And It's Dawned On Them

We've recently had some interesting conversations with some of the people in our young adult's group here at Horizonte Church. A little over a month ago, Maricela (remember her?) asked to meet with Justin, Lluvia, Phil and I. She came to the church one weekday morning with a list of ideas for the young adults' group. Among the ideas were ways that she felt we could reach out to not saved youth in a relevant way. Maricela is a GREAT person to share these ideas, as she came to know the Lord about a year and a half ago herself. She has an amazing gift of evangelism, and even though she is rather shy, has a huge passion to see other young people know the hope that she has found in the Lord.

Some other ideas that Maricela shared with us were possibilities for raising funds necesary to begin constructing a youth building here on the Horizonte campus. The idea that really peaked my interest was an art expo where we could display photos, paintings, drawings, videos, and musical productions made by youth from Horizonte and around Queretaro. We would charge a small fee, a contribution to the new youth building.

Later...

Last Thursday, after we (Justin, Lluvia, Phil and I) returned from Ecuador, we decided to share a little bit about the ministries we visited in Ecuador to let our youth see some of the creative ways that others in Latin America are reaching the unsaved. This sparked a conversation about how, as young people working and going to school in Queretaro, we have a responsibility to share the message of salvation with other QUERETANOS in the environments that we are in NOW. Ana (who I've begun discipling, and who had mentioned this same thing to be before) told about all the humanitarian aid programs that are being done by college students in Queretaro - good things like habitat for humanity, and food banks - and that we can do those things too, but even more effectively because we have the message of salvation in Christ! So, why are we not doing anything? Why do we just come every week and be "fed" and not share with others? Ok, no one was saying that our weekly Bible study time is bad - it's necesary for us to grow spiritually! But we shouldn't stop there! We're called not only to grow in our own relationship with the Lord, but also to help others BEGIN a relationship with Him, and grow as well.

Several ideas were mentioned last Thursday night and throughout this week as to WHAT we could do to meet both physical and SPIRITUAL needs in Queretaro. Among those ideas were: go to some of the hospitals in the city to pray for the sick; go to the railroad in town when the trains come by and talk with the Central Americans who are arriving illegally to Mexico on their way to the US (as you can imagine, this one really caught my attention!); make sandwiches to not simply hand out to the people asking for money in the streets, but to sit and talk with them while we eat sandwiches with them; bring some guitars and just have a worship music time downtown (young Queretanos are very in to live acoustic music); and us the art expo that Maricela mentioned as an outreach - the artists would be present with their artwork at the expo, and people would probably take the opportunity to talk to some of the artists about their work, some of which may be descriptive of our faith.

Anyhow, I've really been encouraged to see how some of the young people at Horizonte have finally caught onto the importance of growing in their faith to be able to share it with others!! And the ideas have sprung from THEM, not from the leaders of the group, we're just there to support, encourage and help them develop and begin these ministry opportunities, and to care for them spiritually in the process.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to walk along side thes wonderful young people as they reach out to the community!

Just a few random youth group pictures...

Maricela, Ingrid, Carlos, Adam, and Ana being silly:
We had a team building exercise where we build the talles tower possible with marshmallows and un-cooked spaghettis... Phil (not supposed to EAT them!), Job, Adam, Alan, and Mark attempting to get a tower together:

My team WON the contest (out of 4 teams)! Carmelita, me, Edith, and Ana hoping that our tower doesn't fall before the others see it: