letters from the jail

Winter 2007
Rocio Robles
Co-Director, FSC

Most of us at Tierra Nueva try to write to criminals, especially those in correction centers.

Some in the county jail must fulfill long sentences, and they often relocate to different jails, sometimes far from friends and relatives. When they are very isolated, they have a greater need to communicate with people they know, who understand how difficult isolation is. Our ministry never denies a call from the jail, which is always very expensive, although most of the inmates usually write to us.

One of those prisoners, known by Bob, began to write to me. His name is Juan, and he and I have constantly written since 2004. At McNeil Island Prison, he knew a young man named Jose that nobody wrote to, and he gave Tierra Nueva’s address to him.

Jose began to write to me with much timidity, giving multiple excuses and saying not to answer him. In the second letter, he told me he was from Honduras. I was excited and told him about our ministry in Minas de Oro, Honduras, and about the Hondurans that live in Skagit County, mentioning some names.

In the following letter, he thanked God over and over for having found Tierra Nueva, because he was born in Minas de Oro, Honduras, and recognized some of the names I had mentioned. In short, we found out that he was related to people living in this county. For almost five years, he had not been able to communicate with his mother. He had been consumed by anguish, knowing that his mother had perhaps given him up for dead. Now he feels much calmer to know that through our ministry in Honduras, he has found a way to let his mother know where he is and why he hasn’t communicated with her.

These small daily miracles are the force of our ministry—to be witnesses of how the hand of God extends to reach the good one, the bad one, the humble one, the needy one.

God's love catching the attention of inmates

Winter 2007
Chris Hoke, Assistant Jail Chaplain

Men in jail have heard a lot of talk. Legal talk. Street talk. Religious talk.

One of the valley's top meth cooks told me two nights ago that he used to have zero interest in the Bible because "all those miracles" never seemed to happen to anybody.

But now he can't wait to be prayed for—since he's experienced God's presence in startling ways both in his trailer and in jail. He's seen many of the people he knows healed of swollen livers, back pain, knee problems and depression almost instantly in our Bible studies in recent months. He's especially attracted to Jesus now because what he's witnessing and experiencing himself seems to line up with the stories and message he's heard at Bob's Bible studies for years: that Jesus approaches, heals, and calls people that most often are not looking for him and have no stated faith at all prior to the encounter.

A young Latino gang leader I've been meeting with has similarly come from a place of neither faith nor knowledge of Jesus to astonishment and eagerness to hear more. Initially he was unable to imagine my paraphrases (he never learned to read) of the gospel accounts of Jesus' displays of nonviolent power, fearlessness, love, care of enemies, and authority amidst violence ever working in his gang. Now he gets updates about how this very love—this deeper way of "being down" for friends—is infiltrating and surprising his posse on the outside, many of whom I've gotten to know over the last year.

Their latenight phone calls are increasing, inviting me to their hidden backroom meetings, as well as calling in distress and arriving stained by blood, wanting prayer and praying for each other on my living room floor as both enemies and squad cars hunt them through the night. My faith and the faith of inmates—as well as an eagerness to join the risky discipleship of Jesus' adventure among “sinners”—swells when the Presence and reality of who God is confirms the Bible's past record in our own unsuspecting stories.

US citizen detained by immigration

Winter 2007
Roger Capron
Co-Director of the Family Support Center

Who do we advocate for—the principality (in this case, the government)? Or the person?

Adriana called me last Thursday. Her young spouse, James, had been taken by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the former Border Patrol) to the NW Detention Center in Tacoma. Adriana insisted that James was a US Citizen, born inCalifornia. She told me how the ICE officials didn’t believe him and had put him in removal proceedings.

My advocacy mode kicked in, and I began to ask more questions: Where exactly was James born? When? Do you have an original birth certificate? Any other identification? I told Adriana to ask for specific information when James called from the Detention Center. Next, I called the NW Detention Center and asked them to investigate our claim that James is a citizen. The
investigation results came the next day when James told his wife that ICE had reviewed his birth certificate and said he’d better get a lawyer. Adriana insisted that he was born in the USA,
thus making him a citizen.

Sometimes I wonder why I pass through a stage in advocacy when I trust more in American institutions than in the individual; or why I have tended to believe so blindly the individual under the influence of his or her allegiance to their office and position. Such was my weakness after hearing this news. Wondering why someone would go to the pains of making up a story about their citizenship, I reluctantly called an attorney friend of mine in Seattle to ask for advice. He expressed the same doubt about James’s story, but suggested that if it were true, it would best be handled by our US Congressman’s Office in Bellingham.

