Family Tour Starts tomorrow

We fly to Dallas to see Brandon and Amy. Tuesday or Wed. we are going to drive to Southeast Missouri to see Darla's Family. On Sunday we go up to St. Louis and fly to North Carolina to visit my folks.

On Jan. 10th we fly back to Mexico........

Thanks for your prayers as we are traveling.

Emanuel "God with us".

This Christmas we celebate the fact that God is with us. Have a Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look like Christmas in Paamul

OK I'll be honest it's hard to sing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" with any conviction when your backyard garden is in full bloom. But it is looking like Christmas inside the house. We even had a visit from Santa and his Dog.

Chan Chen Project Master Plan

The history of the project to this point:

We started about two years ago with a group of medical students from Ga. We did a one day medical clinic at the school in the village of Chan Chen. We discovered that the needs were great. I met the town leader that day his name is Rodolfo, I ask him what we could do to serve his village and he jokingly said “you can paint our jail” so we did. For almost two years now we have been bringing food and clothing out to these people and they are always glad to see us but the only thing that has changed in these two years is that now there are even more poor people in the village and the jail needs another coat of paint. So I have been talking to the leaders trying to understand the source of the poverty and how we can really make a difference.
We have come up with a plan that will be the first step in meeting the real needs in the village of Chan Chen.


The Problems

Poverty is the great problem we face in Chan Chen and I know that there are many reasons behind this problem. The lack of Education, alcoholism, self-serving leadership, no telephone service……etc.
The greatest cause or perhaps the septum of the problem of this poverty is the flight of the men. The men can not find jobs in the village so they move to the tourist area of Playa Del Carmen, or Cancun in search of work to feed their family. When they arrive in the tourist zone with no English and very little Spanish they can only find the lowest paying jobs and cost of living in the tourist zone is 10 time higher than life in Chan Chen. Most have no money to send home and many men never return home. Many of the women are left in the valley with no way to feed their family.

The solutions for many

Bring economic opportunities to the village. Prepare and train the work force. Offer an on going celebration recovering class. Bring cell phone service to the area. CHRIST LOVE IN ACTION!

Plan of Action

Rodolfo and his family have donated land to our organization, Global Community Fellowship, to build a small mission center/hotel.


This land is in an ideal location for what we want to do it is located on the main road just before you come into town. This is a great place with many large trees and room to build.

We plan to build six Mayan huts or cabanas, a kitchen and meeting area. The cabanas will look like a traditional Mayan house on the outside but will be a modern hotel room on the inside.

Estimated building cost. Each cabana will cost about $11,000. The kitchen and restaurant/meeting area estimated building cost $16,000. That would be the total building cost would be about $82,000.

If we can bring down 70 mission volunteer a year to stay at the Mayan hotel then we will be able to employ 10 Mayan workers full time… This would mean that about 50 more children would have a father in the home and food on the table. This is the first direct benefit. We would also plan to train young people who are planning to leave the village for work in the Tourist zone. Our volunteers will help teach English and we will also help the students find better paying jobs.
The third benefit to the families of Chan Chen is that we will help train the women in developing and marketing hand make craft.

As we build relationships and give people hope for the future we will share the Good News of Christ.

THE ROLE OF THE VOLUNTEER TEAMS IN CHAN CHEN

IN 2009 We need construction teams to stay and work along side the Mayan workers.

We need medical teams willing to come and stay in village Hotel and conduct medical clinics in and around Chan Chen.

We need teams that would come and prayer walk in Chan Chen and other villages in the area

We need sports team willing to come and do sports camp in the park at Chan Chen.

We need teams to come and do mission VBS in the park.

We need teams show the Jesus film in Mayan in Chan Chen and other near by towns.

We need teams to teach ESL classes

WE need a video team that would come down and do a 10 minute high quality video to help promote the project.

We need a volunteer to build high quality professional Website for the Chan Chen missions Hotel project.

We need help from a stateside volunteer to help us write professional ads for Baptist State papers.

We need help from a stateside volunteer to promote this project to University students in the states.

We need stateside volunteer that would help us find a used van or truck in the states that is in good condition that we could use in ministry in the village.

WE need teams that would come down and do a concert in the park in Chan Chen

We need two English teaches willing to come for two months and stay in the village and work through the school in Chan Chen as a volunteer teacher.

We need volunteers that would help us raise money stateside and promote this in the churches in your area.

WE need volunteers that would pray and keep our prayer needs before your church.




Steps to success in Chan Chen

1. Prayer – this is on going
2. Share vision and find land for the Mayan Hotel - Completed Dec. 9, 2008
3. Contact supports in the States and share vision - by Jan 2009 – doing this now
4. Draw plans and clear land for project by Dec 17, 2008 in process
5. Start construction on first Cabana By Jan 2009
6. Enlist volunteers teams - this is on going but hope to 4 teams by May. 2009
7. Complete stage one of construction by July 2009
8. First Craft and Marketing classes begin by Aug 2009
9 First English classes start by Aug 2009
10. The hotel project employs 10 full time workers by Oct. 2009



Paid Personal and money flow

Rodolfo is our director of construction in the village. We are going to build as we have the money. We are paying Rodolfo as we go. For example cleaning the land is taking four men two weeks at a cost to us of $150. We are paying Rodolfo $40 a week to work for us full time. We are going pay for the jobs as they come.

After the hotel is completed Rodolfo and his wife will manage the hotel and a cost of $200 per month. The volunteers will send their money through Global Community Fellowship and we will pay the hotel cost.

Rodolfo will hire the staff to run the hotel….. We will all work together as we get started.

The cost of the mission trip will very based on the number of people on the team and the number of nights spent in the tourist area hotels.

