Coming Soon to the U.S.A.

We are excited to announce that we have begun planning our 2025 LIRA tour of the U.S.!

Ok, that’s a little bit dramatic, I know, but we ARE excited.

I thought it was about time to officially introduce you to LIRA. LIRA is a creative ministry formed by the marriage of Lily (Colombia) and me (North America). I am an artist, have been all my life. I love to draw, paint, carve, build things, and just about anything else associated with art. Lily, who I told you a little about in my last post, Under the Influence, is a natural teacher and a gifted speaker. She has a bachelor’s in theology and is continuing to study. Her dream is to get a master’s in Apologetics.

Before we were married, Lily told me she had a calling to be a missionary. To study, prepare, and leave Colombia for Northern Europe. Obviously, I was fine with that because I was also trying to figure out how I could get more involved in mission work while in Colombia. Within six months of us marrying in 2020, Lily was beginning to put together an idea. She was already very active in the church. She had her pastoral credentials, she was teaching the youth, and she was also asked to preach from time to time. When Lily preaches/teaches, she loves using props and images. First, she started asking me if I could draw something for her that she could use as an illustration. It then began getting more complicated, like when she asked if I could make a missions clock. A large, one-meter-in-diameter wooden wall clock that could rotate to show a different image for every month to represent a different country to pray for. I passed that test, and LIRA was born.

Lily began talking to me about how she felt God had brought us together for amazing things, and I agreed. For many years I have prayed that God would use the talents He gave me for His glory, and now it was happening. I was really excited when I first witnessed Lily’s teaching in action. I could see how, with her ability and passion and me, well, doing what I do, we could maybe make a difference for the kingdom of God.

Things started moving fast after that. I designed a logo for LIRA and created publicity and information cards. We then had our project officially approved, and we were soon under the covering of Dinamis. Dinamis is the missions organization within the Assemblies of God church in Colombia. It gives us the accountability and support that we need. I should mention that “Lira” (pronounced “Leeda”) is the Spanish word for lyre, the stringed instrument found in the Bible.

With our project firmly in place, we began traveling all over Colombia, visiting churches and looking for support. Explaining about our “creative ministry” and our call for the Nordic Country, very possibly Demark. We are actively looking for contacts in the Northern European area, groups or organizations that we can connect with to make the transition of working in the country a little easier. At this moment, we have a few possibilities but nothing concrete yet. During this time, we continued to work on the different aspects of LIRA. Our goal is to develop interesting and creative ways to share the gospel. To design tools for teaching. To write and illustrate books for children and young adults and to reach the unreached for Christ. Lily started studying and reading many books on creativity. She then had another idea: a creativity workshop.

We spent months working on the idea, fine-tuning it, and creating the necessary props. The workshop uses gamification (basically adding game-like elements to encourage participation), so we had to create a large game board and large game pieces, multiple decks of game cards, and much more. It also includes substantial information about how the brain works with creativity, how to use creative thinking to solve problems, and how God used His perfect creativity to create everything in seven days. The workshop is full of activities to keep you engaged. It may sound like it, but it’s not for young children. The information is geared toward adults, but the atmosphere is fun and lively. We’ve had a lot of fun with the Creativity Workshop and have had positive feedback from the participants.

This year, our thoughts are turning to the upcoming trip to the United States. It is a big challenge for many reasons. The first reason is that much, if not all, of our material and information is in Spanish. Secondly, I will be doing most of the presenting; after all, it’s my country, my language. I’m not super comfortable in that role, but it’s necessary. The U.S. is a lot bigger than Colombia, so travel is an issue. True, traveling around Colombia poses its own set of challenges and dangers, but public transportation is relatively inexpensive here. I believe most of our travel in the U.S. will be by car. We are praying for a cheap long-term rental or a generous loaner from a kind soul. I’m compiling a list of churches and people I need to contact to set up meetings and be able to route our travels. I am anticipating locations from Texas to Florida, Alabama to Ohio, Pensylvania, and Virginia, God willing, of course.

There are so many aspects of LIRA that keep us busy. From writing to creating art and tools, both physical and digital. Designing our webpage, www.liracreative.org (still under construction but coming soon), and social media. Not to mention studying, both Lily and I are neck deep in learning each other’s language. That is no small task for either one of us. It does provide for some interesting and funny moments, though. I’ll have to blog about that another time.

We are really excited about where God is leading us and the possibilities that He may open up for LIRA. The work is hard, but it’s worth it. We’re tired but motivated. But most of all, we are resting in the confidence that God is in control and He will provide.

Please pray for us and for our new ministry, LIRA

Thanks for reading,
To God be the glory!
Randy