I Get Angry!

Do you get angry? Then come to FRC Lima this Sunday morning at the cinema!

Do you know anyone - family, relatives, friends, neighbors, bosses, co-workers, clients - who gets angry? Then invite them to come to FRC Lima this Sunday morning at the cinema!

Do you know what the teaching topic will be this Sunday morning at FRC Lima? You guessed it ... anger!

We all get angry, and some of us with more frequency than others. So what should we do when we feel anger boiling up inside of us? How do we control our tempers? What are the hurts or fears or frustrations or insecurities that lead to this anger? How do we keep anger from destroying our relationships?

For the answers to these questions, come to FRC Lima on Sunday morning, and you'll learn how to deal with the anger in your life.

9:00 AM - Spanish Service - Sala 2 - Cineplanet Alcazar - Ovalo Gutierrez
10:30 AM - English Service - Sala 2 - Cineplanet Alcazar - Ovalo Gutierrez

www.MyNakedPastor.com

MNP Small Groups Begin In Lima!

This is the week that all of the MyNakedPastor.com small groups begin in lots of different homes in and around Lima!

We've got about 20 groups lined up. Last night we had our first small group for the leaders at FRC Lima, and it went great. We had a fantastic time watching the teaching DVD, discussing lots of interesting questions, and just hanging out together. We also celebrated Caleb and Ivan's birthday (they're twins) with a big cake. These small groups are a blast! If you haven't joined one yet, then come on Sunday morning to FRC Lima at the cinema and you can sign up on the spot! I guarantee that you'll have a great time and you'll meet new friends!

Also be sure to check out www.MyNakedPastor.com every day, and check out what Pastor Troy is doing!

1,529 Views!

We've had 1,529 people view our beach baptism on YouTube!

This is amazing. Last March we had our beach baptism at Playa Santa Maria, just south of Lima. We baptized 11 people in the Pacific Ocean, with huge waves crashing in behind us. We put our video on YouTube, and the response has been phenomenal!

In just 6 months, 1,529 views! That means that more than 250 people are watching our beach baptism video every month. The video is reaching a lot of people, and it's impacting a lot of lives. That is exciting!

On Saturday, December 1, we are planning on having our next beach baptism at Playa Santa Maria. We also are planning on having an Amazon River baptism that same week in Iquitos with our brothers and sisters who make up the Yagua and Bora tribes. If you have not yet been baptized, then you will have two opportunities to do so in December. Choose one of the two opportunities to be baptized, either in the Pacific Ocean in Lima or in the Amazon River in Iquitos, and do it! You'll be obeying God and showing your faith to others, be they in Lima, or in Iquitos, or watching on YouTube.

Spanish Service Starts!

It was awesome to see everyone who turned out for FRC Lima's first Spanish service yesterday morning at the cinema!

We're excited at this huge new opportunity that God has given us to reach more people in Lima. If you missed the new Spanish service yesterday, then you need to know that it is ALL in Spanish! The bulletin, the announcements, the notes, the pre-school and children's ministry lessons, the live music, Pastor Troy's teaching - it's ALL in Spanish! And don't forget that we also have MyNakedPastor.com small groups in Spanish all over Lima, so sign up and join one!

Invite all of your Spanish-speaking family, friends, and neighbors to the new Spanish service, every Sunday morning in Sala 2 at the cinema at 9:00 AM. Nos vemos alla en el cine!

MNP Small Groups!

It's going to be a big weekend here at FRC Lima, as we start up the exciting new series called MyNakedPastor.com, and as we also start up the new Spanish service on Sunday at 9:00 AM!

As well, we'll also be starting up the MyNakedPastor.com small groups next week, in homes all across Lima. We're going to have around 20 different small groups available! Be sure to come on Sunday morning and sign up to join a small group, or to host one in your own home! It's easy and it's fun! The small groups will be using DVD teaching and will run for 5 weeks. We will have small groups in both English and Spanish. Be sure to come on Sunday and sign up and join a MyNakedPastor.com small group!

SPANISH SERVICE - 9:00 AM - SALA 2
ENGLISH SERVICE - 10:30 AM - SALA 2

Publicity

Be sure to check out our publicity for the new Spanish service which starts on Sunday morning at 9:00 AM at the cinema! We have ads running on Grupo Pacifico TV, on Telestereo radio, in the Urbania newspaper, and in the ACAP magazine. Check them all out, and show them to your family and friends, and then invite them all to come this weekend. Let's jam the cinema for both services on Sunday morning!

New Service Times!

This is the week that we start to have two different services in the cinema!

Starting this Sunday morning at the cinema, we will have a Spanish service at 9:00 AM, and an English service at 10:30 AM. The services will be identical, with the same great teaching and the same great music, only in different languages!

Invite all of your Spanish-speaking family and friends to attend the Spanish service at 9:00 AM, and invite all of your English-speaking family and friends to attend the English service at 10:30 AM!

We also need additional ushers, greeters, and pre-school and children's ministry volunteers for both services, so please sign up and help us out in this area!

It's going to be awesome to see how God uses two different services, in two different languages, to make one big impact here in Lima!

