Stepping into the Vision

Last evening, I preached my first sermon in Spanish. It’s a personal milestone.

10 years ago, I began to sense a calling that one day I’d preach in Spanish, but for many years, did nothing about it until that sense of calling developed further into our family’s mission to Latin America.

It was a seed planted in me during a trip to Costa Rica in 1997. Nurtured via mission work in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Panama, and vacations in Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru.

A vital question
One day I was talking with the pastor at Eternity Church about Latin American Missions and wanting to preach in Spanish and he asked me “What are you doing about it?“

As I heard myself give him an answer, I heard myself give only excuses.

No action, just dreams.

Stepping into the vision
In January 2006, I took a prayer retreat to the mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

There I sensed God’s direction to take some academic classes in Spanish at our local college. I took private tutoring in the summer, and enrolled August of 2006 to begin one year of academic study in Spanish.

During that same prayer retreat, I also sensed God’s direction to connect with a local Hispanic church. This church has been a vital part of stepping into the vision of ministry in Latin America. (You can read about them at Evangelism Coach).

Last night, the church gave me the opportunity to preach in Spanish.

Text: Psalm 32:1-5
Point: Dare to be a sinner! There is forgiveness in confession.
It alliterates better in Spanish: “Hay perdon en confesion.”

Wow
To step into a vision, to know that God is using you, to fulfill a purpose for which you’ve been created (Eph 2.10) is one of the pinnacle experiences of life. This was just the first sermon, one of many that will come in the future as we minsiter in Latin America.