Centeno Ministry Update, April 2010

Title

Creator

Rev. Luis Centeno

Publisher

Wyoming Ave. Baptist Church

Date

2010-04

Contributor

Walt Rice, Jr. (editing and layout)

Format

Newsletter

Language

English

Text

CENTENO MINISTRY UPDATE
Rev. Luis and Elsie Centeno

Serving Christ and His Church in North Philadelphia

April 7, 2010

My dearest friends in the Lord,

I trust and pray that you are encouraged in the Lordâ€™s richest blessings. Here are some truths that you can go the distance on, as you claim them, live them, share them â€“ they are yours for the keeping.

â€œGod is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.â€ Psalm 73:26

â€œI am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.â€
Psalm 73:23-25

Someone once said, Godâ€™s blessings are dependent according to the riches of his glory, not according to the depths of our faith. 2 Timothy 2:13 says: â€œIf we are not faithful, he will still be faithful, because he cannot deny himself.â€ So I say it again, be encouraged.

You may have already received a copy of our ministry brochure. If you have, please use this additional copy to share with someone who may be encouraged and may desire to support or pray for us as we continue to do the awesome work the Lord has privileged us to do, in the variety of ministries here in North Philadelphia.

I would like to highlight and share one of these special works that we are doing before men, that my Heavenly Father will be glorified. Last August, just before Elsie and I went on a family vacation and to visit some of our prayer partners and supporters, I received a phone call from an officer. He asked if he could come and see me. It was a beautiful, sunny August day. The birds were singing, and I said sure, come over. He looked a little sad when he arrived, but I greeted him and gave him a hug and we sat down on a bench outside under the tree. I asked how he and his family was doing. He said, â€œok, I guess.â€ I asked him again, â€œHow are you really doing, and whatâ€™s on your heart?â€
With Police Commissioner Ramsay

He really wasnâ€™t doing so well and was thinking about killing himself for the last couple days. But first he would kill his wife and autistic son, because he could not bear to handle the burden of his care, and blamed his wife for the disability. He didnâ€™t know what to do any more. I now had a very vulnerable officer in my hands â€“ one thinking not only about killing himself, but his family as well. I let him get out all of his stress and thoughts, and then asked him why he felt this was the only way of looking at this problem and situation.

He went on to tell me that he had a very traumatizing upbringing. Coming from a broken home, having been abandoned by his mother, who turned to prostitution to get money for alcohol and drugs. She would take the children around from place to place and leave them in strangersâ€™ homes or crack houses and wouldnâ€™t show up for days. At 14, he was fed up with this and left and tried to find odd jobs to survive and would sometimes sleep under bridges or in abandoned cars. Some people would let him stay a few nights and clean up, until someone finally gave him a place to stay and a job while he finished high school.

After high school, he started at the Police Academy, and moved in with an older woman with children. After living together, they got married. He was worried that having a child would be â€œhigh-riskâ€ â€“ but she thought the only way to keep him was to have a kid, and stopped taking her birth control pills. Fear became reality as the child was born autistic. He told me that he wanted to kill the child, but couldnâ€™t bring himself to do it.

This officer was in a state of trauma â€“ past, present, and future. He felt hopeless. We spent quite a bit of time together processing what he had shared. Through many tears and prayers he was finally brought to a place where he saw his difficulty before God, and I shared with him how Jesus Christ took the despair and sin of mankind. As he saw the love of Christ, he saw hope. His eyes began to open, and his ears began to hear the sweet gospel of Jesus. He embraced the love of the Lord, he repented of his sin, and he gave his heart to Jesus. I saw the miracle of hope, love, peace, and forgiveness drawing him closer to the Heavenly Father.

He is doing very well today. There are still many issues in his past that we need to address and work through in counseling. Pray that God would sustain and build this family up in the Lord Jesus. Why did I take all this time to tell you this story? I have dealt with many officers just like this one. By Godâ€™s grace, we were able to turn the tables on suicidal thoughts by providing the kind of support that only comes through Jesus.

Here in Philadelphia in 2008, there were 8 line-duty deaths, and in 2010, we have already had 3 suicides in the last few months by officers who could not find someone to talk to, or who kept themselves from talking with anyone about their fears and struggles in the past and future. With my Fatherâ€™s help, I am very proactive and intentional in addressing this problem by way of the following.

â€¢ I am a police chaplain, and I address roll calls â€“ 12 every Friday â€“ to support and encourage these men and women with the hope of the gospel.

â€¢ We have a law enforcement fellowship that meets once a month.

â€¢ I provide suicide awareness and prevention training for officers and commanders at local districts.

â€¢ I personally counsel officers who are finding life difficult or stressed out, or having marital problems.

