Tag: follow God’s lead

The embroidery of God’s handiwork

God’s hand, when it is shown to you, no matter how many times you see it ALWAYS blows you away.   This is a recap of a couple of days a week ago when God began to show His handiwork to us.

It started Sunday morning, October 9th, when Larry and Karol Smith (Karol’s kitchen) from Belize, came to visit in our Worship Service.  Karol gave a gripping testimony that morning and many were touched by God’s Word through her.   It just so happened that a family that is a member of our church is friends with them and their parents actually live and serve in Belize were in the service also.   They spoke and shared with Larry and Karol for some time after church which made us late for lunch!  But this conversation gave meaning to the next few days in a special way.  On Monday, I received a call from the Father in law of our members and he shared that he many times brought vehicles back and forth from the US to Belize.  We wanted to take our bus to Belize… but call me a person of little faith, but I really didn’t want our newly outfitted Commercial Kitchen Bus, “THE MANA BUS” as we will christen it… broken down in the heart of Mexico just “ripe for the pickin'”.  So I graciously declined his offer (although his discounted price would have saved us some much needed dollars).

Then came Tuesday… it started out as usual as most Tuesday’s begin… a cup of coffee and a “five minute huddle” with the administrative assistants and back to work.  Then the phone began to ring and emails began to show up… First, a note from Dr. John La Noue that stated the State WMU office Executive Committee met on Monday and approved $3500 to ship the bus to Belize… PRAISE GOD!  There the money we need to get it there… by ship!  And a few minutes later an email popped up from Carolyn Porterfield, the head of the WMU, stating as fact what Dr. John shared with me!

The phone rings and a gentleman I didn’t know, Michael Helton, wanted to visit with me.  It seems that the bus driver was speaking to him about our kitchen and Michael was interested in our project.  We visited awhile and he shared with me that he has been visiting Belize and working there two or three weeks a month for the past year and a half! An open country for the gospel, but with little or no Southern Baptist Work there now has an organization registered with the Belizian Government called “The Southern Baptists of Belize” because Michael set that up.  An answered prayer!  He shared that he is in the process of establishing up 7 churches in Central and Southern Belize.  An Answered Prayer for sure! He was very interested in the kitchen as he had 5 containers of food going to Belize next year… but no kitchen to cook it in… and we have a kitchen that can cook more food than we had food for… Wonder what God is up to… Then… we began to speak about Guatemala and the Food Security Issues there… but that can be saved for another post…

I do know this, the future is before us and it is ripe with opportunities.  Join us as we seek to follow God’s lead!

Our History….

The following is an excerpt from the book, “Walking with God in Broken Places”, by Dr. John L La Noue, former President and one of the founders of Amigos Internacionales.   I encourage you to get the book and read it…It’s an amazing journey of following God…  You can find it here….
by John La Noue….
>>>I had been asked by the pastor of The First Baptist Church of Athens, Texas, to preach in his absence on Sunday May 21. I spoke about how Jesus used common men in His ministry as disciples.
After the services were over, I was approached by Jim Wren; he was a corporate pilot for an oil company and the owner of a real estate and insurance company. Jim said, “Brother John, I appreciate your message, but I have a problem with it. I am a layman with no church work skills. I cannot sing or preach, I cannot teach in Sunday school.
There is not a handle in God’s kingdom that fits my hand. What can I do?” I told him that I would be at the HCJC Baptist Student Building on Wednesday and would be happy to meet with him and discuss the possibilities. He asked if he could bring a friend, Ed Nusko, who was a banker and had been experiencing the same problem. I told him to
bring anyone who wanted to seek ways to serve God. I sensed God was up to something
special, so I spent a lot of time praying for wisdom and guidance. There was no way I
could have dreamed what was about to happen to the three of us as God put our lives
together in ministry.
Monday brought disturbing news. I called Dr. McLaughlin and asked him to send
the information I needed to title the clinic bus to the Baptist General Convention of
Texas. He said that the BGCT was not set up to own that type of property. Their
attorney would not let them accept the liability of a mobile clinic. Since it was in my
name, I thought, “Well it is in my name, so I guess the liability will be on me. Lord
Jesus, this is your project give me wisdom and protection.”
I met Jim and Ed on Wednesday. We had prayer together, talked about our
professions, and discussed ministry opportunities for laymen. The meeting ended about
midmorning and as I left Jim’s office, I told him about my clinic liability problem. I
thought his work in insurance might hold an answer. He said that I needed to form a
nonprofit corporation to hold the title. I asked how to do that. Jim said, “Wait a minute,
let me call the city attorney and see if he will help us.”
He called the city attorney immediately, hung up, and said, “He is waiting for us,
let’s hurry over. He asked what to name the corporation. Do you have any ideas?” As
we crossed the street to the courthouse, I told him it would need to be a Spanish name
that sounded friendly. “We could name it AMIGOS. No, that is already in use by a
mission group from Houston. I had written a literacy curriculum for that group. Let me
think. It will work on both sides of the border, internationally. Hey, Jim, that is it! We
will call it AMIGOS INTERNACIONALES.” The corporation quickly received its
nonprofit status and its 501 (c) 3 tax exempt designation as well.
We were in business! But, as I said earlier, this is one of those things that I did
not have the knowledge to pray for specifically. God just took over and did His stuff. So
often I prayed for one thing and God did another that made things so much better than
that for which I had prayed. It was like stumbling and falling, but landing upstairs!<<<<
So now you know sort of how we began…As stated in an earlier blog, we are here to meet needs where those needs exist.   Out of this one simple meeting where a person said,  “What can I do for God?”….God opened up heaven and used this tiny little Non Profit to touch the world.   By the way, Jim Wren’s son is now on the Board of Directors and is continuing the work of his Father!
I encourage you to respond, to ask, to question in your own life how God can use you…and then join us on this journey to follow God lead…one step at a time!

What is Amigos?

Amigos Internacionales is a Non Profit, NGO that is committed to do what Jesus did, meet people’s needs where they are and share the love of Jesus as we go.

That’s a pretty simple mission statement, however it’s taken it’s members around the globe on many trips of mercy, providing assistance and meeting needs for almost 50 years.  I’ll give a brief history of our organization in a future blog, but today I want to share my vision for the future of Amigos.

Amigos began in 1967 when someone said, “We need…”, a group of men got together and said “God provides” and they incorporated the Non profit, Amigos Internacionales, Inc. In the beginning, they helped provided mobile medical and dental vehicles that have provided service in the Rio Grande Valley between Texas and Mexico for years.

We find ourselves in a peculiar situation as we begin our 50th year.  At the Board meeting in which the Corporation asked me to be President and CEO, I shared an interesting fact I hear several years ago.  It states that 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies are led and controlled by 1st generation/founders.  Of those companies, 75% of those companies will never make it in to the 2nd generation.”   This is where we find ourselves today.  Of the founders of Amigos, only John L. La Noue is still with us and he sits on the board.   We have the privilege of developing a new vision based on the history of our founders.  We realize we are surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses that have gone on before us, and they are cheering us on to continue the great traditions of meeting people where they are, taking care of needs and sharing the love of Jesus with them.

We are also fortunate enough to have Michael Mirau, a nationally renowned business coach and member of the Gazelles coaching on our Board of Directors.  He is also Chairman of the Board of Amore Ministries, a Non Profit organization providing shelter in Mexico, south of California.  Michael will be guiding us in the journey of discovering God’s path for Amigos’ future.

I do know this, the future is before us and it is ripe with opportunities.  Join us as we seek to follow God’s lead!