A Special Disciple Here This Week!

Bob Tuttle Jr…Bill Pannell…Don Cousins…Judy Skaff…Pastor Isidro.

In my lifetime, I have been blessed by getting to spend time with a handful of folks who have made profound contributions to the kingdom. Bob is a world renowned evangelist. Bill is a powerful spokesperson for Christian justice around the globe. Don is a great leader who has taught thousands. Judy is Bible teacher living in India who has helped spark a revival of prayer in that strategic country. And Pastor Isidro has been walking the talk in a way that is inspirational to me and many others.

For most of his life, Isidro Mejia Cordero has worked in industry. He worked for 20 years as a supervisor at a world-wide manufacturing company in La Romana, Dominican Republic and frequently spent time at its headquarters in Florida. Isidro retired from the company that he had been with for 20 years and started a supermarket in La Romana that was very successful. During those years, he was also a busy family man with wife, “Lucy,” and two children: a daughter who is now a pastor in Puerto Rico and a son who is a civil engineer in Santo Dominigo, DR.

In 1976 and at the age of 23, he committed his life to Christ and became a member of the Methodist church in La Romana where he began ministering to nearby Haitian villages (“Batays”). He has continued to do so with his wife for the past 16 years. They took small bags of food or clothes when they had them. They also lead the Haitians in those Batays in worship, and many have come to know Jesus.

Isidro became a pastor in 2005 and was commissioned to lead a church in La Romana where he is currently pastoring in Barrio Pica Piedra (also known as Barrio George). When he started there as pastor, they were meeting for worship behind a small one bedroom “house” under a tin roof on a patio. Since Isidro arrived, this church has grown from six people attending worship to hundreds involved each week in worship, a school through Compassion International where they have 325 children, youth groups, children’s groups, Sunday School, Prayer Groups, a baseball league that has 300 children, English classes and numerous Bible studies. He has also launched Prayer Walks, expanded mission to the Haitian Batays, conducted leader training for his church staff of 10 and energized many special events related to worship and mission.

Covenant Church has had a close relationship with Pastor Isidro and is blessed that he will be in town this next weekend. He will be our featured speaker at our Four:Twelve gathering on Sunday night, and the indoor festivities, including Caribbean-flavored worship, begin at 6:30pm. (Families are encouraged to bring their own food and drink for tailgating at 5pm.)

What makes Bob, Bill, Don, Judy and Pastor Isidro so special? When you are around them, they just smell like Jesus. It’s unmistakable. You hear it in their words. You see it in their faces. You observe it in their behavior. It’s special and profound.

Write it down on your calendar, right now. Sunday; 6:30pm; Main Worship Center. Pastor Isidro has a word for us, and we need to hear it.

Intentionally prioritizing His way,
Charlie