â€¢ We do a National Police Week Banquet and Recognition Ceremony each year. The ceremony this year is on May 10, 2010, at our church, and will involve officers from all of the 21 districts in the city.

I look to the churches, business community, and individuals to support this task: to tell men and women in law enforcement that we care for them, that we are concerned with what they go through, and that as they protect us and keep us safe, so also we want to protect them.

At the annual Banquet and Recognition Ceremony, we provide great food, special music, a comedian, and the gospel witness. Families who come with the officers get to see how greatly their officers are appreciated by the community.

We have been doing this since 2003, and every year the event gets larger and larger. It may even seem impossible to pull off â€“ and 2010 will be no different. Last year we had 500 officers and family members participate. Please pray, as we need to raise $25,000 this year from businesses, churches, and individuals to fund this event. Pray for favor as we seek support. We will also have a group of volunteers from various churches who will come to assist us with this event.

Scripture tells us that what may be impossible with men is not impossible with God. Scripture tells us to ask and God will show us great and mighty things which we do not know. Scripture tells us that He is able to do exceedingly above all we can think or imagine. Is there anything that is too difficult for our Lord?

So as we look at these hard and difficult times with the economy, can the Lord again do this? He has done it before, and weâ€™re praying that he would raise you up to be part of this team. Please donâ€™t hesitate to call me to find out how you can support this work.

Thank you for everything you do to support us. May the Lord richly bless you as you continue to stand with us in supporting the work of the gospel that we do in this area of outreach. May the Lord be glorified as we do this good work before men. (He will be glorified!)

Sincerely,

Luis and Elsie Centeno

P.S. Enclosed is a copy of a letter that the Police Commissioner was kind enough to provide as we seek to raise support for our police ministry in the business community. This is a significant encouragement to us, and a blessing that our work is being well received.

Family Updates

We have all been recently well, nothing major health-wise, so we praise the Lord for that.

Jason and his family are attending Bethel Fellowship in the Northeast regularly, close to where they live. A couple weeks ago he called and told me, â€œhey dad, I want you to know that Iâ€™m moving in the direction you always wanted me to go in, and also, I want to start supporting the ministries the family is involved with.â€ Heâ€™s going to support Jamie and his wife, Kristie and Bill, and our ministry as well. Praise be to God that his heart is tender to that truth as he and his beautiful wife are investing in the work of the Lord.

Jeremy is doing very well teaching in Florida, and has now been promoted to Vice Principal. Please continue to pray for him, that all of the talents and gifts that God has given him will be used to advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Jamie and Virgie and our five grandchildren are being used wonderfully by the Lord in the inner city of Philadelphia as he pastors a young fast-growing church that is running a coffee house, and has another church in the Northeast which he is now pastoring as well. He is quite the visionary pastor, teacher, and evangelist.

Kristie and Bill and our five grandchildren, who have been missionaries with American Missionary Fellowship for the past few years, are now heading to northern Paris with Greater Europe Mission to minister to gypsies, Muslims, and French-speaking people. They are very busy trying to raise their support level by April, and then to raise their outgoing expenses. Only by the mighty hand of our Heavenly Father by the work of the Holy Spirit can this ambitious prayer be realized. They would like to depart by August, Lord willing. Pray for their continued fundraising, and that Elsie and I would be able to help them when they move to France and to raise airfare for us to be able to go and help settle our grandchildren.

Jonathan is very involved in working for Aspira, a Latino organization working in the education, leadership development, community organizing and develop-ment. Pray that all the gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given him can also be used to advance the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. Pray that his walk will be strengthened by the Lord in all that he does and that he will grow closer to Him.

Josiah and Marlaina and the two children they have are very involved in Jamieâ€™s church, In the Light Ministries. They are very active in the work. Joey works in programming for the medical records at Jefferson Hospital, and he has asked if he can start a Bible study for employees during lunch. They gave a resounding yes. He was looking for a closet room to meet, and they said he could meet in the conference room.

Kara is completing her fourth of five years in college, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Business. Also pray for her walk with the Lord that it would be strong, and that she would walk in his good graces.

Our other three children are still home, Andrew (17), Brandon (14), and Amanda (12). Elsie and I continue to love them and nurture them in the admonition of the Lord, that their lives will advance the Kingdom of God. Pray that in every way they would grow to be mighty men and women of God. They continue to face many of the challenges from their past, but the grace of the good Lord continues to help them.

We are blessed to know the good Lord has called us to partner with Him to advance His Kingdom and our family will continue to move in that direction as we all grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for His honor.

Files

Collection

Centeno Ministry Updates

Citation

Rev. Luis Centeno, “Centeno Ministry Update, April 2010,” Wyoming Avenue Baptist Church Digital Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://omeka.wabcphilly.org/items/show/84.