This is just and example but cost will change
The normal trip plan based on a 12 to 15 person team

Arrive in Cancun on a Sat. afternoon or night
Stay one night in Paamul or Playa hotel
Sunday go to church in English at 8:30am
After church Free time beach time
3:30pm leave for Chan Chen
6:00pm dinner in Chan Chen hotel

Worship team meetings

Monday – Thursday work and ministry

Friday free day and Friday night in Paamul hotel or Cancun Hotel

Sat. depart from Cancun

Cost will change but for now I am thinking about $600 per person for a week.

This is how the money is going flow out monthly.

$1500 10 Mayan workers in Chan Chen
$ 400 Water and Light bills
$ 500 maintains on hotel
$ 100 Landry
500 Van maintains and new van fund
500 Gas
Projected cost to run the Mayan fellowship Hotel $3500 per month

Pray that People would continue to come to our services in the Mall

We Started two week ago meeting in Spanish in the Mall. We need help in getting the message out about this new work. Christian Carballo is preaching and Danny's band is doing the music the service is great we just need help getting the word out.

If you or mission team from your church could come and help us hand out fliers contact me by email: doug@church-in-playa.com

Mayan Family donates land to Chan Chen project

God is at work in the Mayan Village of Chan Chen. Today the family that owns much of the land in around the small Mayan Village of Chan Chen responded to the call of God as I shared the vision for the work in Chan Chen. After hearing the plan they said "your vision is to large for the land you have but don't worry we have 4 acres on the east side of village you can have." This was a God thing because I knew the land that I had would not work but I did not know what God was going to do. I felt like Abraham walking up the mountain with his son not knowing how God was going to work it a;; out but trusting that He would. Below is a Photo of the family that God used today to answer many prayers.

The future home of Chan Chen Mission Center. WE NEED YOUR HELP AS WE ARE RAISING FUNDS FOR THE PROJECT. A few dollars can go a long way out there.

Please give: You can send checks to: Global Community Fellowship, 1904 Red Bud Cir., Greenville, NC 27858

Handing out fliers in the Mall

Our pastor of worship Danny takes handing out to a new creative level.

Pray and support the Chan Chen Project

I was out in the small Mayan Village of Chan Chen this week and had a great time sharing and planing with the community leaders. There are many needs in this poor village. Your heart would break to see how some of these people are just surviving on almost nothing. For almost two years now I have been bringing food and clothing out to these people and they are always glad to see us but the only thing that has changed in these two years is that now there are even more poor people in the village. So I have been talking to the leaders trying to understand the source of the poverty and how we can really make a difference.



Maybe this is over simplifying the problem but there are no jobs in the village so the men move out to tourist zone or the US in search of work to feed the family. When they move if they do find work it is often the lowest paying jobs and they also discover that the cost of living in the tourist towns is very high. Most will have very little if any money to send back to the family in the village. The separation is hard on the family and many of the men never return to the village and the kids and women are there living on our handouts.





It is easy to get overwhelmed in the face of a giant problem like poverty. It is true that we can not to everything but we can to something.



This is my dream, to help create an opportunity for some men to have paying jobs in the village and those who choose to leave be better trained so they could find the better jobs in the tourist zone.



I want to start by building a small mission center hotel in the village to house volunteer teams. If we can bring four teams a year that will mean that 6 Mayan families will be able to stay together. The small hotel could employ as many as 10 men . That would mean that about 50 children would now have a father in the home and money to support the family.

This center would also be a training center teaching English and the other skills needed to find the higher paying jobs if they decide to leave the village.



I believe this mission center will show the love of Christ and many will come to Salvation.



I want to build 6 units and each unit will cost about $11.000.



If you would like to know more about how you can help email me. doug@church-in-playa.com

Just for Fun

If you have ever tried to learn Spanish you will love this... "First Semester of Spanish love Song"

We had a successful opening in Playa

The numbers don't tell the whole story but we had a 115 adults and 20 kids at our first worship service in the movie theater in Playa.

Today is Launch Day for the new Church in Playa

2 Thessalonians 3:1 (The Message)
1-3One more thing, friends: Pray for us. Pray that the Master's Word will simply take off and race through the country to a ground-swell of response, just as it did among you. And pray that we'll be rescued from these scoundrels who are trying to do us in. I'm finding that not all "believers" are believers. But the Master never lets us down. He'll stick by you and protect you from evil.

Only Two Days until Church Launch in Playa

PRAY PRAY PRAY only two more days.....

There are many things I wish we had more time for, like getting the word out about this new church but ready or not Sunday is going to be the first day in the Movie theater for our Spanish side of the church.

Pray that the people will come out and that
God would build a great church in Playa from this start......

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

We had over 130 people come out for Thanksgiving dinner at the church today. Darla and I both are still getting over this bug and were unable to eat. It was hard to see all that food and not trust your stomach... We are both feeling much better tonight and I did eat for the first time in three days tonight. We have so much to be thankful for and one is your friendship and prayers.

Thanks

There is no good time for a stomach bug

Darla and I both need your prayers. While there is never a good time for a stomach bug the day before Thanksgiving when you have already invited 200 people over to eat might be the worst time. I am feeling better today but Darla is still out of it..... We have so much going on.... We not only have the Thanksgiving meal tomorrow but we are also launching the church in Playa on Sunday..... PLEASE PRAY>..

Handing out fliers in the Mall

We had a great day of worship today in Paamul and this afternoon we handed out about 6000 fliers promoting our new service in the Mall that will start next week.

Red Tape and more battles.

We need your prayers as we try to get the word out about our new worship service in Playa.
We have paid for a place in the Mall to set up a table and hand out fliers but in normal Mexico style we are still working on the paper work and political red tape. On top of this, Mayo, one of our leaders who is helping us with paperwork, well his father had a stroke on Tuesday and he is ICU in the hospital in Cancun.

