newsvine
Winter 2013 Aiming for Awareness! International Magazine of REVIVAL CENTER UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH
Bishop Randy Keyes preached a powerful message Watch Night service, announcing the theme for 2013, “Receive, Restore, Rise!” His message on the next page is a must-read for all our church members. Leaving 2012 was a great relief for most of us. It was the end of six years of “drought.” Our nation, inclusive of many in our congrega825 7th Street, Modesto, CA 95354 tion, suffered massive layoffs, uncertain markets, record foreclosures, Business Phone: 209-522-5365 and bankruptcies. But as Pastor Todd Johnson pointed out in our TheNewsvine@gmail.com last service for 2012, let’s believe that 2013 is the year of sabbath as mentioned in the book of Leviticus, where the Hebrew nation enjoyed EDITOR LEO AGUILERA double blessings and rest in honoring the seventh year holy to God. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Virginia Aguilera Assist. Ed. Multi-media Joshua Aguilera 2013 can be our year of rest from trials and turmoils, Pastor Johnson Business LiaisonS Don Morris, Charlene Wilson declared, and we can witness abundance and prosperity. So the next GRAPHIC DESIGN Leo & Virginia Aguilera night, Bishop Keyes challenged us to recognize how advantageous we PHOTOGRAPHERS Leo Aguilera, Nicole Evans, Grover Hunt, Stephanie Ryan can be receiving such blessings, for then we could restore our service REPORTERS Carol Castillo, Adam Mendoza to Him and rise to new heights in our walk with Christ! YOUTH REPORTERS Josh Aguilera, Aaron As Brother Jeff Morgan preached recently to us, there is a new Gomez spiritual climate and atmosphere for this new year. With God’s help, “DID YOU KNOW?” Jim Campbell every born-again Christian has the opportunity to take control of his/ MAILINGS Virginia Aguilera her measure of faith and speak the word to create that blessing in Jesus’ DISTRIBUTIONS Norbert Feliciano, Nathan Garcia name! Whether it is to win a soul, believe for a financial boon, or pray for a healing, we can speak our needed miracle to Jesus and He will CHURcH staff grant it to us. “Ask and ye shall receive!” We Apostolic Christians are blessed to have the true doctrine, the BISHOP RANDY G. KEYES full gospel, that was preached by the apostles in the first generation of pastor TODD JOHNSON the church. This editor just finished the three volumes of A History of assistant pastor Uday Narayan Christian Doctrine by our UPCI General Superintendent David K. assistant pastor Monty Albalos assistant pastor Adam Mendoza Bernard - what a valuable and rich resource of oneness Pentecostal youth PASTOR Jonathan Quinones history, carefully researched and verified by the leader of our organizaresident missionaries Uday Narayan, Xenn Seah tion! Every Apostolic Christian household should have these volumes aDministrative pastor Don Morris church secretary Charlene Wilson in their home libraries. Our legacy is to be shared with as many the SUNDAY SCHOOL DIRECTOR To be announced Lord sends our way. We have the doctrine of salvation, the authority to MUSIC DIREcTOR Tim Montez PRAISE BAND MINISTRY Joshua Aguilera preach faith, and the anointing to pray for miracles and God’s help to prayer ministries Charles Bispo those who ask for our prayers. If we are diligent with our daily calling world missions Jerry & Andrea Powell to bring light to someone who needs salvation, then we can see growth ladies ministries Sharon Keyes, Kim Johnson discipling ministries Adam Mendoza in His kingdom, starting with one conversion and seeing our efforts L.E.A.D. director Carol Castillo multiply. bible quizzing Sujey Diaz connect groups Paul & Jenifer Winter In January my wife and attended to funeral of a great patriarch in community relations Jeremiah Williams the Apostolic Assemblies of our Spanish-speaking brethren. Bishop wings of compassion Gracie & Greg Delgadillo apostolic man ministry Alex Diaz Gilbert Diaz was a mighty soul-winner and leader among pastors. heritage keepers Darrell & Jennie Wilson 2,000 were in attendance for his memorial service, with hundreds of Food for Thoughts, Nancy Williams, asst. Cathy Risch his extended family there. But the great blessing I received during the Food PantrY Married Life Santos & Cheryl Ramos service was the mention of my grandmother, Margarita C. Aguilera, who converted his mother in Arizona back in 1932. The hundreds of CHURcH SERVICES the Diaz’s family that came into truth from that one conversion, and the SUNDAY - 9:30 A.M. Sunday School-Children - Tuolumne 10:00 A.M. Sunday School - Adults - Sanctuary thousands who received salvation from the pastors and ministers that 11:00 A.M. Morning Service - Sanctuary came from that blessed family Prayer in Sanctuary & for the Sick 5.45 P.M. is an example for me to follow 6:00 P.M. REVIVAL SERVICE MONDAY - 7:00 P.M. All-Church Prayer from a grandmother who loved TUESDAY - 7:30 P.M. Starting Point for New Converts the oneness truth. WEDNESDAY - 7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Congregational Service FRIDAY - 7:30 P.M. Pulse (Youth Service) Let us make 2013 the year SATURDAY - 9:30 P.M. Saturday Morning Outreach to rise to our calling to share this great faith and restore our NEWVINE is published quarterly by the United Pentecostal Church of Modesto, commitment to love this true Inc., 825 7th St., Modesto, CA 95354-3414. Postage paid at 825 7th St., Modesto, CA 95354-3414. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Newsvine, 825 7th St., gospel, and receive the best Modesto, CA 95354-3414. Any submitted articles to the Newsvine are subject to blessings ever! Pastor’s approval and editing by the Newsvine staff. Maranatha, the Lord cometh!
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Leo and Virginia Aguilera
THEME FOR 2013
RECEIVE! I believe the greatest days of revival are yet ahead, and we are reaching for it! I believe that 2013 is a year for you, individually, and we, as a church collectively, to receive. I really do believe God has positioned us to receive bountiful blessings from the Lord. Sometimes we are not ready to receive, but it is God’s will that we position ourselves to receive His blessings. When He described the blessing of giving, He said it is more blessed to give than to receive. He used receiving to describe the blessing of giving. He had to have something that was wondrous and glorious to define giving, and receiving is the only thing that was worthy of that kind of comparison. You do not have the faith to receive until you understand that it is a beautiful, God-ordained blessing for us to receive. When the crippled beggar asked alms of Peter and John at the Gate Beautiful, Peter replied, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee…” Then Peter took him by the hand, raised him up, and the man walked for the first time in his life! The miracle not only was about was what was given, but that it was received. That is how we have to position ourselves. God can stretch forth blessings to give, but if we are not in a position to receive, we will miss out. The crippled man looked to Peter and John expecting to receive. I want you to know that the whole miracle depended on his state of mind. The reason some of you have not received is because you do not have the same frame of mind. You need to make up your mind that if this is a year that God is going to do great things, then you must develop the same frame of mind as the man at the Gate Beautiful. You need to think “I am going to come to church expecting to receive!” You have to live with the
mentality to receive every day, from the moment you wake up, to when you lay your head on your pillow. You have to have the attitude and spirit of a receiver because God has an extended hand. He has something for you! Sometimes people struggle with receiving. They may think that it is greedy to want to be a receiver. Don’t worry, God has everything that everyone else needs after you have received your blessing. There are some of you who are givers but find it difficult to receive - yet God wants to give to you. He wants to give good things to His children, just like you want to give good things to your children. If you have joy and pleasure giving to your children, how much more does your heavenly Father enjoy giving to you? Sometimes we do not have faith to receive because we have doubts and fears, and we feel as though we are unworthy. But, one of the greatest blessings one must learn before we can be a recipient is that God gives to us, not because of our goodness and worthiness, but because He loves us, and we are His children. Even though you may feel you do not deserve the blessing of the Lord, I want to tell you that your sins are under the blood. It is the will of God - the plan of God - for you to be a receiver. Do not be embarrassed or ashamed of receiving, but stand up and say, “God, if You are handing out blessings, I want to receive them for myself.” It is not an empty statement when we talk about the blessings of Abraham being ours. When we are born into the kingdom, born again by the water and spirit, we are, according to the scriptures, grafted in, and we become as much children of God as anyone of Jewish lineage. We can, consequently, believe God to receive every blessing He ever pronounced. We have got to learn to position ourselves spiritually and to have open arms to receive. While the waters are troubled, we must step in. God has positioned us to receive great blessings, the blessings of Abraham…and more! It is
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Right: Bishop Keyes expounds on the theme RISE, during his preaching on the 3 R’s for 2013: RECEIVE, RESTORE, RISE!
Left: Girls pose in their party gear at midnight. Above: Signs for the Times perform under the ďŹ nal directorship of Josh Aguilera.
the hour of GOSHEN - the time God is doing good things. Get out front where God is giving out His blessings!
RESTORE! I want us to wake up and realize that 2013 is a year of restoration. I am addressing people who feel like the enemy has stripped them of spiritual blessings, as well as material ones. People, who have been stripped financially, many who have lost jobs, cars, and even homes in this recession, will be restored to their highest place and more. I believe people who have been stripped spiritually; who feel wounded and hurt, before this year is over will experience restoration. Your faith is going to be strong, and your joy is going to be great. Do you remember how excited you were when God filled you with the baptism of the Holy Ghost? How excited you were when you were a brand new convert? Do you recall the zeal, the boldness, the willingness to tell others what God had done for you? I believe God is going to restore that same joy to your life this year. I do not think that this restoration is just for one or two, but I feel like it is going to be a flood of restoration for many in our congregation. I believe confidently that this is a year of restoration for you as individual people of God and to us as a church body. I do not want us to be telling stories of the old days of Pentecost. I want us to be so thrilled with what God is doing in our lives and in the midst of the church now that we do not have time to talk about old-time Pentecost. God wants to restore everything that has been in His church. I am challenging this church to live out the life of the Apostolic church. I want you to remember the greatest revivals we have ever had, and I promise you that in this coming year, we will experience those revivals again and even and greater ones for the record! Israel as a people has been scattered and stripped of all that God intends for them. They have been deceived and led astray, confused, and persecuted. But God lets us know in His word that He will not leave His people there. God is already bringing about a restoration in
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Right: Grandpa Hunt parties with grandson Ethan.
Israel which will cause it to be the greatest of all nations and people on the face of this earth. So it is with the church. When the church is attacked and stripped, God will not leave it there. He will restore to it His blessing because He is the God of restoration. A multitude of prophesies have gone forth. I do not believe God has spoken to us in vain. I am confident that many, many of those blessings God has spoken for us are going to come to us in this year of restoration. It has already begun. God is ready. We need to be ready for a restoration. This church can be filled to overflowing in a matter of weeks if we believe that God is ready to restore, and if we position ourselves accordingly.
RISE! We cannot sit contented; we must rise up and advance. Rise defines a physical position. When we rise, we are changing our physical position. Physical positions often emulate spiritual ones. It is time for the church to rise up in the Spirit. The reason we rise is to position ourselves to move ahead and to do things for God that we cannot do slumbering or lounging in a restful position. It is not time in 2013 to be yawning in the spirit. We are not going to play around. Because of the abundant blessings of God we will receive, because of the great restoration God is going to accomplish in our lives and in our church, we must rise! Get a plow in your hand, get a tract to pass out, get a Bible study ready. We know too much to sit around wordless. We have too much to just sit around in parsimony, stingy with our time and finances. Rise up and get busy for God. We cannot be comfortable doing things the same way. Some of you need to make up your mind that you and your family are going to do things differently. We must realize that this is a season for us to RISE to our feet in the Spirit to witness and give of ourselves. Then we can advance, we can take, we can possess, and we can claim all of the things God intends for us to have. We are rising to advance for His kingdom - we must advance!
It is with great expectation that Revival Center enters 2013. The atmosphere has changed, and a great determination for revival has been birthed in our hearts. Anointed preaching by Evangelist Greg Godwin (top right) in January helped to set the tone for the year. “A Stop on the Road to Greatness” was Brother Godwin’s message to the church. He compared the journey of our church to that of Abraham and his descendants to the promised land. Abraham, when he left Ur, started a journey to greatness, but he had no way to comprehend this. On Israel’s journey to greatness, they were in bondage. Everyone, he said, spends some time in Egypt. He reminded us that, as Abraham, we are blessed and highly favored. As he spoke of the importance of being anointed, he splashed water towards the congregation (left). (above left) He had us remember our crossing over into a new time of great revival by placing stones on the altar.
Foot Washing Service
A long-standing tradition of the church is our Foot Washing service. Because of the size of our congregation, it has been moved from Watch Night to the Wednesday night following. It is a very special observance, met with much prayer and reverence as we recall Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet during the Passover celebration prior to the crucifixion. Left, Brother Allen Ward washes Bishop Keyes’ feet. Right, the brethren pray for each other as they participate.
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e have been blessed by the preaching of Brother Mark Drost this year. We never thought we would hear a sermon titled “La Cucharacha,” but it will be a topic we will not forget. Brother Mark Drost used the metaphor of a cockroach to encourage us not to believe in the lies of the enemy. A cockroach is nearly indestructible. You can cut off its head, and it will live for a week. However, if one could convince the cockroach that it was powerless, it would fall to the ground. He told us that many people are bound by the lies of the devil. “He operates in persistence and stealth.” The devil will keep telling us the same lies until we finally believe them and feel we are powerless. “Know the truth and the truth shall set you free!”he proclaimed. In another sermon, “I’ve Got the Power!” he encouraged us to push away the spirit of rejection and fear and to have faith which activates the power of God. “Talk crazy faith,” he exhorted. Our altars have been filled and a new fervor for revival ignited. Above: Brother Drost is very demonstrative in his preaching. Below are pictures from the three-day revival (evening services, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) we had with Brother Drost. On Monday night (below) we had prayer lines for those who needed a miracle. Others brought home prayer cloths. We are expecting great results from these revival services with this dynamic preacher!
To Whom Honor Is Due...
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Sister Ketner
90th Birthday!
Brother Todd
80th Birthday
Brother Geer
Modesto’s New Vice-Mayor
hat a blessing it is to have such long-time faithful saints as Sister Bonnie Ketner who just celebrated her 90th birthday and Brother Jerry Todd, his 80th! Still living for God after many decades. We also honor Brother Dave Geer, who was just appointed Vice-Mayor of Modesto by the mayor and city council. Congratulations and Christ’s blessings to all! 6 WINTER NEWSVINE 2013
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rother Jeff Morgan, pastor of South Coast Worship Center of Orange County, continued to whip up the flames of revival. His sermon, “Breaking Out of the Trap of the Past,” urged us not to base our faith on what has happened in the past, but to trust God for anything. “Faith,” he said, “is simply not giving up on God’s promises.... Just because he hasn’t, doesn’t mean He won’t.” Brother Morgan’s text was from I Kings 18:41-44. When Elijah prayed for rain after the drought, his servant only saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand, but Elijah looked at the small thing and saw abundance! “When Seeing Is Just Not Enough” was the title of another anointed sermon he preached in January. His message was another one of encouragement. In spite of all the impossibilities in your life, God will always keep His word. We cannot say we are hungry for something but act to the contrary. We have got to be determined to get everything God has promised us. In February, Brother Morgan visited us again. Using Genesis 1:1-3, he preached “When the Atmosphere Changes.” He said to reproduce and sustain life, the climate must be conducive. The enemy does not want you to know that something is getting ready to be created in your life. In what you thought was discouragement, God was working on creating the right atmosphere in your life. We are thankful for the close relationship our church has with Brother Morgan and look forward to his ministering again this year.
Brother Morgan puts his all everysermon. He actively works the altars and even steps into the pews to pray for those who are receptive to the moving of the Holy Ghost.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Phil.3:12 (NIV) Observing her toddler brother at play, the older girl remarked to her mother, “I can’t wait to see what he’s going to become.” No doubt she was thinking of his profession, and that he would grow up to be a teacher, or perhaps an accountant or an engineer. What the young girl didn’t understand is that becoming the person God intends us to be is a lifelong process. The person we are in our 20s is not the same person we will be in our 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond. We can never claim that we have “arrived” in life. Only Jesus Himself can say, “I am that I am.” Jesus alone is complete in Himself, He is full, and nothing remains for Him to learn or improve upon. Danger comes when we strive only to remain in our current state. We should be pursuing spiritual, mental, emotional, and personal growth through old age. Every tree that reaches full maturity is still growing. New branches sprout, new leaves grow. Most cells in the human body regenerate every seven years. Every living thing is either changing…or it is dead. Challenge yourself in 2013. Engage in purposeful living that goes beyond multitasking your way through a daily to-do list. Serve your neighbor. Develop your prayer life. Work on your weaknesses. You still have depths to explore, things to learn, and unimagined talents. Remain flexible, open minded, and strive earnestly to be the person God designed you to be. There is no finality to what you can become!
