From June 7th to June 10th we celebrated our 11th Central American Conference in the city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Four hundred disciples from the church in San Pedro Sula were host to another four hundred disciples who traveled to Honduras from the other eight central American congregations for this year’s conference “Mi Siervo Fiel” (My Faithful Servant). It was a great time of spiritual growth and fellowship.
The Central American Conference started in 1995 with “Sin Limites” (No Limits) when the churches in Guatemala and San Pedro Sula, Honduras met together in Guatemala to envision the evangelization of Central America. For the first ten years the Central American Conference was an annual event, after that the churches decided to make it a biannual event (after many, many comments at this year’s conference we are reconsidering that decision).

This year’s conference was a tribute to the missionary spirit and faithfulness of the churches in Central America who have grown from 11 disciples in the Guatemala mission team in 1994 to 2000 disciples in nine congregations throughout the seven Central American Nations.

For the leaders of the churches in Central America the activities began on Wednesday with lunch and then a class by Josue Ortega, who taught from Matthew 25:14-30. The class focused on four areas that we need to develop if we are to become faithful servants; discipline, faith, commitment and passion. “We are not looking to maintain our churches, we should not bury our talents. God wants to do great things.”, preached Josue as he encouraged us to dream to do more “even though we don’t always have the optimum situation”.

On Thursday morning the church leader’s meeting continued with two video conferences by Jaime De Anda, who was not able to travel due to Mimi’s recent back surgery. Although not in person it was great to spend time with Jaime who has been a pillar to the churches in Mexico and Central America. In the first video conference we talked about the ever so important and increasingly challenging task of funding the mission. Jaime shared with us what he called the Tabernacle Model of funding. Please pray for MCA. the churches in Central America and missionaries like myself as we look for new and innovative ways to finance the spreading of the gospel throughout the Central American region. The second video conference focused on what was taught at the International Conference of Youth Ministries in Boston, MA. We look forward to the transition from a teen to a family ministry where teen, parents, teen workers and ministry leaders can all work together toward the common goal of salvation for our families.

On Thursday night the festivities began, as bus loads of disciples poured into the Universidad Tecnologico de Honduras (UTH). Nelson Vargas was an inspiration to us all as he lead singing while his wife Yadira was in the hospital battling cancer. On Saturday their family traveled to Cuba so that Yadira could receive medical treatment. In the hospital just before the opening of the conference Yadira told Nelson to go and Worship God, because that’s what she would like to be doing. God truly has blessed our churches with faithful servants!!! After singing, Folkloric dances and a presentation of the flags and typical dress of the Central American nations, Peter Garcia preached powerfully and encouraged each disciple to be faithful as God is faithful (John 13:15-17).

Friday morning was filled with workshops…

9:00 – 9:50 AM A Passionate Church – Arturo Elizararas (Mexico), The Man Before the Mirror – Jose Luis Estrada (Guatemala), Beautiful Before God’s Eyes – Veronica Ortega (Mexico), The Next Generation – Alex Aceituno and Alex Paiz (Guatemala)

10:00 – 10:50 AM The Art of Biblical Counseling – Guillermo Ellis (Guatemala), Brave Heart – Alex Paiz (Guatemala), Captivating – Dulce Cruz (San Pedro Sula), Maturing Your Faith Through Trials – Hector and Sandra Maradiaga (San Pedro Sula)

11:00 – 11:50 AM Developing Your Leadership – Peter Garcia (Los Angeles) and Josue Ortega (Mexico), When Men Pray – Marlon Fernandez (San Salvador), Women’s Dreams – Andrea Paiz (Guatemala), The Power of Imitation – Horacio del Castillo (Panama)

We hope to make the classes available in MP3 and Outline form soon…

Friday night was exciting as a camouflaged choir called us to be soldiers for Christ. Afterwards Manuel Paz and Andrea Paiz lead us in worship as they sang “If you Believe”. The great singing readied us for Josue Ortega’s class, “The Way of the Heart”, were we were challenge to be Christians and not just to do Christian-like things, but not before some fun and games looking for some whole hearted “Catrachos” (Hondurans). It was also encouraging to see Hector and Wendy Cardona restored to the fellowship and serving in the church in San Pedro Sula.

Friday night ended with a video presentation from the Guatemalan teen ministry, “My Faithful Servant” – a spoof on the Apprentice based on the Parable of the talents and a modern dance routine by the San Pedro Sula teen girls.

 

Saturday began at 6:00 AM as Hector Cruz and the San Pedro Sula worship team lead us in worship and prayer. Afterwards Arturo Elizarraras dared us to dream again in the last class of the conference. At 10:00 AM is was back to the hotel and then to the beach for some R and R. While at the beach we found Josue Ortega’s long lost Honduran twin… . Later that night there was a party for the participants and a few engagements and new steady dating relationships announced

Sunday service was very inspiring… Over 1000 people met together in the UTH to praise God and learn from his word. Daniel and Janet Aquino gave a warm welcome together with their son Patrizio. Henry Gomez, Country leader for Hope Worldwide Honduras gave a presentation on the social work being done in Honduras and then received a recognition from Josue Ortega… Arturo Elizarraras preached powerfully on the life of King Josiah and how we can be faithful to God even when the odds are stacked against us. The Guatemalan band Desconecta2 rocked the house with their interpretations of “Te Alabaré” (I will Praise You) and “Desde Mi Interior” (From within). The service ended with a modern ballet and a special presentation of the theme song “Mi Siervo Fiel” by San Pedro Sula’s Choir and the band from Tegucigalpa.

Our thanks go out to the churches in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa for an outstanding job with the organization of the conference. Your hard work was duly noted. Our family was truly blessed by the trip and I pray that we all can hear God say, “Well done my good and faithful servant”

God bless, until next time… Bill, Wendy, Steven and THE BAND (our adopted teenagers that are constantly reminding me of the plague of the locusts )