CRIB NOTE: We're back in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico. And not without problems.

If you've not heard, I agreed to take a new church south of the border, down Mexico way!

This is like a mission church ... the problem is, we've always been in the good old USA and had settled into a routine which included a very meager retirement plan. That has gone up in smoke. My wife and I are thinking of changing our names to Sarai and Abram (Sarah and Abraham before Ishmael).

Taking a church in a foreign country is hard enough on the wife and the family but this is no ordinary church.

• First, it's a Norte-Americano church (Canadian & American), in a non-English speaking nation
• Second, it's in a resort/vacation Mecca on the Sea of Cortez
• Third, it's multi-denominational (not ecumenical), meaning at least a dozen denominations are represented
• Fourth, most of these people are outspoken, conservative, evangelical, missions-oriented, Christ-centered, bible-believing Christians, in spite of their denominational heritage
• Fifth, 80% of these folks have home churches to go to
  
• Sixth, the congregation dwindles from a winter (snow-bird season) high of about 250 in worship, down to about 50 in the summer
• Seventh, well over half the offerings go to missionary work, most to Mexican work; and
• Eighth, I'll be their first full-time pastor, but can't be called pastor because it's against the law.

So we'll be learning a new language late in life; dealing with wealth and all its issues; encountering denominational issues and sensitivities; blessed and challenged by committed Christians, as well as the vagaries of a constantly moving and changing congregation; competing with dozens of distinctives from over 100 sources each year; ministering in a mission setting, a supporting as well as sending church; and pastoring in a virtual new plant setting with a whole new array of national concerns, all in the midst of border and racial issues back home.

Pastor's families always suffer when a man is called to a new work; this is no exception. Our adopted daughter, Naomi, is going to be thrown into a Mexican school where only Spanish is spoken ... total student population: under thirty, grades k-8th. She will also have no mall, no movie theatre, no Burger King or Jaque En L'box, and no Blockbuster. My wife will have to drive 1 & 1/2 hours to see a Walmart or a Costco ... same for me and Home Depot.

Pray for my wife and daughter ... make the time ... this is hard on them. And pray for San Carlos Community Chuch, as well.