All posts tagged: hispanic

Co-create with God

September 24, 2014 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, blog

Last week, I shared with you a few amazing stories that I have witnessed in the past several weeks. It is fascinating to see when you become more aware of the supernatural, the greater reality that is beyond our physical senses. You and I are a part of the divine plan. But most of the time, we are not connected in the spiritual dimension. Generally, we are disconnected and thereby miss some pretty astounding events that can directly affect our worldview of reality and can change the course of lives of others and the history of a community.

If the greater reality is beyond our natural senses, how can we tune in with what’s going on in the spiritual realm? The answer is to train ourselves to be more conscious about the correlation between the natural and the supernatural, the physical and the spiritual. How do we do this?

We will start with a simple step and example based on a phenomenal story that just happened yesterday. I wrote from my previous Blog that another opportunity had landed on my lap. My organization has the opportunity to acquire a property worth more than half a million dollars with no cash involved on our part. As a Consultant, I come across some pretty interesting situations, this is one of them.

God has bigger plan

A Pastor and his wife came to my office several weeks ago asking to help them decide about the future of their church. The church building sits on a 7-acre land. It has 2 houses, a youth building that is not being used currently, a playground, a community center, a detached garage and a large pond. Back in the 80’s, the church had more 400 attendees. Throughout the years, and with many reasons, the church continuously dwindled down in number. Currently, it has less than 20 attendees. Needless to say, they cannot continue to pay the bills including the mortgage.

Simultaneously, I am helping a Hispanic church to find a site for their food pantry. I just trained them to start their own pantry and this is the last piece to get them started. I introduced them to the Pastor that I am consulting with. They visited the place and fell in love with it. The Hispanic Pastor gathered her leaders and we had a meeting. They asked for my advice and guided them in the decision-making process. They decided to rent a portion of the church!

Suddenly, I found myself in the middle of 2 churches who needed my advice. This put me in an awkward position so after prayers and several conversations with my wife and friends, I decided not to have an interest in the property.

We had a few meetings with the Pastor who owns the church, we prayed together and discussed the best option for them. We looked at the sources of their income and the list of expenses. They agreed to follow the plans and strategy that I presented to them. I showed them that they can actually keep the property even with just one renter. Yesterday (Sept. 23, 2014), I also negotiated with their mortgage company to skip the Principal payment for 12 months until they get back on the black. In addition, I also negotiated to spread out the payment for the last 2 unpaid monthly mortgage bills.

Through prayers (spiritual) and through meetings and evaluations (physical), we have solved the potential loss of a beautiful property. Both churches will be working to maximize their impact in the community and to utilize the property in greater way. This is an example of becoming more aware of our spiritual surrounding. It is through our communion with the Lord that we can hear more of His voice. We will develop our spiritual senses as we tune in with the greater reality.

There are more to the story but I would like for you to share yours. Do not think that your story is not worth sharing. God does not look from man’s perspective. Remember when Jesus fed the 5,000 through the little boy who had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? His disciples did not think that the food they will eat later would come from a child with only a handful of food! God is not bound by our reality, He is beyond time and space, He is infinite, He is the God of all creation.

This is the opportunity that lie in front of us – we can co-labor and co-create with God. Be aware of your spiritual space, tune in to the supernatural and see more of heaven here on earth. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

God bless,

Merlin

Remember the Fire?

September 18, 2014 Merlin Gonzales a Study on God's Dominion, blog, KIOM, Testimony

Remember when you first commit your life to Jesus Christ?

Remember when you first experience God?

Two months ago, I posted about a house fire that happened to a Pastor who is friend of mine. Many people have helped him in terms of some donated money, furniture & appliances and most of all, prayers. I have been helping him in finding out the best solution for the future of the house that was burned. I have a sense that this tragedy will end up to be a blessing for him and his family. I kept encouraging him and praying for him in the past several weeks.

Last Monday, we heard news about the house and we did more negotiations. We were confirmed that there’s nothing else we can do, so we settled for what was agreed upon. Tonight, I received a message to call the main person regarding the house. We received great news; something that we did not expect!

In these past several months, God has been showing me things that are beyond my imagination. The unexpected things such as the pallet shelving, the launching of one-of a kind food pantry, the $70k walk-in freezer donation and many more.

There is another huge thing that has fall on my lap just 2 weeks ago. I ask that you pray for wisdom and discernment on my part. This one could impact thousands of people and may be an integral part in this particular community for years to come.

