On January 7th I hit 36.  Wendy baked and decorated a cake and cooked a delicious meal.  We hung out with the kids and in the evening our neighbors stopped by to sing “Happy Birthday” and the traditional “Mananitas” and drop off some cupcakes.  I truly thank God for such a wonderful family, who make me feel like the greatest Husband/Dad in the world!!!

2007 is coming to a close and we wanted to share some of the many incredible things that God did during the year.

This year the church in Guatemala focused on ministry based leadership, where a team of mainly lay leaders took the charge of starting new ministries (Marrieds, Singles, Teens, Pre-teens, Older women, Music, Children’s ministries, Professionals,Single Moms, Young Marrieds, Media y Communications, Dating Relationships, Young Christians, Future Missionaries, HOPE, Shepherding and Ushers). It has been very encouraging to see how non-staff and staff leadership have worked together to develop a deeper reaching leadership model.

At the close of November we had witnesses 83 new Christians added to the church. I hope you enjoy the video…

Last weekend the South Region of the church in Guatemala left the hustle and bustle of the city to spend a day of “Spiritual Emphasis” along with over 50 friends. After 45 minutes of spiritual singing, we shared a devotional on the oneness of the body that is led by the Spirit. Afterwards the singles prepared a forty-five minute prayer trail where we all walked along praying prayers of worship, gratefulness, confession, forgiveness and petition. Later on we had lunch in small groups and played baseball (a first for most) and soccer. During the day HOPE was also present with a group of American Chiropractors who dedicated themselves with adjusting everyone’s spine. (Read on for some pictures)

When I think of scriptures that impacted me as a young Christian and have continued to encourage me over the past 16 years; Acts 17:26-27 often comes to mind.

 

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

 

 

Shortly after returning to Guatemala from Costa Rica Wendy and I rented a home in Colonia El Carmen in Guatemala City. While living there Steven made friend with some 10 year old twins, Roberto and Alejandra. Their father was the owner of the auto shop in front of our house… during the three years that we lived there Don Roberto became my mechanic and we invited him out to church on various occasions. Unfortunately he never came out… we moved and our families lost contact. A few months ago on the other side of town a single woman, Shadai, was baptized. She immediately started reaching out to her brother and sister in law (Shalom and Andrea), who in turn started studying the Bible. Andrea excited about what she was learning invited her brother and sister (Roberto and Alejandra) to our singles retreat, “Light a light”, six weeks ago.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

James 5:16 (NIV)

The one time common practice of confessing our sins to another Christian has become increasingly less commonplace within our congregations today. Here I’ve compiled a short list of scriptures that can help us to form deep convictions about what God expects from us in terms of confession.

• 1 John 1:5-10 – The confession of sin keeps us in the light.
• Proverbs 28:13 – The foolishness of trying to hide our sin.
• Psalm 32:1-5 – The consequences of not confessing our sin.
• Psalm 38:3-4,18 – The lack of confession troubles our conscience and makes us feel guilty.
• Nehemiah 1:4-7 – Confessing our sins to God in prayer.
• Luke 18:9-14 – The importance of being sincere when we confess our sins in prayer.
• Ezra 10:1 – What should our posture be before God as we confess our sin?
• Exodus 9:27-30 – Confession, but without a repentant heart.
• Matthew 27:3-5 – The difference between guilt and repentance.
• Nehemiah 9:2 – Sometimes we need to confess and ask for forgiveness for the sins of others.

I pray that as we study out God’s word we can come to a deeper understanding of the biblical implications of confession; and as we confess, let us repent and experience the times of refreshing promised by the Lord (Acts 3:19).

God bless, Bill

We are looking for 50 people who can give $25 a month in order to continue our mission work in Central America. Click on Subscribe below to join. If you would like to give a different amount please email me. If you would like to give a one time donation you can do that through PayPal.com.

It’s great to get back in touch… for those of you who were on my mailing list this is still supposed to be a monthly update… sorry about the delay, we’ve had an intense trimester.

This is an emotional update for me because just last week we celebrated the 13th anniversary of the church in Guatemala and all mission work in Central America.

Last week as we prepared for the anniversary we took a morning to pray at the “Cerro de la Cruz” (The Hill of the Cross) in Antigua, Guatemala. It was on that same hill that we prayed on September 10th 1994, just a day before Guatemala’s first service with 403 in attendance.

Josué Ortega, from the church in Mexico City, was our guest speaker. The Ortegas led the church here from 1995 to 1999 before moving back to Mexico to lead the church there. We had about 1800 in attendance and during the month we saw 14 baptisms and 1 person restored into the fellowship bringing the total to 64 new brothers and sisters added to the church in Guatemala so far this year.

Especially encouraging to Wendy and I was that one of those 14 baptisms was our son Steven. It was a joyous event as I presented him with a sword to remind him to “Keep up the good fight”

During the service I was able to share about our mission experiences… as part of the original team that was sent to Guatemala and as the leaders of the first mission planting sent out by the Central American churches to El Salvador in 1997.

