Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | March 8, 2012

A Prayer Summit

Worship at the Prayer Summit.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Kingsland’s pastoral staff participated in a prayer summit at Crier Creek Camp. Our team joined pastors from churches throughout Katy and the surrounding communities for a time of worship, renewal, encouragement, and seeking the heart of God for our respective communities and the nations. It was a refreshing experience that reminded me that we are part of a larger network of men and women that are deeply concerned about making Christ known from Katy to the ends of the earth. The prayer summit was also a reminder that we need one another. The task of serving God’s purposes is too big for any one of us or any single church to accomplish alone.

I especially appreciated the challenge to reexamine my own life during our worship and prayer sessions. During one session I reflected on something I had read years ago. A writer that was doing research for a book interviewed pastors from around the country and concluded that while he had found lots of passion for God’s work, he had found little passion for God. Ouch! I have to confess that I have been guilty of this kind of imbalance in my own life. It’s the kind of thing that happens a little at a time as we get so caught up in the work that we lose touch with the One for whom we labor.

When I got home from the prayer summit, I looked through my files for something I had written in November 1990 about three things that will always cause us to lose our edge. Rereading these notes from my journal helped me to better appreciate the opportunity to spend Monday and Tuesday with others who are zealous for God and His glory and who helped me to sharpen my spiritual edge. Here is my journal entry from November 1990.

Service is among the things that can cause me to lose my edge. Just as an axe or pencil must be periodically sharpened in order to continue to be useable, so must I be periodically sharpened. I cannot serve without periods of rest, refreshment, and renewal. If I try, it will surely cause me to be less effective in my service and to eventually burn-out. Service becomes exhausting when I labor in a dulled condition. According to Proverbs 27:17, my edge can be restored by coming into contact with others. I need the feedback, encouragement, counsel, and checks and balances of others. But in order to have my edge restored, it’s important to heed the wisdom of the text: “Iron sharpens iron.” I cannot be sharpened by just any individual. If I need to be sharpened mentally I must come in contact with mentally sharp individuals. If I need to be sharpened spiritually, I must come in contact with spiritually mature individuals. If I need to be sharpened morally, I must come in contact with morally pure and upright individuals.

Sinning against God is one of the surest and quickest ways for me to lose my edge. Sin is corrosive. It removes the brightness from my countenance, the joy from my service, and the clarity from my vision. It can quickly dull my life and service. Thank God that my edge can be restored by confession and maintained by accountability. Proverbs 27:6 states, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” My life can be kept morally and spiritually sharp when I give others permission to speak the truth to me in love (Eph. 4:15, 25) and to hold me accountable. I must be willing to allow others to wound me, if necessary, in order to keep my edge.

Setbacks can also cause me to lose my edge. Disappointments can be exhausting and demoralizing. Setbacks can drain me emotionally, physically, and spiritually and occasionally can cause me to feel a little hopeless. Thankfully, my edge can be restored through the kind and gentle encouragement of those who will offer a smile, a shoulder, and their support. In the words of Rev. W. Harris (from the Preachers Homiletic Commentary), “In such a condition a look of sympathy and encouragement from one who understands us is very serviceable indeed, and has power to arouse within us fresh hope, and therefore new life for renewed action.”

I am glad to have had the opportunity to get away with our Pastor and staff this week to reconnect with what is really important, to reexamine my own life and service, to have my edge sharpened for greater service, and to be reminded that there are so many others who care deeply about our community and who desire to see a movement of God that will lead us closer to the day when Katy and the nations will be “full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9).

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Posted in Devotional Thoughts

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | March 7, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

The definition of gen•er•os•i•ty. | 2012 | Las Tablas, El Salvador

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Posted in El Salvador, Wordless Wednesday

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | March 4, 2012

Caring for Katy 2012

This morning, Kingsland members did not go to church — they were the church. For the fifth time, we closed our doors on a Sunday morning and sent our members into the community to be Jesus with skin on. Our Caring for Katy day is more than an annual event, it is an extension of who we are as followers of Christ and a one-day sampler of the kinds of service initiatives we engage in throughout the year. Last year, more than 3,500 Kingsland members served others through our various local and international missions initiatives. This morning, our army of volunteers clad in their lime green shirts engaged in more than sixty service initiatives in neighborhoods throughout the community.

The weeks leading up to Caring for Katy are exciting as our members identify needs and determine the best way to meet those needs. One of the things that we have learned over the years is that there are lots of needs in Katy that can be easily overlooked. However, because so many of our folks have developed peripheral compassion, we learn about needs by slowing down, being observant, and listening carefully to those around us. When we identify and come alongside those individuals in need, we do more than assist them in practical ways, we also affirm their worth and remind them that they are not forgotten but are indeed loved by God.

