An Overview of Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third largest in the European Union after London and Paris.

Madrid urban agglomeration has the 3rd largest GDP in the European Union and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world’s major global cities. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre of Southern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula; it hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Spanish companies. Madrid is the most touristic city of Spain, the fourth-most touristic of the continent, and is the 10th most livable city in the world according to Monocle magazine, in its 2010 index. Madrid also ranks among the 12 greenest European cities in 2010. Madrid is currently bidding to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

As the capital city of Spain, the city has attracted many immigrants from around the world. About 83.8% of the inhabitants are Spaniards, while people of other origins, including immigrants from Latin America, Europe, Asia, North Africa and West Africa, represented 16.2% of the population in 2007.

The ten largest immigrant groups include: Ecuadorian: 104,184, Romanian: 52,875, Bolivian: 44,044, Colombian: 35,971, Peruvian: 35,083, Chinese: 34,666, Moroccan: 32,498, Dominican: 19,602, Brazilian: 14,583, and Paraguayan: 14,308. There are also important communities of Filipinos, Equatorial Guineans, Bulgarians, Indians, Italians, Argentines, Senegalese and Poles (source)

Religion in Spain

Roman Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity present in Spain by far. According to a October 2011 study by the Spanish Center of Sociological Research about 70.1% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2.7% other faith, and about 25% identify with no religion. Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in religious worship. This same study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 56% goes to mass few times a year, 15% go to mass many times a year, 9% some time per month and 16% every Sunday or multiple times per week. Although a majority of Spaniards are Catholics, most, especially those of the younger generation, ignore the Church’s conservative moral doctrines on issues such as pre-marital sex, sexual orientation or contraception.

• 59% of Spanish citizens responded that “they believe there is a God”.
• 21% answered that “they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force”.
• 19% answered that “they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force.” (source)

On this day in 1862

Robert’s ordination was held at the Batter Street Chapel, which was “crowded to overflowing by an attentive and deeply interested congregation.”1  Several local pastors, who where connected with Robert and the London Missionary Society, lead the meeting.  A special emphasis was made on the country of Madagascar itself, since it was still a little known place among many of the people.  The pastors “delivered an introductory address on Missions with special reference to Madagascar in which in a clear forcible and telling manner facts were adduced and principles enunciated which could not fail to stimulate and encourage the Missionary zeal of the audience and to implant in their minds seeds which will bear good fruit in future years”. 1 The charge was given out of I Thess. 2:3-4, “For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:  But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”

When the Toys arrived at Madagascar, they took up residence at the capital.  Robert was soon dividing his time among pastoring, Bible translating, and training you preachers from Madagascar.  In just two years, Toy had over nine churches under his care, many of those being county churches.  But what was even better than the fact that he had ten churches was the fact the many of the churches were displaying signs of true maturity.  Mr. Ellis, who worked very closely with Toy, said:

One of the largest churches in the capital has recently taken a step, the most important that any church has yet taken, tending to the stability and permanency of Christianity in the country. They have agreed to provide an annual stipend adequate to the necessities of their two native pastors and there is no reason to doubt either that they will fulfill their agreement or that other churches will follow their example. Glad tidings of the extension of the gospel in distant parts multiply upon us and the congregations and churches both in the immediate and more remote villages manifest tokens of steadfastness and prosperity. New chapels nave been erected in several and others are in progress. 2

With the number of chapels growing rapidly, Toy realized the need to train even more pastors.  So in 1869, he started to hold formal training sessions for young men who wanted to become pastors.  This soon grew into a Theological Institute.  Under Robert’s leadership, the college grew rapidly.  But sickness soon caught up to Robert.  Finding himself so sick that he couldn’t even do his work, he set sail back to England to recover.  But, in 1880, Robert died at sea.

Source:

Evangelical magazine and missionary chronicle 1

The Missionary Herald 2

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Numbers 35:2 Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.

God instructed His people to take care of the Levites. They were to give them cities and suburbs to live in and take care of their animals. The Levites did not get a regular inheritance but rather what was given by God through His people.

The Levites would also have the cities of refuge where a person could run who had accidentally killed someone. God had given Moses very specific rules about how they were to deal with murder and accidental homicide. The murderer was to be killed.

There had to be at least 2 witnesses to ever put anyone to death. The guilty party could run to the city of refuge and stand before the judges. If he could prove that the death had been accidental he would live in the city of refuge. It was a place where he would not be put to death but at the same time would not live in his usual place.