We hope to have a meeting today with the lawyer to work out all the paperwork. They say it is just a formality but we need to hand these fliers out.

Other prayers need:

We are planing a Thanksgiving dinner outreach to the English Speakers in Paamul. We hope to have 200+ for Thanksgiving dinner on the 27th.

We need your prayer for the launch of this new service in Playa on the 30th. We are going to be moving the meeting time in Paamul to 8:30am and the the service in Playa will start at 10:15am.
I am a little nervous about the set up time this first week in Playa. Pray for our Team and for the lost people here who need the Lord but don't know it yet.


We for Pastor Terry and Debbie Hill they are planing to moving down in Jan. They are going to be a great blessing as we are going to be able to do more to reach the English speakers together.

A Day in the Airports

Today we are headed back home to Playa. We had a great time at the conference in Victoria Tx. this week. We met many new friends from all over the U.S.

We need your prayers for our weekend services. We are planing to start handing fliers Monday in the Mall to start building excitement for our church launch Nov. 30th. Please pray!

We are in Corpus Christi Texas

Darla and I are in Corpus Christi Texas today. We are going to be attending a church growth conference in Victoria TX. this week. A couple that visited our church in Paamul invited us up so we are excited to be here and looking forward to what God has for us. Pray that we will learn some things that can we help us IMPACT Playa Del Carmen. Also pray the we can avoid what Nelson Searcy talks the number church pitfall, Conference Confusion.


#1 - Conference “Confusion” - This is a illness that church planters (and many young pastors) get. They go to a conference and get really excited about the host church, the speakers, and the model being presented, that they go home and immediately try to change everything to match what the conference speaker was teaching. The problem is, once the next conference comes around, they go home and try to do the same thing. What happens is that after a short amount of time, the church loses its original vision and it becomes a Frankenstein church that’s a strange blend of a bunch of conference ideas and church models.
What cures this illness? Getting very clear from the beginning about your vision and sticking to it.

Out of the boat once again!

Sometimes as you start a new church God will ask you to get out of the boat, to put it all on the line for His glory. Getting out of the boat is scary but when God has called you it is even more scary to stay in the comfort of that boat. We are planing to launch this new work on Nov. 30th. We are putting all the money we have into this church start..... The cost are great but the people of Playa need a great church. We are praying that lives will be changed as they connect with our church.

We rented a place in the largest Mall today. This will be my church office for the next few months. We are printing banner and we are going to put an information table in the center of the Mall. We are renting the movie theater for the Sunday service in Spanish. We are changing our time for the English service in Paamul to 8:30am.

We need you to Pray!
We need you to give, no gift is too small nor for that matter too big.
WE need help getting the word out, if you want to help us hand out fliers in the Mall. email
Doug@church-in-playa.com

Pray for our Sunday services in Paamul
Pastor Terry Hill will be preaching in the English service this Sunday.
Pray for our small group bible study in English that met our house tonight.

Pastor's Conference in Mexico City

We are here in Mexico City at a Conference for Pastors of International Churches. We are staying with our friends the Sassers . We have made many new friends here that are facing many of the same difficulties we face. It has been a great week of fellowship.

video update from Doug

AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC MESSAGE

Dear Friend,

The economy is on the mind of everyone these days. It dominates the headlines on radio, on television and in the newspaper. People in this part of Mexico are always hurting this time of year because we are a tourist dependent economy and Nov. is normally the end of the low season for tourism. People are worried this year as the Pecos is loosing value each day. The news isn’t good news. Words like recession, depression, downturn and uncertainty dominate the discussion.

Perhaps right now you are feeling financial stress, fear of the future or even the pain of uncertain economic times. Or maybe you are like so many and you simply don’t know what to think! You may be asking, “How will this affect me?” “What will this do to my job?” or “How will this impact my parents or friends?”

The truth is, none of us know the future. But I do know that living our lives by the ups and downs of the market is a very stressful (dare I say, hopeless) way to live.

In times of great uncertainty, we have to break away from the 24-hour news cycles that compete for our attention and focus on the unchanging, the eternal and the solid truths of life.

I am not a fortune teller or a prophet, but I am a life-long student of Scripture and here are four TRUTHS that you can hold onto regardless of the economic news:


1- GOD IS IN CHARGE. God is still on the throne and He is not shaken by the economic uncertainties of life (or any other uncertainties for that matter). He still offers hope to those who trust in him.

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” – Hebrews 12:28
2- GOD WILL GIVE YOU PEACE IF YOU CALL ON HIM.

Turn off the anxiety-producing news reports and open the Good News of God’s Word. Spend some time reading your Bible and praying each day. And remember this promise:

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.” – 1 Peter 5:7


3- GOD WILL GIVE YOU ALL YOU NEED IF YOU PUT HIM FIRST. While it’s tempting to ‘take control’ of our finances when the future is uncertain, let me challenge you to do the opposite. Give control of your finances to God and put him first. If you do, he will give you all you need.

“God will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” – Matthew 6:33


4- GOD WILL USE YOU MORE IN A TIME OF CRISIS THAN IN CALM. While none of us would have wished for this time of difficulty, there is an opportunity for us, as God’s people, to model to the world that our faith is not just a ‘sunny day faith.’ Throughout the ages, it has been during times of crisis that Christianity and God’s people have had the most impact. Let me challenge you to model with your life and lips the 3 truths above and put feet to your faith by:
· being a person of generosity while everyone else is hoarding (John 3:16);
· being consistent in faith while others are fearing (2 Timothy 1:7);
· showing great love and concern for your for the world be going on a mission trip in 2009.

I trust that these truths will be an encouragement to you!

Be encouraged!

We are stepping out in faith and starting a new work in Playa. I am going to ask you to join us in this step of faith. Please pray and please give.....

