A Reflection On My Calling

It was a mild evening on December 22nd 1981 when at the age of 12 years old I was called by God to preach His gospel; specifically separated by Him to go to the nations of the earth. It was a very emotional moment that with the experiences of life, the cinicism built by the many things I have seen at the church, and the years passing by, became something abstract to my memory. Since that evening, I have been involved in ministry as a Radio Evangelist, a Youth Pastor, Associate Pastor, Missionary Evangelist for South America, a Church Movilizer, and a Church Planter. Also, a lot of preparation has been part of me for the last 27 years of my life. Beginning at the Assemblies of Christian Churches Bible Institute, the Asbury Theological Seminary Latino Latina Studies Program, the Latino American Faculty of Theological Studies (Universidad FLET), and returning to Asbury Theological Seminary for a Master Degree in Theological Studies.

During those years I was invited by at least four denominations to join their ordination process, but I was reluctant to do so. After all, I was called by God and His calling was an ordination and that for me was more than enough. As a person with a tendency to swim against the current, never paid attention to denominational ordination processess since at the moment my opinion was that ordination process was politicized in some places, to the point people that has not business being ordained were getting behind a pulpits. Furthermore, other individuals gave more importance to the ordination process itself than the calling given by God. Consequently, I declined to participate in any ordination process.

Then, something happened. The ministry God has placed in my hands begun to grow. New opportunities of ministry were opened to a unimaginable level in my life. Moreover God spoke to me and confirmed this word through other individuals about this ministry moving up to a higher level. Thus, after all of that I though about getting ordained, but I was not totally convinced. The final push that convinced me totally about getting ordained happened about three years ago. I was listening a conversation between Dr. Thomas Buchan and a friend of mine about ordination and the biblical, spiritual, and ministerial implications of being not just called by God, but also confirmed by the church. In his words, the ordination service is the equivalent of a marriage ceremony and as in marriage, which means that once I get ordained by the church I am bound by a covenant for the rest of my life to the service of the Kingdom. In other words, I am married with God and His church.

As I was in that altar last Friday night, memories from the last 27 years of my life and ministry came to my mind as a movie. In all of those years God fulfilled His part of the covenant. I was called, equipped, and sent to the nations of the earth, and finally, that evening I was fulfilling my part of the bargain through a covenant of service to Him and His church for the rest of my days on earth. As I look to the 150 pictures I have so far, taken by friends and supporters, I feel in my spirit that the best days of my ministry are ahead and I am going to continue proclaiming His word to the ends of the earth.

An Unforgettable Dream

I was walking through the narrow alleys of Pyongyang in the middle of the day surrounded by buildings that for American counties or cities codes standards should be condemned and curious people looking at someone with Westerner factions but brown skin color. Some of them touched me as they look in amazement for having a foreigner from America among them. As I walked, I noticed in people faces their spiritual and physical hunger, desperation, anguish, and hopelessness. I got close to an structure made from leftovers of another construction and pieces from a discarded structure. There was a family sitting on the dirt floor, waiting for their dinner. What was for dinner? Well, it was some sort of rotten meat in a soup or at least that was how smell it. But that is the only thing they can afford. Meanwhile, I know I am followed. I cannot see their faces or who they are, but I felt their presence inspiring fear in me. Nonetheless, I continue my walk praying and doing spiritual warfare in my mind. I was claiming North Korea for Christ as I was walking. Suddenly, I heard a ring. I opened my eyes and I realized I was not in North Korea and rather I was at home in Titusville, Florida. It was a dream and not a real trip. However, the images of this strange dream were so vivid; I still remember the rotten smell of the food, the noisy children gathered around an old gentleman who I think was entertaining them, the terrifying presence following me, and the noticeable fear, hunger, and desperation on people's faces.

North Korea is the most repressive country in the world toward Christianity; and because the current nuclear crisis between them and the United States, the entering of American citizens into this country is more restricted than ever before. Although the focus of my prayers during the last ten years has been South America, especially Argentina; after my trip to China during the summer of 2007 I included in my daily prayers the 56 ethnias of the most populated country in the world. However, since I had this dream on November of last year, I have added to my list the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In my prayers, I ask God to send to this Asian nation Latino's missionaries willing to help the persecuted church and reach out others with the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why Latino missionaries? What about the Chinese, Thai, or Pakistani missionaries? It is true that God can and will call workers from those countries to work in the North Korean harvest, but the fact of the matter is the Latino Church is a little bit ahead in their readiness to send workers around the world than our brethren from Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates. Just compare the advance and strength of the church in Latin America with Asia or the Middle East and that will give you an answer. It seems to me that in a time and age in which the United States has a damaged image around the world, the most logic replacement in the limited access countries like North Korea are the Latinos workers. Consequently, it might sounds crazy, but God is raising up messengers from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico, or Mexico to go as Ambassadors of the Kingdom in North Korea. This dream reminded me about God's people in North Korea and how God is going to use the Hispanic church as part of His master plan of global evangelization. It is my prayer, that the Hispanic church in the United States and Latin America rise up to the occasion and respond to this Macedonian call in North Korea in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Ethnic Mission Field at Colleges and Universities

It is impressive the amount of foreign students in Colleges and Universities across this nation. According to the Institute of International Education we have in our country over 565,000 foreign students, with 58% of those students coming from Asia alone. India, China, South Korea, and Taiwan are the countries that have most benefited from the foreign student programs our colleges and universities have available. Furthermore, the amount of students coming from the Middle East has also increased having as the major players Saudi Arabia, The United Arabs Emirates, and Israel. Although we have in our colleges campus volunteers from organizations as InterVarsity, Campus Crusade for Christ, and the Wesley Foundation, spreading the message of love and salvation of Jesus, I believe we do not have enough people ministering this international harvest so close to us in America.

