Dedication service - El Mesias Methodist Church

July 7, 2007

Dreams and Prayers - Becoming a Reality

Lee McDonald

How does one describe a life changing event? How does one end a part of one’s life that has touched so many and is a miracle?

For the past four summers, missioners from South Carolina have had the privilege of working with the members of El Mesias Methodist church in Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico. UMVIM teams from across South Carolina traveled to Mexico to construct a church and not just any church - the only Methodist church in the city and the realization of a twenty-five year prayer. I had the honor of coordinating this project, living during the summers for five weeks in Mexico and experiencing the miraculous power of our Lord. We discovered language is no barrier when each person is working for the same end. When people are dedicated to the work of Christ, then we speak a language of the heart, the soul. For four summers we learned the language of the soul and “spoke” to our friends from El Mesias.

One day during the summer of 2004, Pastor Benitez shared the dream of building a grand church that many people throughout the city could see and then come to worship and learn about God. Little did I realize that day was the beginning of a journey that would involve hundreds of people from South Carolina, learning two languages-construction and Spanish and spending countless hours planning and raising money. The 2004 team worked on the parsonage of the pastor, which is located on the second floor of a concrete building. The room below was being used as a sanctuary. The plan was to build a grand two-story church in front of the small building housing the parsonage – 4 rooms and the “sanctuary”-one room. The new building was to provide classrooms and a huge space to worship for a growing church.

The plans arrived and the building project began. Because of the faith of four UMVIM-SC teams during the summer of 2005, the foundation was laid. We wrote our churches’ names in the foundation stones. We had become part of their foundation. Their twenty-five year prayer was becoming a reality.

During the following summer, 2006, the construction continued. When the first of the five UMVIM teams arrived, we saw the beginning for walls, a dirt floor and beams that suggested a ceiling. By the time the fifth team left, the church had a ceiling, lights, a concrete floor and finished walls. There was no doubt a grand place of worship was being constructed. We were truly a team in all sense of the word. For five weeks, the departure date of one team was the arrival date of the next team. The work of one team depended on the completed work of the previous team. As we built, we discovered we were also building a foundation of friendship that would continue for many years to come.

When the teams left each summer, the work continued. Members of the church sent pictures of each phase of the construction – the placing of the exterior doors, the completed ceiling, the hand-made pews, the tile floor – but these pictures could not adequately prepare us for the awe of seeing the completed sanctuary and the beginnings of the second floor when the first team arrived this summer, 2007. It was a miracle to stand in the sanctuary on what had three years ago been a field and one year ago a dirt floor. The four teams were able to complete the support beams, begin the electrical and plumbing and complete the ceiling of the second floor. The sanctuary was dedicated on July 7, 2007 and the final team from North UMC participated in this service. Six team members on that team had worked on this project for the past three years. I was asked to cut the dedication ribbon across the entrance with the presiding Bishop, Bishop Herrera. It was an honor to cut the ribbon for UMVIM-SC.

The second floor of the church is scheduled to be completed in late November, 2007. When I return to Calpulalpan in December to attend the first wedding in the completed sanctuary, I hope to see the miracle that God gave to each person finished and “open for business”.

Over fifty UMC churches from across South Carolina were involved with this four year project. Thank you for the support from these churches and the many people who believed a group of Methodists should not have to wait twenty-five years for a place to worship and learn. Thank you to those who sponsored a team, sent a missioner, donated money and prayed for the work and the missioners. One member from El Mesias wrote recently “because of South Carolina Methodists, we can now say “our church”.

I understand something more about God’s miracles now. This church is a miracle. It was not a “thunderbolt” miracle where the ground shook and a church appeared. It was a “sweat” miracle where we worked, loved, cried and experienced the living Christ. I am beginning to understand the “sweat” miracles are the ones that surround us each day and keep the world going.

How does one experience miracles – you travel on an UMVI M team, step out of your comfort zone and open your heart for the love of God to enter. Another miracle – one of the members of El Mesias has asked to travel with my team next summer! He is saving pesos, and I am working to secure a VISA! And the miracles just keep coming!