Pastors' Perspectives

Here is an update from the three main Pastors of Centro Cristiano Cofradia.

Pastor Goyo

During 2014 our theme was "One More" with the idea that each of us journey with someone to the feet of Christ and not simply to have them come to church.  During an evangelistic campaign in a neighboring town, through the efforts of visiting pastors, several people were saved, to the glory of God!

Throughout the year, a woman from a nearby town called Las Pilas who attends our church has been ministering there on Tuesdays and Fridays.  This happens in the home of one of the new believers from that town. In all, 7 people have received Christ through this ministry. It is a new group that is meeting together for the purpose of growing through the study of the Bible.

All this happens thanks to God and the partnership that you all provide through your prayer and financial support. Thank you for your gift of giving your heart to this work in Cofradía Christian Center. For us it is a motivation to keep pressing onward knowing that the work done for God is not done in vain. Hebrews 6:10 says, “For God is not unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” Thank you! Thank you so much!

For 2015 our theme is “Armed by the Power of God.” May the Church believe and live the power of God in its life, expecting God to bring spiritual freedom for our church and for all the surrounding villages. May God bless you, and we thank you in advance for their unconditional support and for believing God.

Pastor Gregorio Hernández Galván, Matilde Espinoza (wife), and family

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Pastor Luis

God bless you always in all you are doing and will set about to do.

I am pleased to greet you through this means, since I cannot do it by any other. But God is the same no matter where we may be; that God continue to strengthen you all in your lives and family is my desire and prayer.

We are very well—encouraged and with much hard work in the ministry, but strengthened in Christ. In this new year, our family is anticipating big changes, for which I request your prayers: all of our four children will change schools, but the biggest change is that our oldest daughter will leave us to continue her studies at college in the city. We know this needs to happen, but the separation hurts nonetheless. We understand that it is God's plan, but sometimes His plans hurt us the most when they involved our children. I mention this so you may know more of our lives and may help us with your prayers for everything to go well.

We are pleased that our children are doing well in their studies and getting good grades. Despite experiencing some difficulties with our third child, we are working together with his teacher to help him. We have seen such improvement in his behavior and grades that his teacher asked me to present a lecture to her students about sexuality. My wife, Mary, joined me and it was quite fun!

We continue working with the youth, now that EL RETO has ended. That is a youth event in which around 240 young people participate over six weeks. It was hard, but it was a great blessing.

We will begin visiting the surrounding villages with the youth group at least twelve times per year—at the end of each month—so that our youth group can see what Christ is doing in them He can also do in those other communities. We will host games and present dramas we've had in our church or have seen in other places we’ve visited. 

The other leaders who work with us attend the Summit Bible College program here in Cofradía, and I am grateful to God for that because they are being discipled in truth. My wife and I are also attending and are studying the necessary subjects to continue working in ministry.

These are just some of the things we are doing, and I just want to thank you for your time that you have invested in us; if the time ever comes, my prayer is to someday meet you in person. May God continue to bless you forever. I love you all with the love that is good and eternal.

Pastor Luis Vásquez

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Pastor Horacio

Hello! Once again it is my great pleasure to greet you, and I hope you are well in the blessing of God. Brothers and sisters, I thank God because we too are well, except my wife María who suffers from diabetes. She is following medicine-based treatment, but we hope she will overcome this illness in due time.

We have also been busy with the new semester of classes through Summit Bible College in Bakersfield, California, which has an extension campus here in Cofradía. We are preparing ourselves; for me it is a bit complicated to use computers for different assignments because I'm not that familiar with computers. But brothers and sisters, the good of this is that God gives me patience so that I may be prepared for His work.

Thank you for all you have given financially to support us. This is a blessing that allows us to use our time to study and go out on missions in the sierra once a week. Keep praying for this ministry because the deep-rooted cultural superstitions of these indigenous groups rise up powerfully to oppose the truth.

Receive greetings from my family.

God bless you, and THANK YOU!

Horacio and María

FEBURARY UPDATE

Greetings from Cofradia, Mexico! Chicken Pox!  Yep...Emma and Mackenzie just went through that experience along with a number of other children in town.  It’s not uncommon right now to see a child with dots on his/her face.  It’s been a little rough, but everyone is healing well.

I’m a little late in getting this update out this month and was unable to share with you about our annual Valentine’s Day Date Night at the church.  It was an excellent evening with a great Word!

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.  We really appreciate your involvement and pray for you often.

Last month, we asked you to pray for...  

