Meet Pastor Elim
He is a pastor from Tijuana with a large, growing church. Lori and
I were in a recent (2015) Baja meeting where Elim shared how, many years ago,
he participated in a series of Tijuana-San Diego Promise-Keeper (PK) events
that significantly shaped his ministry and poured the spiritual foundation for
his church. The leader of this same meeting, Pastor Jose Luis followed Elim to
share that he also was drawn into the Promise-Keepers events, and that God
spoke very formative words to him way back then. Both pastors were grateful to
the Lord for what He did through Promise Keepers. Memories of 1995 came rushing
back, when I was asked to serve as facilitator for the Tijuana-San Diego PK
events. There was a clear sense that God wanted to do new works of
understanding and restoration between American and Mexican Christian leaders,
and being one of the few missionary members of the Tijuana Pastors’ Alliance
allowed me to liaison between the two groups. Over the next year, I planned PK
Tijuana events, secured 100 scholarships, and coordinated Mexican pastors’
attendance in the week-long San Diego 1996 event. Later that same year, I was
able to connect 40 more pastors with the massive Los Angeles conference.
Needless to say, those two years were filled with a great deal of work to ‘make
it all happen’. We know the Lord led us to take up the PK project as part of
our eclectic mission-service, but at the time, we had no clear idea what HE
wanted to plant and water in the soil of these pastors’ lives. Now, I am
humbled and surprised at what God did, and the role HE allowed us to play in
His Kingdom. What a blessing to hear the long-term fruit recounted by Elim and
Jose Luis nearly 20 years later. Humbled, surprised and blessed am I.
