Leon family October News…”parents” of teenagers

Relationships

Meet Anthony, the newest member of our family. Anthony is 17 years old and has been living alone or with friends in Esterillos for the last few years. He is a dedicated student and an incredible surfer. Coming from a broken family with few resources he has found it easier to live on his own. Anthony moved in with us a few months ago and we were instantly the parents of a teenager! We are so great full that we can bless him by giving him a stable family. His grades have improved and he is more relaxed then we have ever seen him. Dennis is on the a.m. carpool rotation and so gets time to talk to Anthony as well as 3-4 other boys from Esterillos, including the Costa Rican national champion surfer in Jr., Boys and Open divisions for 2009.

Be and make Disciples of Christ

We are officially opening a surf shop in Parrita as our second church plant. This will be a self-sustaining ministry were the profit is used to bless the community as well as giving us a rent free space for the church to meet. In Costa Rica getting permits is never easy or fast but getting the permits for this endeavor was a breeze, by God’s grace. We have our first merchandise on the walls already although we do not officially open until December. We will be coming to Santa Barbara on November 19 until December 2 to visit you all, celebrate Thanksgiving with family and to purchase apparel for the shop. We are planning on taking advantage of the last few weeks of school to get our bible studies going on a weekly basis in Parrita. The high school students that have been coming to PVC Esterillos are excited to invite their friends from Parrita to come and learn about Jesus in a relaxed and safe environment as the discipleship process continues.

Be a blessing to the community

Our friend Lindsay from PVCSB told her friend Zack to visit us on his trip to Costa Rica, Zack came and saw what we were doing and stayed three weeks with us, he called his friend David, an interior designer, who came for a week and is helping us set up the shop, decorating, teaching us how to run a business etc. The way God brought these friends into our life at the perfect time is a miracle. The best part is that as they bless us they also feel that they are receiving a blessing. The ways of the Holy Spirit are awesome when he works through us!

Family Notes:

• Selah is rolling! She is still blue eyed and beautiful and likes to put everything in her mouth. She smiles all the time and goes by Selah, Shayla, Say, Lala, Alicia (Diego’s sister), fatty, and roly-poly.
• Elias is really getting into his imagination and loves to be told stories. He rarely is Elias anymore but instead goes by Diego and is accompanied by his kitten “baby Jaguar” as they rescue animals, usually a stranded baby chicken. For those of you not up to date on the cartoon world, Diego is Dora the Explorers animal rescuing cousin. We explained to him that when we go on the airplane he needs to pretend he is Elias because “Diego” does not have a passport.
• Dennis and Kyle are doing great. Surfing, walking with friends and having quiet coffee times together. We thank God for a strong relationship everyday, despite the stresses of a cross cultural move.
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Depend on the Holy Spirit: Please pray for:

• Dennis’ citizenship and crossing the boarder in a few weeks
• For times of relaxation on our visit to SB.
• For continued financial support from the US
• For the shop: purchasing merchandise, shipping, dealing with customs and getting everything set up
• For the people of Parrita, especially the students.

Meeting in the dark:

Reenactment of an early church meeting by candle light as we study the book of Acts, only we had no light because lightning had struck a transformer.

PVC Surf & Sk8… store by day sanctuary by night

Surf Shop by day Sanctuary by night…….

We are ready to reach south in our mission to plant churches along the coast of Costa Rica. With many opportunities and the Holy Spirit’s prompting but no space to meet we are starting a surf and skate shop in Parrita.

Parrita is about 20 minutes south of Esterillos and has a population of about 5,000 people. Parrita is the town center for six different beach communities and is on the road to Quepos, Dominical and Pavones. Furthermore most of the students of Pura Vida Church attend high school here.

Surf and Skate shops have always had a community feel, with kids hanging out and being influenced by whoever was running the shop. With that idea in mind we would like to provide a safe and healthy environment for people to hang out as well as create a comfortable place to learn about Jesus. By being staffed by our leaders we give them an opportunity not only to earn a living but also to share what they are learning about God at Pura Vida Church.

