BREAK FORTH was the theme of our 7th SALT Conference and it took place in Quito, Ecuador from July 22nd to July 24th. All our South American brothers and sisters with our respective pastors met our Singaporean pastors at Hope Quito’s church meeting place and from there, we headed to Mindo. Mindo is a beautiful place blessed with God’s wonderful creation.
From the beginning, we enjoyed the unique hospitality and joyful friendship from our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters led by Pastor Claudia. They made us feel at home!
All of us were blessed with Pastor Christie and Pastor Andrew from Hope Singapore imparting God´s Word and God´s Spirit to us. On the first day, Pastor Christie led us to reflect on Isaiah 54 to expand our capacity, to expand our commitment and to expand our influence to extend God´s Kingdom in our countries.
On the morning of the second day, a couple from Venezuela whom are new believers, Carlos and Luisana, were water baptised. We started the day with a great celebration and giving all our praise to the Lord. Our Youth from Hope Peru led the time of praise and worship.
The second day was a day of workshops led by Pastor Oscar from Hope Peru and Pastor Claudia from Hope Ecuador. They launched the ABCD Discipleship for our churches in South America with the support of Hope Singapore. We also enjoyed an interactive workshop with Pastor Claudia on Pioneering and Evangelism.
Our afternoon was an afternoon of testimonies. Pastors Timothy and Phoebe, former pastors of Hope Ecuador, shared their testimony on how they are learning to depend more on God´s direction for planting a new church in China. Our brother Agus from Hope Ecuador also shared a touching testimony about our young professional Ecuadorian brothers and sisters sharing the gospel and blessing people in need through a social project called “Pan de Vida”.
We finished our second day with Pastor Christie who led us into an encounter with the Holy Spirit after sharing an empowering message on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What we cannot do, God can do! We are so glad that our youths in Hope Peru team experienced a tangible and powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit. Many broke out in tongues for the first time!
During the last day of the Conference, we were ministered and encouraged by Pastor Andrew to keep growing in our commitment to God´s church in our countries and we also had the chance to pray for one to another for the new goals we set for our churches in South America.
The Peruvian Team left the Conference with gladness in our hearts not only because we will be the host for SALT 2017 but also because as a team, we had a powerful time in God´s presence. We went home with the expectation that new and greater things are breaking forth in and for South America.
Written by Oscar Collantes and Carla Acosta from Hope Peru