Latino Church Plants Gather for Encouragement
About 100 people from five Free Methodist Latino church plants gathered at the Iglesia Nueva Vida (New Life Free Methodist Church) in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 28 for a Central and Heartland Area Latino Conference. Pastors of church plants, church planters in training and leading laypeople from the church plants attended.

Church planters shared stories of how God had called them into church planting and miracles from each of the church plants. Among those who shared were Josue' Rodriquez, who is just beginning a church plant in the Lorain area of Cleveland; Angeles' Martinez, who is planting the Camino Nuevo y Vivo (New and Living Way) church in Columbus, Ohio; Jose' Reyes, founding pastor of Nueva Vida, Cleveland; and Eva Torres, founding pastor of the Iglesia Nueva Jerusalén (New Jerusalem Church) in South Bend, Indiana.

Jesse Carvalho, from the New York Conference, informed the group about new developments in organizing Latino meetings on the East and West coasts and the vision to develop a Spanish-language seminary. Pastors also met at noon with Brock Hoyer, church-planting director for Ohio, and discussed how to implement the new Ordination Track IV.

In addition to the church-plant stories, the Nueva Vida and Nueva Jerusalén worship bands led enthusiastic worship. The host church, Nueva Vida, served delicious meals. The conference ended with the wedding of Juan and Sandra Cortez of Camino Nuevo y Vivo, presided over by Martinez and Reyes.

Those at the conference were so inspired by the meeting that they made plans for another meeting -- July 14, 2001, in Indianapolis, where Nicolas Estrella will be planting a Latino church in the West Morris Street Free Methodist Church. Carvalho will be organizing this event and a national Latino conference for the summer of 2002.


Salem First Pastor's Miraculous Survival Is Only the Beginning
More than 80 decisions for Christ, increasing attendance and the kickoff of a Saturday-night postmodern service marked the return of Pastor Rene Houle to his boyhood church, Salem, OR, First Free Methodist -- even though getting there nearly killed him!

In 1977, in a hallway of the newly constructed Oregon church, Houle informed his youth pastor of a calling to the ministry. After pastoring for 20 years in a different denomination Houle returned to his Free Methodist roots, but the journey home proved more than memorable when he was hit head-on at 75 mph by a woman who died at the scene. Miraculously, Houle walked out of the Reno hospital where he'd been taken by helicopter, but he continues to experience physical repercussions from the accident.

The postmodern service, geared to 18- to 30-year-olds, is a time of interactive (question and answer) teaching, "very different" music, and visual effects including PowerPoint presentations, dramas, movie clips and in-house videos. Plenty of time is allotted before and after the service for interacting over cappuccinos. Invitations included radio and television ads and direct mailings.

The new service brings the church's total to four, with a goal of doubling attendance to consistently top 1,000. It would appear that the steps to growth are in place -- and God is at work.

APU Program Encourages Fourth Graders to Go to College
Since 1991, fourth-graders in the Azusa (CA) Unified School District have been recipients of a special kind of mentoring by Azusa Pacific University (APU) students. The college students spend an hour with the youngsters weekly in their classrooms to share their enthusiasm for going to college and earning a degree.

Some 60 APU students per semester serve as College Headed and Mighty Proud (CHAMP) Buddies to approximately 700 fourth-graders through a Diversity in the Classroom course. In a district where 88 percent qualify for free/reduced-price lunches and 85 percent have Hispanic surnames, the encouragement toward pursuing a college education can be literally life-changing.

Fourth-graders were targeted because they are cognitively old enough to understand the value of going to school and working toward what they want to be when they grow up, and at the same time young enough to be positively influenced to choose the right educational path.

Meeting with their small groups, CHAMP Buddies share their own experiences of preparing for and attending college, explaining how the application process works and discussing career selection. As a highlight, the college students lead their little buddies on a campus tour that includes the library, bookstore, cafeteria and dormitories. CHAMP graduation at APU is a highlight at the end of each semester's program.

Several CHAMP graduates who are headed for college this fall (one with two athletic scholarships) visited APU this spring, sharing their recollections of the program and expressing how special it was that college students took the time to come share with them. They appreciated the nudge toward college and are now truly CHAMPs.