One of the obstacles to church planting is the meeting place. Although we know many people in the area we have not found a central and consistent place to meet and to rent a space to meet once or twice a week seems like a waste of resources. The idea of running a business is not to make money but to create a self sustaining ministry. But we need your help! As with any business there are start up costs, so we are looking for investors to give interest free, short term loans or one time tax deductable gifts. Please see attached budget and feel free to email us with questions and suggestions as this is our first venture into business. Could you pray and consider investing not in a business but in a ministry that would change people’s lives?

Blessings,

Leaders of Pura Vida Church Esterillos

Budget:

Rent: $500/ month (with water and security)

Inventory: $7,000 (start up)

Salary: $200/ month (one employee. 3 days a week)

Electricity/phone: $80/ month

Equipment: $3,000 (displays, cash register, TV/DVD, couches and chairs etc.)

Insurance: ?

Advertising: ?

Permits and taxes:

Please Pray for Honduras…and Central America

Dear family of Christ and all of you who visit this site, please Join with us in prayer for the Country of Honduras!

This morning the Honduran president got kidnapped by the army and they dropped him here in Costa Rica, please  pray for peace, that this will not turn into something ugly since Venezuela has already said that they will intervene if needed.

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Central America and violence will only make things worse for its people and the rest of central America.

¹³ “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek myface and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.” 2 Chronicles 7: 13-16

Thank you, Dennis Leon

THE 4 DEADLY SINS OF CELL LEADERSHIP

This is another great article… enjoy and take note.

By Joel Comiskey

How to Avoid them and enjoy a fruitful, effective cell ministry
Appeared in Cell Group Journal (Spring 2002)

When it came right down to it, I was pressured to perform. I had to get to know my neighbors, build community in my neighborhood, and help grow our new cell church plant in Moreno Valley.

On a positive note, the pressure drove me to attend association barbeques and hang out at the Monday night football gatherings at the clubhouse. But I knew it wasn’t a healthy way to build my church.

Although I had been feeling this pressure for months, I kept it to myself. One night, I confessed the pressure to perform at my cell meeting. “I feel so pressured to reach my neighbors,” I told the group. I received prayer, but couldn’t pinpoint the source of the problem and I still felt like I was going about my ministry in an unnatural, unhealthy way.

After the meeting I talked with my wife and realized I was feeling pressured to perform by placing all the responsibility on my own shoulders. I was assuming responsibility that only God could take!

Yes, God is intensely concerned with reaching my neighbors and building a cell church in Moreno Valley. However, I figured that I had to make it happen. The result was a vague sense of tension that turned into pressure — which began to eat at me.

God showed me that He desires to give me His light yoke in exchange for my heavy yoke. When I realized this, the burden lifted. Through this experience, God revealed four deadly sins that could easily wipe out your ministry as a cell leader.

#1 ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY THAT IS NOT YOURS

I was making unrealistic goals that were vague and unattainable. God reminded me of Larry Crabb’s comments in The Key to Caring about the difference between a goal and a desire. Crabb said:

“A goal may be defined as a purpose to which a person is unalterably committed. He assumes unconditional responsibility for a goal, and it can be achieved if he is willing to work at it. A desire may be defined as something wanted that cannot be obtained without the cooperation of another person. It is an objective for which a person can assume no responsibility, because it is beyond his control. Reaching a desire must never become the motivating purpose behind behavior, because then a person is assuming responsibility for something he cannot fulfill on his own” [italics my own].

It dawned on me that I was confusing desires with goals — that which I could accomplish and that which was beyond my control.

My desire was to see conversions in my neighborhood and to create a sense of community. Of course, this is a wonderful desire. But you’ll notice that only God can make this happen. I was trying to take the place of God.

