Paco and Eileen Lopez
Paco and Eileen Lopez, along with their children Jemina and Asher, serve Jesus Christ in Central Mexico.
They met in 2006 in Queretaro, Mexico, where Eileen arrived from the United States to serve as a teacher at the Christian orphanage, Pan de Vida. Paco had left his hometown near Puebla, Mexico, where he sold his welding/contractor business, to study at an evangelism school there, convinced that the Lord had called him to plant and pastor a church to spread the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. So the Lord joined their lives (from very different cultural, educational, financial, social backgrounds!) to serve together in this call.
In 2015, the couple started the church “Calvary Gracia y Verdad” on the outskirts of Puebla, Mexico, after Paco felt the Lord tell him, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, … I have many people in this city”(Acts 18:9-10).
As the pastor, Paco teaches on Sunday mornings and leads men´s discipleship, youth group, and the construction and maintenance of their church space. Eileen leads the prayer ministry, women´s discipleship, and the children´s program, including VBS and outreach events.
The church sits at the intersection of three communities in Puebla: all with high unemployment rates and single-parent homes. To shine Christ´s love into the great financial need around them, they started the “Manna Ministry”: regular 6-week programs of weekly grocery donations along with prayer and evangelistic messages to families in severe economic need.
Paco and Eileen are also coordinators for the “Operation Christmas Child” (OCC) ministry of Samaritan´s Purse in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Each year, they search out local Christian groups in the state, train them in more effective children´s evangelism and discipleship, and then administer the OCC shoebox gifts and materials to those participating churches. It is such a joy to witness the happy children hearing the gospel of Jesus at the Christmas events and subsequent Bible classes!
As a family, Paco and Eileen homeschool their beloved children, Jemina and Asher, and assist in caring for Paco´s elderly father and other siblings who live nearby.