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CMI Board member Bob
Kelly, Executive Director Jim Murray and
board member Mark Searing present a special
recognition to Cumbayá Senior Pastor Jorge
Giacometti. |
No doors. No windows. Bare floors
and concrete walls. Still, what the incomplete
auditorium lacked in visual appeal was more than
made up for by the joyous noise of hundreds of
worshipping voices inside. The event – the inaugural
service in the Cumbaya Church’s first permanent
facility.
The March 8th service marked a major
milestone for Cumbayá. The first facility is a
300-seat multi-purpose auditorium that will serve as
a temporary worship center until a larger worship
center can be constructed. After that, the facility
will be used for youth programs and for special
events aimed at reaching out to the community.
For the inaugural service, the
auditorium doors and windows were left uninstalled
so that tents could be erected outside to
accommodate a combined congregation of more than 600
people present for the special service.
CMI Executive Director Jim Murray,
Board of Director members Bob Kelly and Mark
Searing, as well as 20 other CMI friends were on
hand to present Cumbayá Senior Pastor Jorge
Giacometti with a special recognition of this
milestone moment.
Mark Searing especially knows the
significance of Cumbayá’s new facility having served
as pastor of the El Batán Church when it first
birthed the vision for the Cumbayá congregation
several years ago.
“There are literally thousands and
thousands of people that will be impacted by the
Cumbayá Church,” says Searing. “The church is right
at the entrance to this valley. As people come into
this valley they actually go by this property.
Hundreds of thousands of people will come by this
church and know that Jesus Christ is preached here
and it will be an opportunity to share the gospel
with them.”
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Construction continues on
Cumbayá’s three story Christian Education
building. |
A highlight of the service was the
special recognition the church made to veteran
missionary Milton Brown. Milton and his wife Pat
served together in Ecuador for 45 years. The Brown’s
were instrumental figures in bringing Encounter with
God to Ecuador and served on the pastoral team at
Cumbayá during the final years that they were
stationed in Quito. Sadly, Pat went to be with the
Lord this past January and was not able to be
present. However, in honor of them, Cumbayá
presented a plaque to Milton that designated the new
facility as the Brown Auditorium.
Work continues to finish out the new
auditorium as well as an attached three-story
Christian Education building that will provide
office and classroom space for the growing
congregation. Lord willing, Phase 2 – the
construction of a 1,000-seat worship center – will
begin in 2010.
“What has happened here is
incredible,” says Milton Brown. “God is changing
lives and how thankful we are for CMI and the
tremendous vision they have for reaching out,
helping and coming alongside these Latin churches to
help them see that God wants to do great things.”
EQ Spring 2009 Issue Main Page
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