If you would like more information about this new work and how you can help please contact me Doug Millar at doug@church-in-playa.com

BIG NEWS

NOVEMBER 30th is going to be a big day in the life of our church. We do not have the funds to do all I would like to do as we open this new work in Playa but we have enough to do something. We have rented a movie theater in Playa and we are going to launch our first service on November 30th Lord willing.

We need your prayers and your help financially..... God is going to change many lives if we are able to get the word out.

I know the needs are great everywhere and with this economy you don't need any more excuses not to give but I want to give you a few reasons to support this out reach.

1. The fields are ready for the harvest. John 4:35 "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest '? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.
The people are open and needs are great.

2. We have a team of over 30 Christians here on the ground, committed to doing what every it takes to see this new church started.

3. We have a plan to start meeting weekly in the largest new Mall in Playa.

4. We have plans to rent a space in the mall to promote the church.

5. We have a worship leader and a great team of musicians ready and excited about this new work.

6. We have a connection pastor with a great plan to connect the people into small home group bible studies.

7. We have a young dynamic preacher that will be doing much of the speaking in Spanish.

8. We have 3000 people praying for this new work....

We need you and your help!

If you would pray and ask your friends and church members to pray for Nov. 30th.

If you can give that would be a great help. You can send checks to :

Global Community Fellowship
1904 Red Bud Cir.
Greenville, NC 27858

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Rain, Rain and more Rain

We have had over 20 inches of rain in the last week and no end in sight. There is about 2ft of water on the road in front of our house.

Pray needs:
Pray that the rain would stop soon.
Pray for us as we try to get the paper work from the Gov. to start our new church in Playa
Pray for our economy.
Pray for our church planting team
Pray for lost of Playa
Pray for Darla and I as we go to Mexico City Nov.3 -6 for the Fellowship of International Churches in Latin America conference.

Pray this Sunday's meetings

We need your prayers for the services tomorrow. I'm going to be re-casting the vision for the church launch in Playa. We need your prayers and we also need help and wisdom with the finances for the new work in Playa.

Launch team meeting

We had about 20 people come out to our first church launch vision meeting. It was a great meeting we are planing to launch the church in Playa Nov.30th.

THIS TEAM NEEDS YOUR PRAYERS!

Pray needed for Church Launch team

Tomorrow night we are going to have a very important meeting and we need God's direction as we plan to launch a new work in Playa. I will give you more details after the meeting but pray that we will be led by His Spirit .

Buddy is recovering

Some of you were asking about our dog "buddy". Darla was walking him Sunday afternoon and he was attacked by a German shepherd. Darla and I rush him into town to the vet. He was in pretty bad shape but thank the Lord we found a vet open on Sunday. They put the dog on an I.V. and stitched up his wounds. He is doing much better today.

Focusing on a Big Church Launch in Playa

We now have the team ready to Launch Big in Playa and we are in the process of raising the funds the finally make this 3 year dream a reality for the people of Playa Del Carmen.
Those of you who know me well probably think that focusing is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges of my life. Some have suggested medication for ADD. Focusing on a goal is not my problem. My parents say that I was the only baby they ever saw that never crawled. They say I went from rolling around on the floor to walking. That old saying you must crawl before you can run just was not true in my case. I do not lack the dream, the passion nor the desire to plant a great church in Playa Del Carmen. My problem is the day to day process…. I need your prayers that as I cast the vision this time that I will be just as excited about the steps in the journey as I am about the finish line.
We have a vision casting meeting this Friday night we hope to have about 20 to 25 of our member of church launch team at the meeting. THE NEXT STEP IS FUND RAISING. You can help by sending check to :

Global Community Fellowship
1904 Red Bud Cir
Greenville, NC 27858

Twenty years ago Playa del Carmen was a deserted beach where Indian families raised coconut palms to produce copra and the odd foreigner wandered in to get away from it all. In fact, just a couple of years ago, travel guidebooks very briefly mentioned the area as quiet, a good place for the budget-minded, and as also good for a quick stopover while catching the ferry to Cozumel. All that has changed. The town doubled in size in 1993, and is growing so fast it is difficult to track . Less than 50,000 people lived in playa in 2000 today more than 250,000 people live in this city under construction. Spanish speakers and other nationalities alike are flocking to the area, there is energy in the air, and all the utility, phone, and other complications that accompany such a growth explosion are in motion. It had been established that Playa was the fastest growing city in the world. A New York Times article proposed that from a percentage growth vantage point, Playa is perhaps the fastest growing city in the world over the last 10 years. As one guidebook recently and aptly commented: at the rate the town is currently growing, you might come back to Playa in two years and find it unfamiliar. We are seeing changes daily as the city grows. Schools are conducting classes under tents because the city can not keep past with the grow explosion.
Playa needs a great church and you and your church can help us get to that next step.
We have raised only a fraction of the money that we need to launch a church in this growing people.

If you would like to know more about this next step in the vision please Contact: Doug
Doug@church-in-playa.com

Some of you might be thinking doesn’t Doug know that we are in a financial crisis? Isn’t this going to interrupt your next step in the plan? One day Jesus was walking down to go to Jericho and some blind men start yelling at him. And the Bible says this (Matt. 20:30-32): “Two blind men shouted ‘Lord, have mercy on us! Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’.”

Most of Jesus’ ministry and most of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions. You think about it. All the people he healed – the blind man, the lame man, the sick people, the paralyzed man, the dead child – all of them were interruptions. His first miracle? Interrupted at a wedding. He second miracle? Interrupted on the way to Galilee. This financial crisis might be a great opportunity for you as you help make a miracle possible in Playa Del Carmen.

Please Pray and Please give!

