MONTHLY REPORT- NOVEMBER 2000

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17: 22-23

As I grow in Christ, I realize the importance of unity and understand more why Jesus made it the main topic of his prayer to the Father. People will know that Jesus is our savior sent by God when they look at his church.

My cousin Radames got baptized in the International Church of Christ earlier in November and came up to visit his family for Thanksgiving. He was anxious to know all the people that sent him emails and notes of congratulations. I would like to personally thank you for that. Hopefully, that is exactly what he saw: unity and a lot of love. He enjoyed the Hispanic Ministry and felt right at home. If he decides to move back to New York one day, he knows where to go and find his brothers and sisters ready to welcome him. Larry West just reminded all of us in the Hispanic Ministry of what our main job is. Jorge and Walter continue to go to the Flea Market on Saturdays and Judy has expressed her desire to join me and my wife along with anybody else from the ministry that wants to attend one of Larry’s campaigns next year.

I have been in touch with Hernando Motta, an evangelist in Ecuador. He preaches in three different churches that they have planted there. He is doing an awesome job, but needs a lot of help financially to continue to do his work. I have been talking to him for the last month and he expressed to me their need for bibles and songbooks. Their needed number was 150 of each. The Hispanic Ministry started helping them by sending 20 bibles. He was very touched and encouraged and sends me a report of their work whenever he can. He is a source of encouragement and inspiration for me and a true servant of the Lord.

I saw the necessity here in the city to meet with the brothers and sisters that were more likely to be affected by Benoit’s decision. The purpose of the meetings was to explain to them the reasons why he was asked to leave, how the situation was handled from the beginning, and the purpose of biblical church discipline and how to approach the situation from now on. I gave them a copy of an article written by a brother in the Gospel Advocate magazine that explains many details about church discipline. I will be giving you a copy the next time I see you. On November 22, I met with Kendal, Trevis, Kevin, Troy, Mike and Schiffon. On November 23, I met with Carl and on the 28^th , I met with Patricia, Mareille, Brian, Prethy, Prasanth, Mike C., Natalie and Laticia. My wife was present at all the meetings and was very helpful to me.

Thank God for his divine providence in healing my kidneys. The doctor had ordered a third test to confirm the past results. He sees no indication that the disease is there, since it hasn’t progressed in the past year as it always does. The results came back negative and there is no sign of a disease or a kidney malfunction. Praise God! I want to use my health to serve him only.

I submitted the outline for the seminar that I will be teaching on January 5^th through the 7th in Brownfield to Marcelino and he passed it to the elders and leaders. They seem very excited and looking forward to my arrival. I will be teaching in a format similar to the Larry West seminar that we just had. I will preach a lesson on Friday night followed by 4 lessons on Saturday. On Sunday I will teach the bible class and the sermon. In the afternoon, the Hispanic congregation is hosting a fellowship between six of the Hispanic churches in the area. I will also be addressing them. They have asked me if it would be possible for me to preach for the evening service. I still haven’t given them a response on this request. I told Marcelino to send me a schedule with the times of the lessons to be able to make a realistic decision. They have asked me to stay at Greg Holt’s instead of Marcelino’s. He is the deacon in charge of evangelism and he seems very interested in knowing more about what we do as far as the mini campaigns in the city and the Flea Market evangelism. Pray that God will give me the right words.

Agape, Charlie Gómez