The latter part of last week, my team was given the opportunity to work with a friend of Pastor David's. His name is Pastor Victoriano. He pastors a church on the outskirts of town. They hold their service in both Spanish and Quiche, the language of the indigenous people of the area. At the end of one of our work days, we sat down and listened to Pastor Victoriano's testimony.
He told us how he had a vision to start the church we were currently working in. He had little support from the people in the church because he only had the equivalent of a third grade education. A few of the younger members of the congregation did support him and a few men and a handful of women helped him build the very building we were painting.
Now, Pastor Victoriano's church has several daughter churches that they have planted throughout the area. One of the pastors under Victoriano is illiterate. When we was raised up to be a pastor, he was given the ability to read the Bible, but only the Bible. He is still illiterate and is still unable to read anything other than the Bible.
"Humanly speaking, it is impossible, but with God everything is possible."
[Matthew 19:26]
Pastor Victoriano recently acquired another plot of land he hopes to build another church plant on. The church has no money or supplies for it, but he has faith that they will start construction in the next couple of months.
It is so amazing how God has used this one man to make such an impact here in Santa Cruz del Quiche. With very little support and little education, God provided just enough hands to build the church and raised up support enough to not only exist as a church, but plant other churches, too. If God can enable an Illiterate pastor to read the Bible and pastor a church, I think He can see me and you through our struggles.
