The following song was written by Amy Stipp from Little Village:

Here are the lyrics to the song:

So much has happened since my last update:
 
First of all, I want you to celebrate with me: I finally found the only starbucks in CapeTown.  Yeah! Here’s a shout out for overprized coffee! A truly American experience that I am glad for.
 
Monday night I had the privilege of addressing the 650+ people from the US delegation. Out of the 4200 world-wide representatives, 400 are official US delegates.  The other 250+ are guests: donors, workers, spouses, observers, etc.   After some basic intros and information, 7 of us went to the front and each in 3 minute segments presented the emerging variety of the body of Christ in the US. 
 
Off course, I went forward representing the immigrant church and had a blast. Out of the 650 or so people representing the US I was blown away from the fact that only around 25 of us are Latinos.  I kindly invited people to realize the amazing growth of the immigrant church in our midst by quoting the words of the King, “lift up your eyes and see that the fields are ripe for the harvest.”  I also presented a message which I continue to sense growing, burning, stirring within me: Who could be better suited for taking on the great US missionary mantel than passionate God-fearing Hispanics among our cities who live on little or no health care, with few financial means, and who don’t mind crossing borders at great personal peril. 
 
I was both absolutely nervous but also truly enjoyed myself. Could this be both a drum that I continue to beat among our people as well as a canvas that I am called to dedicate my living years to? 
 
After the meeting, Donna –who pastors @ Park Community Church in Chicago along with her husband—came running and gave me two clear words of motherly wisdom: she said: “Paco, you don’t realize that your life will never be the same since this moment.”  And “Be careful.” Immediately after her, there was a line of people wanting my business card—I quickly ran out of them—and people coming to invite me to speak at their church or event or association.  I realized then two things:
·       I am saddened at the amazing lack of Latino voices able, willing or allowed to speak into the mainstream of the US Evangelical world, and
·       was glad to hear how strongly my message resonated among the US leaders present by the amount of conversations with multiple people—many, new friends--affirming the words of my talk since then.
 
Donna’s words were truly impacting into my heart. Even as she spoke to me I felt a deeper longing at the core of my heart to just go home and be a good pastor to my little congregation in Little Village.  Yet, I am here at the Lausanne Cape Town not by my own doing. I am being truly impacted by men and women from the whole world speaking the whole gospel to representatives of the whole world.
 
One great treat was to see John Bernard. We had been missionaries together in Spain almost 20 years ago.  During very unsettling times in my life and plenty of dark moments of the soul he offered to mentor me. Throughout the years I have thought about him so much. It was a great surprise to see him and thank him for his investment in my life back then. I was so truly thankful to the Lord for the special gift of seeing my good friend from long ago. He is now the president of United World Mission and his son, Jeffrey, who was 4 years old when I knew them, is getting married in a few weeks.
 
Tuesday as we studied Ephesians 2 we got immersed into the issue of Reconciliation and the Peace that broke through with the arrival of the Prince of Peace.
 
Here are a few very important quotes to me from some of the presenters of that day. These are ordinary people doing extraordinary things for Jesus in their own context:
·       Ruth Padilla DeBorst: The expositor for Eph. 2 and leaders of the Latin American Theological Fraternity:  Each of us are living stones in this building called the church, how well are we fitting with each other? Ephesians 2:22 “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God…”
·       Os Guiness: Talking about why Truth matters supremely especially in our contemporary evangelical situation where many times we dilute truth for the sake of other things.  He said that all humans are both “truth-seekers but also truth-twisters.”  “Let the sorry fate of the liberal Protestants warn us.”
·       Daniel Sered from Israel, presenting together with Shadia Qubti a Palestinian said: “the only hope for Peace in the Middle East is Jesus!” Shadia in turn mentioned that “in the Messiah there is room for all of us.”
·       Antoine Rutaysire, a bishop in Rwanda described in depth the spiritual problem of the Rwandan Genocide.  Before 94, “Rwanda was used as example of the Christianization of a whole nation.” Over 90% of the population considered themselves Christian. Yet in “94 people who had the bible memorized turned around and murdered 1 million of their fellow Rwandans”. He gave two clear calls, one to make not just converts but true disciples of Jesus; and the second, to not ignore but to focus on the Reconciliation of all peoples.
 
