Sent to Serve the Whole Person

Transcript

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[0:00] Okay. There we go. Excellent. Yeah. So, well, welcome to Lisandro and Patricia. Is that the best way to pronounce it? Patricia Restrepo? Yes. And I'm Pastor Hunter. It's nice to meet you, and I'm happy for the church to meet you guys. Thank you. And I wanted, I have a list of questions, and I thought I would just kind of interview you. Is that okay? Yeah, perfect. Excellent. Oh, good. Okay. Well, let's, just want to get to know you guys as people before we learn about your mission. So, could you each sort of say, you know, where you're from, how you grew up in the church, or if you didn't grow up in the church, it's fine, and then how you met each other. We'll start with that.

[0:48] Okay. Okay. I'm dedicated my life when I was 15. I was a young man. It was many, many years ago. I was a teenager in Colombia. I was born and grew up in Colombia. And I have, I will say, the privilege to be part of the InterVarsity-like group in Colombia. It has another name and different, their own leadership. And I was part of the group since I was in high school. So, when I went to university, it was a good thing that I was more solid in the gospel. And this is where I was formed spiritually.

[1:49] After I finished my career in the university, I was invited by Food for the Hungry International in Sonora, Mexico. And I was part of that ministry for two years. Then I moved to the U.S. to pursue more studies. And this is when I joined Patti. When she joined me, she was, I met her at the university. But then we had a distant relationship by mail. Yeah. And then this is why, that's how we met. Patti? Yeah, I was also born and raised in Colombia, in Bogota. And as Lisandro was saying, we all met at the university through the InterVarsity group. And... Okay. And what else? But did you ask more? Oh, right. Yeah, that's how we met. Yeah. And how did you come to faith, I guess? Well, how I came to faith, I grew up as a Catholic. Oh, yeah. And I was, yeah, I was a leader in my Catholic church, my parish. But when I came to college, that's where I was part of InterVarsity. And it was a beautiful experience for me as a Catholic because I was very much...

[3:18] accepted and loved. And I grew in my understanding about the scriptures. And so it was a very beautiful transition for me to make the decision in what community I wanted to grow. So that's when I accepted to join the Evangelical Church in Bogota. Ah, yeah. And is that Evangelical Church there? Is that sort of a non-denominational thing? Or is it related to like evangelical free? Or some other group? In my case, it was a non-denominational church. Yeah. Yeah, same here. I know when I was a pastor of a small farming church in Iowa, and a covenant pastor. That was my first, kind of my first full-time covenant pastor job. And there were a lot of couples where one was a Catholic and the other was, you know, some other kind of Christian, you know. And they couldn't go to either church, so they came to the covenant church. Because it was... Okay, nice. It wasn't too doctrinally strong, you know what I mean? Yes. In the sense that we don't have a creed or a confession. And so they could both agree to come to the covenant church. And that happened several times, which is kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah, that's beautiful. Yeah. And that's how God works in our lives and help us to create bridges. Because now that we are in Mexico, 98% of our churches are in the covenant church.

[4:45] And the majority of Mexicans are Catholics, and many of the people that we minister to are Catholics, so we understand... Yeah, you have that background. And we... Yes, yes, we are able to create the spaces, safe spaces for them to come, and then come closer to God and make decisions about where they want to join. Yeah.

[5:11] And... And I minister to people that are Catholics, and we do... Yeah, discipleship or Bible study with them. You know, we ask them to bring their own Bibles so that they can see. So, yeah. That is a big difference. Yeah. Yeah. It is. Yeah. Well, that's good. And then they're happy to have their own Bible and they're happy to be in a Bible study where they can talk about it.

[5:37] Yes. They are very, I mean, once they get into the scriptures and they, you know, make the connections. Right. But also they ask questions about the way how they've been in terms of doctrine. Yeah. That's when they start to ask critical questions because that happens to me. Yeah. And so I think for us, the key is how to love them and to provide a safe space for them to, yeah, to find God. Yeah. In a beautiful and natural way without the pressure of converting people. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's their own choice then. Yeah. Yeah.

[6:25] Well, you kind of started into it, but my next question was how did each of you find the covenant church? How did you, I grew up Lutheran, so I didn't find the covenant church until I had finished Lutheran seminary. And then I was like, oh, I got to join. This is, I should have joined this church a long time ago, you know. Yeah. But how did you find the covenant church?

