{"id":8219,"date":"2023-09-27T19:15:52","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T19:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/?p=8219"},"modified":"2023-09-27T19:15:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T19:15:52","slug":"ecuador-where-the-world-divides-in-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/ecuador-where-the-world-divides-in-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecuador: Where the World Divides in Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was humbled and honored recently to be invited by the Ecuador Liebenzell field director to speak at
\ntheir annual missionary conference. Good friend and Mexican pastor Fernando Amezcua from
\nGuadalajara, Mexico went with me. The topic that I was given was church planting, and although I have
\nrarely been invited to give a conference, the topic is one I\u2019m familiar with. So, with no amount of
\ntrepidation I accepted, and soon the end of August rolled around, and Fernando and I were on a plane
\nto Ecuador.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Liebenzell Ecuador’s retreat center, the site of the mission fellowship conference, where Fernando and I spoke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ecuador is a beautiful country, both in terms of its natural features and of the lovely people who live
\nthere. Although a relatively small country, it is home to a wide range of environments and ecosystems.
\nBecause much of Ecuador rests at between 5000 and 8000 ft, the weather is mild, and not the hot
\nfurnace you might expect living at 0 degrees latitude. Coming from Mexico City, I\u2019m used to a similar
\nclimate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Liebenzell Ecuador group…Ecuadorians, Germans, Americans, Venezuelans and even an Argentinian!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our time was filled with surprises as field director Rainer Kroger took us to an all-Black neighborhood
\ncalled Chamanal, for the inauguration of a new church building. As we weaved in an out of Ecuador\u2019s
\nnorthern Andes Mountain range, stretching through the western part of the country, Fernando and I
\nwere able to appreciate high mountain villages as well as rushing rivers in the valleys. We were
\nencouraged to pray, also, as we entrusted our lives to the Lord and to Rainer! As we were leaving
\nEcuador, I thanked him for being a gracious host, along with his wife Katy, and sent him a verse about
\nJehu, who \u201cdrove his chariot furiously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rainer Kroger, the field leader in Ecuador, from the roof of the Puente de Amor church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have never participated in such a completely multicultural missionary community before. The majority
\nLiebenzell German missionary presence welcomed several couples from Liebenzell USA (the Bruce and
\nFarnworth families, YAY), and representatives from Argentina and Venezuela. I was nearly overcome
\nwith emotion when I saw the sacrifice of young, German families with beautiful little kids, following the
\nLord\u2019s call to a country far away. Liebenzell Ecuador was composed of some wonderful Ecuadorian
\nfamilies, and Fernando and I were able to speak in several of their churches while during our time there.
\nEnrique and Mayra, pastor and wife of the largest church of the fellowship, were a huge personal
\nencouragement to me. I preached twice the last Sunday we were there, to well over 500 people in the
\ntwo services. That same afternoon, Fernando and I enjoyed several different presentations and special
\nmusic times at the annual Mission Fest activity, that also took place at the Puente de Amor<\/em> (Bridge of
\nLove) Church.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Our last Sunday there was a missions weekend, with a Mission Fest activity in the afternoon. Both morning services were very well attended.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our time was active. I was involved in speaking ten times in nine full days while in Ecuador. Rainer kept
\nup moving! As I look back on my time there, I feel genuinely blessed. Perhaps my most memorable
\nmoment\u2026visiting Rio Verde with Kevin Bruce, and hearing him humbly relate how he learned a tribal
\nlanguage, how he aided in the translation of the New Testament, how he picked, cleaned, dried and
\nroasted coffee, how he smoked his own meat and, oh, yeah, the church that he and his wife Kathy
\nplanted and the building they physically constructed. I thought missionaries like that only existed in the
\npast. Turns out, they are still very much alive!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(this article will be featured also in Liebenzell USA’s newsletter, coming out soon)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was humbled and honored recently to be invited by the Ecuador Liebenzell field director to speak at their annual missionary conference. Good friend and Mexican pastor Fernando Amezcua from Guadalajara, Mexico went with me. The topic that I was given was church planting, and although I have rarely been invited to give a conference, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8219"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8230,"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219\/revisions\/8230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}