Mother's Day at Centro Cristiano Cofradia was a really fun time for the mothers of the church and community. Isabel and Geña put together a special meal and handed out gifts to all that came. Here is what Isabel, who leads the women's ministry, had to say about the celebration...
It had been a long time since we gathered more than 6 ladies in a meeting.We were hoping that it would be allowed to have a special celebration for our beloved sisters and friends from Cofradia and we did!
We had such a wonderful time singing, worshiping, and being loved by Jesus and our loving Father. It was amazing! We had a guest speaker from Las Varas, Nayarit, our friend Valeria, and she shared a very encouraging message. It was just what we needed! Afterwards, we shared a meal together while a live band played for us. We finished our time handing out gifts to the ladies who came.
Thank you for your continued prayers over this ministry!
We had the privilege this past weekend of sharing the Gospel through the Freedom in Christ Discipleship course. It was an intense 3 days of meetings (normally it takes 13 weeks!). It is great to see people be able to understand the gospel in a clear way and release some of the things they've dealt with in the past, replacing them with the Truth. "You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:32). We had people from at least 5 different churches participate. It's always a blessing!
Pastors Ruben and Valeria have just recently reopened their church in Las Varas, Nayarit. Las Varas is a small city almost 3 hours from Cofradía. It is about half way from Nayarit's capital (Tepic) to Puerto Vallarta. A few weeks ago, we visited them and I was able to share with the congregation what the Lord showed me through His Word while we were in Washington about "Listening to what God is saying" (Matt. 17:1-7). It was an encouraging time for all of us. Ruben is a very good Worship Leader and shares the pulpit with his wife. They have three children: Ruben, Hector, and Abigail. Ruben and Hector are studying in Michigan where their uncle lives.
Pastor Ruben and his wife also lead two mid-week services: one in a nearby town called Mesillas, and another in a very old town called Mazatán, Nayarit (not to be confused with the tourist city of Mazatlán).
Pastors Jimmy and Perla from Renuevo United in Tepic held the Grace course at their church in February/March. Some of us travelled there to help with the teaching and they all came to Cofradia for the final class. It was a half day of prayer and reflection dealing with our identity and how we view God. It's amazing how easy it is sometimes to fall in the trap of believing a lie. In the afternoon, we finished with one more lesson wrapping up the course. What a blessing to be part of what God is doing!
This is what some of them said:
"The Lord Jesus Christ gave me a new identity." -Jose
"This course was a freeing experience where I was able to know more profoundly the love God has for me." - Carito
"God revealed to me His heart...everything is new in Him" -Alan
"For me this was completely freeing to find out that the problem of sin has no authority in my life once grace has taken over. It filled all my expectations." -Oscar
For two weeks, Isabel and Maty distributed food to the children who come to the morning breakfasts. During those two weeks, our church was closed due to the government mandate in our municipality to close all churches until February 14th. I went with them one day to document a little of what they do.
Thank you to all who make contributions to this ministry. Especially the House of Hope Community Center who seeded the start of this ministry and helped get it going. You are all a blessing to the children.
Thank you for 25 years of partnering with us through prayers and support. We really appreciate you all and give thanks to the Lord for you regularly. You are a blessing to our family.
Pony Deer was his official name. For over 12 years, he brought lots of joy to our family.
July 2, 2008 - January 13, 2021
Many of you who really knew Pony, knew that he was an extraordinarily obedient and faithful dog who was courageous enough to fight off other animals from entering our property, even a Brahma bull! He also enjoyed hunting iguanas. He was amazing and a very good pet. He was given to us from our good friends, Pastors Noé Espinoza and his wife Martha Carlos from Mazatlán, Mexico. Rebecka was his human, but we all took care of him. His name comes from the girls asking for a "Pony" 😊, and "Deer" is because he was a "Deer-head Chihuahua". He was a very good traveller having made numerous trips back and forth to the United States. I wrote a story about him and Geña a number of years ago as a picture of how we can trust God. Click here to read it. He recently got sick with a respiratory disease and was unable to make it through a relapse a month later. We will miss him.
