During the first week of November I was in charge of our conference for pastors and leaders from the region of Piura. There were about 80 participants, the majority of them were from the mountains. The conference was organized around the themes of “The Marks of a Healthy Pastor,” and “The Sufficiency of the Scriptures.” We enjoyed a wonderful time with these servants of God encouraging one another.
The next week we had our anniversary at our local church, where we celebrated 15 years of preaching the gospel of the grace of God. The Lord has allowed us to see the work grow and I have personally marveled at what God has done through the power of the gospel. I feel a tremendous amount of joy as I see brothers who came to Christ 15 years ago continuing in the faith today. Now they are leaders with whom we can trust the matters of the church. But, it is not just this, but also that the Lord is bringing more people who are now part of our faith family. As a congregation we are emphasizing and giving a great deal of time to praying for the lost. At the same time, we continue to share the gospel of salvation and also to see the confirmation of the faith of many.
During these last two months I have been moved to teach about church membership. I am studying and teaching from a 9 Marks book by Jonathan Leeman. It is very clear about the issue of membership and it has helped me personally to better understand my position in relation to this subject. In the evenings, I continue to preach expository sermons from 1 Corinthians.