prison, preaching at a Christian church of about nine souls on the northeast side of Kharkiv.

I could write more about Vitali and Galina, Nikita, Masha, and Kevin.  I taught Kevin how to throw an American football with a spiral – I don’t think his real name was Kevin. I learned to tolerate chicken-flavored potato chips. I nearly threw up when David forced me to drink a glass of Kafir. We laughed when we learned the local beautification ordinance meant that everyone had to paint their houses and sheds the same color of gray. I could spend a whole post recounting our worship times together, listening to my Eastern European brothers and sisters sing “Nearer My God to Thee” and “Lamb of God” in Russian. About sharing the bread and the wine together at that tiny church building near Aptarski Lane and in the Nelsons’ living room.

We rode the subways where, today, people are huddling together and hiding from the tanks and the missiles. We hung out at the coffee shops that, today, are boarded up and abandoned. We shopped and laughed with the Nelsons’ neighbors at that massive downtown Kharkiv market that, today, is empty.

That was almost twelve years ago. I don’t know where any of these good people are today – if they are still living in Kharkiv, if they are safe, if they are scared, if they are okay. I am praying for them and their families today and for all the people of that great city where I witnessed first hand our God saving people and advancing his Kingdom.

You might be connected to Ukraine through Our House and the Gospel work done for so many years in Donetsk by Tony and Shanna Morrow. I know the Morrows came back to Abilene a few months ago. I found out today that Bill Hayes got out three weeks ago. But I don’t know anything about the community of teenage orphans they established there.

Maybe you’re connected to the people of Ukraine by Eastern European Missions. Maybe you’ve sent Russian and Ukraine language Bibles there.

Pray for the people of Ukraine today. Pray for our Christian brothers and sisters over there, six thousand miles away from Texas, and in so much danger and peril. Pray that the war would end, that all hostilities would cease, that all pain and death and demonstrations of power and force would disappear from that whole region. Pray that God’s will would be done in Ukraine and Moscow just as it is in heaven.

Do not put your trust in politicians or their positions, in armies or their weapons, in generals and secretaries or their strategies and plans. Put your trust and offer your prayers to the One Sovereign who alone can stop the senseless violence against innocent people.

“God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.’
~Psalm 47

Peace. Seriously. Peace.

Allan

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

October 27, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Julio Franco…

The sign has arrived and it’s finally becoming a reality: Amarillo will have a Chuy’s restaurant and it will open in mid-January! For two years we’ve been teased with rumors of land purchases and permits,  remodeling and renovations, strategy revisions and pandemic delays. I had just about given up hope when the truck and trailer rolled into town carrying that big beautiful sign! If  everything can continue now on schedule, move over Abuelo’s! In less than three months, it’s all chicken enchiladas with the Boom Boom sauce and that green chili rice!

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My great friend, college roommate, Delta brother, and roofing partner Mike Osburn is running for re-election as an Oklahoma State Representative from the district that includes our old Edmond stompin’ grounds. His new TV ad features his wonderful wife, Holly, and their three kids, and it’s terrific.

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Following their 5th loss of the season on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys made big news yesterday by signing a backup punter to the practice squad. Yes, you read that correctly. Special teams director John Fassell says they signed Hunter Niswander as insurance, in case of an injury to Chris Jones or Greg the Leg. That’s right. Not a defensive back or linebacker, not an offensive lineman. This team now has two punters. With their turnover ratio at -13, do they even need one?

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In his one-and-a-half quarters of relief for the concussed Andy Dalton, Cowboys quarterback Ben DiNucci suffered more sacks against Washington Sunday than completed passes. His line after the game was that, coming out of James Madison University, he’s never really seen pass rushers like Chase Young. Oops.

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If I’m being generous — very, very, very generous — I can’t see the Cowboys finishing this season at anything better than 5-11. If they split with every team in this atrocious division and if they split their games against Minnesota and the Bengals (a big IF), they’ll finish with a Dave Campo record. And Jerry Wayne will say they’re just one offensive lineman and one defensive playmaker away. Or punter.

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We’re celebrating another fabulous Missions Sunday here at Central. After sharing the communion meal together with our 14 local and foreign missions partners, our church family gave $335,296 towards our missions efforts in 2021! That’s  a lot of money for one church our size to give in one day! And it’s still coming in!  Praise the Lord! I’m so blessed by our God to belong to a church that puts God’s mission to others at the front and center of our existence and then puts it money there, too. This is such a deep part of who we are as a congregation. This is the way we express our faith in God and experience the abundance of his blessings. And this is one of the most significant ways we’re all connected.

Peace,

Allan

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