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An Apostle for Modern Times
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n the first night of Missions Conference, Brother Uday Narayan was honored by the Newsvine department with a special multi-media presentation depicting his years of service since 1983 devoted to reaching the lost of Fiji and India. It has been a remarkable history of dedicated zeal preaching the gospel to first his relatives in Fiji, and then all of us witnessing the miraculous when our Lord Jesus opened doors for him to all of Fiji, followed by India! Thousands have been
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saved from his preachings of the gospel. Scores of churches have been founded, and many congregations which were formerly trinitarian in doctrine, joined the fold when Brother Narayan targeted them for conversion to the true gospel. His wife and children were also honored for their sacrifice to assist this modern day apostle. After receiving his plaque, Brother Narayan spoke words of gratitude to first Bishop Keyes who commissioned him so many years ago to begin an outreach thousands of miles away. He also thanked the congregation for their faithful financial assistance through the years, and Pastor
Todd Johnson representing a new generation burdened for the lost in these far away lands. Let us continue to pray and share our brother’s burden in this divinely ordained missionary endeavor. In the above photos, Editor Leo Aguilera makes the presentation to Elder Narayan and his family. At press time, he was on his 25th missionary journey. The photos below were sent to this editor of one his baptismal services in Central India. The photo below right shows Brother Narayan leading in worship at one of the new Apostolic congregations.
Remember Our Visiting Missionaries in Prayer Steve Phelps
James Marse
Michael Tempke
Stephen O’Donnell
Uganda
Bolivia
Glendale, CA
Rancho Cordova, CA
Ensenada, Mexico
Billy Teret
Tiffany Wright
Javier Gomez
Kam K. Kap
Timothy Whiseant
Panorama City, CA
South Korea
Vallejo, CA
BurmeseEvangelism
Vacaville, CA
Stacey Marse
Tiffany Tempke
Yvette Phelps
Josephina Teret
Andrea Whiseant
Bolivia
Rancho Cordova, CA
Uganda
Panorama City, CA
Vacaville, CA
David McGovern
Karla Gomez
Monique McGovern
Tom Foster, Speaker
Vallejo, CA
Glendale, CA
Pastor, Fort Worth, Texas
Missionary Children
Sacrificial Offering
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The Calling By Yvette M. Phelps
(Editor’s Note: After hearing Sister Phelps tell their testimony during the missions conference how the Lord called her and her husband to the missions fields, we asked her to share it with our readers. Read how supernaturally that calling was!)
s I write this, I feel a tremendous burden for souls! One cannot help feeling this way when the Lord calls in a miraculous way that cannot be disputed or doubted! Although we cannot write here every single miracle, we have given you a snapshot of what God can do. When Brother Phelps was a small child he had a recurring dream of being a grown man in Africa as a missionary with his family. In the dream there was adversity and a command to renounce Jesus Christ as God! Many nights he awoke from that dream. In 2003, we were working with the late Reverend Donald Ikerd, assisting in the work in Arizona. Steve was sitting at his desk at work when the Lord spoke to him about going into the bush of Africa. It was such a strong call, Steve felt as he was going to leave that very moment! Wisely, Brother Phelps knew I had no desire to be a missionary at that time, but he prayed to the Lord to speak to me. All the while God kept dealing with him so strongly. He wanted God to confirm this calling not only to himself, but also to me and to his pastor. Overwhelmingly, the Lord confirmed his calling over and over. One day, Brother Phelps asked Brother Ikerd how he received his calling. He explained how he laid out a fleece. He asked the Lord to let him receive a magazine with an article about Africa by noon that day. This was back in the 1970’s. The magazine arrived misdelivered and entirely on Africa. Brother Phelps felt if God could do it for Brother Ikerd He surely could do it for him. So he prayed a prayer in 2005, asking the Lord to send a magazine that was completely about Africa. As he approached the post office box, he anxiously opened it, and to his amazement, he pulled out a magazine all about Africa with a cover that read “The Fields are White, But Where are the Laborers?” In 2006 Brother Phelps prayed to God that He would deal with me. That year our family went to a zoo. We were looking at the zebras, but they were so far to the back that we could hardly see them. As we watched, all the zebras looked up and walked towards us. Then one zebra approached us and, amazingly, we were able to pet it. Walking away,
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Brother Phelps told me, “You are not going to believe this!” He had just prayed that God would confirm the call to Africa and asked the Lord to send one zebra. But he changed his mind and asked God to send them all. I stood there stunned! Brother Phelps had waited for his pastor to confirm to him he was supposed to go, but then Brother Ikerd passed away in January, 2008. Christmas 2008, 11 months later, Sharon Ikerd prayed in her living room. She desired to give Steve something very special for Christmas that had belonged to Brother Ikerd. God spoke to her and told her, “There is a letter in the briefcase.” Knowing the briefcase, Sister Ikerd hurried to find the letter. To her amazement she found it and placed it in a box with some of husband’s personal things and wrapped it. That very special morning, Brother Phelps found the letter and read the title, “Will you let the sun set on the revival in Africa?” The letter confirmed to him it was time to GO! With less than eight months of deputation to go, we are anticipating getting to Uganda this year. Our mission is to help establish a Bible college to develop pastors, teachers and leaders; conduct training seminars in the bush; evangelize new areas of the country; supervise the translation of tracts and literature; develop ladies ministries; and music. We hope to spend many years dedicated to the work in Uganda and look forward to what the Lord is going to do. Will you pray for us? Brother Phelps, my sons, Aaron and Kevin, and I will be making quite an adjustment to a new country, new faces, a wonderful culture, and a new home. With so much work to do, we would greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers. In John 4:35 its says “…Lift up your eyes, and look on the field; for they are white already to harvest.” Because the Lord has beckoned, we have lifted up our eyes; we have answered the call; and we will go to the field of our calling. What a privilege it is to serve in this great Apostolic truth of the One True God, Jesus! You can visit us at our website: www.ugandarevival.com
A Goshen Blessing!
Revival
David Smith
Faith was sky high after a special revival service with evangelist David Smith. He preached about God in 2013 sending our church a Goshen blessing, one in that God miraculously provides for His people. Ever since that night, financial miracles have been reported in our congregation! Jobs, raises, special provision, and unexpected checks in the mail. God still takes care of his people in miraculous ways!
