“For the sake of the world burn like a fire in me. Light a flame in my soul for every eye to see. For the sake of the world burn like a fire in me.” – Brian Johnson & Bethel Music

Read the beginning of the series HERE

Beverly and I came home from Colombia absolutely wrecked by the Spirit of God. We tried to go back to our life of pastoring and working wherever God provided work but it was no use. For three months I cried at least once every day. I would sit and look at photos of the children in Colombia and weep. My family started asking me, “Daddy, please don’t look at those photos anymore. We can’t stand to see you so broken up.” I remember one day walking through the grocery store and seeing a little brown skinned girl holding her daddy’s hand and I burst into tears. I stopped right there in the store and called my friend, Allen Pate and asked, “Allen, when does the crying stop?” He replied, “Honestly, I don’t know, it’s been three years for me and I’m still crying.” I knew then I was in deep trouble.

I was so wrecked I could hardly function. My elders and the deacons of my church began to worry about me. I couldn’t eat. When I did sleep I would dream about those precious children so desperate for love. It was the most beautiful pain I had ever experienced. Beverly was in the same lovely agony. We were so glad we at least had each other to commiserate with. I began to realize that I was feeling the heartbeat of Jesus. This must be a tiny bit of what He feels for the world! I would try to preach what I thought my congregation needed from the word for their lives but every sermon ended up being about going to the nations. I was eaten up with it, hopelessly addicted, and the only place I could get a fix was a plane ride away on another continent. Also during this time our oldest daughter Rebekah, who was 20-years-old began to bug me every day about when she could go. She was eaten up with holy envy at the newfound passion and hunger that she saw in Beverly and me and she wanted in on it!

My partners in crime, David and Allen, and I began to formulate a scheme to go back. One day I realized that I hadn’t checked my frequent flier miles in a long time and to my great delight I found that I had enough for 2 plane tickets to Bogota! Though we literally had no money and no earthly business turning around and going back to Colombia just three months after that first trip, we went anyway. Like any addict, nothing else mattered now but getting back there and getting a fresh dose of that Holy Spirit gasoline on our bonfire. Rebekah kept saying, “Dad, I have to go or die” and I knew she wasn’t being dramatic. So Rebekah, David, Allen, and I landed in Bogota in September of 2009 with no plan, no money, nothing but a furious passion that could only have come from God. We only knew we were supposed to go no matter what and God showed up for us in ways we couldn’t have imagined.

The first morning we met with some government officials to begin the process of adopting our daughter Heidy. We had been warned that one particular official was very stern and very tough and that we probably wouldn’t make any progress with her so we were praying like crazy when we walked into her office and sat down. Immediately she began to ask many gruff questions about our intentions and what we planned to do. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rebekah praying like a mad woman under her breath. Suddenly, we felt a Presence enter the room. It was so obvious Rebekah later told me that she was tempted to reach out her hand and see if she could touch Him. As we continued to explain our hearts for these children, the government official softened and even teared up and she told us that she was thrilled with our intentions and would help us in any way she could. She gave us permission to begin the adoption process and even more shocking she gave us permission to take Heidy and David and Allen’s Goddaughters out of the orphanage for a little supervised vacation while we were there. We left that meeting walking on air. The word miracle was on everyone’s lips. And this was all before noon on the first day!

Next we went a visited a little boys orphanage that would later become one of our favorites and then we went on to Heidy’s orphanage. As we drove through the gate my heart began to pound and tears welled up in my eyes. We stepped out of the van and were instantly surrounded by 80+ smiling, hugging, chattering girls. I was frantically scanning the crowd for my little Heidy. What happened next will be seared into my soul for all eternity. Suddenly, we heard a blood curdling scream and little Heidy came running across the yard, leaped over a hedge, and jumped into my arms. I’m 6′-1″ tall and yet she jumped so high she almost went over my shoulder. I fell back against the van and held her as she continued to squeal and yelp with joy, hugging my neck and kissing me on the cheek. When I introduced her to Rebekah she squeezed her like she would break her in two all the while saying, “mi hermana, mi hermana”. Also that day, Rebekah met a little girl named Hasbleydy Johanna. As often happens, they immediately fell in love with each other and before we left Hasbleydy asked Rebekah if she would adopt her and be her Mama. One look at Rebekah’s face told me that she had been bitten by the same fatal Holy Spirit bug and she would never be the same again, hallelujah. Heidy stared in disbelief when we told her to go pack her things because she was going on a little family vacation with us.

The next morning we had a fun breakfast with the girls and then we had an 8:30am appointment with the regional director for ICBF (Colombian Child Welfare) to talk about someday doing a summer camp in Texas where 20 or so adoptable orphans from Colombia could come to the Houston area for a week and stay in the homes of host families who were interested in adoption or just ministering to the children for that week (which we did two years later and 15 were adopted… but I’m getting ahead of myself again). For the next 5 days we had the most wonderful time imaginable. One of the highlights for me was buying Heidy her first ever milkshake. She was so enthralled. Also, Rebekah was able to meet Juan David when we spent the day at his orphanage as well. We left Heidy at her orphanage with a hug and a kiss and a Spanish Bible with her name embossed on the front and the promise that we would be back soon… even if we had to swim the gulf of Mexico…

Here is a small excerpt from my journal the last night,

 
[quote]Rebekah broke down pretty bad as we drove away. She, of course, wanted to bring the whole orphanage home with us. Well if I don’t get on the plane right now I will have to stay in Colombia… Wait, why would that be a bad thing??? 🙂 Oh yeah, they probably wouldn’t let me live at the girls orphanage anyway so I better go![/quote]
 

As our plane left the runway, I looked over at Rebekah with tears running down her face and I knew that Beverly and I had a new addict on our team.

