Multiplication

It wouldn’t be the first time that a boat ride across a lake changed everything.

 

In the fall of 2014, Adventures Guatemala staffer Gabe Sanchez sensed an invitation from God to begin serving the Guatemalan church by training believers on how to live out the Great Commission Jesus taught in Matthew 28 and by sending them to the nations. Not sure how to move forward, Gabe reached out to our former director, Noe Rivera, and asked if Noe knew any churches who might be interested in this kind of ministry. Noe wrote three names and phone numbers on a small slip of paper, and handed it to Gabe with a big smile on his face. Gabe took a deep breath and reached for the phone. Even then, it felt like something big was beginning.

One of those names was Pablo de la Cruz, the pastor of Templo de Alabanza in Panajachel, Guatemala. When Gabe made the phone call and shared with Pablo what God had placed on his heart, Pablo’s response left a resonating echo. “This is the phone call I’ve been waiting for my entire life,” he said. They talked a bit more and planned to reconnect in a few weeks.

 

A few weeks later, Gabe, along with fellow staffers Kelsey Chancellor and Angela Aston, took a two-week trip to Lake Atitlán with a Gap Year team to scout for potential connections and serve with a local ministry. During their time, they were invited to speak on a local radio show about the vision God had given them to mobilize the Guatemalan church. Invitations to speak at two other local radio stations soon followed, and the Adventures staff arranged a breakfast for any local pastors to attend who were interested.

At the breakfast, several pastors showed up - including Pastor Pablo. Again, Pablo and Gabe connected and both felt the same rumbling in the Spirit. God was doing something big. They agreed to keep in touch and made plans to begin training the following spring.

 

On the boat ride across the lake after the pastoral breakfast, Gabe began to ask God how any of this was actually going to happen. As the boat cut sharply across the perfectly blue water, he could feel the weight of what was brewing. A thousand questions surfaced in his mind as he tried to figure out the details. How will we do this? Is this even going to work? Have we lost our minds? How can we send people to a different nation when so many have never even left their village?

He waited for God to respond. The boat kept going, bouncing along the sunny lake, and he sensed God direct his sight to a humble fisherman about 100 yards away, standing in his canoe while he worked. He was a simple man in a simple boat. Then, God spoke to his heart.

“With 12 men like this, I changed the world.”

 

It was as if everything froze in time. The peace was profound. The truth is, it wouldn’t be the first time God spoke and calmed a storm during a boat ride across a lake. It’s doubtful that it would be the last.

 

The team returned to our home base in Antigua shortly after, and shared all that God was doing with the rest of us. It was so exciting to hear, and as we prayed together, we knew with confirmation that it was the right direction to take. So with that, it was decided. Our base would proceed forward with the call to equip Guatemalans to be sent out to the nations.

 

The trainings began the spring of 2015 - a monthly training conference hosted on a weekday evening including worship, prayer, two biblically-based teachings, and a time to go practice that which has just been learned -- affectionately referred to as our “activation time.”

 

Our activation times might be our favorite part of it all, because so often this is where the good stuff truly happens. These times often remind us how simple the Gospel really is. We often complicate it with our fear, but it was never intended to be difficult - and this is the whole point of why we host these trainings. We love watching the faith of our participants become alive and active as they walk in brave obedience toward God’s call on their lives.


What a ride it’s been since then. This year, we are training five different churches! And that first church in Panajachel has begun hosting their own training that includes five churches. It’s incredible to see the fruit of what God has been planting, and even now - we know the multiplication is only just beginning!