I didn’t expect to get very far with a congressperson on a case that didn’t sound too credible, but to my complete surprise, I was met with an enthusiastic desire to check into the validity of James’s situation. So, after more phone calls and a visit to the congressman’s office to let them take copies of James’s birth certificate and other identifying documents, we waited for the outcome. Two days ago James called to ask that someone come to Tacoma to pick him up! ICE had let him go and then backpedaled, claiming James never told them he was a citizen.

asthma healed!

Winter 2007
Emily Martin

We’re used to the teaching that when you break the rules, here are the consequences. For example, in my house we had rules, and if I broke the rules, I knew for how long I would be grounded. That’s how most people are raised.

Last year when I was in Mexico, I suffered with asthma really bad because of all the pollution in the air. When I came home, I was really sick with asthma all through the winter. I came to Tierra Nueva and saw people being healed, but I didn’t ask God to heal my asthma, because I got asthma from smoking marijuana for so many years—I thought it was my punishment from God. I smoked weed for all those years, and so now I thought I had to live with asthma, because that was just the obvious consequence.

I never felt I could ask God to heal my asthma, because obviously it was a punishment for having done something I knew was wrong.

Then one Sunday at the Tierra Nueva worship service, Bob was telling stories about guys in the jail who had gotten in fights and broken their hands, and God healed their hands anyway. So I thought I would ask God to heal my asthma. That Sunday, there were so many people in the service who needed prayer for healing that Bob said we should all put our hand on whatever part of our body needed healing, and he would lead us in a prayer. I put my hand on my chest, and we prayed as a group.

Later, I realized that I could go outside in the cold air and still breathe. I played soccer at night with some of the guys from Tierra Nueva, and I was fine. Then I went to Oaxaca over the summer where the air pollution is really bad—protesters were burning busses and tires—but I was fine. When we went to Mexico City, the air pollution turned my eyes red, but I didn’t cough hardly at all.

Now I don’t have asthma. I learned that there are consequences, but that’s not the same thing as punishment, because God’s not about punishment.

saved from suicide

Spring 2006
Rocio Robles, Co-Director, Family Support Center

Mario came to the Skagit Valley just for a visit, with a big pain in his heart because he had lost his family. Despairing because the woman he loved had betrayed him for another man, he later learned that it was all because of his alcoholism. So many times he told me his drinking history, crying like a child, telling how he wanted to kill his wife and then take his own life, and how he thought of his children that would be left as orphans.

He decided to go to the orchard and shoot two times in his chest, but the pistol didn’t discharge. He struck against tree trunks, his blood joining his tears of desperation.

All of us at Tierra Nueva have benefitted from the friendship with Mario. We’ve seen how God has placed his eyes upon him and changed him so much. He has more than a year of not trying even one beer, when before he drank on a daily basis. In spite of his vice, he was always working. In the morning, he weeded gardens, and in the afternoon he worked in a resturant. For months, I drove him to and from work because he didn’t want to drive at 1:00 am for fear the police would detain him. Finally he decided to work in a nursery.

When someone called to donate a pickup, Roger and I immediately thought of Mario. Now it’s much easier for him to transport his second hand pruning equipment, and he has a much easier time hauling off yard waste. Mario has always said that Tierra Nueva is his family. For us, it is a living miracle and a big motivator in our effort to humbly serve others.

recruited by Jesus!

Spring 2006
Chris Hoke, Assistant Jail Chaplain

For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.
Matt 9:13

Why did Jesus hang out with and call sinners to follow him? I’m increasingly convinced that they were the people best suited for his mission.

Reading the gospels with dozens of inmates—especially first generation Latino street gang members—I ask the men, “If you were Jesus, what kind of people would you want to follow you?”

These are individuals who can operate outside the religious establishment, ready to lose family and all possessions for the sake of one thing. Many have already laid their lives on the line for a member of their gang. Most have few reservations in coming alongside the ill-repute in the community and getting arrested by the authorities. They often have stories of others plotting to kill them.

I’ve been involved with a network of the youngest, most notorious Chicano Sureños, and have been challenged when reading Jesus’ call in Luke 6: If you only show love and respect to members of your own, what makes you any different? Even Norteños and cops do that.

Though guards shake their heads at the names of men I request to meet, a number of these 18-22 year olds tell me how they are praying for each other inside and outside the jail. Two nights ago, a 19-year-old felon who goes by “Travieso” —Spanish for “Naughty”—was eager to tell me that he’d prayed for his prosecutor last week... who just that day had suddenly decided not to press half of his charges.

