Take a moment to check out our Summer Newsletter highlighting the community of El Espino and Pastor Santos Carpio. This is a community that we’ve only been working in for a short time, but we’re seeing God do some amazing work in and through the local church. The church and community are working hand in hand on a variety of locally managed initiatives including home gardens and tilapia farms.
Shepherdstown Elementary School in Mechanicsburg, PA decided to turn education into an opportunity to help last month. Shepherdstown Elementary is a neighborhood school with five 1st grade classes and five 2nd grade classes. The school hosted a “Multicultural Week” where each class picked a country to study and then shared their work with the entire school.
Mrs. Haag’s 2nd grade class in front of their El Salvador muralRachel Dorsey, special education teacher at the school, suggested El Salvador as one of the areas of interest because her brother David McGee, and his wife Jenny, have been missionaries with ENLACE El Salvador for nearly seven years. Dorsey had also visited El Salvador on numerous occasions and was able to help decorate the classrooms with various memorabilia from the Central American country.
The teachers put up educational materials all around the school providing details about the country including murals, photos and powerpoint presentations. Second grade teacher, Jane Haag, came up with the idea of collecting donations for a school in El Salvador. By the end of the two-week focus, the school had collected hundreds of items including various school supplies as well as soccer balls, soap, toothbrushes and many more useful items.
Dorsey said, “The students were amazed to learn about life in El Salvador. Many of the students did not understand that life was different in other countries. This gave them an opportunity to learn and help out at the same time.”
Kids at Liceo Cristiano school in Bonanza with some of the donations and letters from Shepherdstown studentsThe first shipment of the supplies was given to the Liceo Cristiano School in Bonanza, El Salvador this May. The students were extremely excited to know that a school in the United States had decided to connect with them in this way.
By Margarita Campos and Michelle Bueno
As a child, Nuria Reyes learned to be passionate about two things: God’s Word and her family. Through her parents’ examples, Nuria saw that a passion for God and others leads to a life of service. Their faithfulness planted a seed in her that took root and grew deeply over the years.
Nuria became involved in a variety of church ministries; Children’s Ministry, Youth Group, Sunday School, and other endeavors all sprouted from her life as a committed Christian. Eventually she pursued and received a degree in Theology, taught at The Biblical Institute for the Asamblea de Iglesias Cristianas and eventually became the Director of Education for that same denomination.
It was during her tenure as the Director of Education that she met Miguel Duran, a pastor in the San Martin area who had been collaborating with ENLACE for many years. Nuria worked with Pastor Miguel for five years and saw first-hand the impact that was being made in Las Delicias by his congregation, The Good Samaritan Church, and ENLACE.
When Pastor Miguel told Nuria about a job opening with ENLACE that required biblical training, a passionate heart to help those in need and a desire to learn about community transformation, she knew it was for her. Nuria felt a new excitement spring up in her heart. After she was hired Nuria said,
“Working for ENLACE is more than excellent because I don’t just put into practice my studies, but I have learned about community development by serving others and living out the gospel.”
Nuria with church members in El Espino
Today Nuria walks alongside pastors, lay-leaders and whole congregations as they live the passionate journey of demonstrating God’s love. The seed that was planted in her heart from when she was a young girl, has grown into a great, sheltering tree. With a wonderful husband by her side and new baby daughter, Nuria is now passionate about three things: “I’m passionate about the Word of God, my family and my job at ENLACE.”
“Jesus said, ‘How can I describe the kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed. Though this is one of the smallest of seeds, it grows to become one of the largest of plants, with long branches where birds can come and find shelter.”
Mark 4:30-32 NLT
Many people ask, “What makes ENLACE different?” While there may be a variety of unique qualities about ENLACE’s methodology and approach, I think a more pertinent question might be “what makes the difference in ENLACE’s ministry?” Every Monday morning at the ENLACE office in San Salvador all of the staff and volunteers come together for a time of prayer followed by a devotional reflection. In January, ENLACE director, Ron Bueno, started the year with a series of devotionals entitled “La Diferencia” or “The Difference.” Over the next few months we’d like to share some of these devotionals with you as Ron explains “La Diferencia” for ENLACE.
