Question: What does semana santa mean?Answer: Literally translated, it is “week holy” or Holy Week. It is the week of Good Friday, in which we remember the last week of Jesus Christ’s life and ministry on earth, His crucifixion, death and burial, and we celebrate His resurrection from the dead.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Holy Week, Calvary Chapel Boca del Rio went out on the beach to talk to the people there. In years past, the students from the School of Ministry have performed a dramatization of the crucifixion of Christ followed by an invitation to pray. The problem with that has been that in the past we just didn’t have enough team members to talk and pray with everyone who had questions. This year the leaders decided to do something a little different.
We divided into teams of 2 or 3 people and just went walking on the beach. As we met people, we talked to them. Each team had some tracts which we had purchased from Living Waters Ministry. These were great “ice-breakers” and opened the door to talk more in depth. Every person we talked to was different – of course! But they did have one very important thing in common; God loves them and sent His son to die for each one of them in particular.
[Perhaps, if you grew up in a Christian church, you’ve heard the phrase “He sent His son to die for you” so many times that it’s lost its meaning. Maybe you didn’t grow up in church and the phrase makes no sense, or it seems really weird. Either way, let’s look at that sentence again. The verse is found in the book of 1st John chapter 4, verse 10 (written this way: 1 John 4:10) “And this is Love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”. It means basically this: It’s not too surprising that we would love God. What’s surprising is that God loved us (each one of us) and was willing to let his only son be killed in order to pay a debt we owed, but couldn’t repay. Does it make a little more sense that way? If you’re curious, pick up your Bible and read. Send us an email and ask questions. There’s no such thing as a dumb question!!!]
The beach outreach was a huge blessing to all. Each of the team members who went out to share was encouraged, and our faith increased as we talked to many people who genuinely desired to hear more about Jesus. By the end of 3 days, more than 40 people had prayed to receive Christ as their personal savior. Wow!!! Pray with us that God would continue to work in their lives as they return to their homes and jobs this week. The Bible says in Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing: that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to carry it out to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” What a promise!
Here are some pictures of our team sharing on the beach:
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