The picture is the cover of the handout booklet of Bible verses, notes, and exercises that each attendee received.
Marriage Conference Part 2
The picture is the cover of the handout booklet of Bible verses, notes, and exercises that each attendee received.
Following up
In September we officially started following up on the ministry in northern Ancash province, where we have been working with missionary church planters Russ and Sherry Fleetwood. They are going to Colombia, and we are moving into the next step, training pastors there.
Their team member Jose Marco Dominguez (wearing the blue hat in the picture) is now a missionary with RCP, our Peruvian organization. He will be the area coordinator.
Marriage conference
We did the "pilot episode" of the marriage conference at Iglesia Buen Pastor.
Both the men and the women enjoyed it and said they learned from it.
This was the first time we've done this one, so we were busy creating materials all day, every day the week before. The second half will take place on October 13 & 14.
Both the men and the women enjoyed it and said they learned from it.
This was the first time we've done this one, so we were busy creating materials all day, every day the week before. The second half will take place on October 13 & 14.
Camp Pearl Blast
The theme was very apt as we all got to see what God is doing in the lives of some very special young folks. The picture above shows one of the "works". These young folks came forward to show to their peers, all in attendance and especially God, that they desire to serve God with their lives as missionaries, pastors, teachers or in whatever they do. These two weeks were fun, exhausting and well worth the time!
June Milestones
IN U.S.: We spoke at Moss Bluff, and Grace Bible churches in Louisiana, and Beaumont Bible Church in Texas. We also led music at Elk Ridge Baptist in Texas and taught at Jr. and Sr. High Camps at Camp Pearl in Louisiana.
Coming up in July
Our new grandbaby due to be born July 9. Please pray for health and safety for our daughter, Becky Gomez, and the baby.
Mike's trip back to Peru. Pray for safety in travel and a quick adjustment.
Elk Ridge Baptist Mission Trip to Peru. Our son-in-law Pastor Miguel Gomez will be leading the trip. They will be working in our area of Lima and Pastor Daniel MeCabe will be teaching in Huaraz (up in the mountains) with Mike. Please pray for a safe trip that ministers to the team as well as the Peruvian people.
$105 Challenge!
Now I need to say this:
STOP! DON'T GATHER UP THOSE OLD BIBLES TO SEND TO US! WE NEED BIBLES IN EASY-TO-READ SPANISH! You can still help, though.
Consider making a $105 yearly pledge as a family.
$105 will provide:
One Bible per family (average church has 20 families)
A study Bible for the pastor
A copy of FUNFE for a Sunday School curriculum
A teacher's ticket to come and do a Bible conference for the church so they can really use the Bibles.
We'd love for your family to join our team, because together we can fulfill the Great Commission!
Prayer warriors needed
Facebook messenger: Mike Riggs or Tammy Meeker Riggs
Whatsapp: Tammy Riggs
Frequently Asked Questions Part 1
How did you become missionaries?
Mike answered a call to missions in church as a teenager, but became alienated from a graceless church and wouldn't darken a church door until after Mike and Tammy's first child was born. After they both started following Jesus, they became youth leaders, and then Mike felt a reactivation of the call to be a missionary. Tammy's response: NO! If we do that we will never have matching furniture!
Their pastor advised Mike to not push this issue. If the desire was from God, then Tammy would feel it too. Sometime later, she was reading a book about worldviews to review for the youth group. She realized that God had saved her from the futility and hopelessness that most people are experiencing, but that she was more concerned with having a nice middle class life than helping others experience that hope. She decided whatever, God wanted or wherever He led, that's what she'd do. Mike decided to attend a school to prepare for ministry.
They went to Southeastern Bible College with three children and a fourth on the way. They learned a lot about depending on God! They applied to mission boards and were rejected as too old, or with too many children (they have five in all), or in one case, that the mission only wanted candidates with a doctorate in education or theology. Although Mike has a doctorate now, this really discouraged him then. We lived in Alabama for 13 years. Mike served as pastor in several churches. This was actually a necessary part of his training, although they didn't know it at the time.
Then one Sunday Mike heard a message in church from a missionary who taught in mobile Bible institutes, and felt a strong desire to apply to that mission. Tammy's response: YES! The mission board sent them to Peru.
How long have you been in Peru?
We have been in Peru since 2004. We have been with three different mission boards, but always in the same country.
Are you ever in danger there?
We have been robbed several times by robbers both armed and unarmed. When we lived Andahuaylas the town was repeatedly shut down by riots that were sometimes violent and we have run from a few rioting crowds. Mountain roads are always dangerous! Here's a video showing what is actually one of the better roads we have traveled.
What's your question? Please ask!
