October 30, 2000
Grandson realizes God's promise to his grandparents
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DENIA, Spain--Jorge Pastor and a group of Texas Baptists recently held hands in a circle of prayer on a hillside where Pastor's grandparents once heard God say, "This property is for me."
___Pastor's grandparents, Vincente and Josefa Cabrera Pastor, were the first Baptists inthis city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. A Swedish missionary came to Denia in 1914 on a ship seeking raisins for export and led the Pastors to faith in Jesus Christ.
TEXAS BAPTISTS pray in the garden where the Pastors prayed earlier this century.
___Their baptism, said their grandson, proved difficult. On June 24, the missionary led the new converts to the beach at 9 a.m. so they could follow Christ in believer's baptism. Police and a crowd of stick-wielding citizens turned them away. In a land where Catholicism had been enshrined as the official religion for centuries, the intrusion of this new form of Christianity brought fear and opposition.
___The next morning, the Pastors returned to the beach at 4 a.m. to be baptized in the dark, in secret.
___But theirs was not a secret faith. Vincente lost his job in a toy factory and also his home because of his new faith. The Pastors' families disinherited them.
___Jobless and homeless, they had to raise what food they needed on land owned by Vincente's father. The land was on a hillside where almond trees grew, and the two of them began to pray there every day, for hours at a time, for seven years, said their grandson.
ROSEMARY WADE and children at school in Denia.
___Finally, one day, they heard God speak to their hearts. His message: "This property is for me."
___They told no one of this revelation. Then, sometime later, Vincente's parents sold the land, and what he thought God had said now "seemed like a crazy idea," the grandson said.
___The couple had not been waiting idly for God to fulfill his promise. Vincente opened a factory of his own to make toys and guitars; and they continued to work through the one Baptist church in town, the one they had begun. Vincente was always a layman; but for 25 years, the church met in the Pastors' home.
___Their son, Joaquin Pastor, eventually did become pastor of the church--for 17 years. And as part of his ministry, he developed a vision for a Baptist school and retreat center.
___Other Baptists, however, didn't think much of the idea, Jorge said. "They said in a Catholic country nobody is going to send their children to a Baptist school."
___But he still remembers the day in 1961 when his father came home with a Southern Baptist missionary and informed the family that the Foreign Mission Board had purchased seven acres of land for a Baptist camp. It was the land that God had once told Jorge's grandparents, "This property is for me."
___Vincente and Josefa were in the room when the news came. They began to cry; andtheir son, Joaquin, asked them why, because he did not know about God's promise to them.
CLYDE GLAZENER
___"Today God's promise has been fulfilled," Vincente replied and told the others the story of their prayers.
___Today, the land is home to a Baptist day care center, school and retreat center. The school is unique in Spain, Jorge said, and trains about 365 students.
___The Baptist Evangelical Union of Spain now owns the land, and the church founded by Vincente and Josefa Pastor operates the school and camp.
___Students pay $180 per month to attend the school from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Children from the richest and poorest families in Denia attend. Forty percent receive scholarships.
___"We're considered the best day care center in the province," Jorge said. In fact, it was an inspector from the Socialist Party who about 10 years ago suggested the church add the school to its day care center. "I couldn't believe it," Jorge said. The inspector said, "we need schools with a Christian spirit." That, Jorge added, is "a miracle in Spain."
___Every year since 1992, the school has been adding a higher grade and is now into high school classes.
___The expansion has created a need for a new building, and Jorge asked Texas Baptists to pray that the school will be able to secure the permits, architect, money and curriculum needed to move ahead with a new building.
___Prayer gave birth to the school, and a prayer garden is set aside on the campus. That is where Jorge and Texas Baptists gathered to pray again for God's work in that place.
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