New Name For Our Medellin Church

We recently enjoyed another week with our new pastor, Brent Hillenga, from Baltimore, MD. Brent invited three guests from Greater Grace World Outreach to join him this week. This was Brent’s third visit to Medellin in 2021. And during the week, we announced a new name for our Medellin Church. In January, Grace Church Medellin will become Greater Grace Medellin, a new name, with the same goal. We believe God has called this man to be our first pastor. We will continue our mission to establish the first Christian Church for English speakers in Medellin, Colombia. Brent and his wife Lucy will relocate to Medellin in January 2022.
Our week with Pastor Brent included meetings with many of our people. We shared testimonies and prayer requests, prayed together, and read and studied the Bible together. We also enjoyed showing off Medellin to our guests. Of course, we consumed lots of delicious food, walked all over Laureles, and traveled around the city.
On Friday, Pastors Brent and Shibley took a quick trip to Guatape to visit family members of their church in Baltimore. A local Spanish-speaking Christian pastor picked them up and took them on an exciting drive. Later that day, we met with the pastors of another Spanish-speaking church around the corner from our apartment in Laureles. Laureles is a barrio (neighborhood) of Medellin, which is where we live, and want to locate the church facility. We learned about the process of establishing a new church in Colombia. Our hosts showed us their church and talked with us about monthly costs. It was an encouraging time with Pastor Eduardo of Iglesia Redil Laureles.
Saturday Church Service
On Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious lunch. After lunch, we held our monthly church service which was special for several reasons. First, we had three terrific preachers, and we heard short messages from each of them. Second, we baptized two men from our group. I got in the baptistry with them and had the joy of participating in my first baptism in two years. While we were at lunch, my good friend, Michael Thayer filled the baptistry with a water hose. He also took a short video of his antics in adding ice cubes to the water!
The third reason it was so special was that we had a total of 23 people plus our 4 visitors from the US. Our normal attendance on Saturday afternoon is around 10-12, so we were overjoyed at the turnout. And everyone there heard the announcement about the new name for our Medellin church. By the way, the main reason we hold our church services on Saturday is that several of our group are missionaries and have responsibilities to their Spanish congregations on Sunday.
We Visited Friends in La Ceja.
On Sunday, we rented a 15-passenger van with a driver and took a trip to La Ceja to spend time with Luverne and Connie Shull. Luverne and Connie have been part of our group for about two years, and they recently moved to La Ceja, a small town in the highlands above Medellin. The bus ride to La Ceja takes an hour and 1/2, and we climbed 3,000 feet, so the road was anything but straight. However, the trip was very scenic, and on the way back we stopped at a beautiful waterfall called Tequendamita Falls.
During the trip, revisited with our guests, sang, laughed a lot, and saw the natural beauty of Colombia. In La Ceja, we visited with Luverne and Connie, and Pastor Brent led us in a rap session about the love of God. I think everyone contributed to the discussion. Then we went to the center of town, had a delicious meal, and boarded the bus for the trip back to Medellin.
Medellin needs Destiny Christian School

I want to mention one last item. For months, we have been praying for Destiny Christian School. Barbara Manderfield and her husband have been missionaries to Colombia for 31 years, and they started the school several years ago. But the Colombian authorities seem to have placed many obstacles in their path to obtaining a license and accreditation. And they also appear to be stalling in hopes they will just give up.
Two families from our church have enrolled their children in the school, and others are considering joining the school. In our meeting, Barbara mentioned 7 specific prayer requests. I know our visiting pastors will share these with their congregations back home, and you can also pray for the school. Here are her requests:
- Approval of the license
- Protection from fines
- Publicity
- More families and students
- Help with their website and social media
- Legal assistance with work visas for their teachers
- More teachers
Please pray for these needs for this incredibly important school.
Medellin Has Many Advantages for Retirees
Tuesday, November 16, 2021, the group flew back to Maryland. We had a nice visit with them before they left and shared another time of prayer. We’re looking forward to Brent and Lucy returning in January. The Greater Grace Church is planning a conference here in Medellin from January 20-23 to officially start Greater Grace Medellin. You should definitely try to join us either then, or as soon as you can.
Medellin is a fantastic place, especially for Christian retirees. One of our messages is Couples and Singles can retire and live very inexpensively here while also having a heavenly purpose for the remainder of their lives. Here are a handful of reasons to consider relocating to Medellin, Colombia:
- Colombia has the highest-rated healthcare system in Latin America. In fact, Medellin has 9 of the 58 top-rated hospitals in all of Latin America;
- Medellin’s total cost of living is about one-third the cost in most places in North America and Western Europe.
- With its world-class Metro and bus system and very low-cost taxis, Medellin provides excellent public transportation throughout the entire Aburra Valley. We don’t need or want to own a car, and that lowers our cost of living even more.
- Medellin is known as “The City of Eternal Spring” because the daily temperatures year-round vary from 60 – 85 with very mild rainy seasons.
- There is a growing number of direct flights between Medellin and major cities in the US and Canada.
- Since retiring, Paulette and I have more friends than we had back home.
- We know that many look back to the history of Colombia and the drug cartels and think “How can we be safe there?” But we have lived here for over 4 years and have never witnessed a crime. We walk all over our neighborhood to the many restaurants, stores, and modern malls, and we feel very safe.
- And now, Medellin has a strong and growing Christian church for English speakers. There are many opportunities to serve and be a part of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20.
Come visit and see for yourself. You can stay for 3 months with just your passport. No visa is required.
Steve Tuggle
Greater Grace Medellin (formerly Grace Church Medellin)