Great Lakes Latino Dreams

by Ben Tobias with Earl Mills

Recently Global Reach Director Ben Tobias sat down with Dr. Earl Mills (pictured at right), Director of the Great Lakes Conference, to ask him about the growing partnership with Latino Ministries.

1. What’s happening in the relationship between the Great Lakes Conference and Latino Ministries?

There’s been a long-term goal (at least since Earl became Director) of developing Latino outreach, but until now not much has happened. Now is the time. The Great Lakes Conference has quite a few areas where Latinos have settled, either permanently or in semi-permanent migrant camps, and the Lord has commanded us to love our neighbors. Latinos are under-reached. There are many ways churches can reach out, either in solo efforts, in partnership with others, or by welcoming a Latino congregation to share a building. Facilities are usually available at different times of the day. Quarterly joint worship services are a delight.

The Acostas (pictured below) were introduced to the Conference at the Annual Conference in June, and they shared their story of how they’ve come to connect with the CGGC, and what God has done through their ministry in the USA and in various Spanish-speaking countries. The Acostas use their unique knowledge of Latino/Hispanic culture in order to provide expert guidance for churches in starting Latino outreach. Since Annual Conference, some churches are already expressing interest in hearing more.

Pastors Christina & Caleb Acosta

In terms of timeline, the Acostas will be involved in four separate Synergy Huddles throughout the next year. (These gatherings have been taking place throughout the GLC for over five years, and each one features evaluation and goal setting for local churches.) After this year, Earl hopes that at least four churches or groups will have concrete plans to reach out to the Latino community in their area.

So far the Vanlue and Wharton churches are partnering to launch a Latino outreach and have interviewed potential pastors. Sean Martin, husband of Pastor Melanie Martin from Vanlue, is fluent in Spanish and has done a lot of translation work in Hancock County, Ohio. In Michigan, the Seville and Pine River churches are discussing a possible partnership and will be talking with the Acostas about launching a Latino outreach.

Pastor David Odegard of Wharton First Church of God

Sean Martin of Vanlue Community Church

Seville Community Church of God

Pine River Church of God

2. What are some of the challenges you expect to encounter? What are some of the blessings?

Earl acknowledges that it's a lot of work and assessment to organize any ministry from scratch. And even then it might not work out. Sometimes a church might be interested, but local resistance (from migrant camps, for example) can become a barrier. So trust-building between the church and the Latino population is absolutely critical.

But the goal is worth it. It would be a wonderful blessing for our churches to reach the unreached, and we would fulfill Jesus’ commands in Matthew 25 to care for the hungry, naked, and imprisoned. In loving our neighbor, we will love Jesus.