Tuesday evening we got a real treat: I attended along with 600 others a private screening of 30 minutes of un-released, never-before-watched footage of the upcoming “Voyage of the Dawn Tredder”.  Fox and Walden media made a special edition with summary slides of the faith parts of the movie just for the Cape Town congress.  All camcorders, cameras or phones had to be turned in at the door.  Also, everyone who attended got a free copy of the movie “Amazing Grace”.  After the screening, there was a panel with Walden media representatives. True to Lewis’ intended goal, the movie seems to be bold and outright about its faith aspect. I can’t wait to hear your reactions when yall get to see it on December 10th.  That was fun.
 
On Wednesday Piper hit a homerun. He laid out a banquet from Ephesians 3 in 25 minutes. He focused on Suffering. Two great take-aways which I could never articulate as he did (you must watch the video on the Cape Town 2010 website).
·       Jesus allows t suffering in some of his people, “so that the church be drawn to the unsearchable riches of God’s glory thru the suffering of her missionaries!”
·       He also hit it out of the ball park when he confronted “a tension that exists among us.” What he did was absolutely masterful, framing the controversy between working for justice and evangelization into the one broad stroke of Human Suffering (between alleviating human suffering today and alleviating eternal human suffering).  He said: “if you have a problem with the eternal suffering part, then you have a faulty view of hell.  If you have a problem with the present suffering part then you have a faulty heart”.
 
For the afternoon I went to the meeting on Globalization with four presenters including Os Guiness and David Wells (author of “the courage to be protestant”). It was fun to sit with several members of the Spanish delegation. “pero hombre, tio!”  This session gave amazing insight into the issue of globalization and the church’s advantage and use of the present situation.  Again the call was towards creative evangelism and deeper discipleship.  I can give you fuller details in person as requested.
 
After that session I went to the top of the Westin Hotel—which is adjacent to the convention center—for a Christianity Today interview with a few other young US delegates (yes, I am considered young among  US representatives. That would give you a better idea of the make up of the delegation.) I knew only a few of the interviewees.  We all had to crowd in two couches. I sat next to a lady who introduced herself as Sara. “Hi Sara, where are you from?”I asked. “Minneapolis,” she answered. “cool, and what do you do there?” “I am a musician.” “hmmmm,” I thought, “everybody is a musician now a days.”  Then it hit me!  “wow, this is SARA GROVES! And I am seating next to her!”  I wished I would have downloaded less U2 and less Shakira and gotten some Sara Groves on my ipod because I could not for the life of me think of any songs by Sara Groves. So I did what I always do when I am nervous, I told her about my kids. I was surprised to see how amazingly low key Sara is. After the interview we had a blast talking about our spouses and our children. She truly lit the fire that Sylvia and I have had of moving into the adoption season of our parenting life.
 
Again, that interview was great fun. There were seven of us. The interviewer, Skie, the editor of leadership magazine did a fabulous job of moving us along. Also part of the interview was the executive pastor for Lifechurch TV the guy who is the mover and shaker for this amazing church with senior pastor Craig Groeshel.
 
Tonight I am going to a Sara Groves concert. Since I don’t have any of her CD’s I am going to have her sign my favorite preaching tie or my bible or my passport. Eat your heart out Stipp!
 
Tim Keller was the speaker for Wednesday night. He off-course talked about cities: why we must, how we can and why we can… reach the cities. 30% of the world’s population lives in 100 cities.
·       Young adults disproportionally live in cities
·       Most unreached people are more reachable in cities
·       The most impacting trends for the world flow from cities
·       The poor live in chanti-towns in cities.
 