Personally, through my involvement with the ministry of Sigue A Uno Internacional / Follow One International, my eyes has been opened to this reality. On November of 2007 the church I pastor was challenged to reach out to the Chinese students at one of the universities at the Florida's Space Coast. My wife got involved and our church help to finance a thanksgiving event, but no body from the congregation, including myself showed up to interact with them. However, during my second trip to China, the Holy Spirit begun to stir my mind about these students that come to our country and they are interacting among themselves in their own ethnic enclaves without a meaningful opportunity of reaching them out purposefully. Hence, last year and this year I have been in the forefront along with my wife, some members of our church, and the leadership of Sigue A Uno Internacional reaching out them with the Thanksgiving dinner, a Chinese New Year celebration, and other events in order to gain their trust, seeking for the right opportunity to share the word of God with them.

However, this is not enough, I believe the best way to reach out a foreign student and share our faith in a personal non threatening way is when we adopt a student in our homes. If you invest time in finding a international student, building a friendship, taking him or her to your home once a month, sharing a meal together, and a constant exchange of emails and phone calls, eventually you will be able to share the story of Jesus. That heart will be open to listen because he or she knows that you really care about them. Once, you have a adopted student in your family, not just the life of that student will be changed, but your own life will be transformed by the experience of reaching out to the world without spending a dime in airplane tickets.

We have an ethnic mission field in the colleges and universities campuses and it is the will of God for us as the church to flood our universities with the love of Christ. I believe the Lord will call us into account for what we have done in this regard. It is my prayer, the Lord rise up people willing to go forth into these places and reach someone for the Lord. This is not just the responsibility of the on campus ministries. After all,this is part of our work as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. This is part of the Great Commission. Thus, if you do not know how to start an outreach to the ethnic mission field in our colleges and universities, please contact us and we will be more than happy to connect you with some organizations dedicated to minister on campus desperately in need of more volunteers. Because at the end of the day, how they would know about Christ if nobody guides them to Him?

In His service,

Jose

The Challenge of Missions In Our Backyard

For most Christian believers in our nation, when we approach them with the subject of missions, they think in a group of missionaries traveling to a distant land, sandy dunes, people suffering from hunger and diseases, or perhaps an inhospitable rain forest surrounded by people half naked. Well, that is not necessary the whole picture at the dawn of the 21st century. The fact of the matter is that missions has become more complicated today. With the United States of America and Europe becoming more secularized, the global migration of people of all ethnias into our country, and the Islamic revival this nation is beginning to experience, it is necessary for the church to have a clear strategy of evangelization locally and abroad.

The United States of America is a nation of immigrants, and as such, during the 19th and 20th centuries we had an avalanche of people coming to this land from Germany, Ireland, Poland, Italy, and many other parts of Europe and Latin America. However, from the decade of the 1990's until the present time the migration into this country has been incrementally from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Therefore, the culture and identity of this country is evolving dramatically. Take for instance the Latino population here in America, we have become the largest minority in the nation. Furthermore, if you travel not just to major metropolitan areas like New York City, Chicago, or Los Angeles, but in places like Postville, Iowa, the flood of immigrants coming into this land are taking even areas we never though foreigners will be calling home.

To this challenge, the question that comes to my mind is, what we are doing as the church of Jesus Christ in order to engage in a conversation with peoples from diferent nationalities in our own communities? This is the challenge of missions in our own backyard. It saddens me to see how many denominations take as an answer to a dying church because of changes in the demographics of a particular neighborhood close the doors and put in the front yard of the church building a "For Sale" sign. I strongly believe, we have been called to open churches, not to close them. Therefore, we must be kingdom minded at the time of a transition such as this in any church. In other words, if the neighborhood changes from a primarly caucasian into Korean, we should find a way to establish a Korean ministry and support it wholeheartly even if they do not belong to our own denomination. We are talking about souls, not just plain and simple numbers.

So, it is my prayer, that the church in this nation would open their eyes for a moment and see what kind of harvest they have around them. It might be a Iraqi harvest, or a Mexican harvest, a Somali harvest, or a Romanian harvest, becuae nonetheless it is a harvest. I pray that we discover in our heart the willingness to invest our lives not just to travel or finance others to take the gospel abroad, but to reach out our neighbors from other nationalities with different customs, faiths, habits, and languages. I pray, each and everyone of us will be intentional in our reaching out for the lost; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.