More On 9/11

I grew up in Boston. Boston, as you may remember, was where the two planes departed from that were hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11. I knew a woman who was a passenger on one of the doomed flights. She attended my former church, Grace Chapel, in Lexington, MA. She was a grandmother, and on 9/11 she was on her way to California to visit her grandchildren. Needless to say, she never made it.

One of the flight attendants on 9/11 lived just a few streets over from where I grew up. The pilot of one of the flights hijacked on 9/11 lived just a few blocks from my sister-in-law's family. Almost everyone who lived in or around Boston on 9/11/01 knew someone, or knew someone who knew someone, who perished that day in the terrorist attacks.

Emotional pain can be a very deep wound. Even today, 6 years after 9/11, there is still much pain for many people in and around Boston, as well as in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, and even in Lima, Peru, where 6 families still mourn their loved ones who died at the World Trade Center.

6 years later, the wound is still open, and the wound is still deep. For those of us who are Christ followers, when faced with such a situation, sometimes the most important thing that we can do is simply to comfort those who are suffering. Just be a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, or an open ear with which to listen. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (TNIV) tells us that God comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort others in any trouble with the comfort that we ourselves receive from God. I think those verses are key to dealing with the pain that still remains for thousands of families, around the world, after 9/11. God comforts us, and we need to comfort others. Sometimes no words are even needed, just a sympathetic shoulder, a listening ear, a sensitive heart, and a box of tissues.

9/11

9/11 is a somber anniversary. Around 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001, when 19 terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center in New York, and also into the Pentagon in Washington, and also into a field in Pennsylvania. But it's important to remember that not just Americans died on 9/11. For example, 6 Peruvians died at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

We are living in fearful, stressful times, and today's anniversary is a graphic reminder of that. The headlines are filled with stories of war, disaster, and more terrorism. The Middle East is a mess. It brings home the words of Jesus in Matthew 24 about signs of the end times.

Many people look at the news today, and remember the news of 9/11/01, and are living lives full of fear. During these times, and especially on this anniversary of 9/11, it's important to remember the lyrics of David in Psalm 23:4 (TNIV) when he says, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Later on, in Psalm 27:1 (TNIV), David sings, "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?" Finally, David also sings in Psalm 56:11 (TNIV), "In God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere human beings do to me?"

If you are walking through a dark valley today, particularly as you reflect on the nightmarish events of 9/11/01, then embrace the lyrics of David. Know that God is with you and will comfort you. Know that God is your light and your salvation. Know that God is your stronghold. Surrender your fears to Him. He can handle it. God has big shoulders, and He will carry you all the way through your darkest valley.

My Naked Kidney Stones!

Thanks to everyone who came out on Sunday night to the MyNakedPastor.com Launch Party at Hotel Las Palmeras! There were 70 people all jammed into the room on the 7th floor at the hotel. The Internet feed wasn't too good, but everyone seemed to be having a great time just hanging out and talking with each other, eating, drinking, and trying to win a prize. Congratulations to the prize winners: Pancho and Cesar, Eva, Alfredo, and Alberto!

Be sure to check out www.MyNakedPastor.com every day, and see what Pastor Troy and his family are doing!

Thanks also to all of you who are praying for my kidney stone attack! On Sunday afternoon, right after church, I had a horrible pain on my left side, and I knew right away that it was a kidney stone attack ("calculos"), since it was the third time that I'd suffered them. Dorcas drove me to Clinica Good Hope in Miraflores, where the doctors gave me some pain medication and some injections, and then I staggered off to the launch party at the hotel. Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for me at the hotel. I'm feeling a little bit better today.

MNPLP!

What in the world does MNPLP stand for?

My Naked Pastor Launch Party!

And you are invited! Come to Hotel Las Palmeras this Sunday night at 8:00 PM as we join Pastor Troy LIVE at his home in Florida for the launch party for the MyNakedPastor.com series! We're going to have great food and drink, and we're going to be giving away some very cool prizes, too! Invite a friend! We'll see you there!

Mission Accomplished!

It's nothing short of amazing what Flamingo Road Church accomplished at the girls' orphanage in La Victoria over the past week.

What was once a worn-down, weary-looking house now has become a bright, colorful, cheerful home for 23 precious girls. They all have new bunkbeds, new mattresses, new sheets, new paint on the walls, a new stove, new gas tanks, new toilets, new sinks, and enough hot water for everyone! Today is the third day after the "reveal" part of the extreme makeover, and I know for a fact that the girls are still only barely able to grasp what we did to their home.

One of the most important things that we can and must do as a church is to work together in community, and I'm really proud of the way that the FRC folks from Florida and from Lima worked together to make life a little better - no, a lot better - for 23 of our little sisters in La Victoria. We blessed them, but they blessed us even more.

In Matthew 19:14 (The Message), Jesus says, "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these."

By virtue of the FRC Extreme Makeover at the orphanage, we showed the love of Jesus Christ to 23 girls. I'm glad that heaven will be made up of people like them. I'm glad that we will be sharing heaven with them. I'm glad that they are our friends. I'm glad that they are our sisters in Christ.