News from the
biblical and reformed Betania churches in Cali and the Valle de Cauca
Blessings, my beloved brothers! Javier, Gloria and Tomás Gil greet you,
desiring for you the richest of blessings. We give thanks to our holy God for
your prayers and wholehearted support for the ministry in Cali and the Valle de
Cauca in Colombia.
I thank the Lord that my wife Gloria
continues growing in wisdom and the faith.
She is each day a greater helper, well suited for my life and ministry. Our son is close to completing the second
year of his life.
I pray that God will give you the time to
read this report with its photographs concerning his work here in the Valle de
Cauca, Colombia and that you can rejoice with us in everything, even in the
difficulties.
BETANIA REFORMED CHURCH IN CALI
On July 15, our congregation will have
completed five years from its founding, and I can share with you that it is
flourishing today.
-On the Lord’s Day we have an attendance of
150 people and are continuing to grow. This has caused us to look for another
meeting place for our worship and ministries. Our population includes the seven
babies that are on the way, and we don’t currently have space to care for and
protect them where we are.
-Our elders, Jaime Hoyos, Rodrigo Calderón
y Mario Espinosa, have been a tremendous blessing to the congregation. We have been able to attend to our members in
a better way. This is a great strength,
which permits us to continue growing as a church without overlooking the sheep
which God has put under our care.
-Our praise group continues maturing. We continue adopting music for the Psalms and
other portions of Scripture for worship.
It is a blessing to sing and memorize these songs. We thank the director Ronald López (ronald2588@gmail.com) for using
his gifts and talents in the Lord’s service. Please visit: Worship Team
-Our women – both youths and adults – have
begun to prepare themselves as biblical women in line with the standards of
Titus 2:3-5 (Older
women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much
wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their
husbands and children, to be
self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own
husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.). I have the
privilege to tell you that my wife Gloria has taken on the responsibility of
the young women. The adult women have become strong in prayer.
-Our biblical
studies through the MINTS program have brought us great blessings. There are now about 100 students between Cali
and Yumbo in five study centers. Many of the students are coming to know the
true gospel. (As I have mentioned to you in earlier reports, the false
prosperity gospel is very strong in our region with its neo-charismatic
paganism.) These students have genuinely
repented and are beginning to preach Christ according to the Scriptures. This in turn has brought them persecution and
contempt but leads them to affirm their faith and the desire for Christian
service. Permit me to cite two examples:
#2 Students Ramiro Quiroga and Jorge Vega
are preachers who belonged to a neo-charismatic church in Cali. They were forbidden to preach in their church
and later were expelled for presenting the truth from their pulpits. But many of their congregants stood up for
them and have called them back to preach, and have put them completely in
charge of a worship service that meets in the afternoon on the Lord’s Day. Already they have a group of 35 faithful to
the Lord of the Scriptures.
-By the mercy of God we are preparing two men for the ministry who live in the city of Tuluá, which is located 60 miles from Cali. Their names are Oscar and Carlos and they meet Saturdays and Sundays with our congregation in Cali. But these men have formed a small group of pastors and Christian leaders who want to know more about what they have begun to preach in Tuluá. In this way they have begun talks on the Bible every 15 days, which are led by different pastors in the Betania reformed churches in the Cali area. The goal, God permitting, is to begin a new church in that area.
-The group from the city of Palmira - 22
miles from Cali – continues to be grow.
An item of good news is that a Pentecostal pastor in that city has
repented and wants to be discipled by Pastor Daniel López. In this way the congregation there is being
conformed to the Christ of the Scriptures.
-Also we ask your prayers for the financial resources to begin a new project. We want to have a magazine to provide both the good and bad news—the Gospel and what isn’t the Gospel--of what is happening in our region. This would make use of the talents of those attending our congregations, as graphic designers, photographers, lithographers, etc. You can visit our Youtube channel and enjoy our conferences in Spanish
-Recently God permitted us to participate in a meeting of the association of pastors in Yumbo – part of the Valle de Cauca. Noe Acosta, a member of Gospel Through Colombia (GTC) preached. We are on the verge of providing instruction for this group of pastors. May the Lord be pleased to bring repentance to this group! All the pastors belong to different branches of the false prosperity gospel.