Every year I have the opportunity to hear the stories behind our service initiatives. These stories remind me that regardless of who we are and how much we have, there are lots of lonely, hurting, and desperate people who live in the homes along our crepe-myrtle-lined boulevards. This morning I met folks who were overjoyed and others that wept openly — each filled with gratitude that God had sent in-the-nick-of-time kind of help. And I met and saw neighbors who were curious about all of the activity in their respective neighborhoods. In one neighborhood, the police stopped by to see why there were so many cars parked along the street, slowing traffic down to a crawl. These police officers were happy to learn about what was going on.

One thing is certain, there are many people in our community who will rest a little easier tonight and feel a sense of relief they have not felt in a long time because we closed the doors to the church building and showed up in their neighborhoods. And almost two-thousand of our members will think deeply and talk with others throughout the week about what they experienced today. Many of our children learned a little more about what it means to serve others because they had the opportunity to work alongside their parents and made some meaningful memories that will last a lifetime. Most important, I heard both participants and recipients today praising God.

One more thing that encouraged me today was a phone call from my youngest daughter Gina who currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Gina participated in over one-hundred service initiatives while at home, including four of our Caring for Katy initiatives. Today was the first time she has been away during Caring for Katy. So, Gina decided this week to mobilize some of the students she works with in Malaysia to have a Caring for Kuala Lumpur initiative. They removed graffiti from signs and also cleaned up a park near her home. They had a great time while setting a good example of serving their community. I’m proud of Gina for dealing with her homesickness because she was unable to be here for Caring for Katy by caring for her own community.

Caring for Katy was a success because the people of Kingsland have taken ownership of our community by identify and meeting needs in Jesus’ name. Our purpose statement says, in part, that we are about loving God and loving people. Today, we lived out our purpose in a meaningful way throughout our community. I am also grateful to Jon Davis, our Missions Ministry Associate, for helping our small groups to prepare for the day. Jon once again did a masterful job of orchestrating our big day of service. Caring for Katy is not over but will continue throughout the year as we continue to love God and to serve the people of our community.

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Posted in Caring for Katy, Local Missions Initiatives

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | March 1, 2012

It’s What You See

This is Caring for Katy weekend at Kingsland, the Sunday when we close the doors to the church in order to go into the community to be the church or, as we often say at Kingsland, to be Jesus with skin on. Jon Davis, our Missions Ministry Associate, has helped our small groups to plan and coordinate more than sixty service initiatives throughout our community this Sunday.

As in previous years, we believe that Sunday is going to be a great day as we serve the people in our community, meet a variety of practical needs, and make meaningful connections with others.


When we launched Caring for Katy five years ago, I spoke to our small group leaders about Mark’s account of a miracle that Jesus performed in two stages (Mark 8:22-26). This simple story yields a profound truth.

Some people brought a blind man to Jesus at a place called Bethsaida. Jesus took the man aside, laid hands on him, and then asked him if he could see anything. The man replied that he could see men, but they looked like trees walking about — an indication that his sight was blurry. Jesus laid His hands on the man’s eyes a second time and, as a result, the man could see everything clearly.

Jesus could have healed the blind man with one touch but instead chose to heal him in two stages — a reminder that insight often comes slowly.

Most of us move through life so fast that the people around us look like trees walking about. We speed past need and fail to recognize hurt.

That’s why I shared this story at our first Caring for Katy planning meeting five years ago and challenged our folks to ask Jesus to touch their eyes a second time in order to see our community with greater clarity. And indeed they did. It’s always exciting for us to learn about the various initiatives that our small groups propose that are the direct result of seeing and identifying needs in our community.

Dino Rizzo, founding and lead pastor of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, wrote a book entitled, “Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution through Serving.” This book tells the inspiring story of how he and his wife started a church to reach the poor and hurting and how God has used Healing Place Church to transform its community through practical acts of love and service.

Rizzo used a term in the book that I really like — what he calls “peripheral compassion.” He defined peripheral compassion as “the capacity to reach out and envelop the multitudes while noticing the tiniest need.” Peripheral compassion “is one of my favorite qualities I see in Jesus,” writes Rizzo, “and one I have always wanted to emulate.”

The things our small groups will do this Sunday are the product of peripheral compassion or looking at our community with deeper insight and greater clarity. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Thoreau was absolutely right. It all begins with what we see.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite both “saw” the poor fellow that had been beaten and left for dead. However, when the good Samaritan “saw him, he felt compassion” (Lk. 10:33) and that made all the difference.

I am grateful for the people of Kingsland and for their concern for our community. And, I am grateful to Jon for helping our small groups to respond to the needs we have identified in a personal, practical, and measurable way. I am looking forward to a great day on Sunday!