[6:46] We didn't know the covenant church in Colombia. We were in Colombia. When I moved to California after being in Mexico, one of my brothers was in California before I went there. And he said, you should go to the covenant church. And I was obedient.

[7:13] And so that's how I met the covenant. And he was in the first covenant church in Oakland, California. Yeah. And after two years, I moved to Berkeley. So that's how we make the connection with Berkeley Covenant Church, which is we consider our home church. That's your home church. Okay. Yeah. And we're in Los Altos. So we're about 40 miles from there. Something like that. Yeah. Not too far. Not too far. Not too far. Yeah. Is that the same for you, Patricia? Or is it, did you find it a different way? You guys were together, I guess. Yes. At that point, we were already engaged. And then we get married at Berkeley Covenant. Oh, cool. And yeah. So at that point, our pastor were very, very supportive. And we had with Max Lopez-Cepero and Helen Cepero.

[8:11] We, at least for me, we were very supportive. Yeah. And so I think that was a very, very important moment for me as coming from the Catholic church. I was already evangelical, but one question I remember, we were going to get married. Max asked me if I thought that I needed to be baptized within the Covenant Church. And that was a very beautiful conversation with him. And also when I consider all the affirmation, the covenant affirmation. Yeah. Yeah. And so I feel so much in house that I belong to the covenant because our calling was always, even before we were missionaries as a students in social justice and oriented to holistic ministries. And so we felt that the covenant was just, we were at home. We feel at home. Anyway. One thing that was very moving to me when we were consecrated with that at the same time. We were, we have our friends that were being ordained. And I remember it was Gary Walter at that point. Oh yeah. The president. But I remember I hear from him this statement about referring to those that came to seminary at North Park, but they were coming from other denominations or traditions. And he was welcoming them in such a beautiful way. Yeah. Yeah.

[9:42] And I felt, I think I am in the right place. Yeah. Yeah. It's a home to a lot of people who, yeah, they, you see it a lot. You know, there's a Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans like me, probably Catholics have all found a better, what they consider their real home in the covenant church, which is, you're right. It's committed to loving mercy, doing justice is committed to world mission. Yeah. They send more missionaries per capita. Yeah. Than a lot of other churches. So that's definitely part of that. Well, that's good. Now how did, so my next question is how did you choose or what was your calling to become missionaries? Okay.

[10:27] Okay. In my case, when I was discipled in the InterVarsity Group in Columbia, it was a very important And I think that's a great emphasis that we all are missionaries. Yeah. We are missionaries wherever we are because we have a mission. It's the same mission of Christ. Right.

[10:56] It's the same mission that is in Luke 4, 18 to 20. So in that sense, we ourselves will consider missionaries in the university. Yeah. So we have a mission to accomplish there. After that, somehow I felt like missionary in Mexico because I have a mission to accomplish there. When we were in California for, I was there for almost 13 years before we went to Mexico again.

[11:39] It was so natural for us to feel like a missionary. Yeah. And we were all missionaries in California. So we have a Bible study group in Spanish for our friends and we were discipling them and bringing them to church and stuff like that. So, and doing some other things. So we felt it was our mission. At one point. You've never not been a missionary is what I'm hearing. Yeah. We work at La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland. And even though it was not a religious institution or religious activity, we felt it was our mission to work there. You know? Yeah. So, but at the same time after my experience in Mexico, I was sure that once I was a missionary, God was calling me to be missionary for the rest of my life.

[12:46] And for us, even though we were in the States, it was very clear that we wanted to go back to Latin America to be missionaries wherever the Lord opened the door. And that door was in Mexico again with the evangelical congregation. Right.

[13:19] Right. Right. Right. Right. and i wanted to serve him as a professional and but when i was in the in the countryside i realized how much need there was there that i asked god god whatever you want me to do i would do it by i would be obedient to you so i i became more uh convinced that i wanted to continue education i i wanted to be a normal surgeon but then he the lord changed my my and i started to do public health so when i came to the states that's what i did at berkeley at the uc berkeley i did my master's in public health and at that point we were already new weds and and and i was asking god how did you want me to use this for you and that's when we started to think and we we wanted to come back to latin america and to use our you know our tools and skills and to serve and to to to see that not as something separated from the gas for but part of that is that god call us to use whatever we have in our hands as he acts muscles you know what do you have in your hand and and that's the question that he asks us that's good but that would we have in our hands but he has given to us in terms of what professions that what abilities whatever he's given us how to use that for the purpose of the kingdom yeah yeah that's good i i remember one person telling me you know if you