Covered in tattoos and smiles, these are the ones the Father chooses to adopt, who Jesus chooses to follow him

my trip to TN Honduras

Spring 2006 Nick Bryant

This winter, Nick visited and worked with the Tierra Nueva community in Honduras. For more information about the Honduras arm of TN, visit our website, www.tierra-nueva.org.

“Así es, Nicolas. Hay que sufrir.” He said it so nonchalantly, like a flat and unsatisfying period to punctuate so many problems and pain. You have to suffer.

As he stooped to heft one more brimming bag of beans to his shoulder, I couldn’t help but wonder where God was in the midst of this. Does the kingdom of God look like a gradual alleviation of poverty through the patient and persistent efforts of nine Tierra Nueva promoters, who share the good news of improved farming methods, natural medicine, and nutrition among the extremely poor? Is it the filling of church pews or the political empowerment of peasant campesinos?

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

“But Jesus,” I want to say, “you can heal this man’s back bent by too many heavy loads; you can even invite him out of the shame and condemnation that he believes he somehow merits.

But what are you going to do about his poverty, about third world debt and corrupt governments, about CAFTA and immigration legislation and the oppressive structures and institutions that caused these infirmities in the first place?”

Returning with more questions than answers, I’m beginning to see that our liberation is realized in both exodus and crucifixion: it is a salvation from the oppressive reality in which we find ourselves. And it is an invitation to live and die in such a way as to demonstrate that these earthly structures have no power over us. It is in this tension between the spiritual and the material that I pray with our Honduran brothers and sisters, “Kingdom of God, come!”

going outside the camp

Spring 2006
Bob Ekblad, Executive Director

At Tierra Nueva, we’re hearing with increased clarity and urgency the need to embrace the excluded, tainted ones. Whether labeled and discarded by insiders as “illegal aliens,” “felons,” “homeless,” “drug addicts” “habitual offenders,” or “mentally ill,” Jesus calls his body to bear his shame and announce victory to all who find themselves “outside the camp.” This is in fact what we found ourselves doing during four back-to-back Bible studies on Hebrews 13:11-14 last Thursday night in Skagit County Jail.

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.

“Unclean things were cast outside the Israelite camp, outside the city of Jerusalem to protect the rest from danger and contamination,” I explain to the first group of 20 red-uniformed inmates who sit in a circle. Outside the camp, animal carcasses were destroyed (Lev 16:27), lepers resided (Lev 13:46), menstruating women were sent (Num 5:2-3), and criminals were executed (Lev 24:14, 23; Num 15:35-36; Deut 22:24).

“Who are the people considered unclean and excludable by those who see themselves as ‘inside the camp’ today?” I ask.

“We are,” a number of them say immediately. “The homeless,” says someone else. Others mention undocumented workers, people living with AIDS, sex-offenders.

“So let’s see where God is located according to this Scripture,” I suggest, inviting a volunteer to read the next verse.

Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

The men are moved to see that Jesus identifies himself with the ones outside the camp. We read Luke 15:1-2, which states that “all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming to listen to him,” provoking the insiders to grumble.

“So Jesus is someone who suffers with the outsiders. What else does he do according to this verse?” I ask.

We discuss how Jesus sanctified them by his blood, which means that he made unholy, rejected ones holy, righteous or set apart—even special. I ask if any of them have tried and failed to make themselves holy or righteous. Everyone responds that they have tried and failed repeatedly.

The inmates are moved to discover that Jesus himself makes the unclean, excluded ones righteous through his blood, shed for them. On the cross, outside the camp (John 19:20; Mk 15:20; Matt 27:32), Jesus does what no human can do on their own. He makes us holy, righteous, and special through bloodshed, suffering among the damned. When I ask each group whether they want to receive the gift of holiness offered to them by Jesus, people in each of the four groups unanimously and enthusiastically say “yes.”

“Well, you don’t have to go very far to get Jesus’ help, because if you’re already outside the camp, Jesus is here with you,” I say, asking someone to read the next few verses: Hence, let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his shame. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come (Heb 13:11-14).

“I’m the one who has to go father than any of you, as I’m inside the camp,” I say, realizing I’m the only one not dressed in a red jail uniform.

“No you don’t, because you’re here with us,” someone immediately responds, making me feel warmly included—strangely free of shame.

At the beginning of the fourth Bible study, I mention an impression I had received of someone with a painful knee. Everyone around the circle of eight begins to detail other pains in their bodies, ending with a man who has a painful left knee. I invite everyone to lay hands on themselves and pray that the healing power of the Spirit would flow through their hands into their bodies. Everyone has their hands on at least two places.