God is awesome! I would like to invite you come alongside with me in experiencing the goodness of God. Some people are experimenting with God to see what happens when you trust Him. I would like to invite you to journey with me in fully trusting God in every aspect of our lives.

There’s a difference between making Jesus as our Savior and making Him as our Lord. Our lives reflect who our Lord is – the way we conduct ourselves, react on situations, make decisions and our habits. Our reality is mostly based on our experience. I think many of us have knowledge of God but do not have much of experiencing life with Him – that’s why sometimes we find out selves asking ” where is God in this situation?” Unless we experience Him intimately, His reality in our lives would be fragmented.

Remember when you first experience God and felt that He is involved in your life? If you are like me, I was on fire! It seem like God is so close to me… not only during Sunday but every day of the week! What if we fully trust that every aspect of our lives is connected with our relationship with God…our finances, our relationships, our health and our spiritual life? This may be a silly question: “What if all of our life experience is directly interconnected with our relationship with God?” How would we cope with our failures and celebrate our success, treat our families, work with our associates and deal with our neighbors? If God is ever present in our consciousness, what would our lifestyle be, how would we react with every situation – good or bad, and what would be our perspective in life.

Here’s what I have in mind. I will share with you my experience with Him. Similar with what I have been writing before, I will continue sharing with you what God has been doing in the ministry of FHL. This time, I will be more intimate and share more of my personal experience with Him such as frustrations, praises and prayers, requests and dreams, questions and answers and, my experience. I would like to encourage you to share your stories as well, make comments, prayers and praises. Let’s experience God and share our stories to encourage and to uplift one another.

I hope you would consider joining me in learning more about ourselves and our relationship with the God that we profess – our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. What’s your story and what has God been doing in your life? Remember your passion for Christ when you were a new Christian? Remember the fire in your heart?

The world’s norm vs. the Kingdom’s way

June 19, 2014 Merlin Gonzales KIOM

God’s way is different than the world’s

There are times when we feel we have to modify God’s plan because things do not make sense. For example, for many years, you have been praying for finances and material things to come to you. You have been struggling to pay your bills month after month for years. Your credit cards balances are at the maximum limit, you have withdrew most of your retirement funds and just getting by.

Then you started to work long hours thinking that you can increase your income and find more resources to get you out of the hole. Money started to come. However, the more you feel you are getting ahead, your bank balance is getting worse. Things don’t make sense so you worked even longer hours.

In 2 Chronicles 13:1-22, Judah’s King Abijah was outnumbered by his opponent, King Jeroboam of Israel. Abijah had only 400,000 soldiers while Jeroboam had 800,000! It is had to imagine witnessing that many people in one place killing each other and this happened around 3,000 years ago. Abijah knew that he has no chance to defeat Jeroboam, but his faith strengthened him. In verse 10 he said, “But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned him.”

Meanwhile Jeroboam devised a plan to surround Abijah and his people in the front and the rear. So Abijah cried out to the Lord! They blew their trumpets and shouted the battle cry. God defeated Jeroboam. In verse 17 & 18, “Abijah and his army inflicted heavy losses on them; 500,000 of Israel’s select troops were killed that day. So Judah defeated Israel on that occasion because they trusted in theLord, the God of their ancestors.”

Be encouraged as you face impossible situations (as we know it). Do as Abijah did, cry out to the Lord and shout the battle cry. God is always watching out for His people. He fights for us because we are His children. Don’t forget that you are a child of the King.

The blessings of serving

March 17, 2014 Merlin Gonzales FHL Food Pantry, FHL Indiana, Mobile Food Pantry, Prayer Groups

There are days when something amazing happens when you least expected. Here are a few examples that happened in 10 days.

Warehouse for re-distribution

On March 6th, I decided to move the re-distribution of food from the FHL parking lot to a warehouse that is being rented by one of our partnering food pantry Pastors. We normally divide the food that we receive from Midwest Food Bank to 5 food pantries. Because of the numerous logistics, I have to admit that I was anxious. However, many of my anxious thoughts were wrong! The training went very well at our partner’s building while we were waiting for the arrival of the 24-footer box truck containing the food. Our partner’s warehouse has at least 6 docks, a lift truck and a hand truck. The Lord worked it out that we were able to unload 9 pallets in just a few minutes. Within an hour, the food were redistributed to 5 food pantries. It normally takes us to do all this in 3-4 hours!

