Reconnecting with Church Leaders and MIAs in El Salvador | 2019 Update 2

El Salvador

“As He went to Jerusalem, He passed through Samaria and Galilee” (Luke 17:11).

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem yet took opportunity to be available to people along the way. He is teaching us this “as you go” principle. He sends us each day for a specific purpose, and if we listen for Him while going about our day/week/trip/ministry we will encounter some very amazing happenings along the way. We went to El Salvador as a response to an invitation to speak and knew we should take the opportunity to progress plans for a PK Reunion. And, as usual Pastor Gabriel scheduled lunches, coffees, meetings and Church services to fill our time. Through the years, we’ve experienced our Father leading us to opportunities to be made useful for His purposes through the schedule Pastor Gabriel establishes. And this trip was no different. As we review the time spent with Pastor Couples, once again we see the Father fulfilling His purpose for Raven Ministries “as we went.”

The primary purpose of Raven Ministries is two-fold: First, to seek out Pastors (Stewards, Overseers, Missionaries, Leaders) who are no longer serving as Spiritual Leaders and remind them that the “giftings and callings of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). And secondly, to attack the enemy who is seeking to destroy Spiritual Leadership by encouraging Leaders in their relationship with God, their spouse and family, and the Body. We are always filled with wonder and delight when we see how the Holy Spirit orchestrates our steps throughout every trip to cross our paths with the Spiritual Leaders He wants to encourage with a Word in season.

During the 10 days in El Salvador, we were honored to connect with two MIAs (Leaders who no longer serve), one we met for the first time and the other we served with years ago. What a privilege to share the Truth and Love of God with them, knowing that His timing is always right. We know first-hand that our Father is always waiting to see us coming back, have compassion on us, run to us, kiss us and receive us back as His child. It doesn’t take away the consequences of our choices and we can’t get back what we lost. But He is able to redeem every situation and relationship as well as restore us in our gifts and callings. What amazing Grace!

We also spent time with 6 different Pastor Couples just to catch up and encourage each other in the Lord. We celebrated birthdays with three of the wives and one couple’s anniversary. It is crazy how in the midst of “doing life together,” God shows up and meets needs we weren’t even aware of. Though each couple is facing different challenges, on each occasion we were reminded of our Father’s delight in encouraging His Stewards as well as how ruthless and relentless the enemy is in trying to discourage. It is good to affirm the good our Father is doing through His Children and listen to their hearts to encourage them in the battle.

Our experience is that in the Kingdom when you give nothing is lost; when you give to the Lord you receive abundantly more. We were deeply encouraged through each encounter our Father orchestrated, especially two of them. One Pastor Couple is part of the leadership team that supports the 40 Churches of their association. The Leadership Team is currently focused on caring for the Pastors, strengthening relationships among the women, and connecting with the youth. The wives of these same leaders have started bringing the Pastors wives together every other month to develop and strengthen their relationship together with God. The Pastor said, “before you (Raven Ministries) came to us, we never heard that we needed to care for each other.” What a dream come true to witness God bringing forth life from the seed that was planted 16 years ago and see the fruit extending to their congregations! Also of tremendous encouragement was meeting with an Associate Pastor for the first time who asked us to speak to the eight Pastor Couples in their fellowship. We were saddened, but not surprised, as he spoke of the many Pastors who leave the ministry in El Salvador due to pressure (physical, financial, emotional and spiritual). He explained, “we’ve been very concerned about our Pastors and Leaders and asked God to show us how to help them handle the pressures.” There is nothing more encouraging than for God to make you useful to Him!