Experiencing Grace At Fieles 2021
An update from Carlos Contreras, Senior Pastor of Gracia Soberana de Ciudad Juarez and Regional Leader for Mexico…
This past year and a half has been for many the year of cancellations, and that is what it was for us last year with our Fieles 2020 Pastor’s Conference. “Fieles a Su Llamado” (Faithful to His Call) is our Spanish conference for pastors, leaders and their wives. We meet to be equipped and encouraged in the work of pastoral ministry. Because the conference was cancelled last year due to COVID, we held it this past July with about 300 attendees, most of which were pastors and leaders who were finally able to come together to meditate on the topic of Pastoral Leadership in Difficult Times. We had folks come from 17 different Mexican states, and 7 different countries. We also had about 40-50 people join us every day through the live stream from other parts and countries.
A highlight for me were the volunteers from our church in Juarez preparing for weeks and working to make our Conference possible. We had about 60 people daily who did a wonderful job of serving humbly and tirelessly during the three days of the conference in areas ranging from administration, production, vending, transportation, clean up, and many others. In all there were about 90 volunteers working to make this possible some even extending hospitality to pastors, others picking up people from airports or hotels, some translating for our English-speaking guests, etc. I was humbled that many took a week of vacation from their jobs to be able to come and serve. To all attending, the demonstration of grace filled servanthood and generous hospitality by local church members is the most powerful testimony of what Sovereign Grace Churches are.
This is what a young pastor attending for the first time wrote to us this week: I have never been at a conference where the Gospel of the grace of Christ was so central. Not only in the teachings, but modeled by a whole family like yourselves… It does us good to be with you because of so much love, generosity, hospitality and grace. You modeled Christ to us.
The morning before the conference started, we held our Mexico Region Assembly of Elders with all the pastors who already officially belong to Sovereign Grace and with pastors from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia who are in the process of being adopted. We thank God for the blessing of officially presenting the Spanish translation of our Statement of Faith, which Mark Prater and Jeff Purswell later introduced in the auditorium to all our guests. We also voted for the official creation of our Mexico Regional Fund and committed to contributing to it for this first year.
At the Conference we were blessed to have Miguel Núñez from Iglesia Bautista International in the Dominican Republic, Jeff Purswell and Bob Kauflin from Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville in KY, Mike Bullmore from CrossWay Community Church in Kenosha, WI, Joselo Mercado from Iglesia Gracia Soberana de Gaithersburg in MD, and Rich Richardson from Center Church in Gilbert, AZ join me as main speakers. We also had Manolo Quintal from our church in Silao, Guanajuato, Hellman Avila from our church in El Paso, Texas, Abelardo Muñoz from Juarez and Cathy Scheraldi-Nuñez from the DR serve us as workshop speakers. They all did a wonderful job in preaching to pastors and leaders wanting to serve faithfully in their difficult circumstances.
It was a wonderful time in which God was working by equipping us biblically, strengthening relationships, making new relationships flourish, confronting our sin, encouraging us in our weakness, comforting us in our suffering, challenging us to trust Him and depend on Him fully amidst this past year's difficulties and future uncertainties, reminding us about the dangers the church faces in this world from within and from without, and showing us how the gospel of Jesus Christ informs and empowers the way in which we should live taking into account all these things. It was a blessing to perceive the hunger in many who visited, but even among those from home and those who spoke, to be satisfied with God's presence and strengthened by His promises.
Another highlight this year was the presence of our Executive Director, Mark Prater, who came to participate and get a fresh impression of what God has been doing in Latin America. Mark served us well by hosting a luncheon for those pastors interested in exploring a future relationship with Sovereign Grace. About 35 folks attended, some with their wives to hear from Mark about our mission as a family of churches and about what is involved in planting or being adopted by Sovereign Grace. In all about 12 pastors expressed their desire to begin a relationship with us, and of those, 4 have already expressed a desire to be adopted in the future.
Finally, Arturo de la Fuente from SG Juarez, Bob Kauflin and Fabrizio Rodulfo from SG Louisville, Roberto Estupinian and Andrés Contreras from SG Guadalajara, led us in worship during the conference. We rejoiced at the opportunity of introducing 3 translations from the latest Sovereign Grace albums: Cristo, nuestra gloria (Christ, Our Glory), Mi refugio Cristo es (Christ Will Be My Hideaway), and En ti esperamos (We Look to You), which helped us put into words our cry to God for His presence, His help, and His guidance during these difficult times. In all, I have to give God all the thanks and glory for His faithfulness to allow us to have such a wonderful expression of Sovereign Grace life in Latin America. I pray we may soon have many more countries experiencing His amazing Grace like we did this past week.
