OUR STORY

How We Met Each Other...

In the summer of 1978, little did we know that our worlds would collide through something as innocent as my high school trip to Mexico. Alex and I met through his brother who was my group’s tour guide (7 female students and 2 female chaperones). Pablo practically forced Alex to come to a party given in our honor. It’s important to keep in mind that Alex didn’t speak any English and I spoke high school level Spanish not to mention that neither of us were believers. Alex asked me to dance and we both spent the rest of the trip making opportunities to see each other. I returned home to finish high school and Alex to his job, but it was impossible to go back to our “normal lives”.

How We Met Jesus...

I ended up going to a Mexican university in Puebla for several years. During that time, I left home against my family’s wishes and Alex and I were married by a Justice of the Peace. Knowing the unlikelihood of such a marriage surviving, my parents offered to pay my tuition if I would finish college. So we returned to Puebla where we were surrounded by missionaries and believers who the Lord used to help us get to know Him.

In 1982, some friends took us to a church where we gave our hearts to Jesus. A short time later we went to a home bible study hosted by some missionaries where we received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and later we were water baptized. We also had the privilege of going on our first mission trip with another missionary to a mountain community where we fell in love with mission work and ministry in particular. At that time we each separately asked the Lord to prepare us for ministry, but to our surprise He directed us to move the US and to concentrate on our marriage and raising a family assuring us that He would show us the right time to step out into ministry.

How We Came to Charis Bible College...

Fast forward through nearly 26 years, three amazing children and 11 moves later to a regular morning in March of 2008 while I was watching The Gospel Truth on TV. I had seen this program and commercials for the bible college hundreds of times, but this morning was different. I knew I had to get information about the correspondence program which I could do from home. Little did I realize that Alex would want to do it too or that this was the fulfillment of that prayer we had prayed 26 years earlier! By August first, we had finished the first year program, packed up, sold our home and moved to Colorado Springs to begin our 2nd year at Charis Bible College (CBC) . One of the second year requirements is to complete a mission’s trip. We ended up going to Mexico and during that trip the Lord began to talk to us about returning there to minister. We stayed at CBC for a third year which focuses on leadership and ministry training. It was while working on our apprenticeship project, we received confirmation that we should move to Queretaro, Mexico to plant a discipleship ministry center which we believe will develop into a Bible college.

We shared the vision and scope of the work that the Lord had been showing us to the leadership of Andrew Wommack Ministries who have since that time ordained us and sent us out to make our vision a reality.

Statement of Faith

Our Team

Vision and Mison

Affiliations

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.”

— Ecclesiastes 4:9 (New Living Translation)

Alex Palomares

Alex Palomares leads the legal, financial and administrative aspects of the ministry. In addition to his leadership and administrative skills, Alex has a passion to make biblical materials and training available to the Spanish speaking world. To read Alex's testimony, click here.

Alex's Testimony

Julie Palomares

Julie Palomares helps Alex lead the ministry and holds the title of “executive secretary”. Her true passion is teaching. She loves to help others discover truths in the Word of God that set them free in their relationship with Him. To read Julie's testimony, click here.

Julie's Testimony

Nancy Shaw

Nancy Shaw is our state-side administrator. She faithfully devotes herself to all the administrative tasks that we aren’t able to do while living on the mission field. Nancy'’s expert handling of our newsletters, donations and correspondence keeps us connected to the rest of our team… our faithful partners.

Vision

To reach and disciple both the English speaking world in the United States and the Spanish speaking world in México and throughout Latin America with the message of God’s unconditional love and grace.

Mission

To establish biblical discipleship through teaching, encouraging both individuals and churches to reach others with God’s unconditional love and grace giving them the opportunity to experience Him personally fulfilling Jesus’ command to go and make disciples.

statement of faith

We offer this section as an outline of the major points of our faith. The bottom line is that we believe in and have a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we endeavor to live our lives to honor and glorify God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ based on what He has spoken to us through His written Word.

