Caracas Report from Leo Guerra (Austin, Tx)

In October of 2007 the Venezuelan Baptist National Convention entered a partnership with the BGCT. While in Amarillo for the convention, I had the opportunity to speak with two leaders from Venezuela. One of the guys was Jacobo Garcia, and he asked that if I went if I could speak to the men about our ministry and how to start a men’s ministry there in Venezuela.

I really got enthused about the trip and prayed that I would be able to join my Christian brothers from Texas. I was not sure if I was going to be able to go. I needed financial help. After some communication with brother Isaac Rodriguez I was told that there was a scholarship for people interested in going to Caracas. I spoke to Kerry Peacock, sent my money and I was ready to go.

I was in Caracas from very early Saturday the 15th. to Wednesday the 23rd. Those five days were very special to me.On Saturday I spoke to Paul, who heads the men’s ministry for the Venezuelan Baptist Convention that morning. We set a date for when I would get to speak to the men about our men’s ministries here in Texas.

On Sunday we were one of the last groups to get picked up to go to church. The pastor’s name who picked us up was Jesus Pinto of Bethel Baptist Church. They cancelled their morning service and decided to have it at 3pm. They were waiting for people to come from all over the country to be part of an evangelistic team who would be working from that church. I had a chance to meet many nice people. One person I met was a lady named Rosario who heads the Venezuelan WMU. And I also met a young man who heads the youth for his church.

I translated for Jacob Harris from Georgia who brought the sermon. I enjoyed being with him and Tommy Holtzclaw from Tennessee. Pastor Jesus showed us several churches before we went to his church. One of the churches was a Korean congregation. After Sunday I did not see my new friends anymore.

On Sunday night several of us went out to eat, and it was fun to talk about what we had done that day.

On Monday we went out to evangelize with some people from a church named Luz del Mundo. The pastor of that church was sick so his wife spoke to us of what we would be doing. They gave us New Testaments to give out and some other material. There were four people in our team.

In the morning we were only able to visit one apartment, but the lady did accept Christ. We walked back to the church and had lunch. After lunch we went to a different place, it was one of those areas that has homes on the side of the hill. We had to take a jeep to get there. We went there with a lady who lived there. We visited with three of her neighbors and two accepted Christ.

After we left that neighborhood we went back to the church, and then we took the taxi back to the hotel. Not many of the other folks had gotten back, so it was just a small group that went to have supper at a nearby restaurant. I purchased a steak and it was very large so I shared it with one of the others in our group.

On Tuesday morning a pastor picked up Miguel Conseco and myself got to go to the church where I was going to go speak to some pastors and men’s ministry leaders.

I felt very honored because I was the main speaker. As president of the Varones (Baptist Men) of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, I was unofficially representing Texas Baptist Men. I spoke about how to start a Baptist Men’s unit and also spoke about the different ministries of TBM.

On Wednesday I flew back to Austin. It was an event that I will never forget.