The beautiful campus of Pacific Union College was the setting for the annual Hispanic Pastor's Meeting again this year. Elder Jorge Soria, our Union Director for Hispanic ministry invited me to join them on Monday, July 27th and give the 11:00 a.m. message.

It was a joy to see some of the pastors that I worked with from the Nevada-Utah Conference--Armando Juarez and David Valesquez as well as colleagues from the other conferences I have had the opportunity to work with over the past years I've served in the Pacific Union territory.

The work among the Spanish-speaking people in our Union is a fast-growing and challenging work for our pastors. They work very hard and often face challenges uniquely their own as compared with what we in the English work typically cope with.

With this in mind I was praying and contemplating what message would be encouraging to them during their retreat time. I had a particular message prepared but as I sat in the audience and interacted with some of my brothers I felt a strong impression to change my topic. (Nothing new for you pastors who follow this blog.) I chose my text as Ephesians 2:8-10 focusing on the phrases of Paul regarding God's workmanship in us and his preparation for us to do good works beforehand. The illustration of this text--and the bulk of my message--was my personal testimony of coming to Jesus Christ and the journey of my life.

The faces in the audience radiated recognition--we've all been there and can give our own testimony to His leading. As we closed our worship time together it was my prayer for these fellow pastors that they sense anew that every one of us is a unique workmanship of the Master builder of souls. Thank God for his leading in each of our lives.