The prophet Elijah had a hard job proclaiming the One True God. Elijah realized he needed help. (Okay, so he really just wanted to get out of the prophet business). But God persevered and continued to call Elijah as a prophet, while enabling him to discover and identify his eventual replacement.

Raziel Badillo (St. Luke Lutheran Church, Reading) knows that in good business and in our faith journey it is imperative to find and train our eventual replacements. As a leader and prophet in the Latino community, he is looking for many people upon which the mantle of prophet, teacher, leader and minister can be placed.

When Raziel and his wife Lorena attended the West Berks Mission District assembly and then the Spiritual Gifts workshop at the 2004 synod assembly, he recognized the enabling hand of the Holy Spirit at once. How do we find leaders and ministers for the Latino ministry initiative? By going out and meeting the people in the community, then helping them discover their spiritual gifts and recognize their other life skills. Follow up the initial program by connecting these people and their discovered gifts to ministries and needs within the community and church. Put it all together in the correct cultural context and language, and we, the church, will be taking steps to fulfill the Great Commission to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations... ”

Raziel brought his idea and need to the West Berks Mission District Stewardship Team, who had already begun leading and introducing spiritual gifts discernment programs to individuals and congregations in the mission district. “Are any of these programs in Spanish?” he asked the team. The answer was no.

Now, thanks to Raziel’s work with a program called LifeKeys and the help of his wife Lorena and Pastor Rebecca Knox (Christ, Grill), the answer is ‘¡Si!’

The Badillos gathered a group of seven for a midweek, midday disciple-nurturing experience. Our time together is as invigorating as a good siesta, without the sleep. Housewives bring their children and free baby-sitting is provided. Self-employed business people close their businesses for the three weekly sessions totaling eight hours.

The Bible readings, prayers, food, and conversation reflect the participants’ multiple countries of origin. The group celebrates our diversity of gifts and upbringing, along with our unity in faith and as members of the Body of Christ. We are identifying our God-given gifts, where and how we use them at work, and where and how we use them for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We will look to see if we are not using our gifts, or if we are using them at work and not in the church. We’ve already begun to see that being different is how we reach out with the Gospel to all people.

"Remember that YOU are blessed to be a blessing," says Raziel. "God bless us! ¡Vaya con Dios!"

You can be part of this exciting program, too! See the article on the LifeKeys/Blessed to be a Blessing retreat in this issue of Partners.