by Paul Hoard
Mabton, Washington, is a small Yakima Valley town of 1,891 people, 89 percent of whom are Hispanic. The town’s greatest claim to fame until now was the discovery of mad cow disease in 2003.
Early in its existence the Mabton Grace Brethren Church looked at the growing, but neglected, mission field of immigrants flooding the United States and decided to reach out with Christ’s love. They began looking for “an evangelist to plant a church in accordance with the Great Commission,” said Pastor Paul Guay, who has ministered there since 1998.
That search led them to Pastor Abner Solano who had come to the United States in 1987 as a refugee from a Nicaraguan civil war. Solano is a graduate of Nicaraguan Biblical Institute and an experienced preacher. A friend recommended the Mabton Grace Brethren Church, and on June 13, 1989, Mabton Grace Brethren Church daughtered the Iglesia de Los Hermanos en Mabton.
Christ is beautifully melding these two congregations together, separated by language, culture, and ethnicity, but united in Christ. “We constantly stress the unity of the church, assuring them that we meet separately only because of language but that we are one in Christ,” says Guay.
In June of 2001 God graciously drew Pastor Juan Marenco to Mabton. Of his partnership in the ministry Guay says, “In my 30 years of ministry I have never had the blessing to work with a more dedicated and honorable brother in Christ. He shepherds this church according to the pattern of Scripture.”
Marenco has been with the Mabton church for five years. He arrived in the U.S. in 1988 under similar circumstances to Solano’s, as a military refugee. Coming from a family of nine brothers, Marenco is also a graduate of the Nicaraguan Biblical Institute.
{mosimage}Currently, the Hispanic church has 52 members, 39 of whom have been baptized by triune immersion. However, Guay estimates that nearly 150 call Iglesia de Los Hermanos their church home. The group often hosts outreach events with 200 people in attendance. In 2005 the church saw 19 conversions with eight baptisms.
The growth has continued in 2006. Recently the church witnessed ten baptisms, including the Rentaria family, who moved last year from Los Angeles to nearby Grandview. The father, Rogeiro Renteria, first became involved with the church through a discipleship effort called “G-12.” Marenco reports, “He then came to the church services about a month later and received Jesus together with his wife. Their two older sons came to the youth group and received Jesus also.”
The G-12 program is modeled after the example Christ set with His disciples. One man leads or disciples 12 others, who in turn lead their own groups. This “ripple effect” reaches out into the community and serves as a great evangelistic tool.
Marenco tells the story of Jeronimo Ramirez. “This brother was first invited to another G-12 group before he even visited the church. Jeronimo was already losing his marriage. He was drinking, using drugs, and had a bad smoking habit, not to mention a gambling addiction,” Marenco recalls.
“The first time he visited the G-12 he was drunk. We welcomed him. He was very embarrassed by that and later he confessed that he had been drunk on his first visit.”
Ramirez received Jesus the second time he came to the church. His wife, Adela, observing the changes God had made in her husband, received Jesus about a month later. Jeronimo was baptized and now leads his own cell group. “His marriage is now strong and happy by the grace of God,” says Marenco.
All this does not happen without the help of Julia Marenco, Pastor Juan’s wife, and the mother of their two children, Juan Francisco, Jr. (8) and Juliady (5). Julia is an integral part of the ministry as she teaches the ladies and children, coordinates church-wide meals, and frequently hosts church people in her home.
Working together has not always been easy. Pastor Guay says, “We have had some deep waters with a few wayward members, but these struggles have helped unite the congregations and leaders and have “drawn the pastors close together in a spiritual foxhole camaraderie. We have had to bind together to meet the foe