Senior Banquet
One of the best perks about getting older is being able to attend the annual Senior Christmas Banquet. Besides the great eats and entertainment, it is somehow comforting to look around and see a room full of gray hair. I’m not alone! A huge thanks to Jeremiah and Nancy Williams who host this event each year and to their hard-working crew. From left: Brother Jeremiah; Bishop Keyes with “Maria” and “Pepe”; Sister Nancy and her crew; The Todds fellowship with the Powells. Seniors of the Years were announced - see the back page!
CHRISTMAS MUSICAL Repeat the sounding joy!
This year’s Christmas musical was a wonderful time of celebration organized by our music department headed up by Music Director Tim Montez. Pictured from top left: Mehgan Johnson sings “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”; Natalie Albalos plays a violin solo; the Revival Center choir sings “Awesome Wonder”; angels guard Mary, Joseph, and Jesus during a skit directed by Drama Ministry Director Danny Gregory; and the Children’s Choir directed by John and Amy Rodriguez get ready to perform “Little Drummer Boy”. We thank God for the souls who came to find the Prince of Peace!
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text by Leo and Virginia Aguilera
CONCLUSION (Editor’s Note: In our last issue, we learned that the Hurtado sisters, Rosie, Josie, and Jackie, were born into extreme poverty. Their parents were field laborers and had to work hard, grueling hours in the hot sun picking various fruit and vegetable harvests throughout California. The sisters joined their parents while still young girls, and their lives were dictated by a domineering, abusive father who beat them and their mother into submission, creating a hostile environment of fear and pain. Their misery was compounded with his drinking, gambling, and womanizing, building tension in the marriage until, one night, an explosion of violence left their father dead, shot by their mother in act of a complete meltdown. She was sent to the psychiatric ward of the state prison, where a team of psychiatrists determined she was innocent because of extreme mental and physical trauma leading to temporary insanity. Their mother was released after nine months. We begin with the single-parent family free from fear, but still facing ahead of them the struggle and challenges of life.)
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heir mother was still in a state of shock. The sisters noticed she was not herself, and it would take months before they saw their mother come back from that dark abyss and was herself again. They eventually would rent a two-bedroom trailer in the East Los Angeles county area, with all four girls sleeping together in one of the bedrooms. After moving to a small house down the street for a short time, the family moved again, this time to Santa Maria, north of Santa Barbara in Central California. Rosie and Josie admit that they did
FROM THE MIRE TO THE MIRACULOUS THE GRIPPING STORY OF THREE SISTERS not finish high school. They spent too many days ditching school to drink and party. Both girls dropped out before their senior years. Their oldest sister Terry, however, did graduate. She had made good contacts with friends who believed in her. She was sponsored by a local high school teacher and his family who helped her apply for financial aid so she could attend Cal State in the Los Angeles area. She began her new life of becoming a professional, and today she is a principal of a middle school in the Los Angles area. Because of her success, she was able to help her struggling family. God in His own way was preparing the sisters’ journey to His church. He had to remove things here or there, or they would not be living for Him today. They did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - they only knew He existed. He was good to have during a 9-1-1 situation. But in perspective, God was very much a part of their young adult years before they found Him. He was there all the time. He certainly took away the impediments one by one leading to the altar of repentance. All the sisters feel more good came out this than bad, and they are grateful for His wake-up calls that brought them each to the brink of death. JOSIE’S STORY A NEAR-DEADLY ATTRACTION
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fter picking in the local fields of Santa Maria, Josie and her sisters would get dressed up to the hilt and go party. At one of these parties, Josie met a very handsome young man named Ray. Although he was
two years younger than she, Josie did not care. “We clicked right away,” she said. They dated two years before they married. Unfortunately, the partying did not stop, even though Josie was now pregnant. Ray was handsome, but he was also a player. His unfaithfulness before their marriage continued after saying their vows. The violence surfaced after the wedding ceremony. Ray was secretive about his extramarital affairs, but Josie was heartbroken each time she heard about his unfaithfulness through the grapevine. Another aspect of married life that was frustrating was that Josie was still working in the fields. Ray’s family owned several strawberry patches, and she was expected to pick, even when she was six and seven months pregnant. “I felt like I was living my mother’s life all over again,” Josie said. The physical assaults began after her first child, Ray, Jr., was born. Ray would go out on her, she would find out about it and get angry. He ended her scoldings by breaking her nose three times, then punching her with his fists. Once, he was at a party with a date. He got mad when she showed up. In the front yard of the house, he knocked her down, then started kicking her body and head repeatedly. Their party friends gathered around, begging him to stop without success. “You’re going to kill her,” they shouted. Finally he stopped, and she staggered into the house, got a bottle, and as she walked out to the porch, broke it on the steps. She remembered Ray was still laughing with his date, uncaring that he had injured and humiliated his wife. Furious, Josie took aim and slammed the broken bottle on Ray’s head. Ray was startled; his head began bleedWINTER NEWSVINE 2013 13
