The weekend of January 20-22, in Turner, Ore., local leaders from Spanish-speaking churches across the Oregon Conference came together for one of their biggest annual events – RED. RED, an acronym for Redimir, Entrenar y Discipular (that’s “redeem, train and disciple”), exists to equip and inspire local church boards as they set about their ministries for the upcoming year. Strategically scheduled as early as possible, RED usually takes place after church boards and new leaders have been established in their local churches but early enough to set a coordinated strategy and mission for the rest of the year.
Eli Martinez, the Youth Ministries director and communications director at the Forest Grove Spanish Adventist Church, has been attending RED events for over a decade. “RED represents this formalized sharing of knowledge in which wisdom gets passed down from leader to leader,” says Eli, “And we come together as a community to be able to grow through that shared knowledge that we have from working in the church in different leadership positions. It’s amazing because we have the opportunity to learn from leaders across the Oregon Conference who have varying experiences, and ultimately, we get to share and learn from each other while also being guided around different speakers and presentations. We had time to come together with our individual churches to do strategic planning and to set our vision and mission while also listening to other people’s experiences.”
RED emphasizes collaboration and tangible progress by breaking the event up between listening to speakers and dynamic, on-the-ground decision making by local church boards. Eli shared that many local church boards intentionally plan their meetings around this event and take practicable steps such as voting on and approving action items for their churches throughout the weekend. Taking action while attending the event allows these local church boards to return to their churches already prepared to implement ideas that are impressed upon them during the weekend.
“What ends up happening is that a lot of the methods and ideas that get shared during RED become incorporated in the new planning for that year for each local church board. It’s part of the culture of the event, so it’s come to be expected. So, each church gets the chance to refresh their approach to the coming year,” shares Eli, “It’s this amazing transition of learning and then being able to implement things immediately instead of having to wait until you get back to your home church.”
Concerns about youth engagement were a major focus during this year’s RED event and as someone who has been part of his local church leadership team since his teenage years, Eli shared that he found this focus to be meaningful. “I think there’s a real fear around making sure our demographics are staying in the growth area for our youth. So many churches are losing youth at a rapid pace for various reasons, and one thing we’ve noticed is that churches who have successfully created a culture that fosters youth have really focused on it. It doesn’t just happen, it’s intentional. So, we’ve seen that fear translate into action across the board. There’s been a significant shift. We’re being given more opportunities to be led through action and responsibility – and I think that’s important. That shift is no longer just on the youth leaders, it’s placed on the shoulders of every member, and I don’t think that’s always been the case,” he said.
One of the youngest leaders in attendance was Daniel Ramos, a 21-year-old elder at the Hillsboro Spanish Adventist Church who has been serving in that position for about a year and a half. Each morning before breakfast, he attended La hora de poder –“the hour of power” - to pray with fellow participants. Daniel said that out of the entire weekend experience, that was what impacted him the most. “It impacted me on a personal level,” he shared, “I believe your devotional life and starting every day by opening up your heart to the Lord really changes the tone for the rest of the day––and it changes the way that you lead, as well. For me, doing that in a group of people who had that same mindset of wanting to open up their lives to the leading of the Holy Spirit and singing together was just really good. You could see how we were all fully integrated into just letting God lead us in that moment and spending time with him. It felt very intimate and I knew it was a moment where I was growing spiritually. I could see how God was using each and every person in that room, and it was great to be able to hear them share their own experiences with leadership. It just started my days off right.”
Daniel went on to share one of his biggest takeaways from this year’s event––the qualities of an effective and Christ-like leader. “There were three core things that make up a great leader that I took home with me, and they’re all encompassed in community,” he said. The three qualities were humble service, being a good steward of time, money, and other resources, and being a good shepherd. “In Spanish the word for pastor and shepherd are the same––pastor. So being a good shepherd means taking care of the people God has entrusted to you and being able to listen to the ideas and inspiration that God gives to the members of your church themselves, because God leads through the people as well. So, we have to be there for them and to recognize when someone needs help or may feel lost and needs someone to talk to. Like I said before, all of the qualities of a great leader are encompassed in community.”
Summarizing his thoughts, Eli Martinez said this, “We’ve kind of woken up to the reality of what salvation-driven gospel work looks like. To me that’s essential, because if we forget who we are and what our mission is we can very easily get caught up in the semantics and praxis of things like music, clothing, lights, methods for youth ministry and all of that. And so I recognize that this has been a wakeup call driven, in part, by fear of losing the youth, but I’m inspired by the vigor that’s been created around it. It is truly amazing to know that there are leaders in the highest positions of our Hispanic ministries who are laser focused on supporting the youth. That signals to me an investment that, honestly, I didn’t grow up seeing. This switch has been, to me, one of the best ways that we’ve come together as a community to lead a revival that not only affects the youth, but the entire church. We’ve noticed how fundamentally important the gospel has become and spend less time on the semantics of what that looks like. This principal-driven ministry has made me want to stay involved. There’s financial support, people, effort, and interest going into this – and I think that’s the kind of investment we’ve noticed. Looking into the future is exciting. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I find myself being supported by those around me, and that, to me, is invaluable.”
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