Aflame For God 19 – Recruiting Jesus Addicts

“Oh that I could do more for Him, oh that I was a flame of pure and holy fire and had a thousand lives to spend in the dear Redeemer’s service.” – George Whitefield

Read the beginning of the series HERE

I was so busy trying to survive and shepherd my flock and family that it wasn’t until the night before we were supposed to leave for Bogota, Colombia that I sat down and looked it up on a map to see where in the world it was located. I had never been outside of the U.S. except childhood visits to Juarez, Mexico and on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. Beverly, who would turn 18 on the trip had never even flown on a plane before. We had no idea what lay in store only a vague lingering sense of God’s hand in all of it. We landed in Bogota, Colombia the evening of June 19, 2009, went to the hotel, and as we got out of the van my dear friend Allen Pate turned to me and said with tears in his eyes, “You are going to love this Matt. This is like Tres Dias on steroids.” And he was not wrong. In truth it was like pouring gasoline on a bonfire.

We were mesmerized by all of the sights and sounds as we drove to the first orphanage the first day. Bevy and I were quite nervous as we walked into Amparo De Ninos orphanage but suddenly 80 smiling little boys surrounded us and took us by the hands to show us their home, a giant, dilapidated monastery on a hill surrounded by stunning views of mountains and farmland. There is no way we could have known that the little 10-year-old boy who first took Beverly’s hand within seconds of our first visit to an orphanage on our first ever mission trip would forever change our lives. He literally never let go of Beverly’s hand the whole two and a half days we were there and it nearly killed her to leave him the last day. She later would say that the supernatural love that she felt in her heart for this little boy made her understand for the first time in her life God’s love for us and she dates her true conversion to Christ from this experience. She was a changed girl from that moment on. An inferno had been ignited in her teenage soul. That little boy’s name is Juan David and today he is our son. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Each day of the trip and each day of the subsequent 20 trips we have made to Colombia… but I’m getting ahead of myself again… I have written an email journal home and eventually blogs detailing each days events and miracles and below are my journal entries from that first trip.

 
[quote]Day 1 June 20, 2009
We had a wonderful day today! We went out in the country to the boys orphanage “Amparo De Ninos” (Protection of the Boys). We spent the day loving on 80 orphan boys between the ages of 10 & 18. Everyone of these boys is eligible for adoption and is just waiting for a family to come and take them home. First, we were given the grand tour of “their house” a beautiful and very old Catholic monastery now an orphanage. They showed us their bakery and insisted that we try some of their pastries which were delicious. They showed us their laundry room and nurses station and kitchen and their rooms. It was so precious to be surrounded by 10 or 15 boys at once trying to hug you, hold your hand, and talk to you in rapid fire spanish. I was glad I knew how to say “hable mas despacio por favor” which means “please speak more slowly” :-). After the tour we sat around in a huge circle and introduced ourselves. Then I gave a message from Eph. 2:1-10 through a translator and told them how all of us are boys who have ran away from God and been lost “But God” rich in mercy and full of great love provided a way back to Him through the death of Christ on the cross and now He calls us to faith in His son so that we may have a Father (God), a Brother (Jesus), and a family (Christians), and never be alone again. Some boys cried and others smiled and nodded and some fell asleep :-). Then we had lunch and then we split the boys up into 4 teams and gave all the boys on each team a T-shirt. One team was red, one was blue, one was white, and one was gray. Two teams played soccer while two teams played kick ball (which was new to them) all with sports equipment that we had brought to give to the orphanage. They had a marvelous time. When it came time for us to go, they begged us to stay and held onto the van until we drove out of the gates, all the while telling them “Hasta Manana!” (See you tomorrow). One little boy clung to Beverly all day and was really sweet. It was hard for her to leave him. My little friend that held my hand all day was so cute. Tomorrow we will go back there with 200 hot dogs, buns, catsup, mustard, mayonnaise, cokes, and candy and have a feast with them and another man from our group will give a devotion and then we will teach them some new games. Thanks for helping us to get here and for all of the prayers, Pastor Matt[/quote]
 
[quote]Day 2 June 21, 2009
First thing this morning the team had a 2 hour conference with a man who with his wife founded a ministry to orphans here in Bogota call “Alma De Ninos” (Soul of the Children). They founded this ministry right after college and now have 263 orphans ages 10-18 (all eligible for adoption) in 5 different homes that they house and educate. We were very impressed with their work. Tomorrow we will go back to “Amparo De Ninos” (Protection of the Boys) for 1/2 day and then go to one of these “Alma De Ninos” homes that has 160 girls for the remainder of the day. After our meeting this morning we went back to “Amparo De Ninos” again and spent the whole day with the 80 boys there. The first thing we saw when we pulled through the gates this morning was all of the boys in their shirts we gave them playing soccer with the new equipment. It was wonderful to see their smiling faces again. We had a big hot dog cook out with chips and sodas and cookies. The boys never get “seconds” at meals so when we call out that there was seconds for everyone they stampeded. After lunch we played frisbee, dodgeball, and football. Later in the day we went into the old Catholic chapel and had a devotional from one of our team who is in seminary and works for a ministry in Waco. He told the boys that we love them and want to help them but there is only so much that we can do but that Jesus has already borne all of their pain, suffering, and sin on the cross and through faith in His sacrifice they can be healed. We then gave each boy a New Testament in Spanish. I was able to have some deep spiritual conversations with a couple of the boys and pray with them about their fears and struggles. We had many fun conversations as well and Beverly and I both learned a ton of spanish. Beverly is making a list of all the little boys she wants to bring home, boys with names like Anderes Philip, Juan David, Alexander, Diego, and Ramido. I keep reminding her that we still have two girls orphanages to visit yet this week :-). Once again, thank you for making this possible and for all of the prayers, Pastor Matt[/quote]
 
