CHALLENGES
Our first economic and ministerial challenge as GHNW is to bring a family of ministers from Chile to work with us, for which in this first quarter of 2023 we have the goal of raising all the money necessary for the budget for living expenses for the first two years. Their names are Carlos Valencia, his wife Ximena Urra, their children Valentina and Gadiel with 19 and 13 years respectively.
Carlos graduated as a social worker at the UNIACC University in Santiago of Chile, training that allowed him to be in charge of a private institution that provides services to the country for the prevention and management of child abuse. In the Ministerial, he has more than 25 years of experience as a leader in Worship, with prophetic praise allowing the Holy Spirit to move in the midst of the congregation. He also has Pastoral experience with young people and biblical preparation at the CET Center for Theological Studies in Santiago de Chile.
Ximena graduated as a Differential Education Technician at the Training Center Technician Diego Portales, Concepción-Chile. She has worked in various educational establishments, with a great passion for the education of children.
In the ministry, she has more than 15 years of experience as a leader in work with children and loves this work that she does with excellence. In her service to the Lord, she has carried out creative skills workshops with children and teenagers, as well as the development of social assistance activities for the community.
Grace Hispanic Northwest urgently needs this family to strengthen these two very important areas in a Hispanic Church, which are worship, as well as work with children. They will be very important in the formation of musicians, worshipers and leaders of work with children in the new plantations in which God opens the doors for us, developing a Pastoral work that will help us grow exponentially.
Garden Valley Church Español in Roseburg and Lifegate Español in Grants Pass will be their first leadership training challenge and we believe that this is God’s time for them to multiply in others and bless the Hispanic community in the State of Oregon with the call of the Lord that he has placed in their lives.
CONVERSION AND CALL
Below we share the conversion experience and call of Carlos Valencia, so that you can learn a little more about his life. Since my childhood in the city of Lota in southern Chile, I was instructed by my mother to live a life in Jesus and from that stage of my life until today, I continue to serve Christ in various areas of the church. Although I grew up in the gospel, my encounter with Jesus, where my life is marked, was at the age of 13, in a stage of my life in which I had many emotional conflicts, lack of affection, and was not clear why. Had been born, I needed to feel that God was real and that he loved me. It is at that moment when I could feel the embrace of the Father, where the presence of the Holy Spirit flooded my entire being and it was when I made the decision to receive Jesus as my savior.
That same day, God gave me a word in which I would develop the ministry outside of Chile. It was a time where I decided to dedicate my life to Jesus and serve with all my heart in his Kingdom. I began to seek and learn more about God through prayer, the word of God and music, coming to understand that the Father had a glorious plan for me. After this time I was baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in other tongues. I have always felt a strong call to serve in worship, which has allowed me to meet God in a very intimate way, maintaining a life of worship through music.
Since I was a child, God placed a strong call to serve in the church, believing in my heart that it is part of our role as a Christian to evangelize and bring people to know and encounter Jesus. In 2015, together with my wife, we received a word from God, in which He was preparing us to be Pastors, and that he would take us to another country. Since then as a family we began to pray with our children and make them part of what he spoke to us, where God put the Country of the United States strong in our hearts. From the year 2015 until today, the Holy Spirit has moved me to serve with great passion in his Kingdom, it has allowed me to lead the ministry of worship, pastoring all the members of the team.
In 2016, God allowed me to meet the Deramond family, who shared a call similar to ours. God was in charge of bringing us together in the City of Los Andes in Chile, uniting our call to the United States. As a family we believe that God is calling us and preparing us to work full time, dedicating our lives to ministry. In the years 2021 and 2022 I had the opportunity -first with my wife and then alone- to travel to Roseburg to minister at Garden Valley Church, in which it was an incredible time together with the Hispanic community, a time in which the Holy Spirit confirmed our call. and we have told the Lord that we are willing to leave everything to serve him. I believe that a glorious time of the Holy Spirit is coming for the United States, of which we know that God will make us a part. For which we have been praying and believing that God has shaped our lives and prepared us for this time.