ing profusely. In fear of retribution, she started running down the street to escape Ray’s sure wrath. Was this enough for him to finally beat her to death? As she ran, she saw headlights approaching. Her hopeless mind saw her chance of escape. As soon as the car drew near, she flung herself in front of it, hoping to end her suffering at last. But her plan was thwarted when the car screeched to a stop inches from her body. It was a patrol car. Tearfully, she described to the police officer that her bloody and bruised face was caused by the beating she had just endured from her husband. The officer asked if she wanted to press charges, but Rosie declined. She had a child to think of, and what would Ray do to her when his parents would bail him out? The second time Ray broke her nose, she was out with her sister Jackie. When they came out of the mall, Ray was there and ready to fight. He started hitting Josie. Enraged, Jackie went at him with her nails. He pushed her back, knocking her to the ground. Then kept hitting her sister. Josie just took it. She loved Ray too much to fight back. She also knew of his violent history and was afraid of what he might do. Even though Josie felt Ray would surely kill her someday, she stayed in the marriage. “To me, he was everything,” she said. Josie admits that there was a second time she attempted suicide. She and Ray had separated, but it still broke her heart when he attended a wedding with someone else. She confronted them at the wedding, and then started walking out the reception hall, weeping. As she stumbled across the grass lawn, something glittery caught her eye. It was the broken bottom of a beer bottle. Stooping down, choking with sobs, she picked it up and started cutting 14 WINTER NEWSVINE 2013
herself. A man leaving was startled by what he saw her doing, rushing to her aid. As he lifted her by the arms, blood started gushing out from her lacerations. An ambulance was called and rushed her to the hospital. The next day in her hospital room, Ray told Josie he wanted to see what she did to herself, so she unwrapped her arms. As he looked at the many red-rimmed gashes, his words of comfort were, “You’re so stupid!” Josie knew she needed help, and, within days, an acquaintance invited her to a Four Square Church. Josie accepted the invitation, and found herself going every now and then. She was in pieces, broken. “I wanted to die,” she said. “I didn’t feel any peace, but this small non-Catholic church became a refuge for me.” She thought about being baptized, but never followed through. Despite her horrendous life, she had not reached rock bottom yet. It came when she and Ray were outside of his mother’s house. Josie was angry because he had been out partying. When she confronted him about what this was doing to their marriage, he grabbed her by the hair and began smashing her face against a large rock. This time when he broke her nose, the bone was actually protruding from her face. He had also fractured and dislocated her jaw. She ran to an alley, screaming for help, and held onto the fence. Ray’s family chased after her, wanting to avoid involving the police. When they saw her face, someone handed her an old bucket to spit out the blood. Miraculously none of her teeth were broken, only chipped. They dragged her back into the house. The next day she went to the emergency room of the hospital. When asked what happened, she told the attending doctors and nurses that she had fallen. She was told she had a collapsed jaw. It
took a specialist to repair her broken nose and set her jaw properly. Finally, Ray left her. Josie admits she never would have left her marriage, even with the merciless beatings. Ray removed himself from her life for another woman. Josie filed for a divorce, but it took Ray a little while before he signed the papers. When Josie remarried, they all actually became friends. Sadly, Ray was killed in an act of violence years later. After the divorce, Josie was now on welfare with her two young boys, Ray, Jr. and Rudy. While in Santa Maria, she attended a Christian concert at the Four Square Church. Bit by bit, her eyes began to be opened to a God who could be her personal savior. She remembers saying she wanted to accept Christ at that concert. She bought an album and went home, humming to it. She felt broken and humbled, but she also felt that she was about to receive something from God. Suddenly, there in her living room, her tongue just “took off,” and she began speaking in other tongues! Startled, she slapped herself to stop, but she let it go, and felt great joy. Josie’s faith in God started blossoming from that day. She remembered being taught if two or more people believed that God would do something, it would happen. The next day God would prove Himself real to both sisters. Jackie was visiting Josie and complained of her shoulder hurting. “It hurt so bad, it was difficult to breathe,” Jackie remembers. The sisters began singing the worship chorus “Hallelujah.” The Holy Ghost took over and Josie began singing in the spirit. When she finished singing, Josie laid hands on her sister and began praying for her. The pain went away. Josie eventually moved to Modesto,
taking advantage of a contact with one of her mother’s friends. Within a few weeks the contact had a family member named Juanita who invited her to Revival Center. On Josie’s first visit, she was shocked not to see a cross or any statutes of saints gracing the building. “I thought, ‘Why isn’t Jesus on the cross?” Seeing people running and jumping in the church made her “freak out.” But this did not stop her from returning again. The more she started going to this church, the more she was captivated by the moving of the Spirit. One night, she remembers seeing a mist everywhere while the saints worshipped, “I saw mist all over the church,” she said. “I thought, these people know how to party.” She thought they were letting out mist from some pipes under the pews or from the walls, just like what happens at the discos. She discovered later that not everyone saw it. “Now I know it had to be the Shekinah glory of God.” She was ready to join this church. She had found the peace she was looking for all her life! Josie was baptized in Jesus’ name by Brother Kelly Howard, and later rebaptized by Bishop Keyes when she felt she had a better understanding of this ordinance of the church. Now her life was all about pleasing Jesus, and she was going to share this new-found faith with her sisters. ROSIE’S STORY
A HORRENDOUS WRECK
R
WITH FATE
osie met her husband, Javier, at a party. He was stationed in the reserves in Santa Barbara. It was late, but not too late to keep partying. After telling Rosie he was going home, he wrote his phone number on her arm. She gave him the impression that she also was going home.