It’s amazing to me to look back to Sept 1, 1994 when the eleven of us got off the plane without a clue as to what to expect. Thirteen years later that group of eleven has multiplied to nine churches and over 2000 disciples throughout the Central American isthmus. Wendy and I shared the Lord’s supper and the Desconecta2 along with brothers and sisters from the south region acted out God’s plan for grace to the Spanish translation of the song “Everything” by Lifehouse.

Afterwards Alex Paiz presented our new brothers and sisters to the congregation and gave each of them a book of Quiet Time devotionals.

Josué Ortega shared a powerful sermon on the source of God’s grace, the Cross. Without a doubt it was a great celebration, we all left encouraged and challenged to take Jesus’ message to the farthest reaches of this great country.

And since the Devil couldn’t have his way he shook his tail at us… On Monday I was on my way to pick Wendy up from a Bible study when an Isuzu Trooper ran a Stop Sign and hit us broad side. Thankfully Steven, Matthew and I were all unharmed (Angie and was not with us).

 

 

The singles “Light a Light”

Personally I was very encouraged by this year’s singles retreat “Light a Light”. There was a perfect balance between spiritual activities and fun and fun spiritual activities. Miguel Mateo, Evelyn Ramirez and the rest of the singles coordinators did an outstanding job. There were over 200 singles who spent the weekend worshiping, laughing and learning from God’s word. Great times and great memories. The weekend ended with Willam Lemus’ baptism after an intense struggle to leave Guatemala’s gangs. To God be the glory!

The marrieds “Dare to Dream”

The marrieds ministry is led by Daniel and Rita Chavez called us to dare to dream to see our families united in Christ. The weekend seminar was based on what our pilot group is learning through the Growing Families International curriculum “Growing kids God’s way” (www.gfi.org). Thanks to Dave and Tami Ryter and the Dallas Fort Worth Church who donated the material.

Tragedy

The church in Guatemala was shocked this month by the murder of our friend and brother in the faith Exequiel Salguero. Seen here with his widow Mira as they entered our family workshop, “Dare to Dream”. We continue to pray that God may soothe the souls of Mirza and her four children as they grieve the loss of their husband and father.

Ellis Financial Notes

Last and least (in God’s eyes), but necessary. We really need your support. One of the reasons that my updates had become less frequent is that last month we traveled to apply for a ministry position in the States. God did not open the door and we are convinced that we would like to continue to serve in Central America, but it is impossible with our present economic situation. I am asking for 50 people who would be willing to sacrifice $25 a month to please contact me. Presently there are 3 people who are helping us with a total of $200 a month, but we need to raise at least $1000 more. If you or some one you know would like to help. I can receive through www.paypal.com using the email williamrobertellis@centralamerica4him.org or through my Bank of America account #205844824.

Until next month…

God bless,

Bill

About a year ago I was given a book by some Dads at Steven’s school, the book, “Raising a Modern Day Knight” by Robert Lewis came with an invitation to play sports, have a snack and a devotional with other middle school dads and there boys every Sunday afternoon. As I read the book and we participated in the weekend devotionals on Chivalry and knighthood we began to develop our own “knightly” traditions. Over the past few weeks we’ve had quite a few talks about Steven’s decision to follow Christ and how that was an adult decision, not to be taken lightly. Sunday was a huge event for our family; Matt and Angie made personal congratulation cards and I presented Steven with a Sword to remind him the God’s knight will always fight the good fight of the faith. As I read Ephesians 6 to him, I encouraged him to clothe himself with the full armor of God.

I’m convinced that it takes a church to raise a child and that it takes a community of men to raise a man. Although as parents this is a great victory,

 

Exequiel Salguero (front) with friends at the Central American Conference in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, originally uploaded by williamrobertellis.

Guatemala has been called “a murderer’s paradise”… a nation in where only 2% of all murders are investigated and very few of those ever see a conviction.

As disciples, Jesus calls us to overcome the fear of the violence that surrounds us and to let our light shine in this world of darkness. That is exactly the type of disciple that our brother Exequiel Salguero was; a devoted husband and father to four children and a light to family and friends, he was active in HOPE, our Children’s Ministry and in evangelism.

This past Monday while returning home from his machinist’s shop, his late model pick-up truck was approached by two men on a motorcycle who immediately began to shoot at him with automatic weapons. Exequiel received twelve bullets to different parts of his body and died at the scene.

Exequiel’s wife Mirza was driving just a few cars behind with their two young daughters.

This tragedy has come as a terrible shock to our church, especially to the North region where Exequiel and Mirza are members. Please pray for the church here, especially for the Salguero family.

Pray that we may not give in to a spirit of fear, but will preach the Word bravely so that this Jesus’ light might shine in this dark world.

If you would like to leave condolences for the Salguero family, please leave a comment here and I will translate them for the family… thank you.

Our sister church in Santiago, Chile, has come through a very difficult two weeks. I have a very good friend who is there as a missionary, John Hoyt, who let us know about the division of the church and asked us to pray.

Here I am posting a message Martin Bentley sent out last week:

Thank God and thank you for your prayers. Our trip to Chile last week was much better than we might have expected.

On Wednesday night the 8th of August, Raul Moreno called the church in Santiago to follow him in joining Kip McKean’s movement. Raul told the 280 disciples that the Florida churches were not on track to save the world, and that if they wanted to fulfill the great commission, they needed to join Kip.