That evening the continent in focus was Latin America. I was delighted to sit with the moody delegation led by Dr. Fuder and also was so excited to see both Samuel Escobar and Rene Padilla. These are Lausanne’s two Latin American sages. They have had a global influence since the first Lausanne back in 74.  I got a picture with both of them. I remember reading their evangelical responses to Liberation Theology back in the 80’s. both of them are getting older and as the entire Latin American delegation joined them on stage to lead a song of worship, I felt like these two godly forefathers, were passing on the mantel to younger Latin American leaders.
 
I felt puzzled to be here but not being part of the Latin American delegation.  I have been hanging out with Daniel Rodriguez a fellow chicano from Pepperdine University.  His new book on Latinos in the states is about to come out through Intervarsity press. He along with others has encouraged me that it is okay to be Latino in the US.  The work is vast and the workers are few. I was able to celebrate my Latin-American cousins.  Interestingly enough, that evening at the US reception, Al Hsu, the editor of Intervarsity approached me with the very same idea of writing a book through Intervarsity about what the Hispanic experience. We had a great conversation. I feel like the Mexican population is the largest demographic among Hispanics in the US but the least represented in evangelical circles. I had already thought about this. I wonder, again, why God would bring me here.
 
Thrusday was a free day. I slept in and only got up because I did not want to miss the hotel’s bfast. At noon I went with two friends, Alex—who works is Israel—and Andrew—who works with businessmen in DC.—to table mountain. Since the cable car was closed for high winds and the expectation of rain, we decided to climb up. It was quite a climb. I was truly glad to have watched the Lord of the Rings and seeing Frodo go through the steps to Mordor. At any moment we expected Gollum to jump out from the cliffs. The climb was steep. We went from 300 feet above sea level to 1200 feet. The entire adventure took us over 6 hours, up and down. But the view from the top was extraordinary. Off course, this morning my knees are killing me and my legs are so sore that this morning I drop something in my room and decided to just leave it since I would have to suffer to pick it up.
 
Last night we were so glad to be back to civilization that we decided to celebrate with steak. The base common denominator for us was getting in touch with our carnivore roots. I had me a great big juice American style cheeseburger. The other two guys went for T-bones.   Then back to my room, totally exhausted. Thank God for that day of rest.
 
I feel like I have moved from the overwhelming emotional stage of the first two days to a newer and deeper stage of thoughtful listening. While in the first two days the tears where always a second away, the third and fourth day, I have been sensing deeper messages from the Lord through the still small voice of his Holy Spirit. Today I finally wrote down furiously about some things that I believe very much pertain to our context in Chicago and Little Village.
 
Also Mario Vega is here. He is the pastor of Elim, the largest church in our Continent.  They are in Salvador. I am hoping to meet up with him tomorrow. Some of you guys know Joel Comiskey who writes on Cell churches. Our small group leaders have been reading about Elim and their system of cell groups.
 
Again, greetings from the global church.
 
Paco in South Africa.
 
I leave you with these words from Os Guiness: “God is truth, have faith in God and have no fear”
 

Os Guiness spoke today. I have finally found worth having a man-crush on.  He is deeply intellectual, highly relevant, profoundly prophetic and a true lover of God (he is amador). 

We began the morning with a study of Ephesians 1.  The process is so powerful. 

After worship we took a few minutes to study the text individually. Imagine 4200 people sitting in the same room meditating on the same passage from the word of God.  They printed out the entire letter on a long sheet of paper. It is in 8 different languages. the only bummer is that they chose the ESV version. (I don’t do weird English) 

Then the Lausanne theater team read the first chapter creatively through a contemporary drama of what it would have been like to receive Tytichus (?) or "Ty" into their fellowship carrying the letter through Roman checkpoints.

After that, we shared our observations of the passage with our small groups. All the congress participants were assigned a table for the purposes of discussion and fellowship. Tables have a maximum of 6 chairs and the entire auditorium floor is filled with tables.  No one gets to sit alone or in anonymity. There are close to 700 tables and our assigned seating is only for the morning sessions. I was asked along with 700 other people to be a Table Leader. Thank God for New Life small group training.  So far only two of the people assigned to my table have arrived (I am trying hard not to feel dejected: God loves you, paco). 

