Back from Trinidad & Tobago

Now that I’m back from Trinidad and am relatively settled in, I will be back to my usual sporadic blogging.

In regards to my Trinidad trip, I posted some short videos on my YouTube channel. I warn you: I was only equipped with a digital camera, so the quality is not super sharp.

Here is a video I took of the church where I ministered, the Mt. Beulah Evangelical Baptist Church in Point Fortin:

I also had the opportunity to visit and interview two pastors.  One is Pastor Boodoo Gopaul of the Granville Open Bible Church (below).

The other pastor was Vickran Hajaree , Pastor of the Open Bible Cathedral in Point Fortin.  Below is a picture of Hajaree, followed by his beautiful sanctuary.

I had the blessing of conducting a pastors’ conference on Friday-Saturday, January 16-17 at Mt. Beulah.  You see the registration and the books many of you contributed.

This was during a break at the conference.

Reading List on my Plane Ride to Trinidad

I like to read… but only certain things.  Some love reading fiction and just have to read the latest bestsellers that are out.  I enjoy reading books that deal with theology, ministry, and the trends of the culture. 

In 3+ days, I will be heading out to Trinidad with 38 copies of “Spirit Empowered Preaching,” one copy of the ESV Study Bible for the Trinidadian pastors.  But what I find myself truly concerned about is not what clothes to wear, but what books to take on the trip.  The nature of the pastorate at this point along with me being at the writing stage of my DMin project does not always allow me to do a lot of leisurely reading.  Fiction is out of the question (although it’s not a huge loss for me–I just have a hard time losing myself in something not in reality). 

I have to make sure that with my five-hour flight from Houston to Port of Spain, Trinidad and back, plus a 5 1/2 hour layover in Houston.  It’s following the mandate of Ephesians 5: “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). 

So, I have decided to get reacquainted with an old friend, read a new book, and read up about a new ministry.  So here is the list of books I shall be reading:

• “Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers” — a biography by Lewis Drummond
• “Lectures To My Students” by C.H. Spurgeon
• “Why Small Groups?” by C.J. Mahaney
• “Seeing With New Eyes” by David Powlison or Instruments in the Redeemers Hands by Paul Tripp
• Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church by Michael Horton
• The New Modern Reformation magazine dealing with Christ in the Postmodern Culture
• Articles from Answers in Genesis, in preparation for the “Creation” sermon series in February.

I’m loading up my iPod with some sermons by Alistair Begg, Ken Ham, Don Whitney, Tim Keller, plus a boatload of Sovereign Grace Music, Christafari, Dave Brubeck, among others. 

Pray that I would use this time away from phones, e-mail, computers, etc., to really connect with my Lord and Savior. 

Video for My Upcoming Missions Trip

Update on Books for Trinidadian Pastors (1.2.07)

Praise God — two more books have been purchased from our Amazon.com Trinidadian Pastors Wishlist for our upcoming missions trip at the end of the month.  I am leaving this wishlist open until Tuesday, January 9.

I have gone through and removed a number of books so that only 26 are left.  I am conducting a Marriage Conference there, so if there are some of you who feel led to contribute, could you please contribute a purchase of book dealing with marriage.  Books by Norman Wright, Gary Smalley, John Piper, Daniel Akin, Gary Chapman, and C.J. Mahaney have wonderful books in this area.

Yet whatever you have to contribute will be a blessing.  Have a wonderful New Year!

Here are the books purchased thus far:

• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
• Preaching and Teaching with Imagination by Warren Wiersbe
• Seven Laws of the Learner by Bruce Wilkinson
• Paul & His Letters by John Polhill
• Leadership 101 by John Maxwell
• 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
• Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson
• Preaching and Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
• The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper
• The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson
• The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter
• Shepherding the Small Church by Glenn Daman
• Why One Way?  by John MacArthur
• The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB)

God bless all of you!

Three Weeks Until We Leave for Trinidad

Today marks three weeks until our team of five leave for Trinidad and Tobago. We will work on tiling the floor of the Mt. Beulah Evangelical Baptist Church in Point Fortin and I will prepare for the Family Life Conference at First Baptist Church of San Fernando. Please keep us in prayer.

Thank you for all the books you have bought for us to take to the Trinidadian pastors. A professor from Southern Seminary is donating some wonderful reformed commentaries in the latest of our contributions for our beloved Trinidadian pastors. We have a wishlist set up at Amazon if you would like to purchase one of these books as a contribution to our missions efforts.

Please pray. We have approximately $2600 raised out of a needed $4000. God will provide. Keep us in prayer.

A Trinidadian Pastor Wishlist Update (11.28.06)

Our tenth book was recently added to the number of books we plan to take to help Trinidadian pastors advance the kingdom. The most recent purchase by one of you in blogdom was “Systematic Theology” by Wayne Grudem. Thank you again!

To view the wishlist and possibly contribute, click here.

Update on Books Purchased for Trinidadian Pastors

Thanks to all of you who have gone to our Amazon wishlist buy books for Trinidadian Pastors.  So far, nine books have been purchased:

• Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
• The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter
• Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson
• Shepherding the Small Church
• The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB Edition
• The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper
• Paul & His Letters by John Polhill
• The Seven Laws of the Learner by Bruce Wilkinson
• Leadership 101:  What Every Leader Needs to Know by John Maxwell

Thanks again to all of you who have contributed.  God will use these books to plant some seeds for His Kingdom in Trinidad.

Two more books for Trinidad Pastors!

Two more books were purchased for Trinidad pastors from the Amazon.com wishlist. Thank you so much. Here are the books so far:

• The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper
• Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson
• Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
• Paul and His Letters by John Polhill
• Seven Laws of the Learner by Bruce Wilkinson

Thanks for your prayers.

Update on Books Received for Trinidadian Pastors

As mentioned in a previous post, I have set up an Amazon wishlist of books I would like to take for the Trinidadian pastors when I go there in January. So far, three books have been purchased for them:

• Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson
• Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
• The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper

Thanks to all of you who have passed along this wishlist. Be in prayer than many books will come in for the Kingdom!

Prayer for upcoming speaking/preaching engagements

From October 15-18, I will speak at a Sovereign Grace Bible Conference at Means Baptist Church, Means, KY, where Joey Rogers pastors. Means averages around 35-40 on a Sunday morning, so pray that God will do a good work through Christ in the midst of those dear people. I’ll be preaching from Romans 8 on Security in the Spirit.

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Also, I’ll be leading a Family Life Conference at the First Baptist Church of San Fernando, Trinidad & Tobago, on January 26-27, 2007. We will also minister at the Mount Beulah Evangelical Baptist Church in Point Fortin where Roddie Taylor (pictured left wearing that nasty garment with those foul U-K letters on them) pastors. We will do some construction on his church (below) as well as doing some street preaching to the dear souls in that beautiful country.

I covet your prayers that God would speak and that His Word would go forth and that I would be faithful not just in preaching but in prayer and lifestyle. To God be the glory through Christ Jesus.