[15:26] if you see the need in the world and you have the gifts to help then how much louder does the call need to be from the lord to go do something you know what's holding you back from that that's the calling you know you talk about having an internal call or an external call people saying oh you should go do this and you're feeling like you should go do this but if the lord if the lord gives you these gifts and you see the need that's the call you know right listen to your friends though too if they say you should go do that then maybe you should think about it but yeah you have friends that were encouraging you i guess in our church uh pastor our pastor and uh and the church also yeah members members from berkeley covenant they were very supportive very supportive and when we decided that that was the path that the lord was leading us to to walk then um yeah then we connected at with people in chicago and yeah the same as you mentioned uh we were called back and and they were very attentive to our uh questions and everything so yeah they walk with us to the whole process of becoming missionaries coming to chicago to receive more uh formation in terms of missions and things like that so it was we felt that we were very supported by friends and our pastors because i just thinking now when

[17:05] you become a covenant missionary like you are you're sent by the denominations you are a part of a church you have to go to the seminary for like a semester or a year or something like that to take classes or something like that we went for the whole year at the seminary yeah and it turned to be a wonderful experience for us we connected with other students we have good friends there and in general with the professors all the classes that we took was wonderful I'm not sure if they still have that requirement right now no I cannot say yes or no but for us he was excellent yeah it was a blessing because we were able also to take classes with our friends who were doing their masters in divinity so we had to take some of those classes and I remember when I was told that I needed to take that the history of the Covenant Church yeah and I would oh my god that is so boring that class is gonna be so boring and he turned out to be a beautiful of how do you say open I experienced yeah I was able to make the connection with the you know in terms of migration and many of the things that the yeah I would say would be the connection with the you know in terms of migration and many of the things that the the Swedish had to face when they migrated to the United States without speaking English

[18:45] and all the things that they went through. And so also, you know, making the parallel with the migration of the Latinos in my case, you know, as a Latina. Yeah, yeah. But also seeing the differences, you know, the difference, why the migration of the Swedish people was so different to the migration of the Latinos and the perceptions of the people in the States when. So that turned out to be very interesting and very enriching experience.

[19:17] Yeah. I took that class too with Phil. With Phil, yes. Yeah, from Phil, yeah. He's a great teacher. But he really did material. And you think about those early Covenanters who opened hospitals, you know. And Orton, you know, it was always that pietistic, pietistic desire to help the poor. It wasn't like it, all the theology had to have some action with it or else it wasn't, you know what I mean? Yes. They had to, they had to help people. And even the first president, right, he had been an orphan himself. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He knew, he knew. Yeah, that's really cool. Yes. And I think reading that history, also reading the scriptures from the margin, you know, from the margin. Mm-hmm.

[20:11] That was also for us. It's been like at the heart of our following Christ. Because he was also in the margins. So. Yeah. I mean, it's been such a, it's going to be 23 years that we are in Mexico. Yeah. Okay. It's been 23 years, yeah, amazingly.

[20:39] Yeah. Man, that's, and they, you know, a long, I've been here at this church for 14 years, but the long, sort of a long faithful presence in one place can be really good, you know, because you, it gives you time to develop all these relationships. You got ahead of me because that was my next question, if I have to.

[21:03] It is, what is, I would like to ask you, yeah so what is what is your you've been talking about a little bit but what is your focus right now in your mission field and you talked about people in the margins or creating space for people to learn the scriptures themselves what is what is it that your mission work is mostly right now our focus has been always in holistic ministry so when when we first arrived in mexico we were in monterrey and a former michigan missionary uh uh from the ministry in in uh in monterey in the neighborhood and we connected there and we were there for 10 years until the covenant had to say that that that it was enough so after that we were moved to uh oaxaca in the south of mexico and it was another experience working directly with the church in in monterrey was directly with the community and that ministry is gonna be 20 it's gonna celebrate the 25th anniversary very soon next next month in october and they continue flourishing there are no more missionaries there but the ministry continues and that's the most In Oaxaca, we were with the church and Patty was more focused on women and she can relate a little bit more about that. And right now we are in Leon, Guanajuato.

