Monday, December 31, 2007

Personal Priorities for 2008

A New Year calls us to fresh yet biblically familiar priorities. Here are my priorities for 2008 and ones that I will lead our missionaries toward here in the Dominican Republic and Haiti:

Daily Hearing from God's Word
Each day, as has been my practice since 1979, I will place my heart, mind, will, and my entire being before the Word of God. I know God wants to speak to me and guide my personal life and my ministry. God has given us the gift of revelation through the incarnate Word, Christ himself dwelling in our hearts, and through the written Word, a record of His history and interaction with humanity. Those ancient Words still speak today. They are ageless. I commit myself to apply the Holy Bible to my life and obey the commands of the Lord.

Praying in Faith
As God speaks to me through His Word, I dedicate myself to spend much time early in the morning hours, praying in faith in response to what God says. I desire to pray according to the will and word of God. I will confess my sins. I will praise the name of the Lord and give thanks for the millions of blessings upon my life. I will pray for my wife and my children everyday. I will pray for our Christian leaders and missionaries here in Hispaniola. I will pray in faith for a harvest that Christ has already promised in His Word. I will pray for new vision for existing churches. I will pray for hundreds of new churches to be planted in our island.

Living a Godly Life
Out of daily instruction and prayer, I will seek to live a godly life beginning first in my relationship with Lisa, my soulmate and precious wife. I will seek to love her as Christ loves the church and gave his life for her. I will pray all through the day that the Lord keep my mind and heart sexually pure. I will celebrate with daily faithfulness and dedicated love to Lisa these nearly 24 years of marriage. I will continue to cultivate and grow in my relationship with her, my best friend in all the world. I will seek to be a godly father to my three children. I will spend time with them showing them that I care. I will laugh and have a lot of fun with my kids! I will pray two things everyday for them. First, that they will live their entire lives dedicated to Jesus Christ and the glory of God. Secondly, that God would provide them in the future, godly spouses who come from godly homes. I will seek to live at peace with my fellow c0-workers in Christ. I choose to treat them with respect and dignity. I will seek to live a life pleasing to Christ and one that reflects His love to those who are lost. I desire to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit each day, looking for opportunities to share the gospel with those who are lost.

Dedicated to the Task
I dedicate my life to being a faithful church planter. With all other elements of missionary life that could consume my time, I will remember that being a partner with the Lord in the Great Commission is the main task. No, it is the task. I will be a part of fulfilling the Great Commission and lead our missionaries and others to do the same. I will go. I will make disciples of all nations. I will baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I will teach new believers to obey the Word of God. I will walk in the Spirit knowing that Christ will be will me always even to the end of the age. The Great Commission will drive my work and ministry.

Staying in Shape
I dedicate myself to physical exercise at least five times a week for one hour. I will dedicate myself to eat less food each day. I will do this because I need the outlet exercise provides physically, mentally, and emotionally, and I need to sharpen the axe and be as strong as possible to accomplish my other goals mentioned above. I will eat less because I don't want to get fat! I also choose this decision as a Christian witness in a world of over-consumption and lack of discipline. Besides that, I am 45 years old and still have a 10 year old and a 7 year old who need an active daddy to keep up with them on Saturdays to play soccer, swimming, basketball, tennis, etc...!

That's it! Blessings to all this New Year!

Posted by Wagner family at 08:00:49 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas at the Wagners!

We had a truly great Christmas this year, one of the best we have had on the field. Christmas Eve day we prepared and cooked all of our favorite holiday foods: Turkey, chicken salad, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and green beans. After the evening meal, Lisa made a special chocolate birthday cake for Jesus. She has done this every year for 17 years. After the cake was done, we sang happy birthday to Jesus and then we read the Christmas story from both the gospels of Luke and Matthew. We prayed together as a family thanking God for sending His son to save us from sin. We then watched a great You-Tube music video by GoFish entitled, "It's About the Cross." The video makes a wonderful connection between the nativity and the cross. The night fell upon us. We had quite a struggle getting Micah and Brianna to bed. Dreams of Christmas morning kept them from going into la la land. Once asleep, Daddy Santa and Mommy Santa put out the kid's gifts. Of course Santa had to have a piece of chocolate cake and a glass of milk. It's no wonder he put on a little weight this year! Daddy Santa hit the gym Wednesday morning!
Christmas morning came and Lisa got the whole event on video. It was a wonderful day. Later that evening we went to a Christmas muscial production at the Ozama Baptist Church.
God is so good, and it is such a joy to celebrate with family the incarnation of Christ! Happy Birthday Jesus!




Posted by Wagner family at 11:18:26 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Merry Christmas from the Wagners!