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Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | February 29, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

A visit to the village barbershop. | 1999 | Bangladesh

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Posted in Bangladesh, Wordless Wednesday

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | February 28, 2012

Tunnel Vision

The Pan-American Highway in El Salvador

Last Saturday morning our team of water-well drillers left the beautiful seaside community of Playa Salinitas in El Salvador to start our journey home. I have made this trip twice before but this time we took a different route to Cuscatlán International Airport, located just south of San Salvador. We decided to travel down a portion of La Panamericana — the Pan-American Highway. The Pan-American Highway is the world’s longest road, stretching from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska all the way to Tierra del Fuego in South America. El Salvador is the smallest of the 23 countries through which the highway passes. The section of highway between Playa Salinitas, located in the district of Sonsonate, and the airport offers magnificent and beautiful vistas of the Pacific Ocean. This stretch of road also passes through five tunnels.

Driving through the tunnels along this mountainous stretch of highway in El Salvador got me to thinking about tunnels. Pardon the pun but, although the term “tunnel vision” can have some negative connotations, those tunnels are there because someone had tunnel vision! Someone had the vision to see a way through where there seemed to be no way through. It’s easy for those of us who travel highways like this to take tunnels for granted. However, when you think about it, someone had to dig through the rock to get to the other side. There were guys back in the 1930‘s who got up every morning and kissed their families good-bye and then set out to dig and drill and remove rubble in order to make a way for the Pan-American Highway to go through this stretch of El Salvador. We enjoyed our drive because lots of folks before us had tunnel vision — the capacity to concentrate on a single purpose … getting through the mountain.

Here are a few quick observations about tunnels that I jotted down last week as we drove down the Pan-American Highway in El Salvador. First, tunnels teach us that we can overcome obstacles (Phil. 4:13). Second, tunnels remind us that when turning back or going around is not an option then we need to find a way through (Phil. 3:14). Third, tunnels are the result of collaborative effort and a reminder that we need each other (Gal. 6:2). Fourth, tunneling through one obstacle can give you the resolve to tunnel through the next (1 Cor. 15:58). Finally, those who come after us can benefit from our labor if we do not lose heart in doing good (Gal. 6:9). So, don’t despair the next time you come up against a mountain or a brick wall. Ask God to give you tunnel vision and to help you find a way through to the other side.

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Posted in Devotional Thoughts, El Salvador | Tags: ,

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | February 25, 2012

On Lost Things Found

San Salvador, El Salvador en route to Houston, Texas

There are not many feelings worse than not being able to find something you absolutely need, especially when you are far from home. As we prepared to leave for the airport this morning, one of our team members experienced that feeling — in fact, we all experienced it! A last-minute call to make sure that everyone had all their gear loaded onto the vehicle and their passports in hand resulted in one missing passport. Yikes! No passport means no trip home but instead a trip to the nearest consulate for a replacement, which sometimes can take days. Needless to say the owner of the missing passport rechecked baggage and backpack to no avail. Team members checked under beds, in the bathroom, in the laundry, and every conceivable place where a missing passport might be hiding. Nothing! Finally, one of our guys checked the sofas where we sat for morning devotionals and found the missing passport tucked beneath the cushions. Relief — a very big relief, indeed, followed by rejoicing!

Our missing passport incident this morning reminded us of the joy in finding and recovering things of value that once were lost. Jesus talked a lot about lostness and even defined His mission in this way: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). To seek requires intentional action and, in many cases, a commitment to exhaust every available resource and avenue in the search. To save is an action that affirms the value of what was found. In Luke 15, Jesus told three stories about things that were lost and then found — a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. These three stories share common themes including the great rejoicing that followed finding what was lost. They also illustrate that the intensity of the rejoicing is in proportion to the value of what was found. That’s why Jesus said “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Notice that this verse does “not” say the angels rejoice but rather that the One before whom they stand rejoices.

Since Jesus defined His mission in terms of seeking the lost, then we cannot go wrong by doing the same. This week an act of kindness in El Salvador opened the door for our team to connect with the lost. Through the efforts of our hygiene team, several came to faith in Christ. Others in the village of Las Tablas vowed to not forget the kindness of God in providing a water well for their village. Perhaps in the months and years to come that water well will serve as a compass to help someone who is lost find their way home. According to Psalm 119:91, all things are God’s servants. I believe that God can even use a water well provided in His name to serve His purposes, including helping the lost to find their way to the One who is the source of living water — something that always fills heaven with the sound of rejoicing!

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Posted in El Salvador, Living Water Intl.