When I ask them to check their bodies after the prayer, I’m shocked to find that everyone—all eight—have been healed of all their pain. They respond to my repeated invitations to continue praying by insisting that all their pain is really gone. It is easy for this group to believe the good news of Jesus’ presence with them.

Jesus welcomes us to join him outside, where we find relief from striving for righteousness, and from our pain. Jesus has already done for us what we desperately desire and need, but can’t do for ourselves. He has done away with all “us-them” distinctions in a subversive act of removing all borders. This is the good news of the Kingdom of God that we enthusiastically welcome and boldly announce.

back pain healed!

Winter 2006
Roger Wyatt, Jail Volunteer

I’ve had osteoarthritis in my lower back for five years. During the past six months it had become so severe that I could not sleep at night. I finally decided to consult my doctor and he prescribed pain killers and fifteen visits to the physical therapist.

I know God heals, but considering the pain Jesus and the other disciples endured, I was reluctant to ask prayer for myself. Finally, I shared my problem with my men’s Bible study, and they prayed for me. The next night, I shared it with inmates at the Skagit County Jail and asked prayer at the close of Bible study.

One of the men stood up and said, “We won’t wait until the end.” About twenty-five men got up and laid hands on me and prayed for healing. I was overwhelmed by their great faith, which seemed much greater than my own.

Next, I received a call from Bob Ekblad inviting me to a Bible study and time of prayer at Tierra Nueva. I really felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to attend. I listened to Bob relate many miraculous healings performed by Jesus, and Bob’s own testimony of receiving the power of healing at a pastor’s conference in Toronto.

After the study, the entire group prayed for my healing. From Bob’s hand, I felt warmth across my lower back, into my hip and down my left leg. I came away praising Jesus and feeling completely healed and pain free. The next morning I felt greatly improved and ready to cancel the remaining treatments, but since I still felt some residual pain, I decided to continue with the therapy.

I was able to share my healing experiences with one of the therapists on my next visit. The therapist told me she also believed in Jesus and had the gift of healing. We both rejoiced in the many ways God works in our lives. I believe I am on a journey with God concerning this whole episode, and God is not through using me. Thank you for your continued prayers!

miracles in Honduras

Winter 2006
Bob Ekblad, Executive Director

This month, I traveled to Honduras to visit Tierra Nueva’s village trainers. I was encouraged to see them renewing their commitment to serve farmers in extreme poverty—the landless, single mothers, and those struggling with alcoholism, domestic violence, sickness and depression.

Near our center in Minas de Oro, I visited an impoverished village where promoters David and Jorge Calix live. They invited the villagers to a Bible study on Mark 1:21-34. We talked about how Jesus began his ministry at the margins of society, in Galilee. He preached, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel,” and then began calling ordinary people to participate in his ministry of healing, deliverance and proclamation. We noted that Jesus spoke and acted with great authority, evident through his teaching and rebuking of unclean spirits. Jesus raised up Peter’s mother-in-law, sick with fever, and healed all the ill and demon-possessed.

Where did Jesus get his authority? We read the account of Jesus’ baptism, when the heavens were torn open and the Spirit descended like a dove and a voice announced God’s favor—even before Jesus had done any works. We invited the Spirit to be present and prayed for people suffering from pain and sickness. Several people said they experienced relief, and all of the fifteen participants desired prayer to receive more empowerment from the Spirit to become directly involved in Jesus’ ministry.

The next day, Elia (a TN promoter) and I visited women she attends in nearby villages. With every encounter, signs of God’s kingdom became increasingly visible. A family in the hamlet above had children suffering from Dengue fever.

“Let’s go pray for them, Roberto,” Elia said.

I agreed somewhat reluctantly, afraid of getting sick from the dreaded fever. But the thought of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law from fever mobilized me. We hiked up a steep trail to a humble home with corn husks drying in the sun. We laid hands on the girl and her brother, commanding the fever to leave in Jesus name. In addition, we prayed for their father, who had continual pain in his lower back and leg. He said the pain completely lifted, and enthusiastically urged his wife to receive prayer for pain in her head, neck and spinal column. She reported a fuego (fire) from her head to her lower back, and the pain completely left. Now the
daughter was lying with her head propped up, smiling, and saying she felt better. The son had gotten up, his fever gone. Elia and l headed down the trail, giving thanks to God.

Next we visited Hector, a retired TN promoter who had led a phenomenal Bible study with thirty villagers for nine years. Sadly, the success of this study led the local Catholic delegate of the Word to close the study two years before. We prayed that God would help us see reconciliation and renewal in this community. When we arrived, the delegate greeted us warmly. I told him that Hector wanted us to lead a Bible study or perhaps pray for the sick. He invited us to a special service for the Virgin of Suyapa, a commemoration of a Honduran manifestation of mother Mary. I agreed to go, remembering Jesus’ frequenting of the synagogues in the villages he visited.

