Treasure in Earthen Vessels

In this edition of HeartCry we have included articles, reports and testimonies that we hope will be a great blessing to you. There is a brief account of my recent trip to Indonesia and India, as well as the usual directors updates from around the world. Read about all that God is doing through indigenous missionaries in spite of great hardship, trial and persecution.

In this edition, we have also re-published the account of the lepers of San Pablo and the work of God among them. Several years ago, we became aware of a struggling Baptist church in San Pablo, Peru, located on the banks of the Amazon River. They were in need of a building to house the congregation, but were destitute of the necessary funds. After careful investigation, HeartCry decided to help fund the construction for their new chapel.

When we discovered that San Pablo was an ex-leper colony and that the leaders of the church were lepers, we decided to further investigate the matter in hopes of finding some encouraging account of the power of God among the weak and destitute. What we found was far beyond anything we could have imagined. The story of San Pablo is one of the most heartbreaking and yet beautiful that we have ever known.

From the beginning, it became clear that the story of San Pablo revolved around one solitary life - the life of Jorge Lozano. As a young boy, Jorge was struck by the horrific disease of leprosy and was taken to the leper colony of San Pablo. Although the disease eventually deformed and crippled his body, Jorge became a choice servant of God and was used to spread the Gospel and plant churches in the towns and villages around San Pablo and beyond. I trust that his testimony, as well as that of the other leaders, will both challenge and transform you. It is a story that I read often and never without blessing.

There are many important lessons that we can learn from these lepers of San Pablo: (1) That God delights in using weakness to confound the strong, childlikeness to confound the wise, and even deformity to confound the beauty of this world. (2) That our limitations are not limitations. It is in our weakness that God shows Himself strong. (3)That our dependence upon the wisdom and power of God changes everything.