"Witnessing the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of Muslim people...the transformation of people from darkness to light."
From time to time we'll be highlighting members of our CPD family to get to know them better. The questions and answers below are from an interview with Pastor Raed Awabdeh at The Arabic Church of Sacramento, in Sacramento, CA.
I was asked to give a talk recently on forgiveness. There was nothing new or special about it, as I have taught on the spiritual necessity of forgiveness many times!
"I don’t know about the future, but I do know that right now I am where I should be."
- Pastor Christopher Thao
From time to time we'll be highlighting members of our CPD family to get to know them better. The questions and answers below are from an interview with Pastor Christopher Thao at Eternal Life Church in Sacramento, CA.
As Encounter 2019 approaches, we are praying this prayer for our time together- Join us!
Join us in praying and join us in person on February 25-27 in Chico for our Central Pacific District Conference.
Father, there is no one like you. And we ask that as we gather together for Encounter 2019, we would dream the dreams that are on your heart. That as a family, we would ask what would it look like to represent our Father to a world in the midst of tragedy. That we would see that we are not alone but that there are brothers and sisters around us who also long to see you known in this world. And that we would be able to declare together that hope is rising.
Sandy Kang:
Encounter is one of my favorite times of the year, as I get to step out of church and ministry context to connect with friends over times of worship, hearing from amazing speakers, but most importantly, having meaningful conversations that feed my heart and my soul.
The word of knowledge is not a physical, intellectual capacity. It is not an ability to memorize scripture. That’s not the gift - or manifestation - of knowledge. God certainly uses knowledgeable people and God uses knowledge.
I'm so thrilled to be sharing this very first report from Alliance Mexico about the progress we are making with the Guarajios tribe, deep in the mountains of Mexico. As many of you know, God has given us a wonderful opportunity to go after this unengaged, unreached people group by partnering with our extended Alliance family in Mexico - what a privilege it is, to be teamed for such a thing as this!
Thanks to your generous support and partnership from the CPD, in November one of our long-term dreams finally came true! For more than twenty years Pastor Tomas Bencomo, President of Alliance Mexico, has dreamed of reaching the Guarajio tribe. The Guarajio tribe is an ethnic group that exists between the border of three Mexican states: Chihuahua, Sonora, and Sinaloa. It is an unreached ethnic group where the gospel has never been preached. Finally, in mid-November, the day came when five of us got into a truck knowing where we wanted to go, but not knowing if we were coming back.
My wife, Elena, and I have been in church planting for 25 years. We recently attended the 25-year celebration of the first church we started. It was satisfying to reunite with old friends and see the congregation doing well. The attendees included some of our original team members and some of the church planters we had sent out from that first church. Elena and I stayed at that place of worship for eight years, during which time we sent out two other church-planting teams.
As we continue to look at the spiritual gift or manifestation of prophecy, we see that there are basically two applications. The first is reiteration (preaching) of the word of God and the second is revelation. Hopefully, as we hear the word of God preached, taught, and applied, we are also hearing the voice of God through that word. The people of God need to hear His voice, and one way is through reiteration. But I also believe revelation is at work today.
The year 2018 is almost over and many of us have had different experiences during the past year, but no matter what your experience was our God can make that experience better. If 2018 was not so good for you, God can make it better; if it was good, God can make it much better! He's the expert on that. I'm sure, for all of us in 2019, God will make a new beginning.
