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 December - 2012 |
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December - 2012 |
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Greetings
from CHM Director David Byrne!
 Joy to the world, the Lord is come! And that coming makes all the difference for those of us who have received Him with joy. Our heart softens, our attitudes change. We learn to share the grace of God as we have seen it in Jesus the Christ and to treat others with that same compassion and patience. The greatest gift we can give to those around us is not the latest electronic gizmo, but a life lived fully in Christ’s light and truth that will bless them and the world around them. That reality may not sell well in our materialistic culture, but at least let’s not lose track of it ourselves. Many of the truths that we hold as self-evident are angrily rejected today, but it is incarnation, not social networking, that can show others the Way. So join with us, each in our own calling, to proclaim the Joy that has come to the world and the light that is for every creature! Sincerely, David C. Byrne Director: CHM (--See a previous newsletter--) (For an easier to print & share "Acrobat Reader" Version of this Newsletter click HERE) (Read the Byrne Family Newsletter) |
CHM Board: Thomas Hoke Paul Feaster Jacob Estrada Kay Griffin Dora Gutierrez Kerr Dr. Karl Newman William Roeh Mark Rubash Eric Royl |
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The
U.S. Election and Hispanic Politics
Over the years I have drawn attention to the fact that the region that
I now live in was lost to its native land due to insensitivity to its
immigrant community - both legal and illegally resident in the state.
The state’s name was Tejas, and because of the oppressive regulations
and heavy-handed enforcement (“Remember the Alamo”) the immigrant
population threw off its chains, and the territory that had belonged to
Mexico was thrown into turmoil and eventually became Texas. This is not to say that immigration issues can be easily resolved politically, but CHM’s position on immigration is not complex. As Christians we are called to love our neighbor. “Who is our neighbor?” It could be anyone, when we are willing to care for the nearby person in need who seems unlovely and unlike us, just as in the story of the Good Samaritan. Immigration for our nation will always involve a sometimes painful international give and take to seek balance between opportunity for ourselves and for others. Immigration requires careful attention to tedious details and should not be a conservative or liberal issue to be manipulated through fear. As we learned in the recent election, it is not a winning strategy when candidates spend their time trying to “one up” each other on how tough they can be against a significant segment of our population. In any case, CHM calls for all of you servants of Christ to meet with and serve others. Let’s find ways to bless and not curse. Let’s live and act in the Spirit of Christ. |
A Cooperative Project
In mid November CHM cooperated with FWCC to host a dynamic Guatemalan woman who shared her testimony with groups around Houston, San Antonio and northern Mexico. We are thankful for the clear word of witness to God’s power, protection and purposes that Karen Gregorio de Calderon shared with us. We are also thankful to FWCC for their generous support of this missionary venture.  2013 AMANA Conference We
are excited that the Hispanic Church “Amigos de Cristo” at Yorba Linda
Friends Church has agreed to host next year’s North American Hispanic
Friends conference sponsored by AMANA (Alianza Ministerial Amigos de
Norte América). Although there is still much discussion
and planning going on to put things in place and establish the theme,
we have a good start and are confident that this will be another event
that will stimulate ministry and unity when we meet in October
(10-13th).
One of the anticipated activities for the 2013 conference will be the participation of Nancy and Hal Thomas, who will present a workshop for authors. Nancy recently published a book of narrative writings of Central and South American  authors that came
out of workshops and classes presented there. You can read her
reflections on that project on her Oct. blog at nancyjthomas.blogspot.com.Our hope and expectation is to complete a similar project based on the life and experiences of Hispanics in North America. |
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Pray for Pastor Jorge
Reyes and family in the Matamoros area of Northeastern Mexico as the
ministry adjusts to changes in support. After decades of reliance
on stateside funding, the mission will be on its own soon and will be
seeking God’s direction for its ongoing ministry. |
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CHM
Needs Your Help: The Coalition for Hispanic Ministries is a servant of the church for developing and promoting Ministry to the Hispanic community and one of the ways we serve is to dream. We dream about effective leadership for developing churches and we help put in place the Instituto ALMA for leadership. We dream about Hispanic Friends churches supporting each other in fellowship across the continent and we helped with annual conferences and training. We dream of partnerships between Anglo and Hispanic Churches to focus on church planting and we have worked to consult with and prepare those churches for ministry. We dream about making useful literature accessible in Spanish and have made 1000’s of pages available on our website. We continue to dream and we pray that you will join us in sharing your dreams for Hispanic ministry with us and helping bring those dreams to reality. Since one key organizational sponsor was forced to withdraw this year, it has left CHM’s cash flow thousands of dollars in deficit (it’s always something), and we will always need your help to continue these efforts. Please consider an ongoing commitment in giving and in prayer for CHM. You can also make an online PayPal or credit card donation by pressing the "Donate" button at the bottom of this page. Another easy way to help is to register for your online purchases to generate automatic donations from the companies where you shop. Follow the link to donate to CHM through "Goodshop.com" (www.goodsearch.com/goodto-go/chm-coalition-for-hispanic-ministries) . Thank you.  |
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Pray for the Byrne
family and their ministries. What a blessed year of
protection, challenges and engagement in ministry. The Lord has
been good to us and we share our praise to Him. Click here to see a pdf version of our
family end-of-year newsletter! |
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Pray for the church in
Logansport, IN just outside of
Marion. There is a possibility that the group led by Pastor Uziel
Isaias Gutierrez will be able to purchase a property soon.
The
following is a summary of what he wants you to know about the ministry
there: Hello, we are the Gutierrez family from Guatemala. We arrived in Marion, Indiana in March of 2011 to work with the Maple Run Friends Church and Pastor John Key to begin a Spanish-speaking mission for the Hispanic community. In August of 2011 we opened a second work in nearby Logansport where after a time of meeting in homes we began to use the church facility of another denomination. The Logansport group grew to 60 in attendance with the ministry demands forcing our family to move there. In February of 2012, the pastor of the other church asked us to move since they needed the space. Since then, we have met in homes and other locations that only accommodate from 15-20 people and we have prayed that God would grant us a location where we could have our meetings and activities in the community. Just recently we’ve been offered a property with two building and two acres of land for $58,500! We are not worried about the renovation work required on the buildings since among the congregation we can care for those projects and others have already volunteered their services from outside the church. What we lack now for this building are the funds, but of course for God, nothing is impossible and we know that God will provide all that is lacking.
Our
vision is broad here and even though we are now focused on Logansport,
we have
families in other cities that we are working with.
If you feel that you would like to participate in this
great
blessing and help for the community please get in contact with me
at: gisaias10@yahoo.com
--Pastor Uziel Isaías
Gutierrez
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