We proceeded up the dirt road past rows of adobe houses and were ushered into a crowed home with some fifty men, women and children. The service began, with songs commemorating Mary, Scripture readings and an inspiring homily by the delegate, who upon finishing announced that I was now going to lead the group in a service of healing. Shocked, I quickly sought a way to avoid being the gringo man of power for the hour—a role I have intensely disliked. I spoke briefly about Jesus’ passing his mission to the disciples, giving them power and authority to do the same. So Jesus desires to empower all of us, I concluded, inviting people to pair up and pray for each other to impart the Spirit of the Lord upon their partner as they repeated Luke 4:18-19 over each other.

The people enthusiastically responded, and I asked who needed healing. More than twenty-five people raised their hands. I invited everyone to lay hands on each other and we prayed, commanding pain to leave in Jesus’ name. We repeated: “This healing belongs to me because I am a child of God. I receive my healing now as a free gift in Jesus’ name.”

Over fifteen people experienced immediate and total healing. The group gave rounds of applause to Jesus, who had visited their village in such a concrete way. We then invited anyone needing more prayer to a nearby home, which was soon crowed to overflowing with others who had heard about the healings.

For the next hour, Elia and I prayed for the sick, including the delegate of the Word himself, who broke down weeping and confessing his need to humble himself and receive, even from people who weren’t Catholic. Elia and I returned to Minas de Oro late that night, amazed that the Kingdom of God had indeed come close. I return both humbled in awestruck by the new things that God is doing among us.

families split apart by deportation?

Winter 2006
Roger Capron, Co-Director of the Family Support Center


“For just as the body has many members, and all the members are one body, so it is with Christ.”

At Tierra Nueva, we seek to incarnate this truth as we minister to wounded and threatened families.

Ramón’s wife came to the FSC asking for help to get her husband out of jail and back to his home and children. Ramón was being held on serious felony charges. He would likely end up in deportation proceedings and eventually be sent back to Mexico.

Rocío, Co-Director of the FSC, insisted that we help. While Ramón may have made a bad decision, deep down he was a loving and responsible father. If Ramón were deported, the family would be forced to the streets.

The FSC staff collected letters of reference for Ramón and arranged for trusted legal help. Nick, a long-term volunteer, set-up anger management classes. Chris, assistant jail chaplain, made regular contact with Ramón to give spiritual and emotional support.

The situation looked hopeful. The prosecutor agreed to a plea to non-deportable charges. But then the Border Patrol discovered an earlier conviction. They took Ramón to their Tacoma detention facility. Another flurry of phone calls and letters were sent, this time to the judge. Finally, Ramón walked free on bail. Because of ineffective representation four years ago, he should have never been charged. The faith communities at Tierra Nueva continued to pray for Ramón’s liberation out of the hands of the city attorney and the border patrol.

The verdict came: “Not Guilty plea will be accepted.” Eventually, Ramón’s attorney convinced the city attorney to drop the case without re-charging Ramón. Ramón’s green card and
legal immigration status were reinstated. Ramón was a free man!

All told, twelve members of the body of Christ labored in the unity of the Spirit to help our brother, Ramón, regain his freedom, his dignity, his family and his community.

fears about leaving jail

Winter 2006
Chris Hoke, Assistant Jail Chaplain

Jose* throws on a clean shirt as he steps out of the trailer where he lives with his mom. She hands him a lunch she's prepared for his dinner at work, and smiles and waves as we pull out of the RV lot. This is the first of her four sons to return to her. She has been alone, with one dead and the rest in prison or jail, all from lives of drug addiction, violence and crime.

Already two months have passed since I picked up Jose from the curb in front of the jail and brought him to Tierra Nueva where Roger and I prayed with him, for his freedom from addiction to live into his destiny. Now, en route from his house to his stable job, we get to catch up in the car once again.

"That was one of my biggest fears: getting out of jail. Not having friends, other than the ones that tore me down, who were only there for me when drinking and drugging. But when I went straight to Tierra Nueva, and each time I come there now, I feel like I got family. I love coming to Tierra Nueva. Along with the Zion church."

Jose's excitement about his recent experiences at a lively, Spirit-led, Messianic congregation deepens our growing belief that people coming off lives of heavy substances and action have a spiritual thirst that needs to be met by the full vitality and experience of God's Presence and Life. If not, drugs will eventually be more satisfying than humdrum church or some 9-5 job that gives no meaning to their unique, God-breathed lives.