[22:57] Say that name again. Leon, Leon. Like lion. Yeah, like lion. Leon. Yes. And that is a very similar ministry. It's like an inner city ministry. Very similar to the one in Monterrey. And we are working with the same with kids, youth, and adults in different areas. So that contemplates the different areas of the human being. Not only the spiritual part, but the emotional part, the social part, the artistic, the physical part. So we have different programs. Yeah. Always our philosophy is to... Yeah. Create teams and work with teams. So we are not alone. Yeah. And yeah, I don't know if you have to... You want to add something very specific. Yeah. Yeah. I think specifically one is you mentioned holistic ministry that we are not only souls, but we are... And the Lord responded to all those dimensions when he encountered people meeting in different areas.

[24:27] So that's one thing. The other thing is leadership formation, discipleship, and formation of servant leadership, but also capacity building so that they are able to provide and serve also in a holistic way. Yeah. And the other one is the issue of violence in our countries and I think now around the world in different ways. Different ways how we are violent or we abuse or we cross limits with other people. And so it's very prevalent in our world today. I mean, we are in the middle of different wars and we might find justifications for that. But from the gospel perspective, we know that we are peace seekers and we are from the kingdom. So we try to incarnate that. So the emphasis also in violence prevention and intervention for the people. So we try to do that in a different and holistic way also. So we have a ministry at the national level that is called Ministering to the Abuse and Exploited in Mexico. That's my ministry.

[25:38] And so we do a lot of process of healing from a culture that is violent, but also from personal experiences of abuse. Unfortunately, from spiritual abuse also, sometimes from the church. Right. And so facing injustices in a way that is congruent with the gospel. So, yeah. So leadership, leadership development.

[26:10] What did I say? Leadership development and also to make the ministry sustainable. That's the thing, yeah. And holistic ministries, restoration ministry through my aim and also through a spiritual direction. And spiritual formation.

[26:28] That's basically the focus that we have. So we've been doing that. That's so much. How do you two do it? You have teams helping you. Because we have teams. We don't do that together. Yeah. Yes. Makes sense. So in Monterrey is a covenant ministry, 25 years. And we've been away for 12 years. I mean, we are celebrating.

[26:52] Well gone. Yeah. I mean, I am in the board of directors, but I mean, they are completely sustainable. And they receive covenant and development funds. So they write their own proposals and everything. It's been a beautiful way of flourishing in ministry in Monterrey. Now we went to Oaxaca. Oaxaca was a little bit more challenging because leading with leaders from the very top that are not so well-known. Culture is difficult. But there we have the women's group that being sustainable through the years and also my in Oaxaca. We have seven teams around the country with my and soon probably we have 10. There are three other teams that are information in Juarez and in Guanajuato and other areas. And also there are teams in the United States. So we have a lot of people in each region. So we serve as, how do you say that?

[28:00] Counselors maybe? How do you say that? Advisors. Advising. Providing. Coaching. Coaching. Yeah, coaching. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. And in Leon, as Lisandro was saying, it's very similar to the foundation in Monterrey. So we've been there for four years, almost five years. And working to consolidate a team and to accompany them. And we have a lot of people. And I would say that the first thing that I would say would be to provide the support to the development.

[28:25] That's great. So you can reproduce your own ministry without having you do it all. I mean, yeah, it's a discipleship building, leadership building, developing teams to take on the work because you can't do it forever.

[28:42] Right. Right. Someday you will go do something else. Yeah. That's really great. It's so wonderful to hear that. And I think it's okay to talk about the reality that there's abuse in every country. And Erica Clausen, who you probably know, of course you know, she had some ministry people who had been through trauma. And, you know, she would talk about it very openly. And I thought that was really great because we can't act like it's not happening. That's really what makes it worse is if we don't talk about it, it feels like. So it's that you're helping people who have experienced violence. And, I mean, I would say right now, especially as Christians, we have to keep saying that we don't believe in violence between people, between countries, between political parties. We just have to keep saying we don't believe in violence. We can't settle our differences with violence. And to be that voice in our cultures right now, I think, is we have to keep saying it. I mean, that's not about you.

[29:45] But it sounds like something you did. You just said in a way, you know, so I really appreciate that. Well, we're almost done. You guys, this is so great to learn more about you. We're going to show this in October. I think the church is going to be really excited to hear this.

