What is The Forge?

The Forge is home base for all small group activities.  It's where we meet with students for bible study, prayer, fellowship, and other stuff like making watermelons explode.

A forge is defined as a workshop containing a furnace for refining metal.  Our Forge is a place for refining hearts, educating our minds, and growing closer to Jesus. Each week more than 40 students come and participate in activities within our forge. This will be our first week having small group in 2018 and we are excited to review the why behind calling this place The Forge.




"Your hands have made me and formed me; give me understanding that I might learn your commandments."
Psalm 119:73

For something to be made there must be a maker. And our Maker is good at what he does. He doesn't make garbage. He is intentional and specific in knowing everything and everyone he makes. He is an expert, who when swinging the hammer, never misses the mark. 

I remember when my dad would be building something and I would try and help. He would eventually give me a "very important task" of hammering two boards together. While he worked on the real project I would be attempting to nail some throw-away extra material together. My father was wise to give me this task. I was awful. Just like every other six year old, I hit the board more than I did the nail. In the time it would take my dad to build a tree house and two picnic tables, I could destroy two pieces of wood without ever nailing them together. 

God never misses his mark. He strikes his hammer precisely where he means to. His vision is perfect and so is his plan.

Would you pray with us...
God, would you help direct us to be your ambassadors. Speak to us your vision and desire for this space. Give us understanding. Use this space to refine our hearts, to make your will come alive in us, and to build friendships.  Amen


- Spencer and Kendra Thomas

Ketchup, Mustard, and Catching Up

"Consider the lilies"

We find ourselves considering the lilies and laugh at our attempts to fashion the world around us. Consider the lilies and know that you are loved.  Kendra and I are completely incompetent at sustaining flowers, but living in Costa Rica has advantages.  We have beautiful flowers along our drive way that grow because it rains, a lot.  Praise God that Kendra hasn't touched them because they would surely die (her words, not mine)!

Toilets breaking, house leaking, vehicle needing new brakes, tired, busy, bored, lonely, content, homesick, frustrated, rainy, dry, and sometimes just out of coffee.... But it's worth it and we don't regret a single day that goes by.  Jesus is moving in our hearts the same as in the ministry He has invited us to be a part of.  Ministry with God starts with God ministering to the minister.   The closer we get to Jesus the closer we get to the cross.  God is surely ministering to us.  We are learning not only how to be missionaries in a foreign country and in a foreign language, but how to be married and love each other more than we did the day before.  We are learning how to argue better and how to disagree and how to compliment each other and how to love each other better.  I love my wife best when I love Jesus first.  Kendra loves me best when she loves Jesus first.  Jesus be the focal point of this person.  

Kendra... loves... running.  Spencer no like running very mucho.  But when I go running I never regret it.  For me running is a hassle, I don't like it, but I never regret doing it.  For me it's running.  What is "it" for you?  Maybe it's cleaning your room, or washing the car, or vacuuming.  We all have certain things that we don't like doing, but always feel good after doing them.  I want to challenge you...

       If you are married, I want you to share your testimony (story of how you came to know Jesus) with your spouse.  If you're not married, share your testimony with a person who has helped you know Jesus. Here are some things you are saying to yourself right now:

- My wife/husband/person already knows my story

- Sure, I'll do it later (just like you said you'd do that one thing that you haven't done yet)

- Keep reading...keep reading... oh, he's like, really wanting me to do this

- What's the point?

        I promise you won't regret it.  

It doesn't have to be complicated.  It doesn't have to be long.  It doesn't have to sound polished like a preachers sermon on Sunday morning at 11:00 traditional service.  

Do it simply.

Do it honestly.

Do it. 

 To make the title relevant, Kendra likes ketchup and I like mustard. Thank you for reading our blog and catching up with us!  Stay tuned for more. 

- Spencer and Kendra Thomas. 

May: "I feel like I just got off a roller coaster"

"I will send down the showers in their season; they will be showers of blessing." Ezekiel 34:26

