It is difficult to explain how faithful God has been during the past nine years. During this time, as a Hispanic congregation, we have witnessed Christ’s work in the lives of many people. How all this has taken place, I cannot explain. Perhaps that's why I love the words written by Warren Wiersbe, "If you can explain what is going on, then God isn’t doing it!"

During the past several years, God has blessed my life and the Hispanic Ministry beyond my own expectations and those of many people. In 2002, Stonebriar's leadership decided to offer a Bible study in Spanish, with the purpose of reaching out to the Hispanic community of Frisco. The plan was to share the Gospel and teach the Bible in Spanish. That was it! We began by discipling a young married couple in one of the smallest rooms in the church. With limited resources and practical service projects, we spread the word about this new ministry for our Spanish-speaking community. A year later, we held our first Spanish church service on Easter; approximately 35 people attended.

Since that moment, God has been responsible for duplicating each year the number of people attending and serving in our ministry. Today we are a family of nearly 300 adults, youth, and children. What began as a small Bible study has become a ministry that encourages people to have a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. And this is not only for Hispanic families, but for anyone who desires to be ministered to in Spanish.

We have begun 2010 with great excitement and a challenge that includes a name change and a new meeting location. To better reflect our ministry, Hispanic Ministries is now Iglesia Stonebriar en Español. On January 17, we held our first 10:30 a.m. worship service in the church's former Worship Center (now the Multi- Purpose Room). This new space offers an incredible new place for us to glorify and to exalt the name of God, with the singing, reading, and exposition of God’s Word in Spanish. However, it also provides a great challenge as we look to minister and grow into this new space.

I suppose you will think that I am boasting a little. But if I am doing it, I am boasting for God. When I trusted Jesus as my Lord, God did not exactly catch a great fish. I was not (and still I’m not) a celebrity or a brilliant person. I simply was a disturbed 16-year-old boy. But God took this ordinary and simple young man and transformed his life completely. The passage of the Scriptures that best describes my life and ministry is 1 Corinthians 1:26–29: "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him" (NIV).

The best teaching that I have learned in these last nine years of ministry is this: "You can never be too small for God to use, only too big." God uses people who are faithful in the small things. In His time and in His way, God will entrust us with bigger things. The most important thing is to be sure we are in His will.