As a table leader I am expected to encourage conversation leading by example. Last evening we had one hour to all share our stories, hope for the congress, strengths and limitations. 

The two guys in my group are great! We are really hitting off well. Global jiving!

• Simon, is from Australia and works training and networking for children's and sports ministries throughout the world. As he shared in our table discussion we realized how hard it is for him to be serving children but his wife not being able to have children. His wife, penny, is here on another table. Hopefully we will get to meet her sometime during the week.  It was great to pray for Simon.  As we laid hands on him the HS spirit gave us a full sense of empathy and we all ended up in tears.
• Umut is from Turkey. He shared passionately about the work God has called him to do in Turkey.  He is younger than 30 and is already the General Secretary of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey. He was converted while in college doing research on the internet. One thing led to another and eventually he bumped by accident onto the words of John 8:32 on some website.  God then led him to meet and chat online with a Turkish christian living in Canada. And finally agreed to visit a Christian church in another city in turkey where he met the Lord Jesus.  Now he is a pastor. One of his parishioners was killed by Muslims, slashed his throat for being a believer. There is a movie about him and two other Turkish believers murdered for their faith.  Umut's English is not as elaborate but is cool to hear his accent. After I shared about my life and struggles he prayed for me, laying hands and speaking in turkish.  It was way cool!

By the way, one more interesting thing about these two guys: Simon and his wife travel throughout the world for about 6 months of the year since they have no kids. On the other side, Umut has never travelled outside Turkey until this trip. Isn’t that interesting!

Anyways, back to this morning (Monday morning) we are following the Inductive method for bible study. It was so cool to hear the observations of Umut, who lives in Smyrna, one of the seven churches of the Apocalypse.  Ephesus is the city next to him.  It’s as if we were reading the letter of the Apostle Paul to the church in Lawndale or to the church in Oak Park.  After that, Ajith Fernando came to do the exposition from the front. 25 minutes on the dot. (good thing they didn’t invite Mark—Mr-One-hour-minimum-preaching—Driscoll  to speak). 

The final step of the time we spend on application questions. It was such a fulfilling time. It felt like sharing a well-balanced meal with everyone there.  I am wondering how this experience can inform our way of studying scripture together for our New Life pastoral Message Preparation, this feels definitely like a fellowship immersed in scripture.

The second session was about truth. That is when Os Guiness spoke along with two other chaps. So good! I hope you can follow some of these sessions @ www.lausanne.org.  You can also interact by going to the Global Conversations link.

Bless yall!  Got my ipod and running shoes on. The weather is great. I am going for a run.  Hope to see me some seals.

Let’s pray for pastor Paco who for the next seven days will be part of the Lausanne World Congress in Cape Town South Africa.
 
What is this congress?
The Lausanne World Congress is a gathering of 4200 Christian leaders from 200 different countries of the world.  This is the most diverse global gathering of followers of Jesus in all of history. Many of those in attendance have undergone tremendous hardship to take the gospel to their own people.  It’s a tremendous honor to have pastor Paco representing, not only us, but our neighborhood, our church and our city in the midst of the global family.  It has pleased our Lord Jesus to grant us a voice among the nations represented in South Africa.
 
What is the Purpose of this Congress?
More than 30 years ago evangelist Billy Graham together with 100 other world leaders sensed the Lord’s leading to convene a global gathering of believers in order to re-frame Christian mission in a world of social, political, economic, and religious upheaval.   2400 Christian leaders from 150 nations attended that congress in Lausanne Switzerland in 1974.  A second congress in the Philippines saw 3000 representatives from 170 countries of the world gathered in 1989 to respond to the practical and theological questions of their day.   Cape Town 2010 is the third of such congresses.  Much has changed in our world since the last gathering.   The delegates will have the task of praying, discussing, listening and agreeing as to the best ways to respond to the needs of our changing global reality with the transforming love of Jesus.  
 