[quote]Day 3 June 22, 2009 was a marvelous day of blessings and much emotion. Today was Beverly’s 18th birthday and I’m sure one that she will remember forever. At breakfast the whole team stood around her table and sang happy birthday and then presented her with a pretty tote bag with her name embroidered on the side. After breakfast we went back to “Amparo De Ninos” for the last time this trip. When we arrived there were no boys to be seen. As we walked into the orphanage they were lined up in the hall and as Beverly entered they sang happy birthday in broken english and clapped and wished her “Feliz Cupleano” (happy birthday). It was beautiful. We took a tour of the grounds this time and were able to see their farming and dairy operation which helps with their needs and they also sell the milk to help with their costs. After some more soccer, we met in the chapel for a final devotion and to say our goodbyes. The young people on our team (Beverly (18), Sarah (18), brothers Matthew (20) and John (17), and Eric (24)) got up and gave testimony to what Christ is doing in their lives and why they came and what a blessing it has been and how they love and will miss the boys. Then I was able to share from John 14 about eternity and how short this troubled life is in comparison. I shared with them that though we may be separated in this life, if we believe in Jesus and turn from our sin, our own way, and cry out to Him, resting solely on His mercy and grace for our salvation, then we will be together in eternity with our Lord. I told them about repentance and faith. After the devotion, 25 boys acknowledged their need for Christ and I was able to pray with them. Then 3 of the older boys got up and thanked us in the most precious manner you can imagine. They thanked us for the love of Jesus that they had seen in our faces and in our actions. They said that though the time we were able to spend with them probably seemed short to us it was like a lifetime to them because it is so rare that they get to experience anything like that. They said that few people in the world would come so far to spend their time with a bunch of orphans and they loved us for it and would remember it the rest of their life. Our sweet interpreter broke down several times and had a hard time translating all that they had to say to us. There was no shortage of tears among us all. We left at lunch with many tears and hugs and sweet goodbyes and promises to come back next year. One little boy who had stayed right with Beverly and I all week asked if I could be his “Padrino” (Godfather) and if Beverly could be his “Madrina” (Godmother). That was hard. We are bringing back information on each boy and have promised them that we will work to help connect them with families who wish to adopt. In the afternoon we went to a new orphanage called “Ciudad De La Nina” (City of the Girl) where their are 160 girls between the ages of 7 and 18. This is one of the orphanages of the man that we met with yesterday morning from “Alma De Ninos” (Soul of the Child). They had an assembly and the girls all sang to us and chanted out a welcome. We introduced ourselves and I just happened to mention to them that it was Beverly’s “Cupleano Hoy” (Birthday today) :-). So 160 girls sang happy birthday in spanish, and beat on the tables, and clapped and Beverly blushed intensely and then proceeded to walk over and give me a well deserved punch in the kidney :-). We handed out a stuffed toy to each girl and told them that we would be back tomorrow to have an American cook out and spend the whole day with them. More chanting, clapping, and beating on the tables ensued. Many of the girls came up to thank us and give us each a big “abrazo” (hug). Five beautiful little girls surrounded me and asked if I had any daughters. I told them that I had 4 daughters including Beverly and then they asked me if I would like some more daughters because each of them are waiting for a family to adopt them. That was hard. We left there and went to dinner at the home of the lady who works from this end to help the “Here I Am Orphan Ministry” (our team) to work in these orphanages and acts as the guide on the trips. We had a wonderful Colombian dinner and rich Colombian coffee and then she pulled out a beautifully decorated chocolate cake and we all sang happy birthday to Beverly one more time. As she blew out the candle, Beverly wished out loud that we will be able to help some of these children, perhaps through adoption ourselves, in the future. We sang some worship songs and went back to our hotel asking God for strength and courage to once again be the hands and feet and arms of Jesus to the 160 girls at “Ciudad De La Nina” tomorrow. Once again, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for supporting us in this work and for the many prayers. Many Blessings, Pastor Matt[/quote]
 

That night when we got back to the hotel we tried to Skype with the family back home so they could sing happy birthday to Bevy but all she and I could do was cry and blubber about what we had seen and felt. Our family on the other side of the computer screen couldn’t figure out what was going on with us… but soon they would… but I’m getting ahead of myself again..

