CHM Newsletter - Fall-2012

CHM Director: Dr. David Byrne with Pastor Runy and Family in San Antonio

Greetings from CHM Director David Byrne!

Gathering Hispanic Leadership
EFC-ER Leaders

Pastors and leaders gathered once again this year from EFC-ER at their well-named “World Outreach Center” in Canton, Ohio. The purpose of the annual gathering with the superintendents is for fellowship, for sharing information and vision, and for fostering good communication between the Yearly Meeting leadership and the growing Hispanic ministries.
This kind of interaction serves as an excellent model for those “Anglo” organizations and denominations that are serious about incorporating Hispanic churches as equal partners in the ministry. Real and deliberate efforts must be made in order to bridge the cultural gap. Thanks to EFC-ER and general superintendent Dr. John Williams for your continued efforts!

News & Prayer:

Northwest Yearly Meeting recently reorganized their Hispanic Ministry outreach and will no longer be supporting a Hispanic Ministry coordinator. Our thanks go to Pastor Angel Díaz for his years of service in that position and for the new works formed under his leadership. Our prayers are with NWYM as they continue their work to move across cultural barriers to fulfill their calling to the world around them.

Baltimore Iglesia Evangélica Amigos is ministering through a group of elders after the loss of their Pastor Hermógenes Méndez. Pray as they continue to seek God’s guidance and minister in His name.

We are excited about the location for the AMANA conference in 2013. Check out our next newsletter for the announcement with details and location for the gathering. At this time all we can say is that we will probably be meeting in Southern California the first weekend of October. Stay tuned and keep praying.

Ready to Start a Church!

Filiberto Doiminguez Family

It takes a great deal of planning, work and resources to start a church and the Oklahoma City Friends Church has been working at it for several years now. After almost a decade of prayer and consideration, the OKC Church decided that it was time to take the step of faith to begin the Hispanic church that will share their facility located in a predominantly Hispanic community. In the summer of 2011 Filiberto Dominguez did an internship with the church to make initial contacts. Since then, the church and the Dominguez family along with the Central Oklahoma Churches have anxiously awaited the start-up date that is now targeted for the end of this year. The wait right now is to:

Identify 20 more people who will commit themselves as prayer supporters.
Obtain INS approval for a religious worker’s visa for Filiberto and his family.
Find 13 more churches or individuals to pledge $100 per month for support and ministry expenses.

So much work has already been done under the leadership of OKC Pastor Nick Shaffer and the “Partner Team” that has been formed for this new work. We thank God for the lives that will be touched. Nick and Charla Shaffer

To get involved, contact Pastor Nick (405-632-8210 or nshaffer2@cox.net).
You can also find their church web page at www.IglesiaAmigosOKC.org.
If you would like to “meet” Filiberto and his family, a two minute video is available on YouTube. Do a search for “OKC Friends Church” or look on Facebook for “Oklahoma City Friends Church.”