Our mission team returns from Cuba

I will write more later but I knew that many of you were praying for this team in Cuba. The had a life changing experience as both their lives were changed as well as the lives of those they ministered to. The people of Cuba need our prayers!

Faith and courage essentials of success

March 12, 1933
Address of President Roosevelt by radio


"After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.
It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail."


Erich Bridges writes:

"I’ve got an investment tip that can’t miss. It doesn’t come from a stock trader or a financial insider. It comes from a Gospel singer: George Beverly Shea.If you watched or attended almost any Billy Graham crusade service since 1947, you know “Bev” Shea, now age 99. For some 60 years, he always sang just before Graham began preaching.“When (Shea) finishes singing, I never feel like applauding,” Graham once said. “I feel like bowing my head in prayer.”As a kid, I thought Shea was square when my grandmother made me watch Graham crusade broadcasts. No more. Not after I heard his voice — deep and wide as an ocean — sing these words:I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain,
Or be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
This humble, heartfelt declaration inspired me and countless other listeners more than all the thousand-voice choirs and popular Christian bands that shared crusade stages with Shea over the years.I was reminded in church this week that Shea set I’d Rather Have Jesus to music after his mother put the poem on the family piano one day. At 23, in the depths of the Great Depression, Shea was considering a career in popular music — and the money it offered. He was sorely tempted to pursue it, but a persistent inner voice whispered about a greater purpose. The answer to his struggle came when he read the words to the poem.He chose Jesus rather than silver or gold.That’s the most reliable investment advice you will find anywhere, whether the economy is up or down. Markets fluctuate based on confidence, fear, news, rumors and any number of other factors — some rational, some irrational. But Christ is a solid rock.Now is a time to remember why we are here — not just to get and spend on ourselves, but to give ourselves and our possessions to God. That’s more valuable than anything this world affords.
I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame;
I’d rather be true to His holy name
Christ’s “dear cause” is the spreading of His name to every tribe and nation. George Beverly Shea has stayed faithful to the cause for a long and fruitful lifetime, glorifying God in song before millions in scores of countries. Southern Baptists, too, have long been faithful to give their time and money to help accomplish the worldwide missionary task.
How can we stay faithful in a time of deep economic uncertainty? As a season of international mission giving approaches, what would we rather have?"

In economic hard times remember some things are priceless

Mission team heads to the Island tomorrow

We are sending a team of four from our Church here in Playa to Cuba tomorrow to bring needed supplies and encouragement to people working to recover from two very storm hurricanes. Please pray for the safety of this team.

We started the student ministry at the church today. We had a great first meeting. We had 10 Students and three leaders at this meeting. Pray for these Students and leaders.

Andrea
Isabel
Monse
Mamarma
Sera
Daniel
Eric
Brian
Loren
Alfonso
Abi

Getting back to basics

In economic hard times we are all forced to get back to basics. We once again ask the questions that we should be asking everyday even in good times. “Why are we here?” “What is the mission?” and “What do I need to fulfill the mission?”

John 20:21, Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." Now, what are we being sent to do? What is our mission? Well, Paul is real specific. He tell us in Acts 20, He says, "the most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work the Lord Jesus gave me to tell people the good news about God's grace.”

Acts 1:8 “You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth”

The mission is clear we are to share the good news!

Please continue to pray for the people living in this part of Mexico. The needs are great! We need your help and prayers!

Plans for the month of Oct.

The Bible says, 'A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps' (Pro 16:9). Notice the word 'step'. Our God directs our steps. We have some big dreams and plans that we hope to see happen in Oct. but the truth is so much of life is out of our control.

Here are a few things that are on our calendar for next month:

Oct. 5 We are starting a new student ministry at our church.
Pray for our Volunteer youth leaders. Abby and Alfonso

-- ----------------------------- Alfonso Torres -------------------------------

Oct. 6 We are sending a small mission team to Cuba.

Oct. We plan to start a celebration recovery ministry in Playa

Oct. 25 Mission and Ministry fair.

Please pray for these plan and the growth of our church here.

Great news on a bad news day!

With all the talk of the economic crisis in the US I thought you might want to hear some good news. Last night two young men in our small group both in their twenties prayed and asked God to come into their hearts. They said for years they were convinced that the bible was true but now they are converted…. Praise God! Pray for these tw new believers
Gorge and Pablo….. They have many friends who also need a new direction for eternity..


Pastor Danny left and Gorge on the right

Darla is visiting her family and our kids in the States this week. Buddy and I need your prayers. We had a good day Sunday in our worship services....

Our praise team in the Spainish service

Be the first to join our blog followers Pray team

I want to invite you to be one of the first to join our online blog prayer team. You can now click on "follow this blog" on the right and add your name to the list of people who are praying for the work here in Mexico. We have hundreds of folks praying for us but it would be a great encouragement to me to see your photo each day and know that you are praying for us so please add your name to the list by clicking on “follow this blog” then follow the online instruction. Thanks so much for your prayers.

We need your prayers this weekend. I’m meeting with a small group of young single adults tonight to talk about “what does it mean to be a true follower of Christ in Playa del Carmen”.

Tomorrow I am preach is both the English and Spanish services.. Thanks so much for your prayer and please join our team.

Helping the People of Cuba

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike together delivered the worst hurricane-related blow in Cuba's storm-battered history, causing "around US$5 billion" in collective damage, the communist government announced Monday night.
Nearly 450,000 homes were damaged and more than 63,000 of those completely wiped out. At least 200,000 Cubans have been left homeless and "hundreds of more families" will have to find temporary housing while authorities work to rebuild, according to a statement that took more than half an hour to read during state television's nightly newscast.
"The country has been devastated in its economic, social and housing infrastructure like never before," the government said.

