GREG'S APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER: LA LLAMA, VOL 8

Blessings from Chile and Happy Late-Easter!! If you were in worship at CPC on April 17^th I hope you got a chance to listen and watch the live video-chat we did in all 3 services. It was so great to reconnect with you all! And if not, you’ll find below a summary of our work with Fuego Urbano in April.

FIRST: We’ve formed a Fuego Urbano leadership group called PROFUNDO (‘Deep’ in Spanish) so we can mentor, disciple, and teach the basics of scripture, God, Jesus, etc. to Fuego Urbano leaders on a deeper level. Only one of them had a Bible when we began but we’ve gotten them Bibles and we’re slowly going through Luke & Acts over the next 6-12 months, using it to  discuss what it means to be a follower of Jesus, to lead, serve, etc. Our goal is to pour into them on a deeper level so they can pour into the rest of Fuego Urbano and the community. They’re really excited so please pray for us. Here’s a picture of most of the PROFUNDO group, with a couple people absent and a couple people in the pic who aren’t in PROFUNDO:

SECOND: We’ve been accepted into the La Serena Pastors Counsel which meets weekly and represents the pastors of the whole city. Our long-term goals have always been to influence and equip the whole Chilean church to open up to new and creative ministry through sports ministries especially, but also through the arts and music. To do that we’ve known we’d need to participate in the Council of Pastors but have always been a bit worried of how they would receive us, given their often negative and ‘worldly’ view on sports other activities. But we were invited to attend and they asked us to present ourselves and a basic presentation of Fuego Urbano, which most were favorable about, and a few even asked us for help in equipping leaders from their churches. Please pray God will continue to open doors for us among key leaders, especially among the more traditional and closed off churches!

THIRD: A Skateboard Competition was held at the local Skatepark and Fuego Urbano was there in force!! The picture below shows Pepe and some others with our Fuego Urbano banner right where the competition took place. Boti, who is the best local skater among the smaller kids and is pretty much always at Fuego Urbano, took 2^nd place in his division and got sponsored in the process, which is huge for him because as good as he is he’s never even had his own skateboard until now!! We’re super proud of him, and with the new board he was given he’ll be able to improve even more. Another Fuego Urbano faithful, Henry, competed in the Mens division but didn’t make it to the Finals. Henry is the best local skater in the bowls but competed against sponsored and pro skaters, though he is still committed to progressing and holding his own among them; he also teaches me everything I know on a skateboard!!

FOURTH: Fuego Urbano recently helped build a local ‘Jardin Infantil’ (Pre-School) for a group in the community who needed lots of help; it will be used as a safe environment for small children to play and have classes. A few of the mom’s whose kids will use it have said they want to come to Fuego Urbano now too, which is awesome! Our group had a great time building too, so we hope to do more of that kind of work and labor in the community soon.

FIFTH: We have 2 new community programs coming in May: Sports & Community Movie Nights. We continue our weekly soccer programs on Tuesdays & Thursdays but in May we’ll be taking these to a new level and partnering with the city in yet another phase of ministry and outreach. We’ll also begin a bi-monthly Community Movie Night for the community to come watch a movie for free, which we’ll show with our projector and big speakers, and then discuss how various biblical themes are expressed through the film, such as: faith, belief, doubts, struggles, sin, decisions & consequences, relationships, love, challenges, violence, abuse, sacrifice, service, glory, etc. Few in our community have $$ or a car to go see a movie in the theaters, so we’re hoping and praying this will be a really big outreach for us. I did a similar thing at CPC when I worked there called ‘Christ & Culture Movies Nights,’ which was always a good time and a cool way to connect the gospel to current and relevant culture.

SIXTH: Pepe’s wife Gislaine is pregnant…and in bed for 1 Month by doctor’s orders! Due to some complications with the pregnancy, Gislaine must stay in bed for a month or until she improves. Please pray for her health and the health of the baby, and for us all as we try to pick up the slack for her in all she does around the house and with Fuego Urbano.

SEVENTH: We still have some needs I’d like to share and ask you

to pray about helping with:

           -Trailer to haul Fuego Urbano speakers, sound/music equipment, 

                          instruments, etc: $700-$1000

           -Fuego Urbano Clothes/Shirts/Sweatshirts to give out: $200 

                          remaining (from original $500)

           -Monthly Supporters who commit to support us on a monthly basis,

                          whatever the amount

As always there are 2 ways you can give financially to Fuego 

Urbano:  1) Online Payments from here on my Blog; or

                 2) Checks made out to ‘Fishers of Men Fellowship’ and 

                      sent to:    Fishers of Men Fellowship

                                       PO Box 9284,  

                                       Newport Beach, CA 92658

FINALLY: If you’d like to see more pictures and videos of all we do, check us out on Facebook at ‘Iglesia Fuego Urbano’ or at my personal Facebook page.

Thank you all so much for your continued love, prayers, encouragement, and support! We are all-too-aware that NONE of this would be possible without you!!!

Greg Haugh & José, Gislaine, Gabriel, and Soon-To-Be-Born-Baby Eyzaguirre