View of Cartagena, Colombia from Our Hotel
(The following post was written by my wife, Mary)
Monday morning we left the cold and headed for the warmth—from Grand Rapids to Atlanta to Bogota, Columbia. As we took off from Atlanta on a brand new 757, Joel said, “I always feel better when we are up in the air.” I replied, “I always feel better when we are on the ground again.” One hour later, snack service was abruptly halted. The captain came on, “We are heading back; the weather radar is not working, and we need it to navigate the thunderstorms over the Andes.” They fixed it and we were on our way again. We arrived four hours late, took a taxi to the hotel (arriving at 4:00 a.m.), slept one hour, and greeted Bill and Marlene Greendyk. Bill heads up the Trinitarian Bible Society [TBS] in Grand Rapids (www.tbsbibles.org). We then flew one hour to Cartagena, where the ministers’ conference was held. Noe and Mimi Acosta were the organizers and Bill assisted. Noe is director of Gospel through Columbia (www.gospelthroughcolombia.org).
With Some Speakers, Organizers, and My Translator
There is an awakening for the Reformed faith among the churches in Latin America. Ministers and their congregations are increasingly turning from Arminianism, Pentecostalism, and Roman Catholicism to embrace the doctrines of grace. There was electricity in the air as Sugel Michelen, Burk Parsons, Sergio Ruiz, Tom Woodward, Keith Maddy, Noe, Bill, and Joel spoke to 200 pastors. My husband spoke four times on topics that related to the theme, “The Church against the Gates of Hell.” He was very grateful for an excellent translator, a young pastor named Eduardo, and for a very encouraging response from the ministers in attendance. I spoke twice to a small group of pastors’ wives, with Marlene Greendyk as my able translator.
With Brethren from Bolivia
Attendees were from Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and Florida. Bill and Marlene brought two suitcases of books for the Venezuelans as they are not able to obtain books, due to 70% inflation, corruption, and Communism. Donations brought the Bolivian brothers to the conference, one of whom has suffered persecution recently for having become Reformed, having his effigy burned in protest of his preaching. Again we met people whose spiritual pilgrimage was drastically altered by reading A. W. Pink’s Sovereignty of God. Several men shared how my husband’s book Puritan Reformed Spirituality and other books translated into Spanish have changed their lives, and led them in a Reformed and experiential direction in their preaching. After Joel’s address on worldliness, a minister came up to him with tears in his eyes and said, “I am a worldly minister.” Another said, “I need to go home and repent to my wife.”
Bill Greendyk Speaking on the New Spanish Bible Translation
TBS is nearing completion of the translation of the New Testament into Spanish. They are taking a reliable version from 1904 and modernizing it to make it easier to read. There are donors who are very interested in paying for the translating of the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible notes into Spanish, in order to supply many thousands of study Bibles to pastors throughout Spanish-speaking countries. Words cannot describe the joy of witnessing the light in the eyes of these men when they hear biblical truths preached with passion, and connections being made between people with means and projects that promote the gospel. The whole conference was so uplifting; the hunger of the attendees was palpable. By the Spirit’s grace, it appears that we are on the cusp of very exciting things happening in the Spanish-speaking world for the glory of God and the spread of the gospel. Praise and honor be to God!
With Pastor’s Wives and Marlene Greendyk