Our church in here in Playa Del Carmen has a strong Cuban connection. Our worship pastor, Daniel and his wife Liam are from the Island. Our small church here in Mexico has very little to give. I feel like it is the "widows mite" but we are going to give and go.

Our plan is to try to send Daniel along with two other volunteer missionaries from our church to Cuba in the next few weeks with some much needed supplies. Please pray for the people of Cuba at this difficult time. Pray that God would use our "widows mite" We can't do it all but we can do something.

Praying for our friends and family in Texas

Our hearts and prayers go out to our friends who are facing hurricane Ike today. Our son Brandon lives in Dallas and we also have many friends in the Houston area. As you watch the news I hope you will stop and pray for the people who are suffering as a result of Ike. You are not hearing much about it but the Cuban people also needs your prayers. How do you pray for the suffering. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the stuff going on in the world. I think a lot of us have a distorted mindset about prayer. We feel helpless and say, “All I can really do is pray.” WHAT? All you can do is call upon the Maker of heaven and earth?

Please Call upon the Father for the suffering and please also pray for our church in Playa Del Carmen.

Note from Missionary friend in Cuba

Yesterday hurricane Ike hit Cuba. Assessment teams from the Eastern Baptist Convention of Cuba are out today visiting the zones in their area heaviest hit by Ike. We are already getting some reports. The following is one we got this morning from one of the convention leaders.
Today I spoke to pastor Gabriel in Las Tunas (one of the towns hardest hit), they have fifty people in the church building, and he told me something that marked my life. He said, “Something incredible has happened. The houses of the Christians have been protected. Houses fell on one side and the other but those of the children of God are still standing.” Glory to God! At about three in the morning Gabriel heard screams and a lot of noise, the wind pounded around 120 miles per hour. The neighbors who lived next door to the church building were losing their house. Without thinking twice, the pastor went out, the wind dragging him along, but he was able to bring them back to the church and protect their lives.
In these difficult times we are trusting in God. God is going to do something good.
Please pray—
+ For those who are homeless, hungry and barely hanging onto hope, like Gabriel’s neighbors
+ For the assessment teams who are visiting the devastated areas, that they would be able to encourage and offer a word of witness to the suffering ones, and that they will have wisdom in discerning how to help.
+ Thank God for His faithfulness to the Family of Faith in good times and bad.

A Day of Worship and Meetings

I should have preached on hell today because it was so hot in our open air grass root church building in Paamul. The sermon topic today was "building a foundation for effective living". The Key is integrity A lot of people think integrity is just being honest but it is far more than just being honest. Integrity is when you really live what you preach. It is far easier to hear a sermon or preach a sermon than it is to live out the sermon.

After preaching at the two worship services Darla and I fed our leadership team at our house we fed about 25 people. We all had a great time..... We really are blessed with a great group of folks in the church.

Please pray for our Brothers in Cuba tonight as IKE is moving across the island.

New Small Groups starting this week.

Last night we had 10 people at a new small group at Dr. Daniel's house. On Monday we saw many new people coming to our small group at Mayo's. Pray for two of our groups that are meeting tonight.

We are moving forward as God leads the way.....

We need your Prayers, your Support and we need your church to bring a mission teams our way. I have seen many changes in my lifetime in the culture and life of the church in the US. It is sometimes easier to see change when you are away. One of the things I have witnessed is a shift from the church culture of the 70's and 80's that said it's all about "me". I will come to church but what am I going to get out of it. Then in the 90's we said it's all about building a big church. It was a shift from "me" to "we". Together we can be a great church..... Now in the last few years I am seeing another shift from ME and WE to "Them". This is a culture of service. The young people in your church today want to serve..... and we need their help... Please contact me and plan a trip today. Doug@church-in-playa.com

Full house and No Rain

We had over 130 adults and about 45 kids. We had 30 new families who want to join one of our small groups.... More story about the event will follow but I wanted to thank you for praying and ask you to pray for our services tomorrow....

Big Outreach event tonight in Playa

It's looking like the storm is going to stay to the east of us and that is an answer to prayer.

Please pray that God will uses this event tonight to bring 25 new families into our church.....


Thanks for praying!

Prayer is the Key...

Last night we had an all night prayer meeting to pray for the kick off event this Sat. God is already at work in the lives of the people here. We had about 25 people come out to plan and pray for this outreach event. God was doing some in reach as we prayed. Reaching into our hearts.....

As we watch the weather those of us who have been through this before understand how difficult life can be in the aftermath of a strong storm. The other problem is the lack of funds. This is low season and everyone is in need already. As I look at the storm out in the Caribbean , and our financial storm as well I was remained of the faith of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego as they were facing burnout. They told king Nebuchadnezzar If we are thrown into the blazing fire the God we serve is able to save us but even if He does not save us we will be faithful.

We need your help and your prayers... We are at a break through point in the life of the church here in Playa and the enemy is not happy. Last night on the way to the prayer meeting one our key preachers for the event was involved in a car accident with a taxis.. Everyone was OK but they did not make it to the meeting..... God is getting ready to do great things in Playa through our church and we need you to join this movement.

First we NEED YOUR PRAYERS then we NEED YOU TO GIVE.

Praying for our out reach event planed for Sat.

We now ask you to pray that one uninvited guest would not make it to our Playa del Carmen outreach event on Sat. night. We have stepped out on faith and we have put all of the money we have, $3000. in making this kick off banquet a really special event. Now the weather Channel is saying hurricane Gustav could be a strong Cat 3 storm on Sat. night. As many of you know we live in a grass roof house but our house is not my greatest concern. We have over 100 lost people who are now planning to attend our outreach event on Sat. Pray that Gustav will not change their plans. Please pray for our safety, our finances and our success as we reach out to the people of Playa.

SOLD OUT !

