Wagwaan

Wagwaan! means “What’s Up” in Jamaican!

Greeting from Kingston, Jamaica!  We just completed our third day.  It is Sunday and just as in the United States we woke up this morning and went to church. However, I guarantee our church service this morning was quite different than the typical church service I have attended in the U.S.

Jamaicans are not in a rush: they are not in a hurry to leave church at 12:00 noon and get on with their day awaiting the next sporting event; they are at church to fellowship, to invest in each others lives and to truly share with each other what God is doing in their lives.  It hit me today that I don’t even know half the people in my church back home, and here although the church is ¼ the size, I felt more at home and connected than ever.  They truly get the concept of the Body of Christ.  I have really been challenged in these few short days to really impact those around you.

During the welcome time at the church we all walked around and hugged and chatted with one another and really greeted one another.  I have not even hugged everyone on our team!  It shows the difference in culture, the difference on values and importance – they truly put people first.  Do we?

As a team we are reading through Worldliness edited by C.J. Mahaney.  This book is very eye-opening. Some of the key points and questions I have drawn out of it so far in chapter one have been:  “It is a gradual weakening, a subtle contaminating, and an eventual conforming to the world. We are so often ignorant of the signs, the symptoms of worldliness.  People can attend church, singing the songs, apparently listening to the sermons – no different on the outside than they’ve always been.  But inside that person is drifting.  He sits in church but is not excited to be there. She sings songs without affection.  He listens to preaching without conviction. She hears but does not apply.”  So the question is… ARE YOU DRIFTING?  That is the question I am wrestling with as I am on this trip right now, and if I were to be honest with myself, the answer to that would have to be “Yes”!  So please join me and our team as we struggle through this book and work through these challenging truths.

Please keep us in your prayers: you are having more of an impact through your prayers than you will ever know.  Thank you for being faithful!  We look forward to a big day tomorrow full of hard work; we will be prepping the church yards and hopefully pouring concrete to make a basketball court to help the ministry to youth at the church.  We also have an opportunity to play basketball with the Jamaicans-please pray that it will be an effective, God honoring day.

Loving the Jamaican culture,

Meredith Wrightson

Crossroads Bible Church Team

We had a team in May from North Carolina.  They were a great help to the church.  They were able to begin forming up and pouring pillars/columns that will one day hold the church roof.

This was the first overseas mission’s trip for this church and it was the first mission’s trip for most of the men.

Below is part of an e-mail we received after the team arrived back in the States.

“It was a fantastic experience for all of us and really opened up Crossroads’ eyes to God’s work around the world. I expect this will be the beginnings of a solid missions program for our church and we will see more international trips in the future for Crossroads.”

– Dan

We are thrilled with what God is doing not only here in Jamaica, but in the lives of team members and churches back home as a result of the team ministries.

Spring Update

Lynda’s Parents

Some of you may know already but please keep Lynda’s Dad, in prayer. Though he was never a smoker… he has been diagnosed with cancer in both lungs and spine.   He started radiation on May 11th and then after a few weeks they will discuss chemotherapy.  He is in a lot of pain and is also recovering from a spinal surgery in which they also fused some vertebrae in the spine effected by the cancer.  We received a call from Lynda’s brother, and after talking with him, we decided to send Lynda back to Wisconsin for a few weeks to help take care of them till they get settled.   Unfortunately, her mom is not in very good health either.  (Lynda should be returning on the 20th of May to a lonely, hungry, skinny, half starved family!!!  The kids and I will all be ready for some of Momma’s good home-cooked food again and a break from peanut butter sandwiches….ha, ha ).

Successful Work Days

We thank God that the last two Saturdays were so beneficial. We had “church work day” where we had roughly 30 people working on the 1st Saturday and about 15 people on the second. We were able to successfully pour concrete on most of the north side where the roof was so badly leaking.  (And just in time as the rainy season is upon us now.)   The second work day was primarily spent cleaning up the church yard from where the front end loader pushed the trash pile away,and filled in the footers with dirt. This will be important since parking will be needed to host several upcoming events…

Video Night

We all enjoyed the film that one of our members brought back from her recent visit to the States. It was entitled “Fireproof.”   We had a good turn out from the community and even had a few people from our sister churches in our zone who attended.   Afterwards Dad gave a few challenging comments and we concluded with refreshments… Sodas, hot -dogs and ice cream.

Upcoming Events this Month…

• May 16th – Evangelistic Outreach from Spanish Town into May Pen (1 hr away) new church plant
• May 20 – Lynda Returns to Jamaica
• May 19 & 20 – Hosting the Ministry of Education to host conduct training classes for our district.
• May 22 – 24th – Zone 4 Mission Conference
• May 25th – Jamaica Labour Day – Work day at community re-building bridge and or home of poor member in Irish Pen ghetto
• May 26th – Dad and Mom leaving for summer months back to IN
• May 26th – First Team Arrives to continue work on columns
• May 30th – Hosting JEM national concert for fund raiser for JEM Radio program

Tensions High

Pray for peace in Irish Pen.   Last Saturday we noticed several police cars and a mob of people by the church yard.  It turned out that a policeman was shot and killed a few hours earlier near our church yard.   Apparently, he was leaving his “girlfriend’s” yard in the early hours of the morning when someone followed him and shot him.   Since then, the community has been seeing a high volume of police in the area and tensions are hot.