Betania
Reformed Church in Terrón ColoradO
Valle de Cauca
This precious congregation was born in
January of this year. After spending almost a year of being taught in the home
of brother Alexander Rodríguez, a group of people has gradually grown and is
now a group of brothers that needs to be shepherded in a better manner. But lamentably since no one is able to pastor
two churches, Pastor Fabio Mendoza, a member of our group of pastors in the
Valle de Cauca, has taken charge of this congregation. Terrón Colorado is located in a very hilly
section northeast of Cali with more than 100,000 residents. Up to today those attending the services have
received persecution and insults from the different churches in the area, to
the point of prohibiting them from establishing conversations with them or
being taught by them. But even so, the
group continues growing and already they number around 35 people by the mercy
of God.
BETANIA REFORMED CHURCH – SOBRE LA ROCA
(“on
the rock”) IN CALI
The ministry in this church is provided by
Edwin Betancourt. He is assisted by his wife, Kelly, and they have two sons,
Samuel and a newborn, Edwin Santiago. Thank the Lord that despite the financial
difficulties of the pastor’s family and of the congregation itself, and in
addition to the constant persecution exercised by the pastor’s former
association to which he belonged before his genuine repentance, and despite the
slander and defamation they receive because they are treated as a sect, God has
been with them and has supporting them.
Today they have changed locations since the home of the pastor has
insufficient space for the congregation. They are renting a new location and
the congregation now has a few more than 50 people.
BETANIA REFORMED CHURCH – GETSEMANI
(“Gethsemane”)
– YUMBO – VALLE DE CAUCA
This church is directed by Pastor Daniel
López, accompanied by his wife, Margarita.
Today they meet in a new and larger location since the congregation has
grown. It is also in the process of training elders and deacons. By the mercy of God the Christian leaders who
were being discipled by our biblical studies gatherings now are a part of this
congregation. This strengthens it greatly and is generating more house Bible
studies, which in turn is having a significant impact for evangelism. Daniel
and Margarita desire to be parents and she continues to have treatments. Please pray that God would enable them to
have a child.BETANIA REFORMED CHURCH – NUEVA JERUSALÉN
YUMBO - VALLE DE CAUCA
This church is led by Pastor César
Betancourt, accompanied by his wife Rosalba. They have three sons, Juan, Mateo
and Luís. This congregation has
remained strong. A little more than a
year ago, thanks to the repentance of the pastor and his family, he began to
preach biblically which cause many of the members to leave the church. Today the church has about 40 members. Their recycling business, called Reciplast,
continues functioning and today employs 7 people, who are Christian brothers
and members of our congregations in Yumbo.
BETANIA REFORMED CHURCH – LABRANZA DE DIOS
VILLAVICENCIO - META
lortizmncnem@gmail.com
BETANIA REFORMED CHURCH – LOS DEL CAMINO
MITU -VAUPES
In the city of Mitú in the Vaupés region of Colombia (jungle) where Fabio Cano ministers with his wife Diana and two sons, Nathan and Jeremy.
torofabio7@gmail.com
Translation of Fabio Cano’s report of his
mission trip of April 9-16, 2012.
Mission
Trip to Puerto Lleras Querarí – Vaupés [state], Colombia
Psalm 126 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with
laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then
they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 3 The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. 4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb! 5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with
shouts of joy! 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the
seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy bringing his sheaves with him.
My
greatly beloved brothers I want to share with you this report to tell you how
the Lord is working in the jungles of the Vaupés, especially in the region of
the Querarí River.
We left
Monday April 9 at 8AM from Mitú where I left my beloved wife and two little
sons. I left with those in the
photo. The three men at my right are my
student pastors among whom are Napoleón; his wife and their two sons; Roberto
and Leví Ramírez as guide; and also Felipe with his wife, who is their
relative.
In the
photo you can see the point of departure, that it is in the jungle. There we got into a boat on the river Vaupés at
9. From there we left for a location
where the beloved student Servando Mejía from the community of Tapurucuara was
waiting. But, brothers, the road was
full, inundated with water and we lost three hours. We arrived at 5:30 at the location we hoped to
reach at 2. Our baggage was becoming
heavier and heavier and by then we were very tired, so that we had to discard
some things because we were no longer able to bear them. Everything was very heavy because we had to
carry all the gasoline for the trip by hand. 