 
[quote]Day 4 June 23, 2009 Today was another amazing day. We went back to “Ciudad De La Nina” (City of the Girl) to spend the whole day. This is the orphanage with 160 of the cutest girls ever seen that we visited briefly yesterday. We spent the morning talking with the girls (by now our spanish is getting pretty good) and laughing and teasing while they asked us zillions of questions which we later realized were all directed at whether we would make good adoptive parents or not. They asked us important questions like how many shoes we owned and how much land and how many animals we owned and stuff like that :-). We then had a grand cook out and fed them hot dogs and chips and ice cream with all of the toppings which took hours, literally. They thanked us dozens of times. It was a very happy, happy time. We then moved into the cafeteria and a group of the girls dressed in traditional Colombian dress did several dances for us. It was really beautiful. Next, it was time for the devotion. I shared with them about my family and how that all of my adult life my passion has been to be a good father. I told them how I love my children and how I desire to give good things to them and how I would even die for them. But then I shared with them that the Bible says that if earthly fathers who are sinners give good gifts to their children how much more does the Heavenly Father. I then proceeded to share with them the wonderful news of a Heavenly Father who loves them and who sent His son to die for them and how that by faith they can have this Father for their own and He will never leave them, He will never let them down. We then gave out a pair of brand new tennis shoes to each girl and a New Testament in Spanish. Then it was time for us to go. However, some of the girls got the idea of having each of us sign their Bible for them. So we spent the next 30 minutes with crowds of girls around each of us signing Bibles as fast as we could write our names. It was unspeakably precious. We had to tell them goodbye for this trip and words cannot express the feeling in our hearts as we left those girls, many with tears, promising to do what we can to help them in the days ahead and asking God to watch over them. It was especially hard for me to leave 3 little girls named Jaime, Brenda, and Wendy who had held my hands all day and called me Papa. Tomorrow we go to “Ampara De Ninas” (Protection of the Girls) here in the city which is one of the main reasons for the trip and we will spend the rest of our week there. I can only imagine how hard it will be to leave our new little friends there after we spend the next three days with them but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I have a new appreciation for my Savior who once said, “suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Love and Prayers, Pastor Matt[/quote]
 

Little did I know that the next day, June 24, 2009 would change my life forever. This is the day that Beverly and I met my Colombian daughter, Heidy, and I fell ridiculously, insanely, supernaturally, head over heels in love.

 
[quote]Day 5 June 24, 2009 Today was another example of God’s hand mightily at work among us. We arrived at “Amparo De Ninas” at about 10:00am. There are 76 girls in this orphanage. They were all ready to go to the big city park “just down the road” so we set out walking to the park. An hour and 5 or 6 miles later we arrived at the park. It was a lovely walk in the 70 degree weather with each of us surrounded by girls holding our hands or walking arm in arm and asking question after question. It was wonderful. The park is a gigantic, beautiful, lush, park with two lakes. If walking “to” the park wasn’t enough we also had to walk all around the park and see all of the sites 🙂 which gave us lots of opportunity to talk about the Lord, America, food, music, and so on. The nuns cooked in huge kettles over an open fire right in the park a wonderful “soup” full of beef ribs, chicken leg quarters, bananas, plantain, potatoes, rice and so on. It was delicious and hearty. We played volleyball, soccer, earth ball, ladder ball and shot marshmallow guns at each other. At about 3:00pm the rain came and we had to head back to the orphanage. By the time we got back the rain had stopped so we dragged chairs out into the courtyard and sat around and visited until time to go. My heart was pierced again and again as were the rest of the team as we got to know these beautiful girls and see their personalities and know that if they don’t get adopted the statistics tell us that most of them will be dead within two years of leaving the orphanage. One little girl in particular, named Heidy, followed Beverly around all day and tried really hard to communicate with her. At one point she began to play piano scales with her fingers on Beverly’s arm and suddenly they realized that they knew a universal language, music. This little girl plays the piano, flute, and drums. I had seen her with Beverly all day but I was monopolized by several other sweet girls and didn’t get to meet her until we were almost ready to leave. Someone said that she could sing and so we coerced her into singing for us. When she started to sing I thought that heaven had opened up and an angel was singing to us. We were stunned. As I write this there are chills going down my spine and tears filling my eyes. I know that God has a plan for this girl and I am so grateful that on this day I was able to love on her and make her laugh several times and let her know that she has friends from Texas. Tomorrow we go back to have a big hot dog cookout with these girls and then Friday we will be with them all day as well. I can’t wait to get back there and see all of my little friends. I don’t know what the future holds but I know, God willing, that we are going to have a wonderful time in the Lord while we can. Love and Prayers, Pastor Matt[/quote]
 
[quote]Day 6 June 25, 2009 Today was a happy day! We rested some and saw some sites this morning and then went back to “Amparo De Ninas” this afternoon. It was such a happy day because we had made friends with these girls yesterday and they know that we aren’t leaving until Saturday so they don’t have to be sad yet and so we were able to just be comfortable with each other and really loosen up and have some fun. When I walked into the courtyard I saw that the girls had taken colored chalk and in huge fancy letters written on the asphalt “Mateo, Te Queremos Mucho” (Matthew, We Love You Very Much). The little girl (Heidy) that I told about who was such a singer and musician had drawn a large picture of a girl with a smaller girl with her head on her shoulder and under the larger girl was the name Beverly and under the smaller girl was her name with hearts all around the picture. It was beautiful. We played basketball, volleyball, and sat around and talked a lot. For dinner we had our big hot dog cook out and then made popcorn and roasted marshmallows over the charcoal. Someone brought out a stereo and then it got crazy. In case you ever wondered if Latin girls can dance, I am here to tell you positively that they can and that they are determined when trying to teach us “Americanos” how to as well. I’ve never had more fun in my life. We laughed and we made them laugh. We danced and took crazy pictures of each other until our camera batteries were gone. We talked and played until the sun was way down and it was time to go. Some of the girls made woven bracelets and Beverly knew how to start them so there was literally a line of girls waiting for Beverly to help them get theirs started. Heidy brought her bracelet when completed and put it on my arm. I tried to give it back and tell her it was for her but she would have none of it. All day yesterday and today I kept trying to get her picture but she wouldn’t let me or anyone else. Apparently she is infamous for hating to have her picture taken. Once when I surprised her with a shot she begged me to delete it and so I did. She did allow a picture of her and Beverly with her drawing though and right before we left she came up and said “Una photo de tu y yo” (One photo of you and me) so I was able to get her picture after all. My friend Allen took the shot and I can’t wait to get it from him. I knew that it was a huge gesture of friendship for her to permit it and I will cherish that picture. It reminded me of summer camp when I was a boy and making new friends and having fun and giving yourself to the moment knowing that the week will end but for the moment this is all there is in the universe. I know God put Beverly and I on this wonderful team of people and appointed us for this trip and I can gratefully say that I have soaked up every minute. I came here to show the love of Jesus to these children but what I didn’t expect was to see His love for me through them. Love and Prayers, Pastor Matt[/quote]
 