The Scriptures: We believe that all of Scripture (i.e. both the Old and New Testament) is inspired by God, and is our final authority in all matters pertaining to doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.(II Timothy 3:16-17)

God: We believe in only one true God; One in essence, nature, and attributes, but existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh, is the second member of the Godhead, co-equal and co- eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. (I John 5:7; John 1:1, 14)

Jesus Christ: We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, of His shed blood on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins, of His bodily resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand. We do not believe that He is a way to the Father, but rather the only way through which we can receive righteousness, regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. He is, in fact, our salvation. (I Corinthians 1:30-31)

Holy Spirit: We believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit, expressed with speaking in tongues according to Acts 1:8; 2:4; 9:17; 10:44-46; 11:15, 16; and 19:6. We believe this experience is distinct from, and subsequent to, the new birth, and can be received by faith (Galatians 3:2).

Man: We believe that man was created innocent, but through Adam’s transgression, sin came upon all men, and all men have sinned. The penalty for sin is death, or stated another way, eternal separation from God. (Romans 5:12; 3:23; 6:23)

Salvation: We believe that Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for man’s sin (through His shed blood), so that all men who, in repentance and faith, receive the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord are saved. Salvation is by grace through faith. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Hebrews 9:11-12, Acts 20:20-21; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8)

Healing: We believe that the redemptive work of Christ on the cross has provided healing for the human body. (Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 8:16-17; I Peter 2:24)

The Resurrection: We believe in the resurrection of the just and of the unjust; the just to everlasting life and the unjust to everlasting damnation. (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:1-8)

The Second Coming: We believe in a literal, physical second return of the Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thessalonians 1:10; 4:16-17)

The Church: We believe that the universal church is comprised of all true believers who have received salvation through Christ. We also believe in and encourage fellowship with a local church. (Ephesians 1:22-23; Hebrews 10:25)

Gifts of the Holy Spirit: We believe that spiritual gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit are for the common good and building up of others. (I Corinthians 12:7)

About querétaro, méxico

**Santiago de Querétaro**

Is the capital and largest city of the state of Querétaro located in central México. It is 213 km (132 miles) northwest of Mexico City.

The founding date of the city is given as July 25, 1531.
Today, the city is one of the fastest-growing in the country, with its economy based in industries such as chemicals, paper products and machinery.
One of the most prominent feature of the city is its enormous aqueduct, consisting of seventy five arches, each twenty meters wide with a total extension of 1,280 meters (4,199 feet) and an average height of twenty three meters (75 feet).
Most of the rest of Querétaro’s notable sites are located in the historic center, which is pedestrian-friendly and filled with colonial architecture.

Why querétaro?

The Querétaro project was birthed in our hearts as Alex and I began to pray and to ask the Lord what our next step should be after completing our year long leadership training program which was called an apprenticeship. One of the requirements of Charis Bible College’s third year program was to research an area of ministry and to develop it into a written proposal. As Alex and I prayed, 3 cities came to his mind as possible locations where we should begin our ministry; however, one city, Querétaro, kept standing out to us in our thoughts and research.

In January 2010, we decided to go to Querétaro, México to confirm whether this was the place we should base our ministry. Querétaro is a lovely colonial city of about 800,000 people. It is clean, safe and situated approximately two and a half hours northwest of México City. It’s also an area that is home to many international companies and a number of educational institutions. It is the number 1 non-beach tourist destination in México. Beyond these facts, which we found to be true as we spent time getting to know the area, Querétaro needs to hear the message of God’s unconditional love and grace.

The time we spent walking the streets of Querétaro and praying about all of this confirmed to us that this is where we need to be. We met a young pastor and his wife who moved to Querétaro 3 years ago to start a church. They graciously showed us around the area and picked us up for their church service the next day. Over lunch we were able to tell them about our desire to begin a discipleship program that we believe will grow into a Bible college. They were very interested in our plans assuring us that there is great need in Querétaro and a lot of work to be done. We returned to Colorado knowing that the Lord has prepared us as He said He would many years ago and that the plan we have will touch many lives.