The tickets for our kick off banquet went on sale today and they were sold out in five minutes. We sold 150 tickets we should have 100 non-believers at our out reach banquet on the Sat. August the 30th. Please pray for this night and the activities of the week.
Wed. we will be having an all night prayer meeting praying for these 100 non-believers.
Sat is the big event in Playa Del Carmen. We need your prayers.

Getting ready for Sunday

Pray for us this week as we are going to be launching a 4 month long spiritual growth campaign.

Next Sat. night is the first big event. We are going to be having a banquet and concert in Playa....

Pray for us tomorrow as we meet in Paamul. I will be praying both services English 9:45 and and Spanish 11:30.

Big Event in the life of our Church

Saturday August 30th is going to be a big day in the life of our church.......

We are going to launch a 4 month spiritual grow campaign in Playa Del Carmen. This campaign will begin with an outreach banquet and Ministry fair on Aug. 30th. PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS OUTREACH BANQUET!

Pray for these new Believers

We first met Blanca as the Volunteer Mission team from Myrtle Beach was prayer walking in Playa Del Carmen. There is power in prayer now Blanca is serving as part of our praise team.

Pablo just moved to Playa about 3 weeks ago looking for a new life and he has found that is Christ. He is our new drummer on our praise team.

This is young man has been coming to our church for a month or so. God save him out of a life of Drug abuse. Pray for Jesus as he seeks to fellow Christ.

I just met this young man last week as well. Aram is already serving God in our church playing the guitar in our praise band.

Pray that these new believers will grow in Christ and share the Good News with there friends.

Better with age??????

Yesterday I celebrated my 30th anniversary of my 21st birthday.... Anyway you say it I am getting older....





We have a team working out in the Mayan village of Chan Chen today:

Thanks for Praying..

God is hearing your prayers.... Sunday was one of those special days. It was our daughter Brittany's 21st birthday... It's hard to believe our baby is 21 but time is moving on.

As I preached in Spanish Sunday God was in control and after the service I was planing to baptize Blanca. Blanca is a young lady that we met when the mission team from South Carolina was prayer walking. As I called Blanca to the front at the close of the worship service to explain the meaning of Baptism 3 more new believers came forward I had the honor of Baptising four that day..

Today we are taking Brittany to the airport.... she is going back to school in Ark. and we are picking up a mission team from PA.

Thanks for Praying!

Pray for our weekend services.

We are asking for your prayers for our weekend services in Paamul. I will be preaching in English and Spanish. We also have a baptismal service that will follow the Spanish worship.

Our daughter Brittany is here with us this week and she will be celebrating her 21st birthday tomorrow.

Your help is needed!

Last night we had an exciting prayer meeting with our church leadership. God is moving us to action. On August 30th we are going to have a kick off worship service and banquet in Playa Del Carmen. We are going to conduct a five month long church wide spiritual growth campaign.
We are planing and praying that a least 100 people will attend our kick off celebration....

This is how you can help!
1.Pray and motivate your church friends to also pray for this movement of God.
2. Give, Ask your church and other friends to give to help us start this movement
a. You might want to do a Mexican dinner night to help raise the funds we need.
b. other great idea, golf tournament for missions, youth car wash, cut grass for missions,
c. no gift is to small. You can send checks to: Global Community Fellowship
1904 Red Bud Cir.
Greenville, NC 27858

3. I really want you and your church to be part of this movement of God in Playa. So if possible make plans to come down and worship with us.

4. Send email of encouragement to our leaders

Thanks so much for your prayers.

Please prayer for these church leaders as they lead our church wide Spiritual Growth Campaign.
They need your encouragement, most of them only speak Spanish but if you feel led to email these leaders and let them know you and your church are praying for this Campaign that could be a great help. These 15 people along with others are going to play a key role in this movement in Playa del Carmen. The goal is to build a great church among the growing middle class workers in the Playa Del Carmen area. Pray that we will start 12 new small groups and have 200 in the weekend services by Jan. 09.



Christian Carballo christian.carballo@hotmail.com

Abimela Rodriguez abimela75@hotmail.com

Alfonso Torres a.torrescosta@lycos.com

Claudia Torres claudiaenlaroca@yahoo.com

Mary Lopez maryplaya6@hotmail.com
Nelson Garcia nelili@hotmail.com

Gilsen y Mayo Saldierna gimond66@hotmail.com

Daniel Bueno danielbuenosaavedra@yahoo.com.mx

Darla Millar darlajtm@hotmail.com

Doug Millar doug@church-in-playa.com

Ana Rosales anypjj@yahoo.com.mx

Blanca Cortes blanca@deportista.com

Daniel Peñalver liemdaniel@hotmail.com
Liem Chaviano

Important leadership meeting tonight

We need your prayers as we meet with our group of leaders tonight to start planing our next step as a church.

"4 months with Purpose"

You are going to be hearing more about this as we try to reach out to the growing Mexican middle class families living in Playa del Carmen.

Living with Purpose

I often wonder how Moses must have felt as he faced the Red Sea….. It seems like I have a Red Sea experience about once a week. Truly I don’t know how many times God has lead us through deep waters… You would think after living down here for 12 years and always living on the edge of disaster we would not be surprised any more but God always parts the waters in a unique and special way like only He can do.

We had a great leadership meeting Sunday, 17 people are now on our leadership team. We are now planning a church wide outreach campaign " Living with Purpose" over the next 4 months. We hope to have the kick off to this campaign in Sept. The plan for now is to start with a kick off banquet September 4th our goal is to have 100 people at this first banquet. We will follow this with a ministry and mission fair… and over all goal is to have 200 people in our weekend services by Jan. We are now running about 50 in our spanish service in Paamul.

Our next planning meeting is Wed. night please pray as we organize and build teams for this campaign.

