Stories of Faith and Ministry
by Felipe Martinez
I have been visiting several churches while they are having VBS this week (Ejido Monday -pastor Joel-, Principe de Paz Cancun Tue -pastor Neri-, Betel Cancun Wed- pastor Moises) and I have also been visiting with the pastors whose churches will have VBS next week (so far Juanito from Getsemani Puerto Aventuras, Francisco from El Milagro Cancun, Marcos from Tulum). When I visit with the churches and with pastors I have met individually, I have brought official greetings from the presbytery and have given the pastor of the church the NQR DVD that was created by WVP (and which we showed at the June presbytery). Footage for this DVD was filmed during VBS Blitz week in July 2005 (remember how we only had one week last year because hurricane Emily forced us to cancel one of the two weeks originally scheduled?). The pastors will show the DVD to their congregations, and Ramon promises to show it to the presbytery at an upcoming stated meeting.
Here are two stories of faith and ministry to give you an idea of the work of our partners down in NQR:
From Tulum: Pastor Marcos tells me that the children at the church really liked several of the VBS songs from last year and from this year. Pastor Marcos, a person of great vision, had an idea. What if we create a children´s choir, and have them record those songs, and then they could sell CD´s (about 100 of them) to raise money for the church? Well, they're following up on the idea. Marcos has some contacts in both Merida and Cancun that could have the choir recorded professionally (pro bono). The children (ages 5-7 approx) have been practicing once a week for several months. There is even a little child who is about 2 1/2 years old who joins in, an unofficial choir member. Turns out this 2 1/2 year old boy is the child of one of the adult choir leaders, and this little guy hears the choir rehearse and has picked up the tune and the hand motions for songs. In fact, as his language ability allows him due to his young age, the little boy sings along. Can't wait for their debut album!
From Betel Cancun: Magdalena is presently a church member of Betel, where Fairlawn Columbus helps with VBS. A couple of years ago Magdalena used to live in Merida and she lived there near her grown son. She told him that, when his company transferred him elsewhere in the Peninsula, that she would move to whatever town he went to. It turns out that the son was moved to Cancun, so she moved there. Magdalena had been an active member of a presbyterian church in Merida, and she wanted to find another presbyterian church in Cancun. She wanted a large church like what she had been used to, where she could be a part of an active women's circle and have lots of people in worship in a nice facility. But churches that met those requiements were far from her new home in Cancun. Magdalena prayed that God would be able to show her a church where God could use her. As it turns out, one day Magdalena was walking to the grocery store and she noticed a sign outside a house a block away from her house. The sign said that a presbyterian church (Betel, led by pastor Moises) met for worship there every Sunday, and listed other activities. Magdalena came to women's circle on a Monday night and then came for worship, and she has been attending that congregation ever since. Pastor Moises has challenged her to take a leadership role in the women's circle, even to help with singing on Sundays. Magdalena knows God brought her to that church, which although much much smaller than what she was used to in Merida, will be a place which grows spiritually and numerically through God's grace.
I have been visiting several churches while they are having VBS this week (Ejido Monday -pastor Joel-, Principe de Paz Cancun Tue -pastor Neri-, Betel Cancun Wed- pastor Moises) and I have also been visiting with the pastors whose churches will have VBS next week (so far Juanito from Getsemani Puerto Aventuras, Francisco from El Milagro Cancun, Marcos from Tulum). When I visit with the churches and with pastors I have met individually, I have brought official greetings from the presbytery and have given the pastor of the church the NQR DVD that was created by WVP (and which we showed at the June presbytery). Footage for this DVD was filmed during VBS Blitz week in July 2005 (remember how we only had one week last year because hurricane Emily forced us to cancel one of the two weeks originally scheduled?). The pastors will show the DVD to their congregations, and Ramon promises to show it to the presbytery at an upcoming stated meeting.
Here are two stories of faith and ministry to give you an idea of the work of our partners down in NQR:
From Tulum: Pastor Marcos tells me that the children at the church really liked several of the VBS songs from last year and from this year. Pastor Marcos, a person of great vision, had an idea. What if we create a children´s choir, and have them record those songs, and then they could sell CD´s (about 100 of them) to raise money for the church? Well, they're following up on the idea. Marcos has some contacts in both Merida and Cancun that could have the choir recorded professionally (pro bono). The children (ages 5-7 approx) have been practicing once a week for several months. There is even a little child who is about 2 1/2 years old who joins in, an unofficial choir member. Turns out this 2 1/2 year old boy is the child of one of the adult choir leaders, and this little guy hears the choir rehearse and has picked up the tune and the hand motions for songs. In fact, as his language ability allows him due to his young age, the little boy sings along. Can't wait for their debut album!
From Betel Cancun: Magdalena is presently a church member of Betel, where Fairlawn Columbus helps with VBS. A couple of years ago Magdalena used to live in Merida and she lived there near her grown son. She told him that, when his company transferred him elsewhere in the Peninsula, that she would move to whatever town he went to. It turns out that the son was moved to Cancun, so she moved there. Magdalena had been an active member of a presbyterian church in Merida, and she wanted to find another presbyterian church in Cancun. She wanted a large church like what she had been used to, where she could be a part of an active women's circle and have lots of people in worship in a nice facility. But churches that met those requiements were far from her new home in Cancun. Magdalena prayed that God would be able to show her a church where God could use her. As it turns out, one day Magdalena was walking to the grocery store and she noticed a sign outside a house a block away from her house. The sign said that a presbyterian church (Betel, led by pastor Moises) met for worship there every Sunday, and listed other activities. Magdalena came to women's circle on a Monday night and then came for worship, and she has been attending that congregation ever since. Pastor Moises has challenged her to take a leadership role in the women's circle, even to help with singing on Sundays. Magdalena knows God brought her to that church, which although much much smaller than what she was used to in Merida, will be a place which grows spiritually and numerically through God's grace.
posted by NQR Team @ 11:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home