Every six months, the pastors that are connected to our ministry share an bi-annual update from their perspective on what the Lord is doing in their areas of ministry to let you know what's going on and how to pray. Your investment is making progress in the Kingdom of God. Thank you for your donations and prayers!
EL RETO is a annual event that takes place usually in September at the beginning of the school year. It is an outreach to REACH new students for Christ, RE-REACH students who no longer attend church, and LEARN about God, Leadership, and Life.
In 2005, we started with 12 students from our local church in Cofradia and it soon exploded into a 6 week event with over 200 students from over 10 different churches. It was a highlight of the year as everyone looked forward to it. This year, due to restrictions, we waited until December to do a one day "mini-RETO".
Pastor Luis and his team of leaders put together a simple event geared towards reaching out to students and giving them an opportunity to get active in a healthy way.
The theme this year was "Unveiled Face" from 2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with open [unveiled] face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The main thrust of the message was that we sometimes wear masks that prevent others from seeing us for who we really are. We were encouraged to take those "masks" off and allow God to do His work in us because He sees us for who we are and accepts us. It's up to us to take the step of accepting Him and what He's already done for us.
Somewhere around 45-50 students came out from at least 6 different towns and cities. Here is a very short one-minute clip of the activities...
A special thank you to those who contributed towards this event. You make it possible for the gospel to be reached to students who do not normally have an opportunity to hear it.
If you did not have the chance and would like to contribute to this outreach in preparation for next year, you can donate here. Our yearly budget is $2,000 for EL RETO. We already have some funds due to the nature of this year's outreach not lasting as long as normal.
Thank you so much for partnering with us in RAISING UP LEADERS IN RURAL MEXICO.
Thank you for partnering with us! We appreciate your much needed prayers. We are very grateful to all of you who contribute to our personal support and thank you for your investment into the Kingdom of God through separately contributing to the ministry in Cofradía.
We started looking at this book, Spirit, Soul, and Body by Andrew Wommack, to see if it's something we'd like to implement into our Leadership Training teaching. Right away, we saw that this was very helpful. We've been teaching about our Identity in Christ through Freedom in Christ Ministries for a number of years now, and this book has made things even more clear in our understanding. It is a true blessing and is something we will definitely implement.
In this video, I have Pastors Luis, Goyo, and Amado share a very brief comment on how they've been impacted by reading and studying this book.
Friday night (Nov. 27) we hosted a dinner for the families of four pastors and other leaders. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with 35 people including children. I shared a little about America’s true history of when the Pilgrims first came and how the first Thanksgiving feast was celebrated. We went around the room and shared with each other what we are thankful for and it was probably the highlight of the evening. People are mainly thankful for being able to be part of a ministry where people genuinely love God. We are thankful for all of our brothers and sisters who came and it was a great blessing to be able to celebrate and be thankful to God together.
Geña cooked two turkeys, five pies, and a number of other things over the period of two days while Emma decorated the house with a little help from her sister, Mackenzie. I made the coffee .
Thank you to all whom pray for our family and our local pastors here in La Cofradía United. We are blessed because of you and are thankful for your partnership as we Raise Up Leaders in Rural Mexico together.
It is always a joy to be able to share about God's love and grace. This course on Grace has impacted my life personally as it has opened my eyes up to how much God really loves us. Just the fact that He loved us even when He was the last thing on our mind is incredible. He loves us, accepts us, and wants the best for us. That is a great motivation for loving Him.
This conference is supposed to be extended to 6 or 7 weeks of meetings. Because of so many that come from out of town, we have done this over a period of three days.
The message is that we love and obey God because we want to, not because we "have to." It's an amazing thing to understand God's love for us. Once we do, we will be motived by love instead of the false motivations that we get tangled into sometimes: guilt, shame, fear, pride.
Freedom in Christ is accessible. It's a freedom to obey God and not be enslaved by sin anymore.
Thank you for investing in God's Kingdom and helping us Raise Up Leaders in Rural Mexico.