Rest... Sweet rest...   The adventure started with an over night retreat into the mountains with our 9th grade generation.  Everyone arrived at the school at 5:15 A.M.  After brief instruction and loading onto five buses, we were shuttled up into the mountains of Costa Rica!   We arrived at the camp around 8, and first things first, we had breakfast.  Once everyone had consumed the most important meal of the day we started the fun.  Large group games, followed by small group games, followed by high ropes activities, followed by getting rained on, followed by more activities involving high ropes course action and running around.  Our over night trip was packed full of endless activity.  It was great.  We gathered in the evening and worshiped God.  A word was shared, talking about Daniel.  How Daniel stood out among his peers and how not even a pack of lions could turn him from pursuing the will of God.  It was the best part of the camp.  After worship we played a MASSIVE game of hide-and-seek.  Each staff member was worth a certain number of points (Kendra and I were worth the most).  The game ended when either all the people were found or time ran out.  Off we go! Into the dark, rainy, and cold jungle of Costa Rica to hide from 120 students.  After 30 minutes of very uncomfortable hiding, I heard the siren announcing the game was finished. "Awesome", I thought, "They didn't find me, I win!"  I hike out of the forest towards the camp fire, excited to see if Kendra was found.  Every couple of minutes a new leader would appear from the cloak of darkness, smiling because they were not found.  Every time someone new appeared I would rush over thinking it was Kendra.  Kendra never showed up.  I would be lying if I told you I wasn't worried.  I knew she had a flash light, but not a sense of direction.  We put together a scouting crew.  We scoured the woods looking for any sign of a beautiful gringa, my beautiful gringa.  Eventually she was found.  She was less than 50 yards from the fire, hiding behind a rock near the river.  She couldn't hear anyone yelling or the siren because the river was too loud.  #HideAndSeekChampion2016 goes to my beautiful wife.  Sharing of testimonies and smore's around a fire is what finished off the night... or so I thought.  After multiple attempts to get all the guys in my cabin to lay down and go to bed, they finally relented and there was peace.  Less than 5 minutes later everyone was awake, running and yelling, as 70 girls sang high school musical songs at the top of their lungs right outside our door.  There was no hope to getting my guys back into "sleep mode".  We stayed up all night....

The next day was still great! More activities and even more laughs.  After lunch we packed everyone back into the buses and made our way home.  We hugged and said goodbye to our students as their parents picked them up.  All were ready to be home, but our adventure had just begun!

We went home, unpacked, and then repacked our things, and went straight to bed.

The alarm went off at 4:15.... We awoke finished repacking our things. At 5:00AM we got into a taxi that took us to the airport.  After an entire day of travel we were back in Texas.  We spent the weekend in Kerrville preparing.

Tuesday morning we head out to Camp Eagle and prepare for the senior class from Costa Rica to arrive that afternoon.  We wait... And wait.... And wait some more.  The students and teachers finally arrived, after many delays, around 1:00AM.  They were exhausted but excited.  Tuesday night, I had no trouble getting the guys in my cabin to go to sleep.

Camp Eagle (located near Rocksprings, TX) is an adventurer's paradise spanning thousands of acres of wilderness, including rivers and cliffs.  Incorporated into the cliffs along the river there is rock climbing, rappelling, and an assortment of challenging "heights based" adventures.  All of which our students were able to enjoy!

Every morning, before our activities, we gathered together for worship. And every evening, after activities, we would worship together.  Throughout the week we went through the book of Ephesians.
Something crazy happens when we open God's word.  God speaks to us.  The best part of the trip was the last night of worship.  We spent the night at Kerrville First United Methodist Church.  Before worship we ate BBQ and learned how to line dance.

Once we had gathered for worship, we prayed and sang a song.  We put a microphone in front of the student body and gave them an invitation.  "We invite you to share how you encountered your Creator during this trip to Texas."

Listening to the testimonies of student after student share how God spoke to them was the best part of the entire trip.
"I never really realized that God wanted to know me like this"
"I want to follow Jesus and learn about the bible"
"For the first time in my life, I heard the voice of my Creator telling me I was loved"
"I never thought that I had to travel thousands of miles away from home to learn that God is Jealous for me"

These are just a few of the things spoken that made our hearts explode into a million tender pieces.  Jesus is so good.  E. Stanley Jones says that even evangelical movement starts with the evangelical being moved.  Oh how our hearts have been tilled, made ready for growth.  Kendra and I have never been more aware of God's love for us than we are right now.  And we find ourselves saying some of the same things our students said about going to Texas.  Moving to Costa Rica has produced revelation after revelation of how much God cares for us.

It makes me think of Heaven.  How Heaven is outside of time.  It's not measured in years or millennia, there is only eternity.  And every moment of eternity in Heaven will be filled with revelation after revelation of God's goodness.  Praise Jesus!

Kendra, myself, and Colegio Metodista are extremely grateful for all of the people and churches involved in making a dream become reality.  100 Costa Ricans on a senior class trip to Texas, spent in the hill country learning of and encountering our creator.

With much love,
    Spencer and Kendra Thomas