Cawthon Update

Things are going well, and we are staying very busy.  God is working in Panama and it's so exciting.  We are well into the second class of The Church Planting Institute and we are anticipating that at least 4 new churches will be started as a result of this class.  This will give us a total of 9 churches that have been started through the UP Team.  There are many areas of the city that we are seeing evangelistic work being started that previously had none.

Cavin is also teaching a church planting class at the Panama Baptist Seminary.  It's been great to see these 16 students learning and eagerly applying the principles that we are discussing in class.  God is preparing these students and is already using them to impact lives in Panama.

We are gearing up for a Summer full of mission teams coming from various Southern Baptist Churches in the States.  We are partnering each team with a national church planter to assist in the work in specific areas of the city.  Some of the work these teams will be doing will be prayer walking, community evangelistic events, and mapping with the ultimate goal of starting churches so that many people will come to have a true relationship with Christ.  

Great Week with Noonday Team

The above photo is the Panamanian Baptist Seminary Building which the team was yesterday afternoon. The Class that I am teaching is on Church Planting. The text is of course the Book of Acts. 15 Students were there to learn how and why and what to do about how to plant new churches. How to give your personal testimony was emphasized and practiced by the class including the special guest students from the USA.

The visit to the Seminary gave the team the opportunity to see first hand the great need for help in the areas of maintenance and repairs that the buildings are in desperate need of at this time. Painting, Plumbing,electrical and concrete work are badly needed to improve the quality and atmosphere of this place of learning and life change.

The team will be starting their 4th day in Panama and have now become well adapt at prayer walking, mapping, the culture and the need of the city for churches. The team has been able to see the strategy of the missionaries and now are in the last two days of this trip looking for ways and the places that they may be able to plug into the work of the Urban Panama Team.

Yesterday also included a mapping of about one square mile of city streets. It was a unique experience as the team had traveled the area but there was so much that was not noticed until we actually walked thre through the streets with a very intentional goal of seeing what is there.

What was found? People lots of people. Lots of businesses and apartments. And mixed in are lots of nice homes. It is not uncommon for a beautiful home with a nice fenced yard with lavish landscaping to be next door to a 40 story high rise apartment building. You can see this in the top right corner of the photo of Linda walking with mapping in hand. And across the street from here is a fence where there is yet another high rise under construction.

New UP Team Blig

Tina Louderback and Audrey Tucker of the UP team are doing an UP team blog.  The focus of the blog is for mission team's churches, families, and friends to be able to see the work that the teams from the states are doing here in Panama.

http://urbanpanamateam.blogspot.com/

Start of Seminary - April 6, 2011

Last night was the start of Seminary classes.  I am teaching a Church Planting class.  I have 16 students in the class.  This is very exciting because last year the Seminary only had 9 students.  Teaching the Seminary class is a little different than teaching in the Church Planting Institute.  The main reason is that the students get grades.  For all my friends that had Dr. Lee for Old Testament at BCF, I am having a "pop-test" at the beginning of each class.   "Please, take out a half sheet of paper."

Our first trip back to the States

As of now, we are waiting to board our plane back to Panama.  It's been a crazy, whirlwind of a trip back to the States for the first time in almost two years.  We packed a lot in and spent time with both sets of parents and many friends with Cavin speaking in 3 of our prayer partner churches.  John Robert FINALLY got his drivers' license, we surprised Cavin's parents, ate way too much and had "climate culture shock" from the frigid cold ranging from the 30's to the 50's.  Remember, it was 98 degrees the day we left Panama.

We want to thank Olive Springs Baptist Church in Marietta, GA; Catawba Springs Baptist Church in Brewton, AL; and Temple Baptist Church in White House, TN for allowing us to share and for your continued prayer support.  This truly means more than you can know.

We had a great time visiting but look forward to what God has ahead with our ministry in Panama.  We have a team arriving Saturday night so it will be back to work as soon as we get back!

Church Planting Institute of Panama

The Church Planting Institute of Panama (CPI) is going real well.  This coming Sunday, 9 students are graduating from the Institute.  These students worked through the CPI for 6 months of training.  Out of this group 6 new church are being started in Panama.  Please pray for the graduates as they are working to start these new churches.
The Church Planting Institute of Panama has started the second class this past Thursday night.  We have 23 new students.  I believe that God is doing something amazing in Panama.  Pray for the new students as they are starting this course.  Pray for at least 15 new churches to be started through this class.
I will start teaching at the Panama Baptist Seminary in April.  I will be teaching the 6 month course in 2 semesters. All of the students and professors are required to take the classes.  Again, God is doing something amazing in Panama.
CPI also has been asked to teach the course to 2 different churches.  One of the churches is in the Northern part of Panama City and the other is with an indigenous group of pastors.  Pray for the planning of these two new classes.
In May, the CPI will be teaming up with PAAM,  the mission sending agency of Panama, to train Panamanean missionaries to start churches.  This seminar will be for one week for 8 hours a day.  God is doing something amazing in the WORLD.

Operation Christmas Child

Many people that follow our blog make and give shoe boxes to Operation Christmas Child.  Here are some pictures of giving the boxes here in Panama.  I think Charlotte had just as much fun opening the boxes as the kids.