User:Lopezef07/sandbox

Efrain Lopez Colon is an ordained Baptist Pastor ministering the Hispanic community in New England, USA. Efrain Lopez was born February 2, 1949. He was raised in a farm in Puerto Rico but his family moved to New York City in 1963. As a young adult, he completed a bachelors degree from the Inter American University in Puerto Rico and obtained a master degree in Special Education at Fairfield University in Connecticut. After many years of teaching, he served as a school administrator in Connecticut, Florida and Massachusetts. He has been an active member of the New England Baptist Convention and the Greater Boston Baptist Association. In a recent interview, he answered as follows: 1.	Tell me about your call to pastoral ministry. As a church member, several church people invited me to lead a group of believers in different occasions, in the year 1989, I prayed to my lord and committed myself to accept the next calling. Sometime later the Hispanic Baptist catalyst invited me to start a mission in the city of Norwalk, CT. In April 1990, I began inviting people for a Bible study in the city and after a few months I became their Pastor. My calling was confirmed by means of the following ways: Many people accepted Jesus as their savior. They became Christians and were disciple§ and baptized. A mission church was started in the city. God provided all our needs during that time 2.	Which pastoral responsibility do you enjoy the most? Explaining God’s plan of salvation to the lost. Why? Because, I believe that we are responsible to preach to every person we come across with. 3.	Which pastoral duty do you enjoy the least? I do not like prison ministry or visiting people in jail. Why? It makes me feel very sad and I identify myself with the person and find myself unable to help them in many areas of need. 4.	Describe the amount of time you spend in an average week in sermon preparation. Between prayer, study, research and writing the sermon I spend at least 8 hours. 5.	Describe the amount of time you spend in an average week in administrative responsibilities. As a full time pastor, I committed myself to dedicate no more than 20 hours in the administrative role. 6.	Describe the amount of time you spend in an average week in personal devotions and prayer. At least two hours daily. 7.	What is an area of pastoral ministry that you wish you had been taught when you were in school? How to address immigration laws to the people we serve without violating state and federal regulation while you minister to so many people from Central and South America. 8.	Describe your ordination council. It is composed by at least 5 fellow pastors from the Baptist Association. The candidate is interviewed in two different occasions. We ask the candidate to talk about his conversion and calling. The candidate is questions about his spiritual, social and family life, his knowledge of the biblical doctrines and his relation with the community, etc. Once the candidate has answered all questions the team evaluated his answers and makes a recommendation. If the ordination is granted, an ordination service is planned to issue the certificate in a public service. 9.	What is one piece of advice you would give to someone aspiring to become a pastor? Beside the advice given by the apostles to people who entered the ministry as written in the New Testament like 1 Timothy 3 and 4 and many others. I will make clear that the calling is irrevocable and the great responsibility is to be faithful to God and do not compromise the truth given to us in the scriptures. 10.	How do you handle church conflict? I handle every conflict in prayer, with guidance from the holy spirit and with advise from the elders in the congregation. We will use the scripture as our conflict solving book of directions. 11.	Have you ever been trained in church conflict? If so where? I have taken many courses and workshops on conflict resolution in college and seminaries. As a pastor for 25 years, I have participated in many situations in church, with families and legal issues. Training is a must to succeed in resolutions. 12.	Do you think forced termination of pastors is a problem in churches today? I have not seen many occurrences in our denomination. Once in a while a person has been asked to step out of the pulpit. Why? Moral issues or lack of administration skills. 13.	What advice would you give me on how to avoid forced termination? Maintain a life of prayer, being faithful to the Lord and the denomination you represent, conducting yourself in a spiritual manner towards God and your fellow men.