We are going to need a prayer team, program event team, communication team, small group connection team, ministry fair team, Children and youth outreach team.

Pray that we will find the leaders we need for each task….

We had a full house at our 301 leadership training this afternoon. We had 14 adults at the meeting and we feel this is a great start. Pray for all our Sunday activities. We are planing to feed about 20 at our house tomorrow afternoon. We are making plans to launch our new service in Playa.

It's another busy Weekend

Today at 3:00pm I am teaching a class in Spanish.... helping church members discover their spiritual gift and their place in ministry.

Tomorrow I will be preaching in English at 9:45am and Spanish at 11:30am.

At 2:00pm I will be leading an important leadership meeting. We are making plan to start worshiping in Spanish in Playa.

We need your prayers this weekend.....

Prayer requests:

The Work In Playa Del Carmen:

1. Pray for our leaderhip team by Name:

Doug and Darla Millar
Daniel and Ana Bueno
Daniel and Liem Peñalver

2. Pray for our small group leaders

Nelson
Alfonso
Jamie
Jackie
Mayo
Jilsen
Claudia

3. Pray for our team as we plan to start a new worship service in Playa as soon as we can find the right location.

4. Pray for pastor Terry Hill and his wife Debbie as they are making plans to move to Playa and work with us starting the First of next year.

5. Pray for a team we have coming in the Second week in August.

6. I am teaching the 301 class in Spanish this Sat. at 3:00pm. This class is to help people find their place in ministry.

7. I will be praying in Spanish and in English this Sunday. People are telling me that God is using my Spanish sermon... Even Darla is saying it's working and she tells me the truth. I still wish I had better Spanish because it is so much I want to say but God is using it and that is great.

8. Pray for our Praise teams....
Victor
Danny
Liem
Ramon
Abby

In English
Jeff
Trazi
Danny

9. Pray that many people will come to Christ and join the team at Fellowship Church

10. This is low season and most of our membership works in the tourist industry so many are hurting financially please prayer for them and the church as well. Pray that we will have all the money we need to impact Playa for Christ.

Personal prayer needs:

Pray for our health and safety. We are praising the Lord that Darla is doing great and the last MRI show that the blood clot was completely gone.

Pray for our kids in the States Brittany is going to start her last year of College. Brandon and Amy are living and working in Dallas.

Pray for us in the area of finance.... God is meeting our needs but it is a little scary if you watch CNN.

Pray that I will have the God's wisdom as I lead our mission team.

Thanks for your prayers and your support.

Are we winning?

I was watching the news the other day and they were asking John McCain what does a win in Iraq look like. I guess that was a good question...... I am not sure how clear his answer was..
That lead me to think... How do we measure victory in our lives or ministries? In every area of life we have a score board. In your finances you have Dow Jones, you have your monthly bank statement. Your pay check...... For most of us it's a win these days if we can pay all our bills.
In the area of health your scoreboard is pounds lost or pounds gained. Your waist size might be your health scoreboard. Your blood sugar , blood pressure, cholesterol etc.....

But what is your scoreboard in life and ministry? I use to think it was all about how many people were coming to our Sunday services and how much money they were giving, Numbers.. Then I said no it's all about life change how many lives are being changed but the truth was though that sounded real good it was not a very clear scoreboard for me. Only God knows the heart and it was unclear to me.

SO here is what I have come to understand. Life is a lot like a volleyball game... You can only win if you a serving... So focus on the moment keep serving and you can't loss... and let God take care of the score...

We need you and your church to bring mission teams our way in the next year.....

We need teams to come and help us get the word out about our church and small groups.
We need construction teams to come and help us repair and build
We need medical teams in the Maya Zone

We want to see you continue to win so serve the Lord today by praying for the people living in this part of Mexico. Serve the Lord by your gift to the ministries here. You can send checks to :

Global Community Fellowship
1904 Red Bud Cir
Greenville NC 27858

Be a winner!

Dolly was only a rain event in our part of Mexico

When you are living in a house with a grass roof any Tropical Storm will motivate you to pray. We are now praying for the people living along the Texas- Mexico border

Today Darla got a good report from the neurologist. The MRI showed that the blood clot was completely gone. We are praising God today for his love and care for us.

Darla's birthday

Today we are celebrating Darla’s 29th anniversary of her 21st birthday.

We had a great day of worship today follow by a dinner and birthday party. Thanks for your friendship and prayers.

Life is back to normal or as normal as is gets down here. Many of you may know Mayo and Gilsen they are two of our church leaders on the Spanish side of our church. Their 10 day old granddaughter past away Tuesday and we were at the funeral yesterday for the baby. Please pray for their daughter Natilia her and her husband are not believers.

Also today I received a call from a young man who was saying that he wanted to kill himself..... This is emotionally draining in any language but for me in Spanish it was even more difficult. This young man needs our prayers. He seemed to be doing OK after we met. He is a new believer coming out of a back ground of drug and Alcohol abuse.

Tonight we have our small group meeting here at the house......

We need your prayers!

The youth from Crosspointe Church Bothell, WA had a great week with us.

Today the group of 15 headed back to Washington. They did a great job. You can see the photos from the week. Please pray for Darla and I and the work here in Playa. Darla has a birthday next Sunday July 20th. You can send you a birthday note at darlajtm@hotmail.com

Alaska team says their goodbyes to the kids in Chan Chen

The youth team from Rabbit Creek Community Church did a great job of building relationships with the kids in Chan Chen. Today as I came into the village I saw the young people walking down the street and about 100 children were following them to say their goodbyes.

Prayer garden at the church in Paamul

The team from Crosspointe put grass and built a prayer garden at the church in Paamul this morning and they has a great kid's program this afternoon.

Our church members having fun at the block party.