A Word from Pastor Paco:
Greetings from the southern-most western tip of Africa!  Our part of the US delegation arrived into Cape Town last Thursday, October 14th after 18 hours of travel that took us from Atlanta to Johannesburg and finally to our destination in Cape Town.  The congress begins early evening on Sunday.  I am writing on Friday evening with a few impressions up to now.
 
Around noon I took an exploratory walk through the city.  The old ring of the city reminds me of my home town of Tampico, back in Mexico where I grew up.  Both cities are important ports filled with colonial looking buildings, vestiges of Dutch and British imperial influence, and a fresh ocean breeze in the air.  
 
So, I was walking through a park when all of the sudden I heard someone yelling “Pastor Paco, wait!”  As I turned around there was Daniel Buys, a young man who had spent a year serving our youth @ New Life Little Village through Mission Year.  He then left as a missionary to Oaxaca, Mexico.  He is here as part of the 300+ army of young volunteers  who have come to serve from all over the world to make of this congress a successful event.  They have been @ Cape Town already working for a week.  Along with him was Rachel, also a young volunteer.  They quickly gave me the news of their engagement. Theirs was the first engagement among “stewards” (as they call the volunteers) in this congress.  I could not hold back the tears of joy thinking of the many gifts that our Lord always has reserved for his people.  It was a double surprise to find a good friend while taking a stroll through the city—much like we would bump unto each other while walking through the neighborhood back home—and at the same time getting the privilege of celebrating in their tremendous joy. I was the first to be blessed with praying for this adventurous young Christian couple. By the way, many greetings from Dan and Rachel.
 
Registration began later on that afternoon. It was a sight to beheld seeing the waves of delegates from every corner of the globe arrive and greet each other with hugs, smiles and King Jesus in their hearts. What a beauty to see the people of God being family to one another even if in the natural we might appear to be perfect strangers.   While in line I met Nick, a Chinese raised in Canada who has been planting churches among Muslims in northern Nigeria.  The combinations are so amazing!  I also had the joy of meeting Cornelius Constantinus—think of that name for a moment—he is a Romanian professor who has just this week being called to become the head of a seminary back home.  Cody is a young man from Oklahoma who along his wife has been planting churches among Nepalese refugees in the northern suburbs of Chicago.  My heart is humbled at the great privilege of meeting these 21st century heroes of the faith. And like them are many more. Can’t wait to hear their stories. May our faith be impacted by their lives. 
 
Spring in southern Africa is in full bloom so having shaken many a hand I decided to go for a run along the pier.  The population in South Africa is a mix of white Afrikaans, black Africans, and several hues of skin color including people with Indian heritage.  Plenty of music and multiple languages flowed from restaurants and stores as I ran through the port.
 
Towards the middle of my run I was distracted by a loud bark coming from the lower pier at ocean level.  As I leaned out from the top pier there was a large—cow size—seal taking in the afternoon sun on the lower pier with several other seals joyfully swimming in the ocean water. What a shock to have an animal that back home I have only seen at the zoo, and here it is enjoying its natural habitat. I was no more than 10 feet above the seal when it saw me, just gave a loud bark and went back to sun tanning.
It was such a surprise for me that I called some people walking by to come and see my discovery. A white African lady came closer, leaned out and waved me off with the words: “we have plenty of those around here!” Isn’t it funny that in Chicago we have an overabundance of squirrels and rats, and here they have too many seals and penguins.   
 
That night I came back to my room to find an email inviting me to speak to the US delegation for our gathering on Monday evening. There are about 400 US delegates.  I am grateful that this Monday evening—around noon Chicago time—I will be presenting our case before our brothers and sisters from the US.  I am enthuse with the idea that on the other side of the planet people will hear of what God is doing through you and New Life back in Chicago. 
 
