"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ"

"Hermano (brother), someone was listening!"

Hermana Audrey told me this when I arrived to help teach the Pastoral Care and Counseling class in Perez Zeledon. The Baptist Church in this southern zone of the country is one of our theological education by extension sights. When Audrey told me that "someone was listening" she was referring back to a class I had offered months before, "Introduction to Preaching." That course was the first one I had ever taught in Costa Rica. Not only had I felt inadequate as a preaching professor, I had felt inadequate teaching this course in a language that was not my native tongue. Added to that was the challenge that in an extension sight like this (3 hours to drive each way), I had been responsible for presenting twice the amount of material in half the time. The last session involved three of the students preaching for the class and being evaluated by me and by their classmates. As I had listened to the sermons I couldn't help but think of all the things they could have done better, and of all the things I could and should have done differently as a teacher. There were some good nuggets in their sermons, but I was focusing on the deficiencies, theirs and mine. That day the class ended and I headed back home to San Jose (Costa Rica, that is) feeling somewhat defeated. But what was this that Audrey was telling me? "Someone was listening?" You have to understand that the church's classroom space is a rented room above a Pizza Parlor. It turns out that on the day of these three sermons, one of the restaurant workers was on his break, out behind the building, and just happen to overhear some good news. The sermon that had really hit him was about the prodigal son and during his break on the back steps it hit him that he was that lost son. He had given his life to Christ years before, but had drifted away from the faith and the church, until an overheard pizza parlor sermon called him home. That next week he spoke with Pastor Eldis and with Audrey and is now attending the church, growing in Christ, and enjoying the homecoming.

Mylinda and I are here because we know that pastoral training and theological education are vital, and that working with these sisters and brothers is worth it. It's even worth hitting the road every other Saturday to encourage these leaders. We plan, we study, we strategize, and God can use all of that. But God also uses those times when we don't feel successful, when we wonder if we're making a difference. During that preaching class I was hearing failure, but what really mattered was that someone was hearing, or overhearing, the good news.

Thank you to those of you who read these journals and pray for us. Thanks also for your financial support of ABC International Ministries. Your giving is what sends us here, keeps us here, and tells the people of Costa Rica that they are not alone as they seek to live out their faith, to be the church, and to call others to new life. This month many of your churches will be receiving the World Mission Offering. Please consider a generous gift, so that people around the world can live, hear, and even overhear the gospel.

Mylinda, Jamie and Micah say "Hello" and "Gracias!"

In Christ,

Gary Baits