Building the City of God

Are you living for today or tomorrow… or for eternity? 

What is your finish line? Sometimes we talk about having a long view instead of a short view. Sometimes that might look like planning twenty years ahead instead of just planning for today, or tomorrow.

But is that enough to just plan for the next 50 or 60 years?

What do you have your sights set on?

Are you looking towards finishing the race of this life on this side of the grave, only?

Ephesians 1:10 tells us that God’s plan is to reunite heaven and on earth in Christ.

Rev. 21:1-4  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

·      Revelation 21:1-4 tells us that our present life here on earth is not everything that we have to live for. We are not living until we die and then our life is over. There is something more…

·      But neither is our end in Heaven. There is more than just heaven.

·      There is the New Creation. New Heaven and New Earth.  The city of God will be brought down to the New Earth. God’s dwelling place will be with Man. There will no longer be death, or sickness or mourning or pain.

·      This is our future in Christ. Do you believe it?  God will dwell with us and bring his glory down to earth in the New Creation and he will give us peace.

·      How does that affect how you live today? You are not in your last days on this earth. I hear a lot of prayer requests about this and that person being sick. That is good. It is good to pray for the sick. Jesus healed the sick when he was on earth. God answers our prayers and heals us. But I want to encourage you to also think about this bigger picture of our reality. Your lives are not ending. Maybe life in your present body, but not your soul. The children’s catechism interprets this by teaching our young ones that we have a soul that can never die.

·      You have much to look forward to. You are a part of something bigger and that has meaning now in this life. It isn’t just going to the clouds to be in heaven, but it is experiencing the New Earth with all of its glory in God’s presence. What we do in this life will have an impact in what we get to experience, in the new life and with whom we get to experience it.

·      This plays out in how we set our goals. If I am living in this life, thinking that I only have so many years until it is over I will make my decisions and plans to seek to make the most of these years. But if, I see life as a part of the whole Kingdom of God leading up to the New Creation, then I will make decisions and plans that work toward making the most of eternity. I will invest my time in building what contributes to the Kingdom. I will invest in building Christ’s Church even if I may not see the fruit on this side of the grave.

·      This in no way means that I neglect the present and physical life. It actually improves the way I see it and the importance I put on it. I invest my time into my children even more to help equip them to live life to the fullest realizing that their souls will last for an eternity not just at the most 100 years.

·      What are we preparing for? Are we preparing only for retirement? We need to prepare for retirement so as not to be a burden for our children or so as not to starve in our old age, but that is not our main goal. We are also preparing for this holy city, the bride of Christ. God is preparing this city as a bride, we are a part of what God is doing. As God uses us to build his church, He is preparing her for His Son.

·      What enables us to persevere and push on? This hope of eternity is what gives us perseverance. When we have our perspective set on eternity, we are empowered to push on even through the difficulties that we cannot see through. As a finish line in a race… This certainty of arriving at the finish line comes from this promise that God has accomplished this through Christ and it is ours by faith. It is not dependent on our performance or our works, but only on our perseverance in the faith in Christ himself.

·      What allows us to have patience and wait?  When we know that the end is secure and stable and certain, then we have no reason to fret. If we are waiting for something and we don’t know whether it will happen or not, then we fret and worry. Waiting for a loved one to return home and it is late…If we know they are fine then we can sleep. But if we worry that something happened then we fret.  But if we are certain of the outcome, then we are calm and at peace. God has given us this certainty of eternity by giving us this promise that he is preparing this city for Christ.

·      May that give you peace, confidence and hope in Christ. You are made for this holy city in the New Creation. You are a part of it and are a privileged participant in preparing for it as God is preparing you and putting you to work in participating with Him in building His city through the work of the church in preaching the cross of Christ and giving yourself sacrificially in every way.

Itinerary for Fall 2018 (updated Sept.18)

After taking time off in July I hit the ground running with preaching through Haggai, August 5 and 12 at Plains Presbyterian Church and giving a presentation about Peru Mission.

August 19 in the afternoon we did a communion service at Grace Nursing Home in Slaughter, LA for members of Plains Pres

August 20, 7:00 AM First Baptist Church Zachary Men's Prayer Breakfast.

August 26, 11:00 AM Preach at Thompson Memorial in Centreville, MS

August 26, 6:00 PM we will visit Grace Presbyterian Church in Central, LA. I will give a presentation on Peru Mission and they will have an ice cream social after!

September 2, we will visit Grace Presbyterian Church in Metairie, LA. I will preach and give a presentation in the morning.