David McGee, Director of Communications
Part 3: Prayer Transforms Our Lives and the World
by Ron Bueno, ENLACE Executive Director
In Mark 9:14-29 we read a perplexing story. Jesus had just returned from being in God’s presence on the Mount of Transfiguration to Jerusalem. He finds a crowd surrounding his disciples and a man who had brought his child to be healed from an evil spirit. The disciples had been unable to heal the boy. Jesus asked the man about the boy’s illness and whether he had faith that God could heal him. The father said yes and Jesus healed the boy. Later, when Jesus is alone with his disciples, they ask him why, if they had already been given the authority to heal and cast out demons (Mark 3:14-15), they were still unable to heal the boy. Jesus replies to his disciples bewilderment by saying, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” In effect, Jesus uses this event as a moment to explain to his disciples that they needed to hear God’s voice and know his will in order to be able to heal with power.
Jesus’ ministry of healing, forgiving and restoring the marginalized and lost to a right relationship with God was defined by hearing and obeying God’s will in prayer (see Mark 1:35, 6:46; Luke 5:16, 6:12). In John 5, Jesus states that everything he did was a direct result of seeing and hearing what his Father did and said. To Jesus, as evident in the rest of the Bible, prayer produces two main things: 1) New life in us and 2) Transformation in the world.
Sincere prayer transforms our lives: Richard Foster states, “to pray is to change.” Prayer brings us into the heart of God. The more we know the character and love of God for us the more we recognize our need for God and desire to be more like Christ. Prayer will change us and in the process will focus our attention on God’s desires so that we might intercede successfully for others.
Sincere prayer focuses on understanding God’s heart and desire for his world: The more we seek to know and share God’s mind and heart for his world, the more we can ask him to fulfill his plan in and through us (James 4:3; 1 John 3:22, 5:14, Acts 6:4, 10:9). We begin to see how God sees his children and yearns to bring them close to him. We begin to see how God sees the hurting and lonely and to hear his call to bring healing and comfort through our words and actions. We begin to see the amazing future God has for his world and strive to be a part of his plan to restore all creation to himself.
As Jesus taught his disciples in this incredible story, he teaches us today. I pray that God will teach us to listen to and obey his voice with faith and compassion so that we might be used powerfully to transform this world.
God brought me here to Las Delicias so that in some way I would preserve it, because Christians are the salt of the earth. But the Bible also says that we are the light. And what better light, what better testimony, how much better can we shine with the light of Christ, than by showing people love? In John’s letter he tells us that we don’t love with words, we love with action. What good is it for us as a church to tell the world that we love them, to tell our people, our community, that we love them and that God loves them too but walk away after seeing them hurting on the street. What good is it if we see their need and move aside? If we really love God, and the love of God is in us, we must love our neighbor. We cannot say that we love God if we are indifferent to the pain of those around us. We can’t.
Many people ask, “What makes ENLACE different?” While there may be a variety of unique qualities about ENLACE’s methodology and approach, I think a more pertinent question might be “what makes the difference in ENLACE’s ministry?” Every Monday morning at the ENLACE office in San Salvador all of the staff and volunteers come together for a time of prayer followed by a devotional reflection. In January, ENLACE director, Ron Bueno, started the year with a series of devotionals entitled “La Diferencia” or “The Difference.” Over the next few months we’d like to share some of these devotionals with you as Ron explains “La Diferencia” for ENLACE.
David McGee, Director of Communications
Part 2: God’s Spirit in Us
In 2 Kings 4:8-37, we read an amazing story about how the prophet Elisha resurrected a young boy. The story is all the more interesting because the boy had been a gift from God to a generous and kind Shunammite woman. The story tells us that a well-to-do woman invited Elisha to stay for a meal during his travels to and from Shunem. She eventually added on a room to her house for him to stay during his visits. Elisha, out of gratitude, and not upon the request of the barren woman, promised her a son.
The son was born and grew. One day he was working in the fields with his father and complained of a headache. They took the boy home to his mother where he soon died. The mother immediately went to visit Elisha. She told Elisha the news of the boy’s death. Elisha sent his servant, Gehazi, with his staff ahead of them to resurrect the boy. Gehazi placed Elisha’s staff on the boy’s face as he was instructed but nothing happened. Gehazi returned to Elisha to tell him that the boy was still dead.