At last
we arrived at the place where Servando met us and we left at 6:30PM from there
and arrived at 8:30 at Tapurucuara. We
stayed in the place where the church gathers and in Sevando’s house, in
hammocks. Next day we got up very early
and left at 7:30 in a boat with a small motor called a “rabeta” or as others
call it a peki-peki [no doubt from the ‘put-put’ of the engine]. God made
provision of this little motor because we otherwise did not have one by which
to make the trip and the amount of gasoline we had would not have been
sufficient for a large motor.
The trip
on the river was long. We arrived the
next day at the community of Puerto Lleras at exactly 3 in the morning without
sleep. All day and all night and part of
the next morning it rained. And starting
around midnight the rain was very hard with bolts and sheets of lightning, which
made us jump. This sounded so loud that
we had to cover our ears. Brothers, then I remembered that God is the only
Sovereign and that whatever happens is what he has willed to happen. We were all afraid; no one spoke. The next day, to my surprise, some said that
they were trusting that the pastor had been praying that the Lord would protect
us and so it was. This put a great lump
in my throat!
It is
one thing to travel by river during the day and quite another thing by night;
and it is so much worse when such a storm is happening. Servando drove without stopping even with
everything going on above him – he was so brave!
We
arrived very tired and got up at 7. At
8:30 I preached for the first time to the young people who are those farthest
from the truth, while my students taught the adults. There is no greater joy than to see faces
–these young people--learning the word. There were those who claim to be
pastors among the native people. They
baptize people so that they would be better persons and thus they are reaching
for salvation. What an error! But there was great joy in teaching them the
gospel of the sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ, his Son. We did this for three days.
I finished
my class at 10 and at 11, I held an exposition of the word with the adults
until 12:30. For three days they wanted
to extend the time to 2pm for questions about false doctrines, which have sowed
such insecurity among them as the Pentecostal Unitarians, World Mission
Movement, Seventh Day Adventists, the teaching of a charismatic group known as
the Open Door - all are Arminian.
Brothers,
the work was done. We supported our
student pastors in each community. Many
of the listeners said, “This is what we have been waiting for.” Others treated us as Pharisees, liars and
devils. It was incredible how the
student pastors responded to all this: with humility and gentleness, with the
word in hand, presenting a defense about the true gospel, the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ (1P.3:15). This made the
student pastors to be even more loved.
They also spent long hours explaining the Scriptures to whoever asked
them for more explanation about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Here (in the photo) we have Abraham and his wife Rebeca. He is the
leader in the Puerto Lleras community where the meetings were held. Now he is stronger and committed to following
on in the struggle for a healthy gospel.
There were approximately 200 people from 14 communities who gathered.
En
Puerto Lleras I was not able to take more photos because one of the native
pastors of the Missionary Movement who was there began to say in a loud voice
that the photos which we whites were taking were to make reports and make money
for the whites, for gringos [North Americans], who all do this same thing and
then leave. Brothers, this is the kind
of opposition that we had in this place.
But the Lord was with us and spoke through us by means of his word.
Here we met with the five student pastors, each waiting his turn to
exposit the word. From right to left
their names are Horacio Gómez, spiritual leader of the Pacú community; Napoleón
Hernandez, spiritual leader of the Terra Grata community in central Vaupes;
Roberto Rodríguez from the Puerto Colombia community and from the community of
Bocas from Querarí; Servando Majía from the
Tapurucuara community on the river
Querarí and finally Leví Ramírez who is from the community of Santa Martha on
the Cudiyarí River, near Mitú. Here I am expounding the word
and Servando on occasion is clarifying things.
He is my translator from Spanish into Cubeo.
Brothers, look closely at this
man. He is the leader of the Puerto
Lleras community. He is an ex-guerilla
who operated in the sixteenth front. This
man treated me as more than a brother.
