ProMETA Training Christian leaders around the world

Enrique & Becky Fernandez

enrique.fernandez@efca.org I will build my church (Mt. 16:3)
After 2000 years of ministry these words of Christ are still true of his Church. Persecution, heresies, splits, theological controversies, have not been able to overcome the Church because her Lord is the one building it. In ProMETA, we are committed to continue serving the Lords Church in our own time. With much gratitude to the Lord, we want to share with you what he has done through us the last two months. In January, we invited 15 local pastors and leaders to come for breakfast at our offices in Costa Rica. The purpose was to hear from them about their needs, challenges, and dreams, and explore possibilities to serve them in their ministry. We shared with them about a program by which we could offer seminars, workshops, and short courses. Quique conducted a short survey, whose results confirmed the need for such a training program. We are excited about this possibility to accompany local churches as they serve Gods people, and equip them for ministry in their communities.

becky.fernandez@efca.org

A big word of thanks

The last two months were full of opportunities to advance our ministry. Quique was in three countries and four states in the U.S., taking advantage of these opportunities. As we praise the Lord for his good hand upon our ministry, we also thank him for giving us a great team of supporters who care for us so faithfully. We write this report with gratitude to you, and with excitement for what the Lord will continue doing through us as a team. May he bless you as you serve him in your own community and around the world.

Prayer requests
1. Pray that those that attended the Institute of Excellence, will continue experiencing the blessings of the Lord. 2. Continue praying for Martha Hendrickson, that the Lord would restore her completely. 3. Pray for our students as they enter the last weeks of the current term, that they would have the energy and concentration to do finish well.. 4. Pray for our children, that the Lord would keep them healthy as they work under a heavy schedule. 5. Pray for our upcoming virtual graduation the last Saturday of April.

The key is reproduction>>>

A few weeks ago we visited the church of one of our students. During our conversation before the service, he shared with us how ProMETA had equipped him to better serve his church. One specific way in which he is doing that is by writing training materials on leadership, discipleship, and marriage, that he is using to develop new leaders. His testimony was a joy to us, because at the heart of what we do is the goal of reproduction, of being able to train and equip key leaders who are in turn training and equipping others for ministry.

More reproduction
Alexander, a ProMETA student and Regional Director of an organization that Works with children at risk in Latin America, sent us a prayer request. He is working with two companies to publish his book Between Limits and Discipline. He asked us to pray for wisdom, understanding, and that God would open doors for him. We rejoice with Alexander, because at the heart of what we do in ProMETA is the goal of reproduction in key leaders, like Alexander, who are multiplying themselves into other key leaders.

Los Olivos EFC Being thankful

Our project in Sumpango continues making significant progress. On February 18th, we had Los Olivos Summit, in Stevens Point, WI, where partner churches and potential ones got together to hear the Elders of Los Olivos, share their vision for impacting their surrounding communities with the gospel, in a wholistic way. Twelve churches and 85 people were present. We anticipate the Lord doing something amazing as these churches partner together for the Kingdom of God. Quique will now work with the leaders of Los Olivos to design a sustainability plan that will secure a long lasting ministry. At the end of February, Quique had a phone conversation with President Bill Hamel, to express ProMETAs gratitude for all the prayers and support we have received from the EFCA. We praise the Lord for the support weve had to design our programs the way they best fit the needs of the Spanish speaking church.

Building relationships
Last Februrary also, Quique and Ted Kauzmann, ProMETAs Academic Dean, had the opportunity to visit Dr. Williford, TEDSs President, to share with him about our interest in serving the Hispanic community in the U. S. We know that Trinity has had the same interest.

COMHINA & COMIBAM

In 1987, a missionary movement was born in Iberoamerica (Latin America, Brazil and Spain), under the name Iberoamerican Missionary Cooperation (COMIBAM), which now has local expressions in almost every country in that region. In the U. S. the movement is called Hispanic Missionary Cooperation of North America (COMHINA). COMIBAM has been instrumental in the sending of more than 16,000 Latin American missionaries serving around the world, and COMHINA is mobilizing missions among Hispanic churches. Becky and I attended a meeting of COMHINA in Orlando, where a dozen missionary agencies came together to learn about the Hispanic community, and how to get involved in this movement. In March, Quique participated in a meeting of COMIBAM, in Panama, where they looked for ways to better train and care for Latin American missionaries, who work primarily in creative access countries.

Medellin, Colombia
Quique has been assigned to a very important task. ProMETA and Seminario de Medellin, have been asked to conduct a study about the relationship between churches and theological schools in Latin America. The goal is to explore in what ways can the two institutions serve better each other for to advance of the Kingdom of God. At the end of March, Quique spent three days in Medellin, working with a researcher of the seminary there on the design of the study. We pray that this significant project will result not only in a better relationship between churches and schools, but also in a better training of seminary students, as well as more support for churches in the continent.

Institute of Excellence schools working together

Twice a year, a foundation that promotes the strength and development of seminaries in Latin America, sponsors a meeting for training, fellowship, and networking of personnel of these institutions. This March, 27April 1, the meeting was hosted by ProMETA and another seminary here in Costa Rica. Becky was in charge of organizing the event. As usual, she took this opportunity with much responsibility, knowing that many schools would be blessed as their leaders explored programs and practices for better administration and sustainability. It was very significant to see schools working and praying together, exchanging experiences, and sharing information about what they are doing to secure the future of their institutions, not only financially, but also in terms of vision, purposes, dependence on the Lord, and a strong commitment to continue training key Christian leaders in Latin America.