Sam Trevino was baptized on September 25, 2011. There have been so many baptisms lately that it has been hard to write up all of their stories, so sorry for the delay. However, this story continues to develop.

Sam has been friends with Alfonso DeLuna, a current High Pointe member, for years. When they knew each other years ago, neither of them were Christians. Alfonso, however, came to know Christ, and three months ago, Sam reconnected with him. Alfonso owns a mechanic shop, and Sam started stopping by to see him. There, Alfonso told him about his life change, and Sam came and visited High Pointe. At that point he had lost his job and his wife, and he came into my office in despair. We prayed together and the church helped him with food from our food pantry ministry. He said that the church had helped restore his faith in God. 

Over the next few weeks, we paid for Sam's gas several times and for his cell phone bill so that he could continue to interview with employers. One day when I was filling up his gas, I just asked him if he had ever been baptized. He said no, but he had been thinking about that. Alfonso had talked with him about this. He put the baptism off a couple of weeks, as he wanted his sons to be able to come down and say this. Finally, however, he went forward with the baptism without his sons being there. It was a great day!

Now, I want to back up and tell some more about Alfonso. Alfonso met the son of one of the previous ministers at High Pointe, Kyle Gaumer. While Kyle had many struggles, he was able to impact Alfonso enough to invite him to come to the church there. Alfonso attended awhile and then fell away. Then he had a couple of outstanding tickets and was arrested, spending 128 days in jail. During this time he took a number of self improvement classes, including classes on parenting and the like (though he had no children). He also signed up to study the Bible, and someone from High Pointe's jail ministry (Mike Anderson) came and studied with him. He had wanted to study Ephesians, so that is what they studied. Alfonso was released, with the charges being dropped. Soon after this he was baptized, and ever since then he has sought to live for God and reach out to others.

One Sunday Alfonso went to the elders and asked him to pray for him and his desire to start a business (mechanic's shop). They did this. That evening he went to Towne Lake to meet a small group from the church. However, he went to the wrong pavilion and instead met an old Nigerian woman. She told him without prompting that God could help him with anything, even starting his own business. They shared Christ with one another, studying from Isaiah. She told him that the Holy Spirit told her to tell him that God wanted him to start this business.

The church gave Alfonso enough money to pay one month of rent on his new business, which soon took off. Every since then, Alfonso has tithed. More than this, however, he continues to use his life and shop as a blessing to others. A number of kids and younger people come by and are interested in learning about cars. He befriends them and even puts them to work. Throughout this, he teaches them about God. One of these kids is the son of one of the girls that he dated (Alfonso has remained single). He has taken this kid into his 2 bedroom apartment and virtually has raised him the last few years. Every week Alfonso has someone that he is praying for or someone that he has invited to come to worship with us.

I knew that Alfonso and Sam had great stories, so I went out last Saturday to film these stories (with our video guy, Clint Loveness). I found out at this time that Sam's uncle had killed Alfonso's uncle. During this time, I also met several of Alfonso's other friends that he had helped and taken in. Though Alfonso is single, he has functioned as a father figure to so many--God was apparently preparing him for this as he took those parenting classes (as a single person!) while in jail. I call Alfonso Father Flannigen, since he has taken in and helped so many people.

A couple of days later it struck me that we ought to start a Story of Redemption small group study out at Alfonso's work with his circle of people that he knows. So, I told him this on Monday, and he said that he had been thinking the same thing. So I asked him to invite his circle of people to this study, and we prayed about this. 

Today we kicked off the new Story of Redemption, and there were 6 present for this study at his shop. Praise God! The people in the study pictured below from right to left are: Darin, Collin, Chris, Sam, Alfonso, and T.J. Please keep this group in your prayers. Also, Sam told us at our study that he got a job today. Awesome!

Alfonso is a great example of a "person of peace"--someone who is receptive to the gospel and who has a network of people that they can reach out to to hear the gospel. And by having this seeker small group study at Alfonso's place of work, this truly is a missional work in every way. Those that came to the study came because they knew Alfonso and respected him, because it was held at a place they were comfortable (his workplace), and because they wanted to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Bible. It is also a great example for reaching out in one's workplace. How many more seeker small group studies could we set up at the workplace of our members?

What impacts you about Alfonso's and Sam's stories? What have you read or seen about starting seeker small group Bible studies at people's places of work?