September 8, 8:00 AM East Feliciana Parish Men's Prayer Breakfast, Clinton, LA

September 9, open.

September 11, Grace Presbytery meeting in Hattiesburg, MS

September 16 we will visit Lawndale Presbyterian Church in Tupelo, MS and I will give a report about Peru Mission.

September 23, 3:00 PM Oakwood Nursing Home in Zachary, LA. Communion service for members of Plains Pres.

September 30 AM Redeemer Church in Jackson, MS to give a report about Peru Mission.
September 30 PM Edwards Presbyterian Church fellowship supper and mission report.

October 7 First Presbyterian Church in Jasper, AL to preach and give a report

October 11-12, RTS Jackson, MS. Counseling Conference.

October 14, Parish Church. Lafayette, LA.

October 21 AM Grace Presbyterian Church in Central, La.

October 23-26 Birmingham, AL. Wednesday morning visit with BTS.

October 28, AM Plains Presbyterian Church. Dr. Meg playing violin special in worship service

November 4, AM Hope Presbyterian Church. Opelousas, LA. Preach and give a mission report during Sunday School

November 11, Faith Presbyterian Church in Brookhaven, MS

November 18, South Baton Rouge Presbyterian Church, Baton Rouge, LA.

November 25, Preach at Plains Pres, Zachary, LA

December 2 AM  open
December 2 PM   installation service of Rev. Campbell Silman at Plains Pres.

December 9, First Presbyterian Church in Kosciousko, MS

December 16, open

December 23, Christmas with Family

December 30, Bethel Presbyterian Church in Lake Charles, LA

Thoughts and Links on Sabbatical time for ministry workers

As I mentioned in the last post, I was encouraged to take some time for sabbatical while on Home Ministry Assignment with Peru Mission.  So as not to waste this time, I decided to do a little bit of searching to find out what that would look like. I was also encouraged to find a sabbatical counselor; however, I have not done so yet.

A few biblical thoughts are as follows. God gave us the design of Sabbath rest one day in 7 (Genesis 2:2; Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). He also gave a design of several week-long breaks where the entire community stopped work and feasted (Exodus 23:10-19; Leviticus 23). Every seven years he designed for land to go fallow (Leviticus 25). He designed a release to all debts every seven years (Deuteronomy 15).

We also see Jesus' very practice in the flesh of pulling away to a secluded place to spend time in prayer. He spent 40 days before starting his ministry.  These are just a few biblical points that help us reflect on the need for taking a sabbatical rest.

As I consider these things and consider the role of a minister and other ministry workers and missionaries as I have experienced in Peru and see through other pastors in the States is that this job is unlike many other jobs in that you do not have a clear off time. Even when you are at home, you are on call all the time.

Here are a few links of descriptions of Sabbaticals and of the need for Sabbaticals from a range of perspectives and in no particular order:

Why Your Pastor Needs a Sabbatical by Sarah Hogan on Vanderbloemen

Including Sabbaticals as Part of Soul Care for Your Pastor by Garrett Higbee on Biblical Counseling Coalition

What I Learned About Sabbaticals by Finally Taking One by Michael Morgan on The Gospel Coalition

Seven Sabbatical Insights for Pastors by Eric Geiger on Lifeway Christian Resources

Sabbatical bundle on Michael Hyatt page

A Sabbatical Guide for Pastors by Bill Gaultiere on Soul Shepherding

Burnout and Stress by Ed Welch on CCEF

I also spoke with Ray Cannata who shared with me Redeemer Nola’s policy on Pastoral Sabbaticals this was similar and also very helpful to get a good idea of the purpose, timing and planning of taking one. One comment from Ray was that pastors never get away from the job. “In fact, the more faithfully embedded in your community and mission, the less likely you get any breaks from it!!”

Itineration plans for the summer of 2018

This week we are enjoying the activities of VBS both at Plains in Zachary, LA and also at South Baton Rough Pres. I had the privilege of speaking to a couple of classes about being a missionary and about living in another country. Our children are ecstatic to get to meet some of their cousins and have time to play with them.

Last week I had the privilege of preaching at Grace Pres in Central, LA.
This Sunday we will be giving a report at Faith Pres in Clinton, La.
Then we travel to Atlanta for General Assembly.
Sunday, June 17th we will be back in Baton Rouge where I will present a report during Sunday School and preach at Westminster.
June 18 we take our two older children up to Twin Lakes camp for the week.
Sunday June 24th I will preach and give a report at Zachary Community Church.

