IS IT ME?

It was great to have Richard Conti with us yesterday as part of our Celenbration Sunday. He has been a missionary in Guatemala for over twenty years and runs a very succesful Teen Challenge Center which ministers to a lot of the areas drug addicts.

It was a full morning, but I wanted to give Richard ten minutes to share about what's going on down there. It may just be me, but while appreciating the passion with which he spoke, I thought there was an ironic twist to his chat.

After he talked about an ex gang member who had come to Christ, left the gang and then been executed by his former friends; after he talked about being kidnapped at gunpoint himself; after he talked about the crime rates, shootings and violence, he then said if we wanted to send a missions team down, there are any amount of different ways we could be a help to them. I thought that was funny. In Guatemala you could get shot, stabbed, kidnapped or robbed - do you want to come?

Okay Rich, here's the short answer, "No!".

But there is good news for you. Several people in our church, who until yesterday seemed to be perfectly sane, are now asking when we're sending a missions team down into gangland. So I guess we'll expand our missions outreaches next year.

But personally, I'll just keep heading to India a couple of times a year. Thanks for the invitation though Rich! I have the utmost respect for you and the great work you are doing.