Pastors Conference Day 4 - Celebration

Set free.  It's the feeling you get when your kids are spending time at a friends' house, or when you've sealed a big deal and YOU'RE DONE, FREE, READY TO PARTY!  Ever wonder what pastors do when they don't have their churches around them?  When they're with their colleagues, and THEY'RE FREE!  Thursday night has always been the celebratory time at each conference.  Each pastor has been filled up for 4 days on worship, teaching, food and rest.  They've made connections with new friends, and had time to visit with old ones.

This video is just a small snippet of the party we had under the palapa, praising God and thanking Him for a great week.  When we read passages describing the kinds of parties that God throws because He rejoices over us (see Luke 15, Revelation 19), I can't help think that heaven will have this kind of rejoicing.  What a blessing to be able to rejoice in God's presence!

Pastors Conference Day 3 - Lindsay's talk

We're so thankful for John & Lindsay Palomo for volunteering their time to help us with this conference.  They've also been writing a blog that I'd like to encourage you to read.  Wednesday evening we asked Lindsay to present a lecture on diabetes for all the pastors because we're always wanting to give them tools that they can use in their churches.  Health education is generally lacking in Mexico for a variety of reasons- distrust of traditional medicine, cultural misunderstandings, and many people finishing only through what we would call Jr High or less.  Thus, it was with rapt attention that Lindsay was able to hold her audience of 90+ as they listened to symptoms and treatments for diabetes.  Lindsay also brought with her a spanish cookbook with healthy recipes for people with diabetes.  As she was swamped with people asking questions afterward, we scrambled to print more cookbooks as many people wanted those also.  What a great opportunity to give people tools that they can use to change lives in their communities!

Lindsay Palomo teaching on diabetes

Q &A with Lindsay after her lecture

Pastors Conference Day 3 - Blessings

Pastor Sanchez and his wife from Acapulco

What's your story?  We always make time for couples who are here for the first time to share their testimony (briefly).  Here's what Pastor Sanchez said: "Good evening, my name is Ricardo Sanchez and my life Lidia.  We've lived in area of Acapulco for all of our life, and we've been married for 35 years, and always in the ministry.  We are so thankful for the invitation to come to this conference because for various situations and difficulties we've never taken a trip or vacation in all of our lives.  This is the first time we've been gone from Acapulco, and so we thank God for the blessing that this conference is- to learn, to know other pastors from this area and we know that God will continue to bless this precious place.  May God bless this place, the organizers and people who have prayed to make this happen.  We cannot express to you how big a gift this is to us as a couple, yes there are not words to express our thankfulness to God for this time we have as a couple and together with all of you."


It's for this that we spend time searching out pastors in various remote areas in Mexico because the pastors who need these conferences the most are usually the least connected.

Pastors Conference Day 3 - Noche de Amor (Night of Love)

For those of you who were wondering what the men were doing while the women had a special event- we were working!  One of the greatest weaknesses in a church is the uncared-for marriages of pastors.  After God as his first priority, the second priority of every pastor should be the care and spiritual growth of his wife.  Frequently however, as the pressures of work and church mount, and the seemingly important (and publicly more visible) needs of the church supplant the real needs of marriage and family- the very things which the pastor must serve as the example to his church.  It's also rare in Mexico for couples to have access to counseling if they have more profound difficulties or addictions.  This is the reason we emphasize marital restoration and healing.  One of the exercises we use at each conference is a love letter that each husband writes to his wife.  So while the women were relaxing, eating cake and making a craft, the men were writing letters to their wives.  In the evening on Wednesday we hold a raffle where letters are selected, and the husband has to read the letter he wrote to his wife.  Then the entire group votes on who wrote the most romantic love letter to his wife.  As the leader of the conference, I put my letter in the pile, and out of 47 letters, they picked mine 3rd!  I guess everyone has to serve as an example at some point!

Reading my letter to Colleen

Pastor Oswaldo reading to his wife Natividad

We know what he's thinking: "Whew,  I wasn't chosen again!"

Pastor Conference Day 3 - Women's Event

The Wednesday afternoon of each conference we hold a special event for the women who have come to the conference, and we also invite women from Chacala to come as our ministry to them.  As in the US, and perhaps even more so in Mexico, the culture has not typically valued women as God does.  Thus, we make every effort to serve the women with a special time with gifts, encouraging teaching, a craft, some cake and refreshments to help them feel loved and valued.  We hope that with each conference some of the women can develop new ministries to the women in their town based on some of the events we have held here over the years.  We want to say a special THANK YOU to one of our ministry partners, Keely and her daughters, for buying all of the supplies for this year's craft which was to paint a terra cotta pot and make a pen/pencil holder out of these pots (pictures below).

Women with their gift bags and pots.

Colleen teaching about how we need to be "soft clay" in God's hands..

Ladies decorating their pots and making flower pens.

Lindsay Palomo giving away the floral arrangement to one of the women.

Ethan giving Maria Silva his painting that Maria won in the raffle.

Sydney giving her painting

Finished pots drying in the sun

Finished pots!  When they're dry we will fill them with beans and the flower pens the women made.

Pastors Conference Day 2 - overflowing

Evening worship

When we invite pastors and their spouses to come we ask them not to bring their children because we can't fit families into shared hotel rooms, but the larger reason is to give these couples an opportunity to hear from God together without the distraction of children, their work, and their church burdens.  Family and community is one of the greatest strengths of Mexican culture, but it also keeps couples from have time apart.  As the pressures of surviving financially, and leading churches, most of the couples arrive exhausted physically, emotionally and spiritually.  In the evening we have times of "koinonia" which is a Greek word for fellowship- a time of sharing our lives with each other.  For most couples this is a rare time where they are only with other people who also serve in ministry.  They don't have to worry about their parishioners or their kids watching what they do or say- they are free to worship and let their hair down.  During these times we ask them to reflect on their marriages and to tell their spouse how much they love them and to forgive them for whatever difficulties they are facing.  These are great opportunities for couples to pray together, worship together and grow together with the concerns which normally surround them.  You can see from the pictures below how significant this time is for them.

Pastors Conference Day 2 - Alcapulco arrives

The vans from Acapulco finally arrive!

The pastors of Acapulco having a time of prayer thanking God for a safe arrival.

Happy to be here, but probably more happy the journey is over!

If you're wondering where we might be starting more conferences next, Acapulco is at the top of the list.  When you have pastors willing to drive 20+ hours to a conference for pastors, packed 18 to a small van, then you know there must be a need that they have.  In fact, the more we venture into Mexico's southern states we find pastors who are even more hungry to learn, and also who are even more disposed to sitting in the hot sun for hours at a time so that we can cover another teaching (and all the while the beach is 50 yards from their toes!).  What a privilege to be able to serve them!