30th Anniversary

Centro Cristiano de Loja

By Laurel Ellis

April 17^th, 2022

Beginnings

Loja is the southernmost province in the Andes mountains of Ecuador, studded with towns and cities in sixteen counties, a truly beautiful place. Rick and Laurel planted the first Assemblies of God church in the province in the early 1990s. A devoutly religious enclave, God broke through and Loja has never been the same.

Rick baptizing 19 year old Pablo Celi, who is now the pastor of the church.

We lived just a few blocks from the stadium.

A new Christian, Pablo Celi (L), began helping with the music.

Six nights a week, Rick preaching and praying with those receiving Christ as well as for needs.

Centro Cristiano de Loja

In March the church celebrated their 30 year anniversary. As founder of the church, I was honored to be invited to travel from my home in Cuenca to speak at their gala dinner, choosing to make a comparison of this great church with the powerful church of Antioch of Syria in Acts; sending missionaries, planting churches and influencing their city.

Pastor Pablo Celi and his wife, Patricia.

Laurel preaching on the Tale of Two Cities, Antioch and Loja.

Block parties are very popular in Loja, so the church hosted a concert on the street as part of the anniversary celebration.

The church has grown to needing four services a weekend!

Pastors Pablo and Patricia honoring Rick and Laurel with a plaque at the entrance to the church building (2017). Hebrews 6:10.

Continued growth!

The vision of Centro Cristiano de Loja is to plant a church in every county of Loja Province. They are well on their way! During the pandemic they switched their life groups to Zoom with hundreds finding new life in Christ. In addition, CCL is one of the strongest missions churches in Ecuador.

The church donated land for Timothy's Abode, the national missions training center, led by Ron & Esther Marcotte.

The church supports two missionary families with 25% of their budget.

Pablo and Andrea are itinerating to go to Jordan to work with Syrian refugees.

Footnotes

There have been highs and lows in these past 30 years but the light continues to shine ever brighter. God has been faithful and will continue to be so!

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FootNotes

There have been highs and lows in these past 30 years but the light continues to shine ever brighter. God has been faithful and will continue to be so!