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | February 23, 2012

Showers of Blessings

Las Tablas, El Salvador

Prior to this week I had never heard of Las Tablas, a tiny little village nestled among scrub-covered mountains littered with rocks, lots of rocks. The rocks in this place are a reminder of how hard life is for those who live here. The rocks also made the process of drilling a water well a slow and difficult process. But, yesterday afternoon we broke through and found water, lots of water. It came gushing up and rained down a welcomed shower of refreshment and relief from the heat. These were indeed showers of blessings and an answer to the prayers of those who call Las Tablas home. One woman approached me and expressed her heartfelt gratitude. I told her that it was the prayers of the folks here that had set things in motion. “I know,” she said, “but someone had to answer that prayer. I’m glad you listened to God and came to Las Tablas.” I’m glad, too.

We all got up excited and ready to go this morning, knowing that today would be the day we completed the well. Today was definitely a fun day as we set the pump and did all of the things necessary to complete and dedicate the water well. After lunch, the people of Las Tablas began to make their way to the water well site for our dedication ceremony. Our team members shared their reflections of the week and the villagers expressed their gratitude. And then, Candelario, the man who had offered the very first prayer when we arrived, led us in a dedicatory prayer. Once again, his words were like a soothing balm to my ears. I felt as though I was eavesdropping on a conversation between friends. I thought it very appropriate that this man who is such a gracious and respected leader in Las Tablas led our first and last prayers in his village.

There is no way to adequately describe what you sense on a day like this. To watch Candelario and the men put a protective fence around the well to keep the animals out and to listen to them talk about what they will do in the coming days to make the site even more secure and welcoming reveals how important this water well is to them. It is, after all, an answer to prayer and one that they do not take for granted. They understand how this single water well will change things for the people of Las Tablas. One theme was consistent among those present for the dedication — they promised that they would not forget to thank God for answering their prayers when they go to the well to fetch water. Our team will head home soon and we will return to our normal and very comfortable lives. I hope that we too will not forget to thank God for His showers of blessings, including convenient access to water.

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Posted in El Salvador, Living Water Intl. | Tags: , , ,

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | February 22, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

Waiting for water in the village of Las Tablas. | 2012 | El Salvador

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Posted in El Salvador, Living Water Intl., Wordless Wednesday | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: Omar C. Garcia | February 21, 2012

Candelario’s Prayer

Las Tablas, El Salvador

Today was our second day of drilling in Las Tablas, a tiny village of mud-brick houses located at the end of a road less traveled. It is not the kind of place you pass on the way to anywhere. Las Tablas is at the end of a winding and unpaved rock-strewn road. If it’s not your destination then chances are you are lost — very lost. The folks in this village depend on near-by streams and shallow hand-dug wells for their water. For most of the homes in the area, this means someone must make long trips to these water sources at least once but usually several times a day. It’s tedious but a part of what is normal for people who live in places like this.

When we arrived at the village on Monday, the villagers greeted us with warm smiles, balloons, and a couple of hand-written welcome signs. However, what impressed me most was an older man named Candelario. He spoke on behalf of all of the folks who had gathered to welcome us. And then he asked if he could share a psalm before leading us in prayer. Candelario quoted Psalm 91 — word perfect! He not only quoted it, he felt it. He quoted it in such a way as to make me believe that he had written the psalm himself. It was beautiful. And then he prayed in such a way that it felt as though God had paused from the business of running the universe just to listen to this humble man. In Candelario’s mind, we are an answer to prayer.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Candelario and his belief that we are here as an answer to prayer. I have concluded that being an answer to someone’s prayer is a big responsibility. I feel the weight of Candelario’s belief that God sent us to Las Tablas to drill a water well. It has had a strong and motivating influence on me and on all of our team members, one that makes us work hard to make sure that we accomplish the task of providing a clean and reliable source of water for the people of Las Tablas. Today was a hard day of drilling because we managed to drill through what seemed like every rock in El Salvador. But, giving up was never on anybody’s radar. Our team worked non-stop from early morning until the sun started its final descent toward the distant horizon. At the end of the day we were all filthy and tired but satisfied that we are so close to fulfilling the answer to the prayers that brought us here.

It’s humbling to meet men like Candelario in places like Las Tablas. Candelario reminds me that the best theological minds do not necessarily reside at our finest seminaries or in the pulpits of our biggest churches. I have great respect for Candelario and others like him — folks who work hard to survive, live in difficult but humble places, and who pray instead of complain. I don’t know many people who memorize chapters of Scripture and pray as though they personally have coffee with God every day. Sadly, too many folks are too distracted to develop that kind of intimacy with God. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to meet Candelario and am happy to be enrolled in his class this week. I need to learn from men like him. Candelario reminds me that, despite my seminary degree, I still have so much to learn. And, he motivates me to want to work harder along with my team mates to make sure that we accomplish what God brought us here to do — to be the answer to Candelario’s prayer.

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Posted in El Salvador, Living Water Intl. | Tags: , , ,

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