[quote]Day 7 June 26, 2009 Our final day here in Bogota was very sweet and very sad as was expected. We went back to “Amparo De Ninas” today. The girls were all gathered and Beverly, David, Sarah, and I sang “Here I Am To Worship” for them and then I gave our last devotional from Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I shared with them how the God of hope loves them and has a plan for them. And when they believe the Holy Spirit comes and fills them with hope, joy, and peace. They can search for those things in the world, in things, in human relationships, but they are only to be found in God through His Son Jesus Christ. Several girls prayed with me after acknowledging their need for and total dependance on Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation. After the devotion, the team gave each girl a New Testament in Spanish and a brand new pair of shoes and a stuffed bunny. I should mention here that our team, Here I Am Orphan Ministry, (www.orphanministries.com) bought 361 pairs of shoes this week for girls and boys in every orphanage we visited plus 4 other orphanages that we were not able to visit this time. Then it was lunch time and we enjoyed eating and visiting together. Two girls wrote me sweet notes thanking me for opening my heart to them and for the love that they felt. I have so many little sisters now. Instead of trying to celebrate each girls birthday when it comes around they have two big parties a year, one in June for the January through June birthdays and one at the end of the year for the rest. Today was the big birthday party for the first 1/2 of the year so after lunch our buddies from “Amparo De Ninos” that we visited earlier in the week showed up and the party began. There were cakes and we brought ice cream and toppings and there was a DJ and lots of dancing :-). The kids look forward to this for 6 months and they were extra delighted that we were going to be there to share it with them. It was a happy time. As the day began to come to a close the girls started bringing me their email addresses on scraps of paper and eliciting promises of staying in touch and promises to return and see them when we can. When it actually came time to leave, we gathered in a big circle and held hands and I prayed. I asked God to watch over our friends, to draw them close to Himself, to let them know that we love them and it is because He first loved us, and to hold our hearts in His hand until we see each other again. After the prayer, some of the girls got up and thanked us. Heidy, the little girl that captured Beverly and my heart and with whom we had much fun today, got up and said, “Thank you for coming to show us love. Believe me, your riches in heaven will be great. You have given 365 days worth of love in 3 days. God bless you.” Then it was time to go and girls rushed to kiss us on the cheek and give us hugs. Many were crying as were we. They thanked us over and over again. Finally, before some of the team dragged me into the van and closed the door, I gave Heidy the last of many tearful hugs and we said our sweet goodbyes. I don’t have the words to say what we all felt as we drove away but there was much sobbing and many determined oaths to redouble our efforts to “Vindicate the weak and fatherless and do justice to the afflicted and destitute.” Psalm 82:3 Love and Prayers, Pastor Matt [/quote]
 

As little Heidy and I were giving each other our last tearful goodbyes and hugs and kisses and she was whispering in my ear “I love you, I’ll be praying for you” my friends David and Allen grabbed me by the back of my leather jacket and literally dragged me into the van and slammed the door because we were going to miss our flight. As the door closed and we drove away from Amparo De Ninas, I sat frozen for a moment and then I turned to David and quietly said, “If I have to swim the gulf of Mexico, I’m going to help that little girl.” Then I fell into his arms and sobbed like a baby all the way to the airport.

Here is an excerpt from Beverly’s journal from that trip…

 
[quote]“The summer that I graduated high school I read, “Don’t waste your life” by John Piper. When I read that book God put a fervent desire in my heart to give my life wholly and completely over to God to do with as He would. He stirred a passion in me to do something meaningful something that would impact the kingdom of God for His glory. That same summer God brought a young orphan girl into our life named Mercy. She needed a home and a loving forever family. I knew right away that God wanted me to make a ministry of this precious new sister. And so I spent that year pouring into her the love of God. And then one day my dad walks into the office and tells me about an opportunity he was given to go on a mission trip to Bogota, Colombia and I was reminded of what God had stirred in me the summer before. I had no idea what to expect and sometimes wondered what in the world were we getting ourselves into. The first day we visited a boy’s orphanage. It was very awkward and I did not know what to do with myself. And then one sweet shy little boy kept taking my hand every chance he got and started showing me around. He showed me everything but when he took me to one of the rooms where they sleep and showed me his bed and his little backpack that held all the little toys he owned I wanted to cry. That first day he hardly ever left my side soaking in all the love and affection he could. But after that he began to pull away and I realized it was because he knew we were going to leave and wanted to make it as least painful as he could by staying away. It broke my heart. That night I couldn’t stop thinking of all the little things in life I take for granted. Things like a hug or a shelf full of stuffed animals or a pantry full of food or just family. Over the next few days we visited two girls orphanages. I marveled at how selfless and loving these children were and at how even though we had gifts and food and things to give them what they wanted the most was our love. All they wanted was to hold your hand to make you laugh to hug you to see you smile. That baffled me the most. We were there to serve them and give them love and they were so eager to do just that for us. Telling these precious children goodbye on that last day was the hardest thing I have ever done. God stirred a passion in me when I read, “Don’t waste your life” to do something of worth and value for the kingdom of God. And I have to say I am certain I have found that something. And that something is to take God’s love and the gospel to Orphans and God willing bring some home to teach and train in the ways of the Lord.” [/quote]
 

Beverly and I sat quietly on the plane with copious tears flowing down both of our cheeks. Suddenly she reached over and squeezed my hand so hard it hurt. “Dad, promise me that we will never be the same again! Promise me! Promise me that we won’t forget what we saw, what we felt, and we will go home and do something about it!” All I could choke out was, “Beverly, I promise if we have to swim the gulf of Mexico, we are going to help those kids.”

