Gospel Mission in Guadalajara

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, you appear to be in a hotel room. And from what I understand, you are not even in the country. Where are you? You can see out the window behind you. Where is this?

Mark Prater:

I'm in Guadalajara, Mexico, actually. Let me step aside, that gives you a bit of a glimpse of part of the city of Guadalajara. Flew in last night and Chobi Estupinian, Roberto Estupinian, we call him Chobi, he's the Senior Pastor of Gracia Soberana here in Guadalajara, picked me up. And I became very aware of how large this city is because of the traffic from the airport to the hotel. And Chobi was telling me, I believe Guadalajara proper is about 5 million, but this area is closer to 10 million people. So it's a big city in Mexico, a strategic city in Mexico. So grateful that we have a church here in Guadalajara, which is why I came. Chobi invited me when I saw him last year at Fieles and wanted to get down here to just encourage him and to be with the church.

This church has actually been in existence for 30 years. It was planted 30 years ago by the name of a man by the name of Luis Bermea. And he's a man now in his late sixties. And just a few years ago, he pursued adoption into Sovereign Grace. And after he was adopted, Carlos Contreras just did a great job leading through that process. Luis began to talk about his own transition from the Senior Pastor role. So through a process, they determined that Chobi was the guy who could potentially be the Senior Pastor. Chobi and his wife Gabby were in Juarez at the time after graduating from our Pastors College. And they moved to Guadalajara. They've been here for four years now and I think the first two or three years Chobi was just serving alongside Luis.

So it was about a year or two ago, somewhere in that timeframe that they transitioned the role to Chobi as the Senior Pastor and Luis supported him in that. And just recently Luis retired as an elder for a number of reasons, one of them just to care for his wife a bit more who's facing some health issues. Chobi just stepped in and just has done a great job of winning the hearts of the people in the church and building a gospel centrality in the church. And Andres Contreras, actually Carlos's son, is here in Guadalajara. He moved here a little over a year ago or maybe two years ago now to serve alongside of Chobi as a pastoral intern. He'll be pursuing ordination at some point. So it's just so good to see Chobi here now.

Here's a story that he told me in the car from the airport to the hotel last night. And I hear the story a lot as I talk to pastors in Sovereign Grace, since the pandemic, this church has grown from about 100 to 240. They're getting on a Sunday morning and they're facing issues like, we have to find a new meeting place because they're doing two services just to accommodate that 240 people. And some of those are new believers coming to Christ. And I just wanna mention that because I hear that consistently as I travel for Sovereign Grace, even outside the United States, we're just seeing this, not quite revival, I'm praying it's revival at some point, but this interest in people having questions and coming to churches with those questions, trying to get answers. You've had that experience at living hope, Ben, as another example and in Harrisburg. So it's just a reminder to our guys, let us be faithful. Continue to reach out to people with the good news of Jesus Christ, because there are people out there that are still reeling from the pandemic and all that's going on in our culture right now. And let's lead them to Christ by the grace of God and with the Spirit's help.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes. I just got back from El Paso a week or so ago from the Antioch group, the last retreat we had, and we spent the last time together in prayer asking God to revive our hearts and the hearts of all of us in Sovereign Grace, that we would be pastors and members of churches who love the lost and move toward them. Love to see that, how those guys in Mexico model that for us. I mean, it's hard to be around those guys in Mexico and not leave a conversation with your faith stirred and feeling inspired, encouraged. So I'm sure you're enjoying your time there. But what's happening Guadalajara? As most people who watch this podcast know, it's not confined to Guadalajara, but actually Latin America. There's all kinds of stuff happening in Sovereign Grace. You had a couple updates for us, I believe.

Mark Prater:

Yeah. Let me just speak on what you just said. You spend any time around Hellman Avila in El Paso, that man is evangelistic and he will stir you to reach out to the lost with the gospel. And that's how he's really built his church. Carlos is that way, Abelardo Munoz in Juarez is very much that way. So our Mexican brothers really are leading us in that way. They're just such a great example and we can learn from them, which is why I need to give you some other updates on what's happening here in Latin America.

Actually in this city, here in Guadalajara, just a few weeks ago, there was a gathering of 70 pastors and leaders, all from Sovereign Grace Churches, churches who are partner churches or candidate churches. And it was a very meaningful retreat for a number of reasons. One of them being, it was a historic moment for Sovereign Grace and really had an impact on Carlos in particular, who's led here in Mexico well over 30 years. Seventy guys was the largest gathering of Sovereign Grace pastors and leaders in Latin America in our history in Sovereign Grace. And so that's something to rejoice in, and it's evidence of how God is at work here in Latin America, not only with the spread of Reformed doctrine, but also gospel centrality. And our small family of churches is getting swept up in what God is doing. It's just a joy to participate in.

Just a few days ago, got a text from Joselo Mercado. There's another church in Costa Rica. This one is on the east side of San Jose, Costa Rica, that contacted Joselo, a church he's been relating to for some time. And they're saying they want to formally pursue adoption Sovereign Grace. So we have one partner church in Costa Rica in Cartago led by Allan Monge. And with this church, we'll have three candidate churches who are pursuing adoption in Costa Rica. So things are happening in Costa Rica as just one example of what's going on in Latin America.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's excellent. And to que off of what you said earlier, we pray that revival will happen not only in the states, but globally, and God is doing remarkable things across the globe. And for us to be able to partner with what God's doing and with the men that God is using, is a true privilege. And so thanks for your contributions on our behalf, serving those men. Thank you to all those who are watching or reading the podcast, pray for what God's doing globally. And that's all for now. We'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye.