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!
Like this:
Like Loading...
