Great Times

Have you ever spent time with a group of people and wondered if you could just do something to make it last a little longer? That was tonight for Lindsey and I.

Tonight we hosted 5 couples at CAM's headquarters for dinner. Each couple was just formerly appointed with CAM which means they now start their time of support raising before leaving the country to be missionaries. After lots of pizza and watching the movie Cars, we all sat around a table and played Catch Phrase. If you haven't played it before, you should.

Halloween Alternative -- Please Pray

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At CAM International I have the privilege of seeing some exciting, creative, interactive, and just downright cool ministries. Read the email below about a Halloween Alternative that started last night and continues on Saturday night. Please pray for all involved.

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Tonight and tomorrow night we are presenting a Halloween alternative (for lack of a better term) evangelistic event that we have been working on for weeks now. It is called the "Maze of Life and Death." Some key concepts that we want to teach through this...life is short, we are all going to die, and we better had made the right decisions (Jesus) in life to be prepared for death.

In the maze are 5 scenes. The first scene is the bedroom of a typical young person, with a Bible and different spiritually edifying things on one side, and worldly tempations on the other. In this first room, each participant picks a card (their choice) that says "Jesus" or that says "money", "pleasure", "family," etc...

The second scene is this exact same bedroom (different room), but as seen through spiritual eyes, with angels and demons influencing in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. After this, participants descend into the bottom part of the church, which is death. The third scene is a series of causes of death...heart problems (I am picking up a pig's heart today for a young person to hold), violence, car accidents and liver problems. The last scene is a rocking chair...the largest cause of death is old age, but the total is 100%.

The fourth scene is a graveyard that participants pass, and finally a casket. Someone just died tonight. Each person looks in and sees a reflection of themselves in a mirror inside the casket.

The fifth scene is their eternal destiny. The are asked to present the card that they picked up in the first room. If it is Jesus, they enter heaven, if not, hell. This is probably the most challenging of all the scenes.

If you're wondering about small children, in the case of kids under 8 we will be taking out several elements of the presentation.

Afterwards everyone receives a tract and is invited to drink coffee. People enter in groups of 4 due to reduced spaces. I have a feeling that we'll be doing this into after midnight!

We have announced the event in a local newspaper, and I had the opportunity to appear live twice (5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. ) on a local cable tv station on Wednesday to promote the event. I was also given, in the second interview, a great opportunity to share why we exist as a church and the importance of faith in Christ.

Please pray for this event! We expect to see a real impact in the community through this effort. It has been so encouraging to see the whole church, particularly the men, work together in making this happen!

Thanks much for your prayers,

Rod

www.ixtapalucafryed.blogspot.com for pictures and updates