Developments:
* We are moving to Peru on March 3rd! Pastor Chet gave the go ahead and a friend from church donated the plane tickets. All glory to God!
* I gave my four-week notice at work; my last day at MetroPCS is March 2nd..!
* We received four new pledges of monthly financial support that put us at 38% of our budget. Through very generous one-time donations and monthly supporters that started contributing we are at 92% of our projected moving expenses. We also received two new, for a total of six, open pledges—people who formally let us know they intend to support us financially but don’t know the dollar amount yet.
* Our friends from Calvary Ft. Lauderdale in the Main Campus organized a very fruitful Love Offering Party to raise awareness and support for our ministry at the Alegre’s house—thank you Juan and Sandra!
* I had a one-on-one wedding training session with Pastor John Chinelly. With this, all the goals on my accelerated pastoral training track have been met.
* We had a very busy month visiting churches to promote our ministry. We were given the opportunity to set up our booth at the Calvary Chapel Southeast Pastor’s Conference in Merritt Island and at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale in the Main Campus, the Florida Keys Campus, and the Boca Raton Campus.
* Pastor Victoriano Batista invited us to set up our booth and promote our ministry at the Calvary Chapel Aventura’s Block Party on 2/13.
* We are schedule to have our booth to raise support at the Plantation Campus on 2/13 and 2/14.
* Anitra from the Reach FM Morning Show invited us for a live interview in her radio program to promote our ministry. I am scheduled to be on-air with her on 2/15 at 7:40 am. You could listen live at www.reachfm.org.
* Karla and I are schedule to visit Pastor Chet at his house in the Bahamas for fellowship and training from 2/15 to 2/16.
* Pastor Carlos Aviles invited us to share the vision for our ministry with his congregation at Horizon Calvary Chapel of Clermont, FL on 2/21.
* On 2/28, the Sunday before we leave, Pastor Steve is going to lay hands and pray us off from the altar at the 11:00 am service in our home church, Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale – Plantation Campus.!!
Prayer Needs:
* For the will of God to be done and His kingdom to be further established in our lives.
* That we would have the grace to cast all our anxieties upon the Lord and leave them there with Him.
* That Christ would be glorified in our lives.
* For our devotional lives to grow stronger and that we would plunge deeper into God’s love.
* For protection on our marriage and our children.
* For all the items mentions above in the Developments area.
* For one-time donations toward our moving expenses.
* For monthly financial and prayer support for our ministry.
* For a part-time job in Peru to make up for the deficit in our budget.
Special Note:
Some of you may be wondering how are we going to leave to the mission field with our financial support at only 38% of our budget?!
The truth is that, being married to a Peruvian citizen, I have the option to work in a secular job in Peru. When we consider the pros and cons of the options we see that there are benefits in both working and not working in a secular job while in the mission field. In one hand, working a secular job is an excellent evangelistic tool, especially when trying to reach the middle-class. In the other hand, the need for full-time ministers in Latin America is great due to the fact that most pastors find themselves in need to work secular jobs to make ends meet because of the church being weak in tithing…
We are basically letting God guide us toward His will based on the amount of financial support He raises by the time we get to Peru. If God raises 100% of our budget we’ll take it He wants me full-time in the ministry. If God raises less than 30% of our budget we’ll take it He wants me to work full-time in a secular job and do ministry in my time off. Lastly, if God raises between 30% and 100% of our budget, we’ll take it He wants me to work part-time both in a secular job and in the ministry.
As it stands today, with our financial support level around 40%, it looks like the Lord is willing for me to work part-time between a secular job and the ministry, at least for a season.
This is why we are asking for your fervent prayers in this regard.
Thank you for your love and faithful work of intersession..!
In His love,
Andres and Karla, Sebastian, Daniel, and Samuel—the Garcia’s.
PS: Make sure to check out the new pictures of our recent activities to your left...