Forklift for unloading and loading trucks

In addition, our partner is considering allowing us use some space for storage! This may seem insignificant but the warehouse space with loading docks, lift truck, hand truck and more centralize location is huge for FHL at this time! I’ll share more on this soon.

On March 12th, I conducted a Latino refresher course for food pantry operation at Monte de Sion Hispanic Wesleyan Church. I ended the teaching with role playing to present the Gospel during food pantry days and also anywhere they see opportunities. The participants were all excited to use their newly acquired revelation.

Experiential training

A few days later on March 15th, I visited the food pantry at that same place, Monte de Sion. As soon as I got there, many people are being served and were being prayed for. One of the couples who participated at the training on the 12th shared with me that they led 2 people to the Lord! They were so excited and I noticed that their faith was rising up as they are experiencing the blessing of sharing the Gospel.

Earlier that day, I was expecting a hectic schedule for the opening of our newest food pantry at the corner of Washington & State streets. Opening a new site takes a lot of planning and preparation. When I got to the site, the Pastor of this mobile food pantry was already. The food were placed on tables, volunteers were at their station and were already engaging in conversations with people at this street corner.

At Washington and State St., Indianapolis

This particular food distribution area is one of the depressed areas in Indy. This site had become a “stand by” place for “Labor For Hire”. They hang out at this corner waiting for people to hire them for a day! This is a strategic place to give away food, offer free coffee and sandwiches for the men waiting for work. We’ll see how the Lord would have us serve in this place in the future – maybe more than just giving groceries once a month.

At Beech Grove B&G

My last stop that day was at B&G Pantry of Hope. I was amazed to see how they have become a self-sufficient. Here’s a video of their story as told by their current food pantry director who was one of this pantry’s recipients a few years ago.

I am blessed to witness His goodness and the miracles along the way. I told a Pastor who visited one of the pantries that I receive blessings through serving. I would like to challenge you this coming weeks to count your blessings as you serve in the Name of the Lord; it will revolutionize your outlook in life.

John 12:26, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

God bless you!

Merlin

History of FHL Food Pantry

March 2, 2014 Merlin Gonzales FHL Food Pantry, FHL Mobile Food Pantry

The early years of FHL Food Pantries

In the fall of 2006, Merlin Gonzales and a few volunteers agreed to do the first FHL Mobile Food Pantry. FHL partnered with a Hispanic business that allowed us to give the food in the grocery store. One of our partners owned one of the Latino newspapers in town and she did a half-page ad at no cost to us.

The pantry attracted almost 100 families. The first pantry had less than 10 volunteers but was able to give a lot of grocery items from a food bank and other sources. For the next 2 years, FHL food pantries were held in churches, schools and parking lots. FHL did not have problems in attracting recipients because of the follow up system.

After 2 years, FHL introduced prayers at pantries. The recipients seem open and soon it became a regular part of each pantry. Through the process of partnering with different organizations at different locations, FHL developed procedures overtime. The leaders learned how to interact with different denominations, ethnic groups and traditions. The Lord walked the organization through many on-the-job training that were vital to the development creative evangelism. The leaders learned more how to interact with the different segments of our society.

However, setting up and tearing down of food pantry sites at different location became a hindrance to serve more people and to share the Gospel. The idea of starting a food pantry at churches and other sites became obvious. FHL would be able to serve more people and would be able to share its experience with others.

The informal training and partnership emerged. Horizon Christian Fellowship Central was the first food pantry that FHL helped start. It is now a vital part of the Fountain Square neighborhood in Indianapolis.

Through prayers and hard work, God had birth the FHL Food Pantry Incubation. It is now that mission of FHL to incubate food pantries in central Indiana.

The FHL Food Pantry School became a work in progress document. In the class, you will learn that practical and spiritual application of the Bible. You will see that your friends and/or congregation can be a part of the tapestry of a food pantry. Young and old, rich and poor has a place in a food pantry such as the Outreach Team, Prayer Team and Community Relations Team.

An idea of feeding the hungry and reaching out to those in need had evolved to be a powerful tool to engage the community in sharing the love of God. The end result is that the hungry are fed, the Gospel is being shared and more people are becoming Christ-like in their communities. The food pantries are becoming missional communities.