There was a moment when things had become heated in a meeting over
doctrinal differences. He stood up and
said, “Now the truth has arrived. Are
you not going to listen?” He said this
with a stern look. “Listen to the truth
of the Bible.” And everyone was
silent. During the night he went fishing
and in the early morning brought me a fish he had caught and invited me to his
house to eat along with Horacio. Horacio
had been up late into the night, sharing the gospel with him and this man
showed an incredible love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Horacio continued to
disciple him and said that he would be coming to study with the student pastors
for the next course [when these men come to Mitú to study several times a year;
but see below for upcoming changes].
On
Saturday the 14th we said good-by very early at 4:30AM and we left
for the return trip to Tapurucuara. We
rested in some communities like Santa Rita and Pacú, where they asked me,
“Pastor, please stay and preach the gospel to us.” This made a great lump in my
throat when I had to say ‘no’ to them because we had a commitment to be in
Tapurucuara on the next day, where they were awaiting a worship service that
included baptisms and the Lord’s Supper.
Rest in the community of
Pacú.
This is
Horacio’s house and some of the congregation there.
We
arrived at Tapurucuara at 7PM because, as the river was low, it made our travel
slower. The Lord’s Day in worship was
incredible when so many people began arriving!
We had more than 50 people there including children of the enemies of
the gospel, high school teachers, even the former catechist of the Roman
Catholic Church was there at the worship.
This was
more than wonderful! The work is growing
significantly there. Servando’s testimony is incredible and the people hold him
in high respect, they love the word and are doing a very good work. I had the great privilege of preaching the
word. The theme was “Distinctive traits
of the genuine Christian. LOVING GOD.”
The adults
discussed the subject a lot and all the conclusions, which should be to the
glory of God alone. Now the teachers are
discussing what they can do to get their young people in the high school to
come to church!
Worship in Tapurucuara.
Some people had to be outside due to the lack of chairs and room.
After worship we had lunch
together and they continued discussing the word of God among themselves.
A plot of land under construction for a church building for the Betania Reformed Church of Tapurucuara, Querarí.
The
construction of the building is going forward. Servando and his family have cut
all the wood, except for cutting the Karaná [presumably a plant], which is used
for the roof. Now they are fencing in
the lot, which Enrique Mejía donated for the church building. It is very large and a beautiful spot. The goal is to finish it as soon as possible
this year. It is a three-hour
paddle-driven canoe trip to get the wood there.
Servando said that it has been difficult, but little by little they are
approaching the point of completion.
The
leaders discussed their next course of instruction for the leaders. They agreed
that it would be in Tapurucuara and set the dates for June 18-24. The last day is the Lord’s Day and all would
end with worship and the Lord’s Supper.
They themselves came to this decision because I shared with them that
from now on financial support would be difficult and that now we need to take
seriously supporting our own ministries. For my part, I said I would help with
whatever was within my reach. They said
that to provide food that would be needed in Tapurucuara was much easier than
in Mitú and it would be much easier to work there than in Mitú and easier for
those invited to get to Tapurucuara than to Mitú. In this way we will lower the costs for
food. Although for us who teach it will
be somewhat more difficult, this forthcoming course will be very important
because Tapurucuara is like the preparation center for new leaders and future
native pastors. At the same time it will
be a living testimony of the gospel, which will support the seriousness, which
the holy ministry requires. We will also
have students from Papunagua.
BROTHERS,
GOD’S DIVINE PROVIDENCE ALWAYS SURROUNDS US LIKE A BLANKET WITH FELLOWSHIP,
GRACE AND HIS DIVINE POWER.
I thank
the Lord for your prayers and support, for struggling together with me in this
ministry. And I ask you to continue
praying for the proclamation of the holy gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, for the support of our necessities, for each leader and student pastor
and their congregations, for the church in Mitú, for my family in their
physical and spiritual health in order that the word of God may run and be
glorified in each life. Amen.
Thanks to our beloved Pastor David Green for all his help and unconditional love for us
Encouragements to pray
Encouragements to pray
* For the economic stability of the pastors in the Cali and Mitu area.
* For the fellowship and solidity of the Betania reformed churches, that each one of its pastors may be the husband and father that they should be in Christ and equally for their lovely families.
* For the success of Pastor Cesar Betancourt’s business: Reciplast.
* For the Lord to grant us more workers for his harvest in our beloved Colombia.
GRACE AND PEACE