"When I was drinking and doping I always looked forward to Friday to get drunk, to numb my sadness. But after enough suffering, like now, I look forward to Saturday at Zion. There I can pour out my soul to God, you know, where we all sing, really loud."

*name has been changed

my testimony of renewal

Fall 2006
Ryann Lachowicz

I don’t know if you’ve ever felt engulfed by darkness or in a pit of hopelessness, but I was just there.

I grew up “knowing” Jesus, but that knowing has been more like a constant anxiety in my stomach over not measuring up.

As I got older, I thrived in ministry involvement in college and academics, striving after a life of social justice to the marginalized. I had gotten really good at jumping through the necessary hoops to show others (and myself) that I was “ok.”

And then I fell apart. After graduating from Western, I received some personal blows that shattered the neat little path I had set up for myself. I felt lost. I didn’t have any direction to go . . . no clue what to do with this degree I’d slaved for. My heart hurt badly. Relationships failed. I felt so distant from God and even disdainful. I started to turn my face from God and for the first time in my life identified with the prodigal son of Luke 15 instead of the older dutiful son. It was deep shame that drove me away from the Father, and after returning, deep shame remained.

Sometime in late spring I found myself sitting in Tierra Nueva’s upper room at a migrant outreach training. I had been walking toward healing with God since November, but I was still severely disillusioned with the church, my life, and faith in general. That morning I came expecting a program. I came expecting to hear a list of good approaches and well-tested human efforts that would make an effective outreach. I expected to need to prove my
worthiness for the task.

Instead, I was met with something real. I was confronted with people’s hearts. I heard about their deep hunger for God, and that they had nothing to give without drawing life straight from God. I heard about how they were seeing God pour out life in supernatural, beautiful ways to people they minister to. There was peace in their eyes and it felt like life was seeping out of the baseboards and into my shoes.

From that day forward, deep in my gut something has been drawing me to Tierra Nueva. The first time I came to soaking prayer, I wept the entire two hours. It was the most overwhelming time of restoration and receiving God’s delight that I’ve ever experienced. As I practice lying on the floor not “doing” anything but receiving from God, I feel the heaviness, the duty, the rules and the strivings crumble away.

For the first time in my life, I am desperately hungry for God. There’s something strangely wonderful about being a major mess up. It’s freed me from thinking I have any chance of measuring up! This place of desperation and hunger has opened me up to receiving outpourings of the Holy Spirit, filling me up, knocking me over, feeding my soul, speaking words for my life or for others, and giving life to the scripture.

I feel a bit like a bewildered child, but I know now what an incredibly GOOD Father I have. I am so thankful God has led me to this Tierra Nueva community where we receive love, listen for the Father’s voice and minister out of a place of rest and empowerment by the Holy Spirit.

authority on the streets

Fall 2006
Chris Hoke

So, how’ve things been going in the jail with you and pastor Robert?”

Sixers, 24, one of the demigods of the Skagit Valley’s Sureño gang scene, sits in the passenger seat, two days out of state prison and covered with new tattoos on his arms and face. He has just finished telling me about the inner-workings of prison gang violence and politics—how a person who oversteps a code is “marked” by a leader, and ruthlessly harmed by whomever gets the order. Within the hour.

I answer Sixers by telling him we’ve been seeing God move in even clearer ways that make inmates go “Whoa,” spreading news through whole jail pods about people actually being affected by God.

“It’s like God ‘marks’ dudes in the joint as well,” I tell him, “like you guys do. But instead of hurting them, he heals them, brings them life instead of death. Within the hour. Just this last Sunday, nine people were healed, man.”

“Nu-uh…” His tattooed fingers cover his surprised smile.

“Yeah, take last night for example. I’m meeting one-on-one with this Chicano man accused of murder. We’re praying, and I get this image in my head of toes. It’s like God is my ‘shot-caller,’ and he’s telling me to ‘get this guy,’ that there’s a problem with his toes. So I ask the man, ‘Do you have any pain in your toes?’ ‘Yes,’ he says, as he lifts his head. ‘You never told me that before, did you?’ ‘I’ve never told anyone about my toes—I hide this.’

‘I think God wants to heal you,’ I venture.

“So I scoot my chair around the table and lay my hands on his white-socked toes that have severely ingrown nails. Then in Jesus’ name, I tell the pain to leave. I command the nails to grow straight.

“It’s like you on the street, Sixers. You were just telling me the power your name has around here: you say something, it happens.”

“Yup,” and he snaps his fingers.

