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Oaxaca Covenant Church Dedicates New Building
OAXACA, MEXICO (January 13, 2004) - Dedication of phase one culminated a
three-year building project of Rios de Agua Viva (Rivers of Living
Water) Covenant Church on January 4.
Nearly 100 attended the service in the new facility, which is double the
size of the previous temporary structure where they met for nine years.
The church is located in the Siete Regiones (Seven Regions) neighborhood
of Oaxaca.
Pastor Antonio Cecilio Gomez and his wife, Yolanda, began the church in
1994 as a small fellowship of three families - the original church was a
tin-walled building above the home of Yolanda's parents, also active
members of the church. Pastor Antonio is in the middle of the
accompanying ribbon-cutting ceremony photograph flanked by his wife and
his brother, Sadot, who serves on the Covenant Church's South District's
Leadership Team.
In 1997 the growing church affiliated with the Iglesia Evangelica
Misionera del Pacto (IEMP), the Covenant's sister denomination in
Mexico. Covenant missionary Dennis Carlson said that land for the new
building was purchased in 1999 at considerable sacrifice to many in the
church who have continued to support the slow, but steady steps in the
current construction project. The new building is located just down the
hill from the previous building. The facility master plan includes a
larger sanctuary extending perpendicular into the hillside on the second
floor, as well as a parsonage.
Work on the new building began in spring of 2001 - a work group from
First Covenant Church in Jamestown, New York, provided assistance during
early stages of construction in August that year. A mission team from
Audubon Park Covenant in Orlando, Florida, helped prepare for the
pouring of the cement roof in May 2002. Several other visiting Covenant
groups have also assisted financially. Members of the congregation have
completed the majority of the work, however, Carlson notes.
In addition to building construction, members also have started two
mission works in the poorer neighborhoods of Guardado and Buenas Aires
in nearby Oaxaca City. They are also involved in Proyecto Felipe
(Project Philip), an evangelistic program in their own neighborhood
through the Bible League.
For more information concerning the new church and its ministries, email
Carlson at dcarlson@prodigy.net.mx.
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