I now realize that God wants me to make clear-cut, bite-sized goals that are in my power to accomplish. For example, I can accomplish the following goals:

• Invite my neighbor to play tennis.
• Invite my neighbor over to my house for a special event (dessert, etc.).
• Make it a point to talk with my neighbor in the front yard.
• Encourage my potential cell leader to begin the training track.
• Give my potential cell leader opportunities in the cell to use his gifts and talents.

These goals are feasible. I can accomplish them. Desires, on the other hand, are beyond my own ability to accomplish. Here are some examples of my desires:

• That my neighbor responds to my invitation and actually plays tennis with me.
• That my neighbor accepts the invitation to come to my house for a special event.
• That the person I’ve identified as a potential cell leader actually enters our leadership training track.

To make this difference practical, let’s take a typical concern for cell leaders: Group multiplication.

Many leaders experience tension when thinking about this topic. A major cause of this tension is making unrealistic, vague goals based on lofty desires, rather than bite-size, feasible goals based on what can actually be done. The following goals are obtainable and will lead to the goal of multiplication:

• Talk to a cell member about facilitating the next cell group meeting.
• Guide this potential cell leader through your church’s training.
• Set a multiplication date and continually remind the group of that date.
• Give the future cell leader ample opportunities within the cell to participate in ministry to others and facilitate meetings.
• Remind the group weekly of their need to evangelize and invite non- Christian friends.

As you can see, your goals should be feasible and measurable. They should be based on clear possibilities in which you have control.

Confusing desires with goals, while subtle, makes a huge difference in your emotional well-being. When you’re pressured to perform — to fulfill the goal yourself — your peace disappears and you feel stressed, knowing you’re not going to succeed.

Sadly, many cell leaders simply turn in their resignation at this point, never citing the real reason. They don’t know why they feel the way they do. I suspect confusing desires with goals is the culprit on many occasions, leading to burn-out. Don’t get caught in this trap.

#2 DO ALL THE WORK

“I’m the cell leader. I need to do all the work.” Wrong.

The cell leader is the facilitator, not the work horse. You are the person who orchestrates the work for the whole group to carry out.

Remember the concept of net fishing versus pole fishing? It’s the team that does the work. Everyone participates!

There’s too much work for one leader to do alone. Consider the pressures that a cell leader places upon himself when he embraces the statement “I need to do all the work.”

• Prepare and facilitate all the various parts of the weekly meetings, making it look very polished and professional.
• Personally reach your lost friends (and your member’s lost friends) for Christ.
• Meet with everyone in the group as often as possible to mentor and disciple them into strong believers.
• Train an intern or apprentice by having them watch what you do so that when he gets his own group, he’ll know what to do.

Instead of doing everything yourself — which will never create a feeling of community or new leaders — involve the team! Ask others to help you in every aspect of cell life and leadership:

• Delegate all the various parts of your weekly meetings to others a month at a time and watch them learn as they do it. Ask someone in the group to be in charge of meeting refreshments, prayer, worship, and the ministry time.
• Ask each host family to keep the “Blessing List” poster and display it in the room where you’ll be meeting. Every host can also be given the responsibility to plan and hold one fun event in the next three months to connect their unbelieving friends to the group.
• Establish mentor-protégé relationships in your group (or accountability partnerships) and call them to see how they are doing. These relationship will be very fruitful if they have a difficult task to complete together, like your church’s discipleship or equipping track.
• Meet with your intern or apprentice every week and together decide what the next steps are for your group. Then, let him or her learn by first-hand experience by leading the cell into one-another ministry and outreach, as well as facilitating weekly meetings. This will reduce your workload and give new leaders a vision for the future.

By involving others and forcing yourself to give away responsibility, the group will become an exciting place of ministry and growth. And you will not feel like Atlas, with the weight of the world on your shoulders.

#3 THINKING THAT EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON YOU

I forgot that only God can bring conviction and create open doors for the Gospel. The key question we should be asking ourselves is: “Where is God working?”