However, they were both embarrassed later when they ran into each other cruising down a city street to the next party. They kept in touch and eventually started dating. Soon they became very serious, but then Javier’s mother persuaded him to move with the family to Hawaii for a job. Rosie was devastated, as they had just become serious. Angry, she moved in with her sister Terry and got a job. But she was depressed. She partied heavily, yet she could not escape from her loss. She would be bawling, crying, and drinking, missing Javier. One day she took out the brand new Thunderbird that Terry had purchased for her mother. Rosie was plastered. She partied with her friends, drinking more, and when it was time to go home, they begged her not to drive. She was stubborn and drove away alone before anyone could take away the keys. She remembers driving fast, at least 60 MPH. She is not sure what caused the accident, but thinks she may have swerved and gone out of control. She remembers hitting a white wall with her car, which later turned out to be the back of a giant water truck. “All I saw was glass everywhere, and this white, shiny wall,” she recalls. She was so intoxicated, she was not fully conscience and aware of any pain. The steering wheel was pushed up under her rib cage. “Everything flashed through my mind,” she said. “I started seeing picture after picture of different stages of my life. Everything was in slow motion. Glass was raining down around me like diamonds.” She remembers someone banging against her car, trying to pull her out of the car. When they were finally able to open the car door, a police officer peered in and asked if she was all right. Although he was speaking, Rosie could not respond. She was in
shock. Suddenly, panic hit her, seeing the large crowd of onlookers. She pushed the officer away, and she started running. They screamed at her to stop, “You’re going to bleed to death!” They finally caught up to her and took her to the hospital by ambulance. The next day when Rosie woke up, she was in the prison ward of the hospital in downtown Los Angeles. She was in pain, but she did not know what was wrong. When her mother visited her for the first time, she passed out in front of her, requiring medical attention. Her brother gasped in horror. Rosie asked to see herself in the mirror and immediately regretted it. Her lips were grossly swollen and hanging down with stitches. Her face was black and blue. Her eyes were gruesomely blood-shot. She thought to herself, “I shouldn’t be alive.” Although her face and legs were lacerated and heavily stitched, miraculously, she did not break any bones. “It was only God,” she said, that saved her from an early death. She was also amazed that she did not have to go to jail. When she went to court, they dropped all the charges. And even to this day, her mother has never complained to her about the loss of the car. However, it took Rosie months to heal. After Rosie recovered from her accident, Javier invited her to come to Hawaii. While she was there, she became pregnant. Javier had not found good employment. They needed a course of action. They decided to try Modesto. Josie was there, and his mom had also made a contact with a Modestan who could employ Javier immediately in construction. When they both returned to Modesto, they were married by a justice of the peace. That is when Josie started inviting Rosie to church consistently. WINTER NEWSVINE 2013 15
Rosie never wanted to go. Finally, she made a deal with her sister. She would come to church, if she could have a few beers first. When she walked into church, she was wearing her tight jeans, dark shades, and had a pack of cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve of her white T-shirt. Even dressed like that with the smell of beer on her breath, she was convinced that these church people were full of the devil when she saw them running around the church during worship. Even so, she kept coming back to church. When asked why, she replied, “I can’t explain it, but there was something I wanted to know more about. There was something I wanted more of.” One night when Javier and Rosie were both at church, and it was near the end of the service, Brother Bobby Rodela went up to Javier. He asked him if he wanted the Holy Ghost. Javier was hesitant when he saw there was no one up at the altar. But when he went up, within 30 seconds, Javier got the Holy Ghost. It took Rosie another six months. She had been going to church regularly because she wanted to keep an eye on her husband. This one particular night, she was very moody. “I was sitting there all bitter and sour, wishing church would finish,” she said. She was startled when Javier accidentally hit her in the face while he was lost in worship. She became very angry. “I remember leaning forward. I clinched my fist, and I was getting ready to sock him, when suddenly I felt something come over me. It caused me to relax my hand and sit still in the pew. I recognized it was the Holy Ghost.” She stood up and told her husband that she was going to receive the Holy Ghost that night. When the altar call was given, she went to the altar expecting it. “I lifted my hands, and I remember getting lost in the Holy Ghost. I felt joy 16 WINTER NEWSVINE 2013
from the top of my head to the soles of my feet,” she said with tears in her eyes. On the way home, she asked her husband to stop by the liquor store because she was thirsty. Instead of buying a beer, she purchased a soda. When she put her money down on the counter, she told the surprised clerk, “I got the Holy Ghost!” Pastor Keyes baptized her in Jesus’ name, and Rosie began her new life as an Apostolic saint. JACKIE’S STORY
A FEARFUL
I
ENCOUNTER
n high school, Jackie was partying all the time with her friends. She ditched school and drank. But finally, she convinced Terry to let her come live with her. Terry was a newlywed, yet her husband said it would be fine with him. Jackie graduated from their local high school and soon was employed with Los Angeles county as a clerk. But even on workdays, Jackie drank. She and some of her co-workers would drink during their lunch breaks and even during their coffee breaks. It was obvious she had become an alcoholic. Jackie would party during the weekends. When at home, she would drink until she passed out on the couch or on the front porch. She started going to the park to drink. Once, when she was sitting on a park bench drinking, someone from Brother Philip’s White’s church handed her a flyer. She kept the tract and read it again and again. This was new to her. She became curious and even hungry to understand the message of the flyer and was fascinated by all the scriptures listed. She looked up the verses in a bible back at home. This is what her sister Josie had been telling her all about - to repent and be baptized!