1. Back to School.  Rebecka and Emma are doing well at the local school and home school.  We are still a little behind with home school, but things are looking good.  The adults are almost finished with the Winter Quarter of the Bible school.  We are incredibly enjoying the two classes: Discipleship Counseling and Biblical and Systematic Theology.  Our conversations as we debrief after watching the videos have been very good and thought-provoking. 
2. Short-Term Missions.  You can read here about one of the best teams we’ve had as the Cy-Fair Couples ministered and worked with the local couples.  And, as always, the His Place team from Washington did a great job accomplishing a number of projects for us. 
3. Music Ministry (Worship).  As we are trying to integrate more worship leaders into the Sunday Services, we are seeing an excellent response from some of the adults.  One in particular, Magdaleno, has lead worship half of the time since we returned in December.  However, he will be leaving for the United States for contract work in March.  Other people are also beginning to show interest in helping.  Thank you so much for your prayers as we continue to “Raise up Leaders in Rural Mexico”! 
4. Ministry Opportunities.  We have been continuing to pray for those of you who would like an opportunity to serve.  We trust that the Lord is working and are excited about the opportunities here.

Here are some links to more:

• Last month’s update
• Cofradia’s Short-Term Missions Manual explains more of our mission in detail.

This month, will you please pray for...

1. Church Anniversary.  We will be celebrating our 4th year in the new building on March 8.  It’s always a great time to look back and consider the faithfulness of our Lord.   
2. Bible School.  We’ll be wrapping up the Winter Quarter on March 3 and the students will begin to work on their final exams.  Thank you for your prayers for them and me as I grade them. 
3. Music Ministry (Worship).  Thank you for continuing to lift this up.  God is working. 

Thank you so much for being part of our team!

Blessings,

Steve, Geña, Rebecka, Emma, and Mackenzie Silberman
Missionaries to Mexico
Alternative Missions Cofradia
Area Director
Facebook
SKYPE: “srsilberman”

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Date Night 2015

Approximately 60 couples from all over the region came out for our annual Valentine's Day Date Night meal and message.  Missionaries Doug and Jan Taylor were our guest speakers again and brought a very applicable and clear message about our marriage relationships.  This is one of the events we have that opens a door for evangelism and gives us an opportunity to share with others how much God loved them by sending His Son Jesus Christ to pay for our sins.  Jesus is our example to follow as husbands.  Some who came accepted Christ into their life for the very first time while many others renewed their commitments to Him reassuring that He is the Lord of their life and marriage.  We have noticed that this event is something that married couples look forward to each year...whether they know Jesus or not.

His Place Team

Each year a team from His Place Church in Washington come down to help out with either specific projects and/or small tasks that need to be taken care of around the Mission Base and Church.

This year there were seven on the team and their main project was to put a roof on Don José's house in Arrayanes.  Don José is 95 years old and came to me months ago asking if a team could come down to help him with his leaky roof.  Very appropriately, the His Place team was the perfect team as they have made great relationships with the people of Arrayanes throughout the years.

Other projects were painting, cleaning, repairing a few things, and hanging fans in the kitchen area at the church.

They were able to participate in a few ministry events we had during their time here as well.  Thursday afternoon we went up with the group who goes out to evangelize and visit the Indigenous village of Mojocuautla where we held their once a month service in a building they helped construct last year.  Friday and Saturday were open-air events in the center of town in Arrayanes and then at the Arrayanes church facility.  It was been a while since we've reached out to this community that way and the response was great!  Many people came out, some of which were surprises!  We had some singing, a testimony, drama's, and a message.  We look forward to follow-up on the relational opportunities that presented themselves during those times.

Thank you His Place for all your hard work and blessing our ministry once again!

Cy-Fair Team

Connection, Family, Completeness...these are a few words that go through my mind as I think back to the Couples team from Houston.  It was the first time we had a team come down to specifically work with the married couples.  It was one of the best we've had!

Each morning the team would head out to Arrayanes to work on a couple different work projects...

A much needed bathroom for Pastor Horacio and his family...

And real roof on Manuel and Josephina's house... 

Everyone worked together and some of the locals even came out to help.

The evenings were filled with meeting times with the married couples.  Sometimes we would meet altogether, sometimes we had separate men/women sessions.  We talked about a number of different topics such as leadership, communication, spirituality in the home, etc. and heard some great testimonies from the team.  All the topics were very helpful and the locals responded well.  Many were participating very comfortably in the separated sessions as they shared some of their own stories of areas they need to work on.   

During the final evening together we had grilled beef and played the Newlywed Game which brought a lot of laughter to everyone.  We also gained more insight on the couples who participated as we learned about them and a little about how they communicate with each other. :)

After having had separate teams in the past of men and women, this year's ministry time brought a sense of completeness.  As I sat observing all the activities during the mealtime, I saw one big family mingling together, enjoying one another's company.

Thank you Cy-Fair Christian Church for your humble servanthood year after year and making it a point to develop relationships.  What a blessing!