I discovered this with my neighbors. I was concentrating on my next door neighbor because they’re immediately visible when I open my own front door. But God showed me that I needed to broaden my perspective to include those at the other end of the street who were far more receptive. With this new thinking, I was able to establish contacts quickly because God opened the doors.

The Psalmist wrote, “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain” (Psalm 127:1). Pursue those non-Christian contacts in which you see God working.

Paul the apostle said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

Only God can convert a soul, motivate someone to enter leadership training, or multiply his or her cell group.

Effective leaders don’t take responsibility for making it happen because this would only result in pressure to perform and succeed without God’s power. But, the same leaders do take practical steps to plant and water, leaving the rest to God. And, they take responsibility to make sure there are enough positive concrete actions (goals) that eventually result in a breakthrough.

So, plan to work with your team and sow into relationships with the lost, sharing the Gospel whenever possible. Then water the soil by praying and fasting, loving these folks unconditionally. God will send His Spirit to them and draw them to Himself. Watch and see how God works when you do your part and you allow Him to do His part.

#4 GIVING UP WHEN THE RESULTS ARE FEW

Effective leaders are not necessarily talented, gifted, or outgoing. But they do have one thing in common. They’re persistent. They don’t give up!

Each week they ask their members to invite someone. Each week they try to make contact with members of the cell by phone and whenever possible, in person. Eventually, something clicks. God works.

You could compare what I’m saying to sowing and reaping. If you sow sparingly, you’ll reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you’ll reap bountifully.

For example, let’s discuss the Blessing List (the list of non-Christian people attached to each member of your group). It’s tempting to give up when we don’t see our prayers answered quickly. We should remember that George Mueller, a man who modeled effective prayer, prayed throughout his lifetime for five friends to know Jesus Christ.

The first one came to Christ after five years. Within ten years, two more of them received Christ. Mueller prayed constantly for over twenty-five years, and the fourth man was finally saved. For his fifth friend, he prayed until the time of his death, and this friend, too, came to Christ a few months after Mueller died. For this last friend, Mueller had prayed for almost fifty-two years.

God doesn’t view time in the same way we do. He hears every prayer you make, and He desires that you persist until the end. At times you’ll want to give up. Don’t. God is hearing your prayers and is pleased with them. In His time the answer will come — quickly.

Keep on encouraging your cell members to reach out and invite people, even when you see few results. Remember the Scripture Proverbs 14:23: “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Your diligence will lead to success if you keep on pressing on. God’s blessing is right around the corner.

CONCLUSION

To continue to lead a group, multiply that group, and care for the new leaders as a coach, you need Christ’s light and easy yoke (Matthew 11:30 ). Avoid the common cell leader sins that will damage or even kill your ministry. Make feasible goals; use your team; discover where God’s working, and persist until you see breakthroughs. With this kind of ministry, you will be able to avoid burnout and continue a fruitful cell ministry throughout your life.

For further reading on this topic: Home Cell Group Explosion goes into more detail about group evangelism and related topics. Buy HERE or call 1-888-344-CELL

Kids Club

Values

Relationships: We believe that eternal change happens through loving relationships.

John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Community: We believe that discipleship happens through community as we are held accountable to lead authentic lives.

Acts 2:44- 47 “All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need… They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people…”

Servanthood: We believe that Jesus called all Christians to be His hands and feet in their communities.

John 13:12-17 “When he had finished washing their feet …he asked them, “Do you understand what I have done for you?”. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Dependence on the Holy Spirit: We believe that only through a humble life of prayer God will empower us to do great things for His glory.

John 15: 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Unity: We believe that Christ’s church transcends denominational and cultural barriers, to create a unified community of believers.

Revelation: 7: 9-10 “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” John 17:20-23 “… I pray also for those who will believe in me…that all of them may be one, Father… may they be brought to complete unity”

Multiplication: We believe that the church must grow OUT. Acts 1:8

Simplicity: We believe that the Gospel message should be communicated in a simple, practical and tangible way. 2Cor: 2: 1-5