“Same with Jesus’ authority over death, sickness, and stuff like that. I used Jesus’ name and authority with the unwanted pain hurting this man whom God ‘marked,’ and a minute later he’s squeezing his toes, crying, saying all the pain is gone, that minutes before he couldn’t even touch them!

“Almost immediately, he wants to be closer to God. Like he’s ‘jumped in’ to the gang. He wants to roll with God, let him ‘drive the car,’” I continue with the prison terms Sixers has taught me.

“Daaamnnn, man, that’s cool.” His eyes light up and he pauses before getting out of the car, shaking his head.

Gang members on the streets and men locked in the system are tired of being helpless and pushed around. Sixers’ attraction to Jesus’ power—of life and not violence—shows that what poor and disrespected young men in and out of bars, unserved by a forever-pending world of bureaucratic solutions, are desperate for real authority, even more than their threatening codes. They are hungry for power to effect change in their everyday lives—within the hour.

So we at Tierra Nueva now want to listen to God even more closely and join the authority of Jesus’ name to take the streets back under God’s new, life-giving reign.

God loves and calls violent men

Fall 2006
Bob Ekblad

Violent men make the headlines daily, and many people consider them deserving of banishment or death.

God has called me and many here at Tierra Nueva to seek, find, bind up, love, pray for and in various ways minister to violent men and women—both inside and outside jail.

God is calling the entire church to reach out in love to violent men and women, inviting them into a life filled with adventure, love and meaning as agents of transformation in the company of Jesus.

Every week I have the privilege of seeing hardened, violent men profoundly touched by God’s affectionate embrace. When people in our weekly jail Bible studies come to truly realize that God adores them, they respond to God’s call and become disciples—often 12-15 at a time.

Sinners’ attraction to Jesus should come as no surprise. In Luke 15:1 “all the tax-gatherers and [all] the sinners were coming near him to listen to him.” Jesus was known as a “friend ofsinners” (Matt 11:19). “The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost . . . it is not the will of your father who is in heaven that one of these little ones [lost sheep] perish” (Matt 18:11,14).

I often say to people in our jail Bible studies, “Take it as a compliment that you are harassed and targeted by the Enemy. He’s trying to take you down because he knows what a threat you’d be if you were an agent of love for the Kingdom of God.” This is not empty flattery, but a conviction repeatedly supported by Scripture.

Throughout Scripture we see God highly valuing violent men, calling them as God’s choice ministers. Moses was called after murdering an Egyptian to be Israel’s liberator. David was anointed after years of violence defending sheep and attacking Philistines, and became the author of our Psalms of worship.

Jesus met the Apostle Paul in the midst of his violent campaign against the first Christians. Paul writes powerfully about God’s choice of himself:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, putting me into service; even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life (1 Tim 1:12-16).

Violent offender types like Paul and many others were targeted and attacked both by enemies of flesh and blood and spiritual enemies. I believe that those most involved in violence today are at the top of God’s list of people God is seeking and calling—and should be our highest priority in a different kind of Jesus-inspired war on terror. God calls the worst as an example for those who would believe. So who and where might these big, bad “little ones” be?

Our county jails are filled with people charged with violent crimes as well as others labeled “felons” with violent convictions. Rather than demanding harsher prison sentences and fines that increase shame and violence, our incarcerated neighbors need much more love, respect and the honor of being invited to follow Jesus to bring life and liberation to the world.

Al-Qaeda and Taliban combatants and people who strap explosives to their bodies need to be placed at the top of our prayer and outreach priorities, and certainly not destroyed. We must stop excluding enemy combatants from those for whom we grieve, as if their deaths are less important than those of innocent civilians or US troupes. This grieves the Holy Spirit, who comes to comfort and defend.

The world’s many orphans definitely need to be sponsored so their needs are provided. But let us not forget that most violent men are grown-up neglected and abused children or orphans in need of love, healing and spiritual adoption—which includes a calling. Rather than letting them be easy prey for the military recruiters, drug dealers and other forces that would rob, kill and destroy, join us in recruiting them as workers in God’s harvest fields.

We have learned that loving our enemies is not an easy or natural task—but it is at the heart of our calling. This kind of extreme love can only come directly from God. We at Tierra Nueva are constantly humbled by both our weakness before the powers of violence, addictions and death and by the bigness of God’s love.

Saying “yes” to the call to seek after lost sheep until we find them requires more of God’s abundant love and the anointing of the Holy Spirit than we yet have. Thankfully, God is rich in mercy and full of love and goodness, and is eager to show up and fill us so we can “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12).

Let’s join Jesus, who says, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mk 2:17). As more and more violent bad guys get recruited into God’s service as agents of love, the Kingdom of God will certainly be drawing closer.

hearts of compassion in Tierra Nueva Honduras

Fall 2005
by Bob Ekblad

Fifteen Tierra Nueva promotores (trainers) serve the poorest of the poor in some fifty Honduran villages.

Every two weeks, David Calix, the 48-year-old coordinator, calls us from a scratchy internet phone. Third-grade educated David brilliantly pastors many of Tierra Nueva’s Honduran staff, only one of whom is educated beyond sixth grade.

“Roberto, I am trying to motivate the promoters to continue to reach out to the poorest farmers. I encourage them to remember where they have come from. But they are tempted to forget. It is too painful to remember the poverty.”

David tells me how TN promoters have all become successful farmers. Now the temptation is to pursue security, forget where they have come from, and harden their hearts. David gives examples that convict.

“Some are even wanting to ride motorcycles or cars instead of mules. There is even talk of each promoter having a cell phone,” he says in dismay.

David insists that people need to remember the pain of growing up with nothing, of losing their fathers to other women or alcohol, or siblings to dysentery.

“Remembering where we’ve come from is important, Roberto. In this way we will not harden our hearts to the most broken people—those who spend their money on alcohol rather than seeds, or who are discouraged to the point of apathy.”

Last week he told us of a hope-inspiring Bible study on the man born blind in John 9. “Jesus refuses to blame the man for his misfortune. This helped us to realize we must not blame the poor or ourselves.”

We end our conversation discussing how the man’s blindness and poverty, illnesses and calamities must not be seen as punishments for sin, but rather as opportunities for Jesus to visit them and offer healing, a new opportunity, a better system of farming, an irrigation project or inclusion into a faith community. We pray for the promoters, for David, for all of us—that we would have hearts of compassion.

a day in the Family Support Center

Fall 2005
Rocio Robles

There’s never a typical day in the Family Support Center. I sit down to answer letters from the prison, or write to the believers in Honduras. But then a Mixteco or Triqui family comes in needing work clothes. It’s not just the clothing—it’s breaking down barriers so we can gain their confidence. The next time they have a problem, they won’t be afraid to come.

I’ve met many families this way—especially wives of prisoners and single mothers struggling to support their children. Most are undocumented and some can’t read or write. With great humility they ask me to fill out their work applications. Others are looking for a place to live with their children. Some don’t know how to drive.

For example, Yolanda has four children and is udocumented. But that’s not a barrier to working—she can count on us to help her fill out a money order, give her a ride, or just provide a place to talk about her pain.

Some people come with traffic violations and are afraid of landing in jail and being deported. Others have immigration applications and need to know how their case is going, or need a lawyer they can trust.

Other people live alone, carrying a heavy burden of loneliness. Tierra Nueva is like an oasis, because here they have someone to tell their stories to, even though they tell the same stories again and again.

It’s so beautiful when someone opens their heart to me for the first time. Even when they repeat the same thing over and over again, I realize our mission here is to be servants.

The people are our highest priority. They always have to come first—the ones who need attention, or a ride, or come anguished, worried, sad, or alone. We offer them a safe place where they can experience the love of Christ.

forgiveness sets the captives free

Fall 2005
Chris Hoke

Another captive was set free last month. Ramón was facing thirty or more years in prison at age nineteen, under four counts of rape, burglary, and kidnapping.

One Thursday night he walked into the Bible study at Skagit County Jail, where we would ask the Holy Spirit for strength to bless and forgive our enemies.

While we stood in a circle, Ramón quietly forgave and blessed the young woman who had falsely accused him, as well as the man who had murdered his brother. The following week, Ramón was unable to contain his excitement. After he had released this woman from the bondage of judgments and anger, the very next morning the prosecutor’s office received a handwritten letter in which she confessed her accusations to be lies, dropping the charges and apologizing. That night in the jail, Ramón practically led our worship. He told how that week he gave his life over to Jesus. He then initiated prayer for other inmates in our group.

Last week, he insisted I go with him to his nephew’s trial. There, beside me on the back bench, he prayed with more maturity and simple conviction of God’s power than I’ve ever seen. After his nephew was released less than an hour later, Ramón stood with his mother, sister and nephew in the parking lot, under the blue sky. Ramón looked them individually in the eye: “God is real,” he said in Spanish, nodding firmly. “He’s stronger than any judge or prosecutor.”

Blessing our enemies is a teaching we have all heard, but not one I grew up seeing practiced in any congregational setting. Maybe it’s because we see no real or immediate benefit in it—a nearly impossible command.

Here on the margins, we are learning to trust the power of Jesus’ call to forgive and bless our enemies. Forgiving love breaks the chains that shackle us to our enemies.