God’s plan is often mocked as barbaric by the ignorant but the truth is that God put great laws in place among His people! Laws that the good parts of our legal system are actually based on!

An Overview of Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad is the largest city and former capital of the state of Gujarat. It is the fifth largest city and seventh largest metropolitan area of India. In 2010, Forbes magazine rated Ahmedabad as the fastest-growing city in India, and third in the world after two Chinese cities — Chengdu and Chongqing. In December 2011, a leading market research firm IMRB declared Ahmedabad as the best mega-city to live in (compared to India’s other mega-cities). Ahmedabad is located on the banks of the River Sabarmati, 32 km from the state capital Gandhinagar.

Ahmedabad was founded on February 26, 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah to serve as the capital of the Gujarat Sultanate, and was named after him. Under British rule, a military cantonment was established and the city infrastructure was modernized and expanded. Though incorporated into the Bombay Presidency during British rule, Ahmedabad remained the most important city in the Gujarat region. The city established itself as the home of a booming textile industry, which earned it the nickname the “Manchester of the East.” The city was at the forefront of the Indian independence movement in the first half of the 20th century. It was the centre of many campaigns of civil disobedience to promote workers’ rights, civil rights, and political independence. Since the creation of the state of Gujarat in 1960, Ahmedabad had become a bustling metropolis with classical and colonial European styled buildings, lining the city’s thoroughfares. The city is witnessing a major construction boom and population increase.

The gross domestic product of Ahmedabad metro was estimated at $16 billion in 2010. The city is the largest supplier of denim and one of the largest exporters of Gemstone and Jewellery in India. A majority of the working-age citizens of Ahmedabad are traders and business people. This has led to the creation of major mercantile corporations and Artisan guilds that are a key influence on the economic life of Gujarat. The city’s educational and industrial institutions have attracted students and young skilled workers from the rest of India.

Most of the food outlets serve only vegetarian food, as a strong tradition of vegetarianism is maintained by the city’s Jain and Hindu communities. The first all-vegetarian Pizza Hut in the world opened in Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad is only city where Marriott group hotel has exclusive veg restaurant in the world. Before the McDonald’s restaurant opened in Ahmedabad, the company called Gujarati journalists to Mumbai and convinced them that McDonald would use separate kitchen for veg and non-veg food in its Gujarat outlets.

Religion in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad has a literacy rate of 79.89%, which is the second highest in Gujarat (after Gandhinagar with 87.11%); 87.81% of the men and 71.12% of the women are literate. Approximately 440,000 people live in slums within the city. Ahmedabad is home to a large population of Vanias (i.e., traders), belonging to the Vaishnava sect of Hinduism and the sects of Jainism. Most of the residents of Ahmedabad are native Gujaratis. Over 12% of the population is Muslim, numbering over 600,000 in the 2001 census (source).
There is no particular religion followed by Ahmedabadis. Many religions coexist in Ahmedabad, thereby indicating the strong unity in diversity. Religions are different, but the basic teachings are the same. Hinduism is the main religion of Ahmedabad; however, other religions that are prevalent include Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Zorastrianism and Christianity (source).

Would you pray that God would send more laborers to this city and country to lift His name high?

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I spent several hours driving around with Robert Canfield and Mark Coffey yesterday afternoon. We are looking for where to start. We were south of Roswell. We drove around Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, and even inside 285 and Atlanta.

We need God to make Himself clear about where He would have us go. We are asking Him to raise up families in the area that He will have be part of this new church. If God will give us some families we will start a midweek Bible study immediately.

We are currently looking at starting services in September. Micah Rastelli and his wife Kathryn will be helping lead this church. Please pray that God will provide them with enough support to be full time.

If you are a pastor that is interested in starting churches in Fulton County please get in touch with Micah or myself. You can call Micah at 770-508-5653. He will be busy trying to get into churches to raise support between now and September as well as all we need to do to get the church started.

We have started a web site that is under construction for the new church. You can see it by clicking here!

This church plant will be a test of a system to start churches with as little resources as possible. It is our goal to start lots of churches so that means we have to do it with what we have.

If you are interested and might have a Bible study in your house please contact me. If you know of anyone living around 400 and 285 that might be interested in a good Bible preaching church please tell them about us and contact me.

We are also in need of lots of things to start the church.

