Fall 2010 Pastors Conference

In September, we had another Pastors Conference here in San Julian. The theme of this conference was, “Ministry of Reconciliation”. Our speakers for the conference were Pastor Daniel Gettemy and Jeff Pursley from Vancouver, Washington, and Pastor Terry Gray from El Paso, Texas. Kathy and our friend, Jorge, led worship for the event. Our friend Jorge Compos, who has translated for us for the past few conferences, translated for us again. Jaime, who has been a great help to us since we began here, and Elmer, our Spanish tutor, also helped us with translating. We invited pastors and leaders of San Julian and the surrounding villages to come to the three day event. 2 Corinthians 5:18 says “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” The conference focused on what that means as pastors and leaders and how we can apply it in the areas of our relationship to God, our family and our church.
The response from the conference was great. In the following city wide pastors meeting, several pastors said that the conference was great and that they have been using the teaching they received in their churches. One pastor said that he used the teaching to work with three people in his church that needed reconciliation. Another has been sharing the teaching at his church and said that two people in his church have been reconciled in relationship as a result. One pastor shared that in the three years that he has been a pastor, he had never seen God speak that way and the message has been a real encouragement to his church. Another said that it was a blessing to his church to see him put into practice the things he was taught. I was very touched by the response and pray that we can continue to be a blessing to the churches here. We had a lunch for the pastors at the end of the last day. A friend of ours, Josue Cisco, who is a chef, cooked up a delicious meal, and Daniel, Jeff, Terry, Jaime, Kathy, Jorge, Jonah, Maddie , Lindsay (Terry’s daughter), and myself served the pastors their meal. The pastors were very blessed. One pastor commented later that he was moved by our serving. It made him realize that as a pastor he not only needs to preach, but to serve the people God has given him to pastor as well.
In addition, Pastors Daniel, Terry and Jeff had the opportunity to teach the word of God in various churches in the area. Pastor Terry’s daughter, Lindsay, was a very special surprise guest for Maddie. She and Maddie have been friends since we lived in Juarez, Mexico. Our family often had the opportunity to fellowship at their church in El Paso, Texas. Lindsay, Maddie and Jonah all thoroughly enjoyed the time they spent together. We put together a little slide show. We apologize for the low quality of the video. We are praying that God will provide us with a better video recorder….hope you enjoy it!