Family Spotlight May 2015: The Rosas Family
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Meet Pastor Jose Luis, his wife Maria, and the rest of his family. Pastor Jose Luis has been a member of the Casas por Cristo pastors committee in Acuña since 2014. Just recently our ministry along with a group of volunteers from the First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, Colorado had the opportunity to build Jose Luis and his wife a much needed home.
Pastor Jose Luis worked in the factories in Acuña as a machine technician and then as a manager of technicians. Three years ago he retired and became a pastor.
Jose Luis has a heart for the people in the community that he sees struggling with addictions. People struggling with addictions often find themselves as outcasts in the community and many times are homeless. These types of people broke Pastor Jose Luis' heart, and he began visiting the places where these people hang out in order to build relationships with them. Over the last few years he has been known to be as bold as to invite some of them into his home, not just for a meal or for a visit, but to live with him and his family. He does this so they can have a stable living environment where he can give them pastoral support. At the beginning of his ministry, these types of bold moves caused great concern and anxiety among Jose Luis' family.
However, the boldness of Pastor Jose Luis' witness to the "least of these" began a transformation in his own family. They began to understand the Gospel in a new way: that God loves us even in our weakest and most depraved state, that he sent his son to come find us and redeem us, and that through Jesus' death and resurrection we have a new and transformed life. Those of Jose Luis' adult children and their spouses who hadn't fully committed themselves to following Jesus have now done so, and his family is now united behind his ministry.
The families of these former addicts make up the foundation of Pastor Jose Luis' church. Although their church building is incomplete - just a foundation, partial walls and a patch of tin roof - they are faithful to gather together to give praise to our God. Pastor Jose Luis dreams of completing their church building. The house that Casas por Cristo has provided next to the church will give them a completed space to meet, work and live. Pastor Jose Luis has a vision of building rooms next to the house where he can offer living space to more people working to become free from their addictions.
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