We will need things for the nursery, a pulpit, chairs, sound system, support for Micah, and a thousand other things you can think of. We need gospel tracts. We need John and Romans. We need signs.

If you are interested in helping please let me know.

I will also be adding more info on my prayer letter that is sent out only via email. If you would be interested in receiving my email please click here.

On this day in 1877, William Vaughan, at the ripe old age of 93, preached his last sermon in Danville, Ky., and then soon after, on March 31, died in Jesus and was buried in Bloomfield, Ky.  He had spent over thirty years in Kentucky as one of the greatest baptist preachers and church planters of his day.

William was born in Westmoreland, Pa., on Feb. 22, 1785. William Married Miss Lydia Allen and moved to Winchester, Ky., where he went and learned the skill of being a tailor. During his early adult years William was bombarded with new teaching of his day and philosophy of skepticism. These were the days when the Reason of Tom Paine ruled and Voltaire’s extreme skepticism ruled. He stopped attending religious services and became irreverent in his living; he then united with the atheists club in Winchester. Upon visiting an atheist that was dying, William began thinking seriously about his own spiritual state.

He soon reasoned with himself to become a “secret” believer and began to read the Bible. While under conviction he began attending a small Baptist church where three Baptist preachers were holding services. Two of the messages that William heard that day were “ye must be born again” and “the day of his wrath is sure to come and who shall be able to stand it”. He left unsaved but later came to a clear assurance of salvation. On Saturday, Oct. 20, 1810, he gave his public confession in the Friendship Baptist Church and was baptized the following day.

He was later called to preach, licensed to preach, later ordained, pastored, and founded numerous Baptist churches in the state of Kentucky.

Source:

This Day in Baptist History

 On this day in 1890, William Sheppard and Sam Lapsley set out for the Congo aboard the steamship Adriatic. Sheppard would be one of the first African Americans to be sent out by the Presbyterian Church.

Sheppard had been born in Virginia just a month before the end of the civil war. His boyhood was marked by the difficult and uncertain times that surrounded the south at the end of the war. But his father was able to get a steady job as a barber, which allowed Sheppard to obtain some schooling.  At the age of twelve, he took a job as a stable boy so he could continue his schooling.  He was finally able to attend Hampton Institute, where Booker T. Washington was one of his main instructors.  While he was here, Sheppard was able to study a lot about other cultures in a place called the curiosity room, which contained artifacts from around the world.

After finishing his studies at Hampton, Sheppard went to Tuscaloosa Theological Institute, where a desire to serve God and his interest in other cultures came together to influence him to start a mission in the Congo.  He was rejected several times by the board, so he took up the pastorate at a small church in Atlanta.  But he was never comfortable there.  But his persistence paid off when they  finally appointed him as one of the two men to start their first Congo Mission.  Sheppard would give the next twenty years of his life in this amazing place!

Source:

William Sheppard

snu.edu

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Numbers 33:55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

God through Moses challenged His people to drive out the idol worshippers and not to live among them. There is an inherent danger in living with, playing with, and spending time with people who do not believe in God.

To maintain a friendship we often “go along to get along!” Friends love each other and do not want to offend. We learn to stay off topics that might hinder our friendship. So we learn to “live and let live!”

That means that we begin to see their false gods with less hatred. After all how could my friend really be doing something wrong. He is a good guy and so his religion, his god must not be all that bad! We slowly learn to accept, be tolerant, and maybe even eventually believe something that we shouldn’t.

It is not intentional. It is natural. That is why God taught His people a special kind of separation.

Today young preachers read after different authors. They begin to love them. They are gradually becoming covenant theologians. They are beginning to doubt that God gave literal promises to the nation of Israel. They are slowly falling into a trap because after all those men love missions, world evangelism, and God.

You must be careful who you hang around. I have made many mistakes falling too closely after men. Later after making a fool of myself I wake up and realize that they took me way too far down a road I never meant to travel!

Be careful!

Overview of Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte (Beautiful Horizon) is the capital and largest city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of the country. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country. Belo Horizonte has a population of 2,475,440 inhabitants (2010) in the city, 5,497,922 people in the official Metropolitan Area (2010), and the expanded metropolitan area is home to about 9,010,376 inhabitants (2011).