Ministry in Peru continues while we are in the US
In March, while we were up in Iowa, the team in Peru was doing an evangelistic campaign and training pastors in evangelism. They were rained out one day but were given an hour on the radio to make up for it. A ministry that heard the program is interested in providing radio transmitters if we will broadcast solid teaching for rural communities.
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| Attendees at open air evangelism look on as Jorge Ortiz presents the gospel |
Missionary Vision
We analyzed the story presented in the Bible for our Bible conferences, and it profoundly affected how we view things.
Mike’s emergency eye surgeries for glaucoma have certainly put physical vision in the limelight. And we’re glad to report that his vision is stable in the right eye and his actually improved in his left eye. This has been a wonderful answer to prayer.
As we start a new year another kind of vision has been on our minds. The vision of our ministry. Planning for another year of ministry is a good time to check on our ministry vision, and how it lines up with God’s vision.
The source for all missionary work and vision is God’s vision as presented in the Bible. A few years ago we analyzed the story presented in the Bible for our Bible conferences, and it has profoundly affected how we view things.
Reduced to its bare bones, the story of the Bible is this:
The main character, God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) always existed.
God created Man 1, the other major character, and installed him as governor of the earth.
God maintained a friendship with His creation, visiting and talking with Man, every day. Both God and Man are compound characters--God is a trinity and Man a duality--man and woman. All through this story, we must understand God as a character and Man as a character, if we want to understand what happens and not be distracted by the details.
There is another major character. God has an enemy, a rebellious creation named Satan. Satan is an angel, more powerful than Man, but his nature is corrupt and God has condemned him to eternal punishment for rebellion. This rebel entered into the earth in the form of a snake and enticed Man, Earth’s governor, into rebelling against God as well. Man’s nature became corrupted, and all of creation became corrupted with him.
That’s God’s vision.
The corrupted version of Man stayed true to his original function of governing the earth, but the corrupted Earth resists his efforts. As his original mission becomes more corrupted, Man 1 becomes obsessed with power and control. Even his relationship with God is corrupted, and Man’s best efforts are unacceptable to God, corrupted as they are by sin. Because death is introduced to limit Man 1’s corruption, his character becomes more splintered, as people are born and die and cover the earth.
God gives Man 1 several fixes that don’t fix his problem--a flood that wipes out most of the human race, the law given to the nation of Israel--these show Man 1 that his corruption has made it impossible for him to fix himself.
Finally, God gives Man a fix that works--God Himself takes the form of Man in Jesus Christ, but with an uncorrupted nature. Man 1, in his crazy power madness, kills Jesus Christ. This is according to God’s plan because Christ’s innocent death pays the penalty for the act of rebellion against God. Those individual men who accept this payment and surrender to God’s control become part of a new character, Man 2, and are no longer condemned.
Man 2 is the church, and is working against the clock, trying to incorporate as many individuals as possible into the church before time runs out and all humans are sent either to eternal glory with God or eternal punishment with Satan.
That’s the missionary vision: incorporating as many individuals as possible into the church before time runs out.
Gearing up to go: Mike & Tammy Riggs in Peru
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Plans
Many of you have already heard about our plan that we're calling 2020 Vision. We now have expanded that plan and added details.
Peru is a large and diverse country. Like the United States, it is multicultural. One big difference is that many of the ethnic and cultural groups are native to Peru. Many Peruvians would identify themselves according to their region or tribe or language. They would not identify themselves as Peruvians. Any nationwide strategy to train leaders must adapt to different regional cultures. We are planning to establish regional training centers. Each one will have local ownership and its own distinct regional flavor.
That’s why we are calling this 2020 vision. We want to see 20 Biblical training centers – Bible Colleges - established in 20 locations throughout Peru by the year 2020.
Peru is a country with significant challenges. It is a multicultural society. Believers in one place may face the threat of Marxist and atheist philosophy. Another church close by may struggle with witchcraft practiced in the church. Yet we’ve determined to reach out across the regions. We want to provide churches with leaders able to meet their local challenges. Our goal is to have the 20 Bible Colleges organized and operated by qualified Peruvians.
We plan to do this in two phases.
Phase 1 (2016-2017) we will set up the infrastructure of the ministry. We will maintain and develop the existing training locations. We will begin to teach a three year series of seminars in selected locations. In order to reach the urban poor and the rural communities, we also will be implementing a distance learning program via Skype, DVD webinars. This phase will need a lot of investment and recruiting.
Phase 2 (2018-2019) we will expand the seminar ministry to new locations. Upon completion of the three year series, some of the initial seminar locations will become Bible Colleges. There will be many more startup locations at that time, but much less investment necessary.
We'll be keeping you updated as we go along. Obviously there are a lot of needs--both prayer needs and financial needs--for such a large project. We'll be letting you know about those and our progress on those, too!
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