Jackie began to picture a little better what the Holy Ghost was, but she did not understand how it was relevant. Sometimes she would talk to God, but she did not understand to Whom she was talking. She was hungry to know more about God and His Son Jesus. It would take a terrifying event to help drive her right into the arms of Jesus Christ. One day, when she was 21 and still living with Terry in the Los Angeles area, Jackie went to the county fair with family members. Somehow, she got separated from her family and friends, leaving her with no way home after the fair closed. Desperate, she started asking complete strangers if they would be willing to drive her home to Whittier. She finally found a family in a van. They seemed safe: a man, a woman, and a baby. She got in the back of the van with the baby, and the man started driving. He told her they were going to go through Pomona first. Soon they were going down a dark, deserted road. Jackie started getting nervous and asked where they were going. The man said they were going to stop by his friend’s home first. The silence of the man and woman as they drove was eerie. Soon they were out in the boondocks. Jackie clutched her purse and a ceramic mug she had won in the fair. The man stopped the car in front of a house and told everyone to get off. There was a party going on. Uncomfortable in strange surroundings, Jackie asked the host if she could use the phone so she could call for a ride. No phone was offered. The man then said he would take her to Whittier himself. Just the two of them. As she sat in the front seat of the van, she prayed to Jesus. She was terrified. “Please take me home or to the nearest store so I can call my sister,” she pleaded. The man kept driving and the countryside became
more remote and dark. After awhile he stopped the van in a remote location and told her that he was stopping at his friend’s house. By now she was getting really scared. He told her that he needed to lock her door. He then started to reach over her. She knew this was it. He was going to attack her, and she had no one to help her. It was then that Jackie saw her chance. She had been holding the ceramic mug all this time, and she hit the man with it as hard as she could, then she yanked the door handle, jumped out the van door onto the road and took off running. She ran for blocks. To her horror, she could hear him behind her, chasing her, cussing and screaming. Finally, she saw a light from a house that had a big RV parked in front. She hid behind a bush. She tried breaking her mug so she could cut him if she needed to, but without success. She could not see him, but she could hear him as he searched for her. She waited, her heart pounding, and then sprinted for the door, knocking frantically. A young man and old woman opened the door. She were shocked to see a young woman burst in, crying hysterically. They let her call for her family to pick her up, but refused to let her give out their address. She had to make arrangements to meet her family at a nearby donut shop. They also would not give Jackie a ride. After getting directions to the donut shop, she crept out of the house. She had to go by herself in the dark, deserted streets for approximately two miles in the direction of the parked van. It was 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Jackie ran as fast as her legs would take her, certain that at any moment the man would lunge for her, pulling her to the ground. She passed the van, but there was no sign of him. She ran, not daring to stop. When she finally reached the donut
shop, she was shaking uncontrollably. When her family picked her up, she was sobbing in relief. Jackie was ready now for a change in her life. Josie invited Jackie to come to Modesto for a two-week visit. While there, Josie invited her sister to come to church. Jackie would only agree to come if Josie agreed to go out with her later that night. Josie agreed, determined to get her sister into the church no matter what. When Jackie entered the building, she was wearing a leopard outfit and spiked heels. She was surprised when she saw everyone going wild during worship service. After the service, Pastor Keyes came up and greeted her. When she said she would be going back to L.A. soon, he said that he felt she would be back. After church, Jackie brought her sister to a local club. She knew Josie was uncomfortable, but that was the deal. Jackie drank for both of them and was soon plastered. While there, Jackie had an altercation with one of the bouncers. He cussed at her and called her a derogatory term. Jackie went at him. He fought back, and knocked her to the ground. Then he straddled her and began pounding her face. Josie screamed and tried to intervene, but was held back. The bouncer then proceeded to mace Jackie over and over again. The police arrived and she was treated at the ER. The next day, Josie phoned Pastor Keyes to talk to Jackie. Jackie was so angry that she told Pastor Keyes she wanted to kill the bouncer or have someone else kill him. Pastor Keyes stopped her and asked her to calm down. He reminded her that the bible says that vengeance belongs to the Lord; “let Him take care of it.” Jackie told him no that she could do it quicker. She finally agreed to leave it in God’s hands. Jackie stayed longer than the two weeks so she could heal from the
facial burns she received from the mace. She went back home, but God was already dealing with her. After about five months, she quit her job and came back to Modesto, moving in with Rosie. She was still looking at the scriptures, trying to understand about the Holy Ghost. One night after Javier taught a Bible study at their house, Jackie felt God tugging at her heart. She went to the restroom and looked in the mirror. She said to herself, “You’re going to get the Holy Ghost.” She was excited. After that, she came out and told her sister and brother-in-law that she was ready. They started praying for her. “While they were praying for me,” Jackie said, “I felt something really hot on my back. It was like a pitchfork wanting me to stop.” She asked Javier if he was poking her, but he was not. She kept praying, determined she would get the Holy Ghost, then the tongues came forth. The pain went away. Pastor Keyes baptized her a month later in Jesus’ name! VICTORY IN
JESUS!
Today, several decades later, the three sisters remain active in church, participating in fund-raising, singing in the choir, and having bible studies in their homes. And every now and then, when new guests come into our sanctuary, not knowing what to expect, they may see all three sisters dancing in the Spirit and running around the church in fanatic, joyful worship for their Lord Jesus!
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18 WINTER NEWSVINE 2013
Bishop Keyes & daughter Pastor’s Wife Kim Johnson
Cheryl & Santos Ramos Married Life Directors
Jeff & Sandra Morgan Banquet Speaker The Montezes
The Todds
LOVE
was in the air at our Married’s Valentine’s Day Banquet planned by Married Life directors Santos and Cheryl Ramos. The Campbells The room was packed with 80 church couples and many guests. Two of the Ramos’ special guests were Reverend Wade and his wife Rita from the First Baptist Church in Los Banos. The night was made perfect by many wonderful touches including: the romantic table decor which enhanced the evening designed by a very talented Mary Aguirre; the absolutely delicious food, cooked by Harvey and Rosie Estrada and served by an outstanding staff; hand-holding music provided by Tim Montez, Matt Aguirre, and Brandon and Raquel Amador, and Natalie Albalos on the violin; “When God Made You,” a signed song by Gabbie Ramos and Josh Aguilera; and an hilarious skit by and The Hunts Cathy and Mark Risch and Sister Deborah Moore. We were blessed to have as our speaker, Brother Jeff Morgan who spoke on the correct way to F.I.G.H.T. in a marriage. The night was a great success, ending with Pastor Johnson having each couple look into each other’s eyes and say, “I love you.”
The Moores
Reverend & Mrs.Wade First Baptist Church Los Banos, CA
The Kirklands The Mantooths
The Gomezes
The Ibarras The Aguirres
The Rochesters
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Newsvine
United Pentecostal Church of Modesto 825 7th Street Modesto, CA 95354-3414
OUR SENIORS OF THE YEAR
Floyd and Jeannette Havner
During our annual Christmas Senior Banquet, the Havners were announced Senior Couple of the Year and Sister Sharon Lambert was announced Senior of the Year. The Havners are active in the business of our church, Brother Floyd Havner is a Board Member and Tribe Leader, and Sister Lambert runs our Day Care. Congratulations and God Bless you all!
Sharon Lambert with Pastor Johnson and Bishop Keyes