Summer Teams Help

• May 26 – 3rd – Crossroads Bible Church
• June 12 – 22 – Lancaster Bible College
• July 3rd – 11th – Highland Baptist Church
• July 24th – Aug 3rd – Calvary Bible Church

Ministries continue

“Karing Hearts Ministries”, an outgrowth of Spanish Town Tabernacle, started with Sister Jody Dove’s vision for helping the poor in our surrounding communities.   Lives continue to be touched in practical helpful ways.   (If you would like, I have a short power point presentation I can email you showing more of this ministry. Just contact me at bkay@cwjamaica.com)

April Issue Kay’s News

Ministering to Hurting Families

We thank God for how He is working in the life of the church. Sister Jody started a new ministry outreach called “Karing Hearts”.

Karing is spelled with a “K” in memory of her late husband Karl Dove.

Sunday before last was the first distribution of food and clothing to the less fortunate living in the ghetto behind the church.

The people who received were very grateful.

Below is an excerpt from Jody whom we have

known since she was about 12 years old. What a privilege to be able to see her come to the

Lord in her teens, grow in her walk with the Lord, and now branch out into ministry.

“I prayed and ask God for His help, because He is the one that

has placed this burden on my heart for this ministry and I believe that He will never ask us to do something that His grace

and power are not able to sustain.   We prayed and blessed the items and shared them as equally as we could, and ended up with four small bags of groceries. I prayed that God would direct us to the right persons and left.  When we arrived, we introduced ourselves to a lady and her blind husband.  We gave her a bag and prayed with her. As we held their hands and reminded them that God loved and cared for them, the lady broke down in tears. She shared that they both were sick and did not have anyone to take care of them, except for the times when persons would stop by to make them some tea. It was so obvious that the Lord had directed us to this house to remind these two people that He

loved them and that He would never leave or forsake them.”

Last Sunday this elderly couple was able to come to our free medical clinic to receive help. We are excited about what God is doing!

Ministering to Boys

Another ministry is the boys sling shot club led by Bud. It is a ministry to boys in the community from ages 8-12.   Many of them don’t have a father figure.

Each week they have a chant which includes five “stones” of commitment:

“no to drugs, no to alcohol, no to sex, no to fighting, and no to ‘teefing’ (stealing). Jesus only, God’s way, God’s time.”

They have studied godly men of the Bible, have had Bible memorization, and lots of fun.

Please keep these boys in prayer.

Special Points for Prayer

• We’ve had to deal with our first discipline issue involving  a church member  who is nineteen, single,  and pregnant.
• We are getting ready to renew our work permits which can be a long, tedious process.
• Our annual mission’s conference is coming up the fourth weekend in May.  This involves the four churches in our zone

Happy New Year!!!

If you are like me, it seems so hard to believe that this past year has zipped by so fast.  We trust that in this new year you will find your heart responding more and more to God’s wonderful love.  We hope this year will be filled with happiness for you and your family, but, whether it’s a “happy” year or not, let’s seek to make it a “holy” one as we respond to Him.

Thanks so much for praying for our watchnight service last night.  It was hard to tell exactly how many people we had since several were milling around in the back and coming in and out.  But, we had at least 55 in attendance.  It was encouraging to see three of the unsaved husbands that we have been praying for who normally don’t attend.  (One did come to the Christmas party).   Their wives were just beaming with joy to see them in church.   We had a time when people shared God’s  goodness to them this past year.   We also had a candlelight service in which a cross was formed.  As we lit the candles, we said to the one whose candle we were lighting, “May the Spirit of God light a fire in your heart this year.”   We were given a short exhortation from Galatians, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. (Gal 6:14-15).   Then Dad got up and preached a wonderful message.  The presence of God seemed to fill the room.  Many appeared to be moved but no one openly responded to the invitation.  We trust that God will continue His work in their hearts.  The night ended with refreshments as people enjoyed fellowship with one another.

Thanks for praying for us as we partner together to reach many Jamaicans for His kingdom.

Pray for Jamaica

We are asking for prayer for tonight.   In Jamaica this is historically an important night to be in God’s house.

Many will be out drinking and partying but try to find their way into the church before the clock strikes midnight (to ensure good luck for the new year).  For some, this may be the only time in the year that they enter a church service.

As with many other churches, we will be giving God thanks for his provisions to us over this past year, seeking His guidance for the new year ahead and praying for the unsaved as we hold our watchnight service.

We love each of you and may God richly bless you as you anticipate the new year.

Christmas Parties

We hosted two Christmas parties this year.The children’s party was held at the church and the adult party was at our house.  We had a wonderful time with food, fun and then we read the Christmas story and sang carols.

Children’s Christmas Party Pictures

Adult Christmas Party Pictures