Aflame For God 18 – Swimming The Gulf of Mexico

“Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire… A man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit; and should never be allowed to enter one.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Read the beginning of the series HERE

It was early 2000 and at the invitation of our nearest neighbor, we visited Forest Meadow Baptist Church and immediately fell in love with the church, the people, the pastor and his wife. Very soon after we invited the pastor and his wife over for lunch after church one Sunday. In our usual fashion we visited with them while the children cooked and served and then we sat around and the children shared stories and testimonies and the pastor and his wife were completely blown away. After a beautiful afternoon of fellowship they said goodbye and as they were leaving the pastor pulled me aside and said, “Matt, you have something very very special here in this family that you guys are raising. What God is doing here in your home needs to be exported to the world. You need to export this blessing that God has given you. Can I challenge you in the next year to have as many families from our church over to your home as possible so that they can experience what we experienced today and feel what we felt today and be inspired to raise up a generation of warriors for Christ?” I was stunned. I promised him that we would do exactly that and when I went back in and explained to the family what he had told me we pulled out the church directory and a calendar and began to formulate a plan to have every family in the church over for dinner in the next 12 months. In that one moment of encouragement from that pastor a flame was lit in our hearts to be a catalyst for Christian family renewal and inspiration.

Week after week, chicken dinner after chicken dinner, we began to build relationships with all of the families in the church and God began to do amazing things in us and through us. First, we built some of the greatest friendships of our lives that remain as bulwarks in our family to this day. Second, we began to study even harder than we had before about godly family and marriage so that we could grow ourselves and also counsel and disciple others. We did end up having nearly every family in the church over for dinner in the next two years and we and I would like to think the church were never the same again. We also began to loan out books and tapes from our significant family library and the results were so stunning that we began to buy two and three of everything in our library to give away or lend to our steady stream of hungry souls God was sending to our dinner table.

My health had been dramatically deteriorating for a couple of years and we couldn’t figure it out. I was only 35 years old but was functioning like a 70-year-old man. Finally the doctors told me I had Systemic Lupus and it was incurable. They put me on 11 different medications and within two years I was almost dead. I could barely walk and spent more time in bed than out and that blessed little church and group of friends loved and cared for us amazingly. God only allowed us to enjoy that heavenly mountain valley and church and friends for 3 years and then He moved us to Houston, Texas in a most miraculous way. Even though I was terribly sick, I was still rocketing up in the commercial construction world and eventually caught the attention of the largest construction company in America and through a series of providences that made it clear God was at work I was recruited to build a $220,000,000 Hilton hotel in Houston, Texas to be completed in time for the 2004 Superbowl. So we loaded up and moved to Houston. All the while we felt strongly that God was not primarily moving us here for construction but that it was only the carrot to get us here for some yet unforeseen kingdom plan. And we were not wrong.

Within a few weeks of settling down in Houston we “stumbled” onto a little church plant that was 3 weeks old and immediately fell in love with the people there. Within a week or two we had rolled up our sleeves and dove in. In no time at all the church had 30 families attending regularly and you guessed it, we put into action a plan to have each family over for dinner and love on them and minister to them in any way we could including exposing them to our now mammoth family lending library. We jumped at every chance to do any job in the church no matter how small and we had never been happier. One weekend in the spring of 2004 changed my life forever. As we now had risen to leadership in the church we were sent off to a Christian retreat called Tres Dias as part of our leadership training. I went with an open mind and heart to see what God had for me there but in my wildest dreams I could never have imagined the impact this one weekend would have on me for the rest of my life. I can’t explain exactly what or how but Jesus met me on that weekend so miraculously that I can only say that it was every bit as impactful as that youth camp in the summer of 1982 and I came home a man aflame once again. If you had asked me before that weekend if I was on fire for God I probably would have said yes but time and trouble and illness and the cares of this life had dampened my flame more than I realized but that weekend God blew through my soul with a fresh wind and fanned an inferno that burns brightly to this day. I came home from that weekend with a three part vision. 1. I knew God wanted me to pastor. 2. I knew God wanted me to write a book about godly family. 3. I knew God wanted me to begin speaking at homeschool conferences and challenging parents to raise warriors for Christ.