The month of July we plan to take a Sabbatical time. I am still trying to figure out what that means. I was encouraged by members of the board of Peru Mission to take some time to do this. I am thankful for their wisdom and pray that this will be an important building and refreshing time to be able to be at full potential the rest of the year. One thing I recognize with this is that most pastors need this as much as missionaries. So please encourage your pastors to take recovery time.

August will start out with preaching at Plains Pres in Zachary the 5th and the 12th.

Short Update

It is hard to believe that 5 years ago, I was ordained to return to Peru as a pastor and continue with the discipleship and woodwork project, we called Parish. Little did I know how much things would change.

When I was installed as associate pastor at Christ the Restorer in the Manuel Arévalo neighborhood of Trujillo, the senior pastor, Ricardo said, “Great! Now you can take over the young adult ministry.” I said, well my gifts are not really a good fit, but he said, “No, you will be great.” So, I started working with the youth and continued to work with the carpenters as well as getting plugged into the broader ministries in the church and the mission.
Before long, I started to adjust our woodworking ministry to be a broader ministry in the workplace with various fields.  But then I eventually began to realize that I needed to focus my time more with the church and started an apprenticeship program with several potential leaders in the youth. I believe God led me to develop leadership through the church to be more effective in the ministry and extending into the workplace.

I still maintain contact with the carpenters, who are continuing their business locally, and I meet with them for discipleship. However, I started to focus my time more on the apprenticeship. We did an apprenticeship with four young men for two years with theological education from our pastors and myself as well as practical training in the ministry of the church. We finished working through a free certificate program from Birmingham Theological Seminary that partners with Third Millennium Ministries. They are now all involved in different ministries with our mission. My work with the apprentices led to me being called as director of our seminary program called the Christian Areopagus, which is what I will be focusing on when we go back next year.
     We have a new class starting this May of 33 students. Some of them are members of our churches but many are pastors and other lay leaders of other churches and other denominations. The Christian Areopagus not only works with IIIM materials but also our own missionaries and other visiting professors teach classes.

Meg has been involved with the ladies in the church and the young ladies in the youth ministry and also served as the president of the board of Geneva school until she got busy with the baby. She hopes to get back involved when we return next year. We have also had several opportunities to give counsel in pre-marital and other situations and recognize it would help us to get more training and be better equipped in counseling.

We plan to put our children through one year of School in Louisiana, so our plan will be to return to Peru, Lord willing, around June of 2019. Our task this year is to find new supporters and replace the ones we have lost as well as raise support for many of our ministries.

Meg, the children and I are extremely happy to be back in Louisiana for a time to reconnect with all of you and continue developing support for the gospel work of building the city of God in Peru. We look forward to catching up with all of you and seeing how that gospel work is growing here. We would love to meet personally with everyone and talk more about the ministry in Peru, perhaps over a meal or coffee.

Please pray for God to provide the funds for the ministries in Peru, our traveling and networking with many other churches and supporters, our further training and especially for our children to be able to adjust to life here. Again, thank you for taking such good care of us, with vehicles, office space and more. Thank you for your support and love and prayers.

Home Assignment

We are back in the States for a year of Home Assignment. Some call it Furlough, but let’s be real this is not actually a time of rest. Our job as missionaries is not only to serve the church in Peru but to be a link between communities. I am reminded of Paul asking for help from the church in 2 Corinthians 9. One day, we pray that the church in Peru will be able to help the church in other parts of the world. Until then, you are in a position at such a time as this to help develop and nurture growth in Peru.

We have been extremely blessed so far in our transition back. We had a rocky start with some immigration complications leaving Peru but eventually made it just in time to get off the airplane and go straight to our family Crawfish Boil in Louisiana. We are getting settled, have been given two vehicles and are blessed to stay in the First Baptist mission house. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.

We will be busy reconnecting and reaching out to cultivate support for our many ministries in Peru. We plan on putting our children through a year of school in Zachary. This puts our return goal in June of 2019. This extra time will be important for our children’s growth and will also enable to us to further develop support for all the ministries as well as do some further study and preparation for the work.

We will be reaching out to as many of you as possible to give a more in-depth update. We look forward to reconnecting and sharing. If you don’t hear from us soon, please respond and let’s set up a time to visit.

In the joy of resting in Christ,

Stuart Mills 

vacaciones útiles

These next few weeks two of our churches are doing something similar to VBS. They call it "vacaciones útiles" This means useful vacations. Being that here the children are on summer vacation they are having several days a week of teaching english, math, drawing music as well as bible classes. Please pray that these children will be drawn into the body of Christ through this.  