Elisha then went to the boy himself. The boy was lying dead on his couch. Elisha closed the door and began to pray to the Lord. Then, he got on the bed and stretched his entire body over the boy’s body so that his mouth, eyes, hands were over the boy’s. Incredibly, after a couple of times of lying on the boy’s body and praying, the boy opened his eyes. While this is a breathtaking story, I find myself wondering what made the difference between the actions of Elisha and Gehazi? Why did God answer Elisha’s prayers and not Gehazi’s obedience?
The first and most important part of the answer to this question is that God is sovereign. He heals when He wills it. Second, I think that there is another important answer to these questions which is embedded in the life of Elisha. I believe that God did not answer through the staff used by Gehazi because the staff was merely an object. Even if Elisha had ordered Gehazi to place his staff on the boy’s face it was not the same thing as Elisha being there himself.
I believe that there are two very important applications to this story for our lives and ministries. First and foremost, Elisha lived in the fullness of the Spirit of God. Elisha’s primary desire was to have a double portion of the Spirit of God in his life (2 Kings 2:9). He also gave himself to the call of God on his life (1 Kings 19:20-21), lived in complete integrity (2 Kings 5:15-16) and in the authority of God (2 Kings 3:16-17). Elisha made the difference because God’s Spirit was in him. Likewise, Jesus promises us his Spirit (Luke 24:49) to transform our lives (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:9) and empower us to fulfill God’s purposes (Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:4; Ephesians 3:16).
The second application, which stems directly from the first, is that we cannot replace our lives in Christ with any formula, model or ritual. Our lives and ministries depend upon us desiring more than anything in our lives to be in the presence of God and letting God’s Spirit transform and empower us for ministry. We must remember, ministry that makes a difference is only realized through the Spirit of God resting and moving in us, not in the tasks, strategies and programs—no matter how proven they might be. The difference in our lives and ministries is that God’s Spirit is within us.
Many people ask, “What makes ENLACE different?” While there may be a variety of unique qualities about ENLACE’s methodology and approach, I think a more pertinent question might be “what makes the difference in ENLACE’s ministry?” Every Monday morning at the ENLACE office in San Salvador all of the staff and volunteers come together for a time of prayer followed by a devotional reflection. In January, ENLACE director, Ron Bueno, started the year with a series of devotionals entitled “La Diferencia” or “The Difference.” Over the next few months we’d like to share some of these devotionals with you as Ron explains “La Diferencia” for ENLACE.
David McGee, Director of Communications
The Difference: Only God’s Presence before us makes the difference in our lives, families, work and ministry
Several months ago, I attended a missionary retreat where Dr. Byron Klaus spoke from Exodus 33:12-17. The message moved me deeply, but the verse that stuck in mind and heart was verse 15, “Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” Over the next few months I reflected upon and prayed about this text. The Lord impressed upon me again that only God’s Presence before us makes the difference in our lives, families, work and ministries.
Moses’ words in Exodus 33:15 are even more meaningful to our lives and ministry when we study them in context. In Chapter 31, Moses is having the most incredible time in the presence of God on Mount Sinai. Chapter 32 begins with the Lord telling him to return to the people of Israel because they had already forgotten who had delivered them from Egypt and were hedging their bets on other gods. Moses becomes angry at seeing that the people had built a golden calf. God threatens to destroy the children of Israel and offers to begin again his plan through Moses. In the most desperate of times, Moses makes a “tent of meetings” to wait on God and intercede for the children of Israel. God agrees to spare the children of Israel and at first offers to send an angel to accompany them on their journey to the Promised Land. But Moses pleas with God to accompany them himself and says,
If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? (Exodus 33:15-16)
At ENLACE, our mission is to equip local churches to transform their communities. For us, community transformation begins and ends with the redeeming work of God to restore people to Him and to each other. As relationships are renewed, the church and community begin to work together to develop sustainable initiatives that reduce poverty and build more hopeful futures. As I studied Exodus 33:15-16, God confirmed in me that community transformation begins and ends with God’s transforming presence in the lives of our staff and the local church community. He called us again to create a space or “tent of meetings” to wait before God privately and as a team to hear God’s plan for his church and community and be guided by his presence to partner with him to fulfill his mission. Our prayer this year is that we might wait for God to guide us and go before us to make the difference in the churches and communities in which we work.