Shortly after, I became one of the pastors of this booming church of now 300 people, we began to write our book The Blessed Family (now available on Amazon HERE), and I became a regular speaker at the annual Southeast Texas Homeschool Association state conference. Later I would also write a monthly article called Dad’s Corner for The Teaching Pioneer Magazine. I loved preaching more than ever now and like days gone by I enjoyed the Holy Spirit’s power and help but in even stronger ways than when I was a youth. It was thrilling what God was doing all around us. I was still sick much of the time, still building high rise buildings all over Texas, and still ministering to people three and four nights a week in our home but by this time we had an army of precious warriors and best friends in our 5 teenagers who now did all of the work, including our two sons studying theology and working for me building high rises and then God called us to start a church in our living room because we weren’t busy enough! Within 8 weeks that church was running over 100 people and then 300 and then after 3 years we started over with another church in our living room. Through some miraculous circumstances our family was part of a think tank strategizing with the leaders of some of the largest churches in America about how to raise up the next generation of warriors for Christ. Lisa and I were also speaking at Tres Dias weekends twice a year and seeing God work miracle after miracle in the lives of hundreds of people. It was 2008 and we were working as hard for God as we knew how. There are too many crazy God-stories and fierce spiritual battles to tell all of it but suffice it to say we were exporting the blessing in every way we thought possible and swinging our swords at the agents of darkness with all of our might. We were living as radical for God as we could possibly imagine. BUT GOD!… was about to completely blow our minds…

Aflame For God 15 – An Orphan On Our Doorstep

“We who want to witness to the presence of God’s Spirit in the world need to tend the fire within with utmost care… Our first and foremost task is faithfully to care for the inward fire so that when it is really needed it can offer warmth and light to lost travelers.” – Henri J. M. Nouwen

Read the beginning of the series HERE

Though in our hearts we had given up on being “in the ministry” during this period as I worked and Lisa homeschooled our children, God in His goodness began to bring people to our door on a regular basis who were hurting, needed counseling, wanted to be saved, or needed a meal. We quickly began to realize the kingdom of God was much bigger than any institutional church, denomination, or organized ministry. Just when we thought we were “out of the ministry”, real, miraculous, ministry began to happen all around us. Every week our little apartment was full of families that needed discipleship, the lost who needed to be found, teenagers seeking God, and folks that just needed a friend. We began to realize that God could bring the whole world to our dinner table if we were prepared, prayed up, and ready to meet their needs through Jesus. That aspect of our ministry has never left us. Over the years literally thousands have sat at our dinner table and been ministered to. Many people in ministry and serving God in local churches around the world today were saved, encouraged, or counseled in our home. Praise the Lord!

One story in particular still amazes me when I think of those days. I had moved up to being a commercial construction superintendent for a major company in Albuquerque, New Mexico and I had a young foreman named Jeno. As was my habit, I had spied Jeno among my laborers as having leadership potential and I made him my foreman. I took him under my wing and began teaching him to be a future superintendent. Over the years I had done this many times and almost always the mutual respect and affection that grew between us eventually allowed me to share Jesus with these different foremen. I’ll never forget the day that as we were inspecting a trench that was ready for concrete, Jeno asked me what made me different, what made me so loving. I told him my story of how I came to Christ and my passion for following Jesus and right there in that trench Jeno asked me to help him get saved. We prayed right there and then. I went home and told Lisa the exciting news and we prayed for Jeno that night. I was shocked the next morning as Jeno came bounding up glowing and telling me that he had gone home that night and shared with his wife word for word as best as he could remember everything I had told him and that she had given her heart to Jesus as well. I was stunned and thrilled. Jeno and his wife started going to church and before long he was promoted in the company and I didn’t see him on a daily basis as I had before. One night about a year later Jeno called me excited out of his mind. He asked me to get Lisa on the phone and he put his wife on the phone so the four of us could hear. Then Jeno informed me that he and his wife had decided to both quit their jobs and they were leaving the next morning with a Uhaul to head to Bible college and begin their life of ministry together and they wanted to thank us for leading them to Jesus and inspiring them to serve God with their whole life. You are amazing God… Simply amazing…

Another wonderful thing was taking place in our home as we ministered to these myriad of people week in and week out. Our children were observing and listening and learning to serve. When they were a little older we taught them to cook and clean and serve and babysit the small children of the families that came through our door knowing this would give mom and dad more “ministry time” with the parents. Our children took this on as part of their work to impact the kingdom and that servant’s heart is characteristic of them to this day. Little did we realize how God would someday impact the world through the families that he brought to our door and through our children who watched and learned and served.

We continued to struggle as I worked to climb the commercial construction ladder and Lisa poured herself into teaching and training the children. At one point things got so crazy that we were homeless for a little while and we stayed in a pay by the week motel room with 5 children and only two beds in the same room. But we always made it fun. We pretended that we were on a secret mission and we had to keep on the move. The children knew it was all in fun but it was so much better than worrying about our conditions. Eventually, in the summer of 1999 we were blessed through a series of miracles and very hard work to buy 4 acres of land in a beautiful valley in the mountains east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. We camped on the land one whole summer clearing trees and putting in the septic system and pouring footings and that fall we put a big extra double wide mobile home on the land and moved in. It was our first real home after 15 years of marriage. Our oldest was 14 and our youngest was 7. We absolutely loved it! But very soon we realized that we as a family had grown quite accustomed to hospitality and the ministry that regularly happened in our home and now we lived at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and we were very lonely. It wasn’t long however before God heard our hearts yearning and began once again to beat a path to our door. One day our closest neighbor came by and invited us to a little church in the mountains about 5 miles away called Forest Meadow Baptist Church. We gladly took him up on the invitation not realizing that some of the dearest friends of our lifetime awaited us there as well as a pastor whose one visit to our home a few weeks later would change our lives forever. Aflame For God 14 – Exporting The Blessing