Merry Christmas to all! What a joy it is to share the story of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us in the person of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. We deserve separation and death. He gave us reconciliation and life! What a joy it is to share this story of our Savior with the people of Hispaniola. Thank you so much for giving us that honor through your prayers and support. This Christmas and all year long you give through the Cooperative Program of your church and through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. We are here because God called us. We could not be here unless you gave sacrificially. From the Wagner family, we say thank you! May you experience great joy with your family this season.
Posted by Wagner family at 11:32:19 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Tropical Storm Olga Relief

God brought together a good number of our Baptist churches in and around the city of Santiago, Dominican Republic for a joint worship service and community feeding for over 700 people affected by the recent flooding in Santiago. God used the service for His glory! Please continue to pray for the Baptist churches, Manolo Martinez, and our IMB personnel as they all work together to meet the needs of hurting people. The ministry also brought an opportunity to share the gospel and have an evangelistic worship service for the community. See the photos below:




Posted by Wagner family at 07:23:48 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Journey to El Fundo!

Will you pray for the Medina church this afternoon, Tuesday, December 18, 2007? I will be leading them to go to El Fundo, a community where the church will be starting a new work. There are no churches of any kind in El Fundo. Please pray that God will pave the way for us and that the Holy Spirit will go before us, convicting the hearts of the people of their sin. Join us in prayer for a great harvest! Pray also as the Medina church learns how to start a new bible study groups in new communities. Below is a photo of the Medina church:
Posted by Wagner family at 08:20:36 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, December 17, 2007

Pray for Relief and Partnership Efforts

I am back! Last week I was in Alabama for a series of leadership meetings with our Regional Leadership Team. It was excellent and I learned a lot!
Well unfortunately we were hit again last week with another Tropical Storm, Olga was her name. Most of the damage was done in Santiago and the North Coast areas of the country.
Please pray for Marsha Davidson and Carlos Llambes, International Mission Board Missionaries who will be working in partnership with our Dominican Baptist Convention to provide much needed relief to those who were flooded out. You can check out Marsha's website at:

http://marshadavidson.blog.com

She has some fresh updates on her site related to the storm effects.
Pray that God will use these relief efforts to minister to needs and open doors to bring the gospel message to hurting people. We are working in connection with the newly formed Baptist Global Response, which is now our worldwide Southern Baptist response team to disasters and to human needs. We were able to get $10,000 dollars for the relief efforts. Thank you Southern Baptist for your faithful giving through your church through the Cooperative Program to minister to the world in need.

Posted by Wagner family at 08:29:26 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, December 06, 2007

What is the Missionary Task?

The missionary task is easy to understand and is taken straight from the bible. Matthew 29:19-20 "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you..."

Go - The missions task begins by going. If the church is to make disciples of all nations, she must go. That means believers, called out by Christ and His church go to new cultures, new people groups for a purpose. And what is that purpose?

Make disciples of all nations - Making disciples involves proclaiming and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not have a personal relationship with Him. Making disciples involves teaching the Word of God to new believers and modeling the life of Christ to be lived out in cultures of sin and darkness.


Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - Baptism represents new believers dying to self and completely identifying with the fullness of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is the public testimony, an outward act of obedience to Christ that represents an inward transformation of life and character.

Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you - The phrase "to obeserve" can also be translated "to obey." The missionary task is to teach new baptized believers to obey Christ and His Word in all things. What is the context in which these new baptized believers learn to obey Christ? The local church. A local New Testament church with Christ as the head and His members as His hands and feet in the world, is the plan of God to expand His Kingdom in the world.

Planting New Testament Baptist churches and teaching others to plant churches is what we do on the field. There are a million other things that a missionary can do on the field, but if this mandate is forgotten and other things take priority than we lose our effectiveness and in fact we become disobedient to the call.

Will you pray today that we as Southern Baptist missionaries in the Dominican Republic and Haiti will stay true always to our calling from Christ to fulfill the Great Commission? Pray today that we will not be distracted by other good things that would take us away from the best and highest calling in our field. Pray that God will raise up thousands of Dominican and Haitian missionaries with a heart for the Great Commission that results in the planting of thousands of churches. A Harvest in Hispaniola awaits! Will you come to the throne of the Lord and plead for the souls of our people?
Posted by Wagner family at 07:51:41 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Sunday, December 02, 2007

The Joy of Worship!

Below you will find some photos from today as we worshipped the Lord here in Santo Domingo! Please pray for Renacer Baptist Church, one of our Dominican Baptist Convention churches we are helping since their pastor left some months ago. It was a joy to worship with them this morning. Also, continue to pray for the new Baptist church in Medina. God continues to bless and pour out His Spirit! What a thrill it was to worship with my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ in Medina.






Posted by Wagner family at 20:54:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |