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Pastor Robert Soto Reflects On The Subject Of:
Reconciliation....

Dear Friends:

It was on December 23, 1974, that the Lord spoke to my heart in the area of what is now known as contextualized ministry. My ministry was simple: put on your outfit, sing, dance and share the love of Christ and His finished work on the cross, and salvation by faith in Christ, wherever the Lord would open the doors. Since then my ministry has gotten a little more complicated, but the message is still the same. I do not know if anyone was on the same path or spiritual journey at the same time, but my mission was clear and my desire to reach others for Jesus Christ through my culture was clear.

In 1994, the Lord gave me the vision to start our Native church service. I was not sure what we would be doing in a Native church service, but whatever it was going to be, it had to be different and geared to our Native culture.

On March 10, 1995, we held our first Native meeting. The local newspaper got hold of the event and decided to give us front page coverage in the local section. In the middle of the paper was me and my singers and a big drum with the blur of the drumstick striking the drum as we sang praises to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I was both excited and scared over the article. Excited because I felt it would get the word out to other Natives in the area that need Jesus Christ as their Savior, but scared over what the Christian community would say and do. Well, both of my expectations came true. I was excited about the phone calls I got from the Native community, but my worst fears also came true as the Christian community seemed to have conglomerated against what I felt God wanted us to do. Church after church and ministry after ministry came against our ministry.

Congregations that I did not even know were hearing sermons like "Beware of a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Among Us." (By the way, I was the wolf in sheep's clothing, if you had not figured it out yet.) Pastors who I thought were my friends have not talked to me since then. In one church where I was asked to share what our Native ministry was all about, the new pastor was asked to perform a special cleansing ceremony because "a pagan had come in and desecrated the temple of God". (By the way, that was me and my pagan dances that had done that.) I discovered that there was a price to pay when one decided to obey Christ. Our original church ministry that met on Sunday and that supported the Native ministry started to suffer as rumors in the Christian community flourished about our Native ministry that used the drum to worship and praise the Lord. We went from an average of 70 to sometimes as many as 100 to about 25 as people of the non-Native persuasion left because of the rumors. We were eventually forced to sell our five acres of land with our 5,000 square-foot building because the few Native people remaining could not handle the financial burden of monthly building payments and upkeep of the property.  It even caused some division in my family, which I can praise the Lord has been healed. Out of frustration and anger one night, I grabbed my long hair and my scissors and cut my hair off and spent a long period of mourning as I struggled with the depression and hurt that came from brothers and sisters in Christ. The price for obeying what I knew in my heart to be God's eternal plan for us was a heavy one. I felt all alone in this world and if it had not been for my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I probably would have walked out of the ministry.

In October of 1999, I was introduced to the Warriors for Christ out of Montana. After that, little by little I was introduced to other Native ministries and started to hear this new word called "contextualized ministry". I figured that was what the Lord had called me to do so long ago. I started to attend some of the rallies and functions. I enjoyed what I was seeing and hearing. Then I started hearing about Reconciliation.  Reconciliation was not a new word in my Christian vocabulary. But what I was seeing and experiencing in some of these conferences was not what I was reading in my Bible. In one meeting, the name of Jesus we never mentioned less the audience be offended and leave. Reconciliation can only happen through a relationship with Jesus Christ which restores our relationship with God. (Romans 5:10) Without Christ, we have no reconciliation. We can talk about reconciliation until we are blue in the face. We can hug and cry over each other's shoulders and call ourselves brothers and sisters, but without Christ, there is no reconciliation. The message of reconciliation is not the message of world peace and harmony, but the message of peace in our heart through the message of salvation given to us through Jesus Christ. As I read the passages in my Bible that deal with the issue of reconciliation, I see that without Christ, you have no reconciliation.

I hate no one. I love my enemies as I do my friends. I pray for those who persecute me. I share the hope I have in Jesus Christ, that through His shed blood on the cross I have been reconciled to God. In view of this message, I now can share the same message to others, but not without the cross. I have forgiven all who persecuted me. I have forgiven all who misunderstood me. I have forgiven all who left our church because of our Native ministry. God has
blessed us tremendously. The church is growing again, but this time with the people God wants here, that support Native ministry and who are mostly Native themselves. Christians who tried to destroy what God so clearly directed me to do are slowly coming to us and asking forgiveness. It is all because of this great ministry of reconciliation that comes through the finished work on the cross by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that I can forgive those who hurt me, our church, and my family.

Blessings upon you and through our Lord Jesus.

In Christ,

Robert Soto (Lipan Apache)