Naming of the Percy Buffard Square
On 26 May, 2018, José Luís unveiled the plaque showing the name “Plaza D. Percy Buffard”, the founder of the Mission. Representatives of local and provincial authorities attended. Representatives of FEREDE (Federation of Evangelical Churches in Spain) as well as pastors and church members from the region also supported the event.
We thank the Lord for the blessing of having a square here in Moral showing Percy Buffard’s name.
A report, in Spanish with photos, can be accessed from the Links page.
The Church
In 1972 Isabel, a widow from Valdepeñas moved to Moral to live with her brother, who had three married sons. As Isabel spoke of the Gospel to them, the 3 women were converted but their husbands were very opposed. They prayed for the men and 2 of them were saved as well, while the third gave up his opposition. Eventually he became so open that he allowed the group to utilise for meetings a disused shop he owned. Gradually people began to attend the meetings and in time there were 25 people in addition to the children.
The Mission and the Valdepeñas church have supported the work from the beginning and by 1989 the group had grown to the point of being able to buy their own building.
The church called their new pastor in 2000, and José Luís and Noemí began their ministry in November of that year and are seeing the Lord´s blessing on their work.
The church has it´s own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/icemoral
To find out more about the town of Moral de Calatrava and it´s history you could visit this link: http://www.moraldecalatrava.org/web1/
Email:joselav68@gmail.com
The Workers
José Luís and Noemí arrived in Moral de Calatrava from Galicia in November 2000 with their first son Natanael, and in 2003 their second son, Eric was born.
They are responsible for the pastoral care and leadership in the church in Moral de Calatrava.
Noemí has a Diploma in Administration and Accountancy. She also has an Evangelical Religious Education qualification and at present is studying for a Psychology degree. José Luís trained for the ministry in a Seminary in Madrid (SEFOVAN). This is José Luís’ first full time pastoral charge. Before this his ministry was in the preaching and teaching the word of God in his home church in El Grove, Galicia, which where both he and Noemí come from. Noemí was in charge of the Sunday School there.
When the Lord called them to pastoral ministry, José Luís was working as a fisherman, which he learned from a child, as his father was captain of a boat, just like all his fore-fathers. This experience taught him many good things which help him to develop his pastoral work.
The congregration in Moral is smaller these days due to demographic changes away from the area. However those remaining are actively involved in social work with a regular food distribution programme. One member continues to maintain local radio broadcasts with an evangelistic theme. Holiday Bible Clubs and the evangelistic campaign fill the summer months as do various conferences and coffee mornings. José Luis is the Director of the monthly bible seminary (SEFOVAN) which is held either in the Moral church or in the Mission Centre in Valdepeñas. The photo below shows a session at Moral in the autumn of 2019.
The basis of the church is what we see in Acts 2:42: Worship, Teaching, Fellowship, Prayer and Preaching.
The main aim of the church is to glorify God above all else.
José Luís is also Chairman of the Mission Workers´ meetings.
Natanel and Eric