“Nothing but fire kindles fire.” – Phillips Brooks

Read the beginning of the series HERE

We had lain down (temporarily at least) our wild ideas of turning the world upside down. I was working, we had an apartment, and all of our friends, in-laws, and other family were happy that we had “wised up” and were submitting to the status quo of the culture. However, there was still a subversive fire burning in our bones and so we devised a plan for our life. I would work hard at whatever work God sent me during the day and at night Lisa and I would get educated theologically so that we could educate our children to be warriors for Christ. I told Lisa that for every book she read on Christian womanhood, child rearing, women’s ministry, or prayer and wrote a report on the book, I would buy her a new dress. So about two days later I came home from my $5.00 per hour job and she had already read a weighty book and written a beautiful report. I couldn’t believe it! How was I going to buy her a dress? I began, like Laban in the Bible, to change her “wages” seven times but she smilingly assured me that she never intended to take me up on my dress deal. She was as committed to our vision of knowing God and preparing our little family to impact the kingdom as I was and she need no additional incentive but the joy of pursuing God as a family. Within that month she had read 5 books and written reports. I couldn’t keep up with her reading, but I tried hard.

One day when our oldest, Luke, was about to be school age I came home and told Lisa, “I am not sending my kids to these New Mexico schools. The only thing I learned there was self defense. We are going to keep our kids home and teach them ourselves.” We had never heard of homeschooling so you can imagine my wife’s response. I told her that everything man has ever learned is in a book somewhere and all we have to do is teach them to read. She was incredulous but agreed to start teaching them at home. We didn’t have a TV so we spent nearly every evening reading. Every morning she would gather the children around our little table and memorize scripture with them. I bought her a blackboard to put on the wall in our dining nook and when they had mastered a verse by memory she would write the verse on the board. Each day they would review the verses on the board and then begin the process of memorizing a new one. I was working very hard to keep the wolves away from the door and not paying too much attention to the blackboard until one day I stopped and noticed that there were over 40 verses written on that little blackboard. I couldn’t believe it! I asked Lisa, “Do you mean to tell me that you and the children have memorized over 40 verses of scripture?” “Yes”, she replied and quickly to prove her point had the children recite from memory all 43 verses. I was stunned and thrilled. They were 7, 6, 5, and 3-years-old and our 5th baby, Brooke, was an infant. It wasn’t long before they were reciting whole chapters of the Bible from memory.

I had preached at a youth rally in Indianapolis, Indiana and the daughter of an evangelist, Don Boys, was in the crowd and was impacted by the sermon. Somehow I was told that her father was working on a curriculum for something called Home Schooling. He was gathering Christian educators from all around the country to collaborate on it which intrigued me greatly. Later I learned that he had completed it and it was available for purchase. We checked with the laws of our state, New Mexico, learned that homeschooling was illegal, but ordered the curriculum and began home schooling our children nonetheless. We didn’t know another homeschooling family but believed it was God’s plan for our family. Later our kids would tell us that for years they thought we invented home schooling! Later we fought with other home schooling families to make it legal in all 50 states. It didn’t turn out to be the quid pro quo fool proof method of raising warriors for Christ that we had hoped but we are still glad that we educated them ourselves all the way through high school. We eventually built up a library in our home of over 7,000 volumes, many of which our children had read before they graduated from high school. History, theology, biography, Christian living, science, classics, of course some good old fiction kept us captivated day in and day out year upon year and God was deepening us individually and as a family and preparing us for adventures we couldn’t have imagined at the time. Even today though our children are in their 20’s and scattered all over the world, we read a book or two per month together and share our insights, comments, and delights from each book in a secret Facebook group we affectionately call Bullen Book Club.

Many were the months that we didn’t know where the rent would come from but God always provided. There was a large rock outcropping in the mountain foot hills near our apartment complex and I would often go there late at night and cry out to God to provide for my little family. I was working at everything that I could find. Some months the Lord saw fit to let us really be tested. I even spent a night in jail once because our tags were expired on our old ford van that I used for work. But even then I witnessed to the officer that arrested me and everyone in the jail that I was raising 5 warriors for Christ on one laborers income and sometimes buying milk came ahead of renewing my registration. I’m sure we made many mistakes but we were two kids in our mid 20’s with 5 children and a religious conviction against food stamps and welfare and we were doing our best to figure out how to make it all work. God always sent us what we needed when we needed it though and that included encouragement. We lived in a second story apartment and a couple and their 3 teenagers moved in down below us. We began to notice how mature and how sweet and respectful their children were and it wasn’t long before we met them and discovered that they were Christians and that they homeschooled! Wow! Our first encounter with another homeschooling family! They were much farther down the road than us and so John and Kim took us under their wings and mentored us for the rest of the time that we lived there. They were radical! They lived in an apartment so they could use their funds for missions! They were unbelievably wise and encouraging and we owe them an eternal debt of gratitude for letting us know that rather than being crazy, we were actually on the right track. John and Kim and their children are still dear friends today and staunch supporters of our ministry. God is good.

It wasn’t all work though. We had a motto that we worked hard and we played hard. I doubt any young dad ever enjoyed his children more than me. Many were the nights that the water ran down the walls of our apartment as we had water fights. You could always count on getting blasted with a rubber band or cold water dumped on you in the shower or something around our place. Many weekends the older 3 children worked with me on moonlighting construction jobs. I found out later that they would endure the hard hours of labor because I always bought them breakfast burritos on the way to work. We were strict and demanded a lot from our kids but we had tons of fun too and it is the greatest joy of my life that today we are very close and there is deep love and respect in our family and we have the incredible blessing of working together in ministry around the world. But that is later in the story. The other wonderful thing that happened during this time was though we were not in any organized type of ministry, God sent an unending stream of people to our door to be discipled and encouraged… Aflame For God 13 – A Path To Our Door