The VDMA Project
When the handle of my Anthropologie coffee mug my sister gave me broke off, my happiness bubble burst, and the crocodile tears flowed. Missionaries are often easily discouraged when living abroad. Life throws curveballs. Stuff stops working. And home seems farther and farther away. We fight against this discouragement on a daily basis, and it is hard for us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.” It is difficult to keep running the race.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
Whether our trials are big or small, sometimes they are just enough to send us back to bed, under the covers, wanting to throw in the towel and give up. It is easy to see the mountain in front of us as insurmountable and the race set before us as too far a distance to run. Often we lose sight of the reasons we are here. That is why it is important for us to hold onto our purpose as missionaries. The VDMA project is one of those reasons and is a great reminder of our purpose.
VDMA stands for Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum which is Latin for “The Word of the Lord Endures Forever.” This was the motto for the Lutheran Reformation. The VDMA logo was displayed on flags, banners, swords, and armor. This served as a reminder that the Lutheran princes were not fighting for an agenda or a religion. They were fighting for the Word of God. They were fighting because they believed that the Word of God should be in the hands of the people, no matter their station or status.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.” – Isaiah 40:6
VDMA was a battle cry for the Reformation, and it is a battle cry today. Today we do not fight against a Catholic Emperor with shield and sword. Today we fight circumstance and opportunity. The battle is just as important. The Word of the Lord is just as important today as it has ever been. Today we fight to get the Word into the hands of the people in Latin America.
There are two reasons this project is so very near and dear to my heart. The VDMA project has been in the works for years. It began as a problem. Lutheran pastors were being trained across Latin America but did not have access to the theological material that they so desperately needed. This is because many important theological books have not yet been translated into Spanish, and it is logistically impossible to get the size and weight of a much-needed theological library into the hands of future pastors when many of them live in very rural, hard-to-access communities. There is a high cost involved in translating, purchasing, and distributing books. This is the problem. This is what our fight today is against.
Blake met James when he went to the Dominican Republic on a short-term team. James is a missionary working in Latin America. After talking about life, work, and missions, James saw Blake as someone with a unique skill-set which could help him with this problem they were facing in the Latin America mission field. This brought James to my kitchen table.
One weekend in November of 2013, James came to Las Vegas, and he and Blake sat down to work out different possible solutions to this problem. Ideas began to form, and eventually the VDMA project evolved into what it is today. It has been compiled into a tablet with the necessary theological materials that can easily be put into the hands of Latin American seminary students studying the Word of the Lord.
I love this project because it is so closely tied to our story. Not only was it developed with the “help” of my 18-month-old’s scribbles, but it also helped bring my family into the mission field. This is one of the ways God brought us down here. Through the VDMA project, we became involved and invested in the work God was doing in Latin America.
While it is very cool that we were involved with this project long before we were missionaries, there is a more important reason this project is near and dear to my heart. It is the very reason we gave up everything we knew as familiar and comfortable in order to serve as missionaries. It is the very goal of every missionary in our Latin America & Caribbean Region and the goal of our church body today. Our goal is to leave.
We serve as missionaries with the hope that one day we, as a church, can eventually pull out of each country and when we leave, there will be an established church body with its own pastors who serve and care for the community. The goal is never to make any country indefinitely dependent on missionaries to provide access to the Word of the Lord. This is a long-term goal. This is a goal that most missionaries realize they may never see come to fruition in their lifetime. But it is still a goal we all work towards. We know that each one of us serving plays a very small role in this very large goal. If it wasn’t for the work done before us and the work that will be done after us, the goal would not be possible.
So when there is a project that is training up the next generation of local pastors in Latin America, that is a project worth supporting. That is a project worth shouting from the mountaintops. We want to help this group of pastors receive the necessary training to care for the people they will serve in their communities.
Many of these seminary students are eager to continue their education. They are hungry to study the Word of the Lord. This is our battlefield. We do not fight against an emperor, but we fight all the same. We fight to get the Word of the Lord into the hands of His people.
I am honored and grateful to have witnessed the transformation of this project from its early days. It is exciting to see the joy on the face of a seminary student who receives the necessary materials needed to complete his studies. So far this project has put theological material into the hands of 197 recipients. The project is not complete. Materials still need to be translated. Tablets still need to be distributed. The Word of the Lord still needs to get to the people.
The VDMA project is important for the churches across Latin America, but it is also important for us. The VDMA project serves as a reminder that we should be putting our plans, efforts, and thoughts, into what will last. VDMA serves as a self-check of our own priorities.
In the mission field, things don’t usually work the same as we are used to in the States. Appliances and household items break (often). Usually by the time we fix one thing, something else stops working. VDMA reminds us that our earthly treasures are not what is important. They will not last. “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord will last forever.”
The Pampered Chef pan stains, and the Anthropologie coffee mug breaks, but…
The air conditioning in the car is no longer cold, and the Dyson vacuum shorted out, but….
The hot water heater flooded the house, and the grill rusted through, but…
The Word of the Lord lasts forever.
This is our mission. This is our focus. This is what matters. This is why we are here. And thanks to the VDMA project, more and more people will have access to the Word of the Lord. And this is our goal: that more and more people will know the love and grace of our Savior. We cling to the reminder that our earthly treasures will not last, and we should continue to run the race set before us.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
