Preaching in Spanish-speaking church

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted much on here in a long time. I do skim through the posts fairly often though. In most of my free time, I have been studying Spanish.

I have a prayer request. I will be speaking in a Spanish-speaking church next Saturday ( Aug 29th). Unfortunately, my Spanish isn't good enough to be able to preach in Spanish. Because of this, they have been nice enough to find a translator. This is the first time I will be speaking with a translator and I'm sure it will be a little different.

If you think of it, please pray that God would give me ability to minister the Word of God and He would manifest Himself in a mighty way during the service.

Thank you,

Josh

yes! this is the best reason to learn spanish. be blessed, and do let us know how it went.

expecting God to move,
h

PreachParsley,

I will be preaching tonight and using a translator, I have used one a couple of times and it is a little difficult at the beginning but find a decent pace and you the both of you should flow. My advice just be prayed up brother you will do fine. God bless. :-)

I have been on mission trips in Nicaragua and Mexico where a translator was doing the same thing. I didn't think it looked complicated at all, I agree with Axe, find a pace and it will work easily! It is a great thing to watch people listen so intently to the Lord speaking to them! I wish you well and I'll await a response to let SI know how it went!

Hi Josh...

How exciting! I will be praying for you, brother! I have experienced times in Mexico where I spoke in English...had my words translated into Spanish...which was then further translated into the Tarahumara dialect. It sounds like it would have been confusing, but the Lord did great things!

Let us know how it went!

:-)

GLORY TO GOD!!! He is answering many prayers. The Hispanic harvest in this country is VERY GREAT, and many of them are receptive to the Gospel. The Lord is sending laborers into His harvest.

I've been ministering in Spanish on a full-time basis for over a year now. I started learning Spanish in High School, and took some classes in college.

One thing that has helped me tremendously is the audio Bible in Spanish.

You can get a copy here:

http://www.biblebible.com/defaultot4.asp

Dios le bendiga, hermano!

so? how did it go? please tell us of His goodness!

growingholly wrote:
so? how did it go? please tell us of His goodness!

When I first got to the church, the door was locked but there was several cars outside. I was only 30 minutes early. I went back to my car and just waited. After awhile someone showed up and I asked him if we were having service. He said they were at another service and should be there shortly. Also, the pastor was in a small wreck- nothing major at all just a scape on the car.

Right before the service started, the brother that has been in contact with me was going around the room asking people how their English was. This was because they didn't have anyone to translate for me. The brother told me to preach as much as I could in Spanish. I was very curious to see what would happen. My Spanish isn't good enough to preach a whole sermon in Spanish.

The brother that I just mentioned knows English, but isn't quite fluent- but he knows enough to get by. I did the first part of the sermon in Spanish, but got to a point that I needed a translator. So, the brother translated for me.

It was probably the most difficult sermon I have ever preached. It was my first time to preach with a translator and his first time to translate. I had to think of what I was going to say, make sure that I said it in a very simple manner, make sure he translated it, and then start the whole cycle over. There were several different times that he asked me to repeat what I said or say it another way. Thankfully, most of the time when he did this I could just go ahead and say part of it in Spanish and then he knew what I meant. In that case he would repeat the whole sentence for everyone. Because of all the mental work I had to do, I did lose my train of thought several times. He said there were several words I said that he heard for the first time. A few times someone from the congregation would help him with a word or two.

The message was conveyed though. Overall, I believe it went very well. From what I could tell the people seemed very receptive. They seemed to appreciate what I had to say.

I grew from it and will be more prepared next time, along with the brother who translated for me.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity and thank God for the doors he is opening up for me amoung the Hispanic people.

I look forward to seeing where God leads.

- Josh

PS. Thank you to everyone who prayed.

this is a great story! praise God for His grace, that we are utterly dependent on Him! wow, it is exciting to read all that you wrote. thank you so much for sharing this.

this really helps to build my faith, thank you for being willing to post all this.

Thanks for the update!

I am excited for your opportunity and the work that the Lord did in getting a message out.

Lately, I have had a burden for many of the migrant workers in California. My wife and her family were migrant workers for years. They traveled throughout the United States (such as Michigan, Arkansas, Illinois, Georgia, etc...) and picked fields. They didn't speak any English. They lived in a one room travel trailer (her parents and my wife's nine siblings). They even bathed behind the trailer...using a water hose and sheets for privacy.

My wife's family has commented on how the various ministries were able to help them during that time. What an honor! Since then, my wife and all but two of her siblings have graduated with at least a Bachelor's degree. The other two are currently attending school right now.

Here in northern California, we have seen migrant workers in the fields as we have driven through the country. It brings back quite a few memories to my wife. We want to visit the fields with sandwiches, tacos and Spanish Bibles -- and a message of God's unfailing love.

You will be in my prayers, brother! May the Lord open many, many doors for you!

:-)

GOD BLESS YOU BOTH for your zeal to labor in the vast harvest field of Hispanics in the USA. Small acts of kindness speak volumes to them. The very fact that you are making the effort to learn their language makes an impact on them. Many of them make fun of the evangelicals in their countries of origin because prosperity religion has damaged the evangelical witness. They often think that there is a monetary motive . . . but when they see Americans freely giving of themselves with a genuine love for their eternal souls, the credibility of the witness gets much higher. Brother, your struggled broken Spanish can speak much more than a gifted Hispanic orator, because there is a sacrifice of love behind it, and they know it! While they are struggling to grasp English, they realize that it was a great struggle for you to learn the Spanish that you have learned.

I believe that sooner than we realize it, the traditional ethnic groups of this country will be in the minority, and "foriegners" will be in the majority. While elete white families are striving to keep small families in order to have more material prosperity, or aborting to have pleasure without responsibility, "foriegners" are "being fruitful and multiplying".

We can shape the future of this nation much more by evangelizing the growing mission field amongst us than the many political efforts that we find ourselves getting caught up in.

We can shape the future of this nation much more by evangelizing the growing mission field amongst us than the many political efforts that we find ourselves getting caught up in.

Amen. I agree.