During the 18th century, Minas Gerais received many Portuguese immigrants, mainly from Northern Portugal as well as a huge number of enslaved Africans. Belo Horizonte has a notable Italian influence. Around 30% of the city’s population have some Italian origin. The Italian culture is present in the cuisine, dance, and language. People of German, Spanish, and Syrian-Lebanese ancestries also make up sizeable groups.

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. English and Spanish are both taught as second languages.

The region was first settled in the early 18th century, but the city as it is known today was planned and constructed in the 1890s, in order to replace Ouro Preto as the capital of Minas Gerais. The city features a mixture of contemporary and classical buildings, and is home to several modern Brazilian architectural icons, most notably the Pampulha Complex. In planning the city, Aarão Reis and Francisco Bicalho sought inspiration in the urban planning of Washington, D.C.

Belo Horizonte receives large numbers of visitors, as it is in the Brazilian main economic axis, exerting influence even on other states. Both multinational and Brazilian companies, like Google and Oi, maintain offices in the city. The service sector plays a very important role in the economy of Belo Horizonte, being responsible for 85% of the city’s gross domestic product (GDP), with the industry making up for most of the remaining 15%. The city is considered to be a strategic leader in the Brazilian economy.

As in the rest of Brazil, football is the most popular sport among locals. Belo Horizonte is one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the host nation. Besides football, Belo Horizonte has one of the largest attendances at volleyball matches in the whole country (source).

Religion in Belo Horizonte

The majority of the population, 68.84% are Catholic, 18.10% are Protestant, and 8.04% claim no religion (source).

Would you pray that God would send more laborers to this city and country to lift His name high?

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Numbers 30:16 These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.

God gave instructions to the Jewish people about vows or promises that they made. It was for the daughter who still lived in her father’s house. As the dad, he was responsible to approve of decisions made by his wife and daughter.

God gave clear instructions. He clearly gave them to a certain people for a certain time. There is an application to us today, of course. But be careful to notice who this was said to, when it was said, and the instructions in how it was said!

On this day in 1902

Being one of four children in a working class family, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for Gladys to receive a quality education.  At the age of fourteen, she had to become a parlor maid to help bring in money for her family. At the age of 18, she attended a revival in which the preacher expounded on giving ones life over to the service of the Lord. The message struck a cord in her heart and an awakening desire to serve on the missionary field began to blossom. Having spent the last four years serving others surely gave her a unique insight to a servant’s heart.

When reading a magazine article about China, Gladys realized that she could play a part in reaching the millions there who have never heard of Jesus Christ.  Still working as a parlor made, Gladys went before the China Inland Mission to apply as a missionary.  But when the board looked at Gladys, they saw a poor, uneducated parlor mid who could never learn the language or how to do the mission work.  So they rejected her.

But Gladys wouldn’t be dissuaded.  She continued to work and save up the meager wages she made.  In 1932, at the age of thirty, Gladys used her own money  to get to the mainland Europe and took a train across Europe and Asia to get to China.  She arrived in Yangchen, China, and took up work assisting a retired missionary lady.  This was just the beginning of the amazing work of the “determined little lady.”

Source:

Christianity.com

tlogical.net

On this day in 1812, a second ship set sail from the shore of America to Calcutta India.  The name of ship was the Harmony.  Aboard the ship was Luther Rice, Samuel and Roxana Nott, and Gordon Hall.

Five days earlier, the Caravan had set forth with the Judsons and Newells from Salem, Mass. The remaining missionaries gathered in Philadelphia, PA, where they soon boarded their ship and also sailed to Calcutta, India.  Upon arrival in India, they faced opposition from the British government, due to the fact that England and America were now at war.  The government thought that the Harmony was carrying supplies and secrets to other Americans.  So they demanded that the missionaries be sent to England for questioning.  But under the cover of darkness, the missionaries were able to avoid the authorities.

The Judsons set out to Burma.  Luther Rice, now a Baptist, returned to the states to raise support among the Baptist for a new mission board.  Samuel Newell and Gordon Hall went to Bombay, where they began preaching and translating, where they would both die.  The Notts, stayed in India four years, after which they returned to the states to work in a church there.

The sailings of the Harmony and the Caravan symbolized the fulfilling of many of dreams by many men.  “At length the hopes and prayers of many years were fulfilled. The project, which had been successively a vision, an idea, a desire, a resolve, and a plan became an accomplished fact.” 1

Source:

Commissioning of the First American Missionaries

The story of the American board 1

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