I will see you in a few days.  For now I beg you to keep this congress in your prayers. I also, personally, covet your prayers for me.  My great desire is that God would infuse my heart with a love for our global family
 
Pastor Paco
Cape Town, South África
 
Ps. Some of you might be interested in knowing that this morning I attended Sunday worship at Hillsong South Africa.  The place was standing room only with several hundred people waiting outside for a seat in the next service.  They were celebrating the purchase of a brand new building which will soon be their church’s home. The largest night club in South Africa will soon be filled with worship to Jesus through our brothers and sisters @ Hillsong. Bang! Another goal for the King!

This is a prayer from a family in our neighborhood. 

A Little Village Neighbor’s Prayer  

Lord Jesus, You have brought my family and me to this neighborhood.    

I pray that our home in Little Village become much more than a dwelling.   

My prayer is that our home be a hub of activity for those poor and alone and hungry and naked and scared stiff and dirty and sick and depressed and self-conscious and crazy.   

I pray that homeless people will know where they can come for a loaf of bread and a conversation with someone who won’t blow them off.  

I pray that the woman whose kids are being taken away from her because she can’t stop hitting them can know where to come to be hugged.  

I pray that kids who are scared or bored will come and play in our yard and read books and play soccer and wrestle with our kids instead of joining gangs.   

I pray that our kids will grow up to know you and enjoy you and walk with you. I pray that they will experience your love in our home and that these experiences will mold and shape them for their entire lives.   

I pray that we will be known primarily by the way we love those around us.  

I pray that the families of our church unite around the cause of loving you by serving our neighbors throughout the entire neighborhood. I pray that we not accept compromise and dilution of our calling. I pray that we don’t see the broken as a threat to our schedules or our efficiency or our neatness. Instead, I pray that we see our schedules, efficiency and neatness as a threat to those who are at the center of your heart.  

I pray that people be lead to lives of service, devotion and complete abandon for you in our house. I pray that people be miraculously healed in our home.   

I pray that people be freed from years of bondage and spiritual oppression in our living rooms, that stomach aching laughter will spill out of our dining room windows, and that life giving conversations will be commonplace in our kitchens. I pray that our home will be the setting for the actions of the beatitudes.   

I pray that the prayers that flow out of our house will travel the globe and penetrate the darkest corners of our planet.   

I pray against sin, the sin which seeks to destroy God’s work in our lives and destroy our very selves. I pray against the sin that will seek out my children. I pray against the demons that those who are most needy will be dragging in with them as they limp across our threshold.  I pray that the prince of this world will be a powerless bystander at our home. I pray that people feel your peace as they enter our home and even as they walk by the street.  

I pray that you give us creative ideas for how to be neighbors, but even now I realize that it’s not creativity that we most need but obedience. We desperately long to obey you.   

It’s amazing how good our God is. Who knew!

A few weeks ago Manny Valdez was sorting out some old papers and bumped into a note that said: “January 22nd 2002: launch Little Village’s English congregation.”  In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday when several of us got together thinking that we could reach English speaking people in Little Village for Christ. How foolish we were.

Still, here we are seven years later, many gray hairs later, many babies later.  Some of us have put on some weight, some have managed to lose it, many have changed jobs, some real good friends have moved on following our Lord’s plan for them, others have married, a great many new friends have joined us and what was once just a small home group has truly grown into a joyful, exciting and faith-filled congregation. 

These last seven years have not been easy. We have learned many lessons the hard way.  I suspect that many of us have the scars to prove it. We have also taken many steps of wild faith together. Many prayers have driven our crazy ideas. I still feel as unqualified to be a pastor as the day we began.

But above any struggle, or any difficulty that we could have ever encounter, the one constant that shines brightest in our past is the one characteristic that will continue to light the way ahead. Sylvia and I have found refuge in it during dark days. It has pushed us forward during times of sluggish faith. In days of strength, we have seen how it has led us to victory. It is the fact that God has truly made us a family. This little congregation began with a clear passion to be “a family of love which cooperates with God…” Daily I thank God that he has allowed me to be part of this great and awesome family. 

It’s amazing how good our God is. Who Knew!