Global Outreach Opportunities
Global Outreach Lead: Brittney Thomas globaloutreach@baysidewest.com
Gary and Mary Lou Sanders – Serving with the Covenant Church in Columbia www.pactocol.org We thank God for you and for your being a part of our larger family. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.
Our last letter to you began with, “Not everything works out the way that you hope it will or the way that you thought it would. Sometimes it is just a tough day at the office.” We told you about some of the challenges that the Federation of Colombia Covenant Churches FIPEC was having in communicating and getting all of the Churches and the personalities of the Covenant onto the same page. Let us tell you what God did in the last two months that culminated in an historic event yesterday.
Colombia Covenant President Alvaro Escallon and the National Executive Committee dutifully worked to make this happen. They traveled to the four Covenant Regional conferences to let every Church know what was going on and opened the door for more Churches to be formally and legally a part of the Covenant Federation FIPEC. Yesterday, June 1st, at a Special Annual Meeting of the Colombia Covenant, 21 Churches officially presented their applications to join the Covenant Federation FIPEC! These 21 join the other eight Churches which had previously this year applied to join the Federation. What that means is that within the next 12 months, the Covenant Federation FIPEC has the chance to grow from four Churches to 33!
NOT EVERYTHING WORKS OUT THE WAY THAT YOU HOPE IT WILL OR THE WAY THAT YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD. SOMETIMES IT IS JUST AN AMAZING AND GLORIOUS DAY AT THE OFFICE!
Praises and Prayer Requests:
1. Praise God for the 19 Colombia Covenant Churches which have now received their operating licenses from the Colombian government. Pray for the national Executive Board meeting this month, which will work with these Churches to incorporate them fully into the Colombia Covenant Federation.
2. Praise God for his blessings on Gary and Mary Lou as they were able to spend time with Mary Lou’s brothers and sister and spouses, and with each of their children in their homes (even getting all the way to Busan, South Korea, to be with Skye and Kasey.
3. Pray for Short Term missionaries, Sam and Kassie Posladek, who are finishing up their Spanish classes and planning to get settled in to Barranquilla and begin their ministry there during this month. It has been quite difficult to secure an apartment for them and we are praying that in June everything will come together for their housing and move.
Love, The Sander Family