[30:01] But when you come to America, I hope you can come to Los Altos. I'm sure you're going to go. That would be great. We will have a potluck and, you know, try to bless you. And then. And then. Two more questions. Can anyone ever come visit you? Is that okay? Or is that a problem to visit you? No, no, no, no. Absolutely. You're very much welcome to come to BC. Yes. For sure. Yes. For sure. Okay. Yes. That would be nice to, yeah, to walk through the process. It doesn't happen very often. But I like to ask just in case people want visits. No, no, no. You know, they could say not right now. It's not a good time. But okay. And then the last question. How can we support you? You know, we can pray for you.

[30:49] You are in our church budget because we, it was recommended to us after the Claussen's, they didn't retire. They're doing other things. But after the Claussen's stopped needing our support, they said, why don't you use that to give it to the rest of us? And another family that's serving in the Middle East, believe it or not, you know.

[31:13] But how can we support you aside from prayer and financially? How can we help you? How can we support you? Well, in terms of prayer, I would like to say something we didn't mention. We have a son. We have a son. Samuel. Samuel is 19. And he is in college right now in California. Oh, yeah. Yes. Yes. So we are now empty nester. We just, he just completed his first year. So please, please pray for him. He is a beautiful man. And young man.

[31:50] Seeking God. But also, I think he's been, I have to say that, you know, to be honest, Oaxaca had some negative impact in him in terms of his following of Jesus because of the no very good testimony that he saw there within the church. And of course, he is a young man. And he is a young person. He's questioning many things. And we believe that we all, we all go through those phases.

[32:23] But please pray that he will find good mentors in college. That he will listen to his heart because I think very deep within he believes that he's trying to make sense of his own following of God. Yeah. And he's trying to follow God. And he's trying to find Jesus and understand Jesus.

[32:50] So he needs a good mentor there. Yeah. Yeah. So please pray for him. Good people around him is what he needs. Right? Yes. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah. Wow. We'll pray for your, we'll pray for your son for sure. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. And also thank you for praying for us. Yes. We definitely need that. And pray for. Yes.

[33:17] For pray for our quality time with the Lord because we do believe that ministry starts within. Yeah. And sometimes we are, I mean, we want to serve as human beings. I think also we want to give, but we need to give from a very strong base. Yeah. Yeah. So please pray for. Your tank needs to be full first before you give other people from your tank.

[33:46] Right. Usually. I think that's best, you know, and then. Yeah. So you need to. Yeah. Pastors too. Right. We need to take care of our own soul. Yeah. And I think even more because we, we sometimes as leaders, we are under the, what do you say?

[34:09] Under the eye of many people. Right. Yeah. So. So. Yeah. So I think we need to, yeah, we need to have people that are really praying for their leaders and that the Lord will sustain us. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And it is, I think it's easy to get tired.

[34:32] It's easy to get tired and, and you wonder if people notice what you're doing or, you know what I mean? You wonder if this, you know, but the, the Lord can replenish, but we need to pray for these things. That's right. Yeah. Wow. That's good. Yeah. Anything else? Yeah. I think you mentioned, yeah, we can talk about, you know, you're coming and seeing firsthand what we are doing through our ministry. And yeah, that would be another way to support. Right. And so, yeah. So. Build relationships.

[35:11] Yes. Yes. And also know that. Yeah. I mean, even though we very much appreciate your financial support because we need it. Sure. That's not the base of our relationship. No. We are brothers and sisters serving together. Right. And we also want to, good, the Wi-Fi, but it's that Lisandro's birthday was last week and I was away. I was in, I was in a, in a training in another city. So I figured I need to go to, with Lisandro somewhere to celebrate. So we decided to come to, to a town that is up a little bit up to the mountains. Oh, nice. Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah. So where you were staying. So you're, are you in a restaurant or.

[35:58] Yes. Now we are in the. That's cool. Yeah. I could hear some dishes in the background, but that's great. Well, happy birthday and I hope you enjoy the celebration. Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much. So next week I'm going away with my wife for our 20th anniversary. So we'll be gone. Yeah. So we'll be gone for two weeks. And so, yeah. Anyways, it's good to celebrate. Praise God. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's, let's say goodbye. Cause this could go on forever. It'd be fun to talk for, for a long time. Thank you. Okay. It's so nice to meet you guys and we'll be in touch. We will.

[36:30] Okay. Yes. And thank you, Eric, for the initiative to contact us. God bless you. For sure. Take care now. Okay. Bye.