The Harvest is Plentiful, but the Laborers Few
When all of this first began, we had big dreams of what the Lord may do with this non-profit. We have never started a non-profit, but we know we love the Lord and want to proclaim His gospel to the Hispanic community. The plan for the first year was to work with our local church to start a Hispanic ministry. Our thought was in the future, maybe we could work with one or two more churches and, Lord willing, create something we could easily reproduce to train others how to create a Hispanic ministry in their churches. Little did we know what all the Lord had in store.
Before we could even “launch” this nonprofit, the Lord graciously showed us that indeed the harvest is plentiful. We knew there was an opportunity with our church due to the Hispanic community in our neighborhood. And for us, that was enough. Then, a church approached Hermes about helping with their international class (all Hispanic) while the teacher was out of town and more in the future. A second opportunity was born. We thought, well what a blessing. We will work with two churches this year. But God was not through yet!
I, Alleen, work at RTS as a part time receptionist. One day a co-worker asked me if I knew of any Spanish speaking students. I answered, there were none to my knowledge. He then asked if I thought Hermes may be interested in working as an intern for a church in Horn Lake, MS (3 hours from Jackson). It would require a once a week zoom bible study and going up to Horn Lake for the weekends. I laughed and said, “Well, we have not even announced yet, but we are starting a nonprofit to partner with churches in planting or developing Hispanic ministries!” So, Hermes would not likely be able to go every weekend, but we would love to talk to the pastor. A few minutes later, we got an email to me, Hermes, and the pastor from my co-worker introducing me and Hermes to the pastor. The pastor replied saying he had just sent me a text because he had gotten our number from another mutual friend. God’s beautiful providence!
We met this pastor over Zoom and had a great visit. Later, a Venezuelan couple from the church reached out and we were able to meet them via Zoom. Texting back and forth with the pastor the next week we tried to plan a time for Hermes to visit the church. The pastor replied, “Well, it is late notice, but I am about to start the Zoom bible study if you want to join us." The reply was a quick we’d love to! Hermes participated in the bible study and ended up translating for the pastor when the normal translator had to leave early.
This past weekend, Hermes was able to go to Horn Lake and visit Christ Fellowship Presbyterian Church. After the morning service, about 30 people joined for an outdoor picnic lunch. The group was mainly Hispanic, but a few other families from the church joined. It was a great time of fellowship and getting to know and had a great time. We have continued to participate the in the weekly Zoom bible study and hope to visit at least once a month. It is an exciting partnership and we are eager to see where the Lord will take us and allow us to serve them.
We are thankful for the opportunities the Lord is providing us before we can even formally launch our ministry.
“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” Matthew 9:37-38