February 24, 2003

Panhandle witness reaches all
the way to Guatemala and back again
___By John Hall
___Texas Baptist Communications
___CACTUS--The gospel has reached from a small town in the Texas Panhandle all the way to Guatemala.
___Several Guatemalans--among about 225 who have settled in the Panhandle to work in the meat-packing industry--started attending Calvario de Cactus, a Spanish-language congregation north of Dumas.
___The Guatemalans not only attended worship but took extensive notes on the sermons preached by Pastor Jose Rosales. They translated Rosales' sermons into their native language, Quiche.
___Using the notes from Rosales' sermon, they started evening worship services in Quiche, complete with a band.
___Then worshippers began tape recording some of the services and sending the tapes to relatives in their homeland. As a result, several people in Guatemala committed themselves to faith in Jesus Christ.
___And now a Guatemalan who was living in Cactus has heard God's call to return to his native land to serve as pastor of a church for these converts.
___After hearing about the surprising church start, Roger Orr, minister of missions at First Baptist Church in Dumas, further investigated the venture. He led his church to join with Calvary Baptist Church in Dumas to sponsor the first Quiche-speaking and Guatemalan church in Texas.
___Orr said he is impressed by the passionate worship the Guatemalans practice.
___The Guatemalan outreach from Cactus began without any help from an outside church, association or convention. In fact, no outside group knew about the Quiche outreach until it had blossomed in Guatemala.
___"I'm so excited because God has said, 'You think you have it all figured out with starting churches, ... but look here, I have raised up a group of people without you even knowing,'" Orr said.

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