Bob’s Blog

The image of the sower in Matthew 13:18 has always resonated with me, as I have scattered lots of seeds in all sorts of ground: addicted, unbelieving, incarcerated, overworked, and often receptive. I have witnessed many people receive the word with joy, drinking it into their thirsty souls.  I’ve watched them grow before my eyes.  [...]

We just returned from three weeks in Korea and Thailand.  There we witnessed first-hand the Spirit calling people into missions, we served alongside front-line missionaries who care for women and men in prostitution, and participated in prayers of confession and repentance to address larger macro-powers. In Korea I led a retreat for about 200 members [...]

On March 16 I gathered with 25 members of a delegation of Canadian and American Christians to bless the people of Mal Paso, Honduras—a village that Gracie and I have visited and cared for since 1983.  Honduras is currently considered the most violent country in the world—and Mal Paso’s recent history reflects the complexity and [...]

The coffee harvest is now in full swing on Tierra Nueva’s coffee farm in Alta Mira.  I am glad to report that we now have the infrastructure in place for a growing production of specialty coffee that offers employment to local workers and income to support Tierra Nueva’s ministry in Honduras (see photos below). We [...]

Gracie and I have been enjoying being back at Tierra Nueva after our year away in France.  We’ve appreciated our weekly worship services, which are drawing ex-offenders, people in recovery and immigrant workers. For the past three months on Monday evenings Salvio, Bethany (TN Family Support Center directors), a growing number of Tierra Nueva apprentices [...]

In mid-October we gathered to celebrate Tierra Nueva’s 30-year anniversary.  A few weeks before that celebration I was fretting in the middle of the night, wondering: “why celebrate?” I experienced feelings ranging from ambivalence to disappointment to outright grief.  Perhaps mourning our many setbacks and outright failures would be more appropriate, I thought. We’ve had [...]

Last month I spoke at a conference called Unlocking the Future: From Mass Incarceration to Restorative Justice at Texas Lutheran University. I also preached about the Gerasene demoniac, inviting students to cross over to the other side with Jesus into the world of violent offenders (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjlmWSa9UOg) That evening Michelle Alexander gave an unsettling talk on her book, The [...]

Coming back to the Skagit Valley of Washington State was a bigger shock than we expected after a year in Paris.  Significant ministry trips into 15 different countries seemed to increase our time away from home and give us new eyes for what was once familiar, sharpening our priorities.  We are enjoying re-connecting with our [...]

During a 24 hour stop over in Jakarta in late May I taught on the gifts of the Spirit to Servants of Asia’s Urban Poor’s five-member Indonesia Team (photo below). While some of them were new to Servants, two of the women, Lina and Anna have been living in a slum community that had been [...]

The Kingdom of God is advancing in the darkest places through people who love Jesus and serve the least.   A few weeks ago I was in Bangkok leading a training called “Following Fire: Signs and Wonders where they’re needed the most.”  This training was organized by Urban Neighbors of Hope (UNOH), and drew together street-level [...]