Christ's Kids is doing this in our church in Christ the Restorer in Arévalo Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

Christ the Redeemer is also doing this in their church in Parque Industrial Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

This is also following up an excellent week of summer camp, Noah's Ark, that was January 1-5, where many children received a gift of their very own bible. This was put on by folks from Twin Lakes in Mississippi and Point Pleasant in Georgia. Many of the children that attended camp are coming to the church for Sunday School and are participating in these VBS programs.

Just last Sunday one little child came beaming up to Megumi, with his backpack on just in time for Sunday School in Arevalo. He said, "Guess what I have in my backpack?"  Meg responded, "a toy car?" "a robot?" The child said, "nope." And unzipped his backpack slowly revealing his brand new Jesus Story Book Bible. Meg was almost left in tears with joy for his excitement and asked him if he had read it and he said that he had read some of it.

We continue to ask for prayer for impacting grace through the members of our church. 

Prayer Requests

A while back I mentioned gratitude for a pastor from a supporting church who regularly writes me to inform that the church will be praying for us and to ask for new prayer requests. Again it makes sense to take the same time to respond to them and also let all of you know the same prayer requests. Thank you for your support. God does expect and use our prayers to do His work. 

     As always it is great to hear from you and be reminded that y'all are praying for us. I hate to say that we are in the beginning of summer and have been having some nice summer days lately, although today is a little cooler and more overcast than normal.  I pray that y'all enjoy the snow day and that it is not too cold.
     We are busy trying to get balls rolling for our preparation to leave. I just yesterday met with a group who will be managing the Areopago classes while I am gone. I am thankful to be working with a team. I am also excited to see the apprentices stepping up with leadership and service in the church. Actually, that is one of my prayer requests. We are still praying for funds to employ some of them as assistants.
     A second prayer request is for a few people in our church who seem to always have trouble getting along. I am not surprised that we will always have conflict and disagree with each other in the church but there are a few who are central members of the church that distrust one another. My prayer is that God will work so in their lives that by the end of the year they will not only get along but actually love each other as Christ loves each of them, even if they still disagree with each other. 

We just found a great deal on plane tickets and have the date set for arriving to Louisiana March 30.  We have a lot to do to wrap things up  in Peru and make preparations for the next year. 

Merry Christmas

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Luke 2:14

Merry Christmas! May Jesus who dwelt among us and revealed to us the Father, reveal Himself to you in this season of celebrating His incarnation.  Thank you for your support!

End of Year Request

This month we finish our apprenticeship with four young men, Jefferson Alayo, Alexis Alayo, Luis Mendoza and Bryand Cruzado. We are very excited to see their progress.

We started with a plan to divide half of their full-time schedule with theological education and the other half with practical ministry. We also spent half a day every week doing maintenance work around the church (sanding and refinishing windows and doors). They have been involved with various ministries such as youth ministry, Sunday school, helping with Geneva School, Christ's Kids and Bethesda Clinic. They participated in teaching daily devotionals and had opportunities to preach in the evening services. Several pastors took turns teaching them Worship, Mission and Theology. We taught them how to study the Bible in preparation for sermons and are working through a free certificate program in Christian Ministries with Birmingham Theological Seminary in connection with Third MillenniumMinistries. We also had a long break from course work dedicated to practical ministry when we provided flood relief to the affected areas during the months of March and April and part of May of 2017.

            We started the apprenticeship just thinking it would equip them as better servants and help them discover God's will for their lives. As we draw near to the end, it appears that all of them are confirmed in their calling to ministry and have grown and learned much. They may all end up becoming pastors. 

The pastor of one of our extension works, Percy Padilla, has requested to the session help to hire one of the apprentices as a pastoral assistant in Christ the Redeemer in Parque Industrial. Our session has agreed that it would be good if the Lord provides the funds and also has considered that it would be helpful to hire two of them to assist with the church in Arévalo, especially since I will be leaving in March for a year of home assignment. 

We have calculated that it will cost $600/month for each of them. We are praying to raise $1,800 per month to be able to hire three of the apprentices in order to continue sustaining the work of the church and providing experience for these young leaders. (One apprentice will be offered a job by our university ministry, SUSA.) These last two years, we used funds from your donations given to us, the Mills family, to finance a major part of the apprenticeship program. As per recommendation of our mission board, we need to raise the money separately from our personal funds.

Will you consider helping us put these men to work in the advancement of the kingdom in Trujillo?  Give here. Select Compassion fund and in the details describe for Arévalo apprenticeship.

Please pray with us as we seek the Lord's will for this and for the Spirit to guide us on who to call and to which specific field of ministry in the church.