From the October-December 2007 Issue
Come and follow me
Manuel and Krisztina Franco
AlmunecarMy name is Manuel López Franco and I was born in a town in the north-west of Spain (Galicia). My parents were nominal Roman Catholics without strong beliefs. My father told us to go to the Roman Catholic Church. “You won’t learn anything bad there” he used to say, but he didn’t go with us. At the age of 19 I had the opportunity to meet a group of young Christians. They invited me to one of their meetings where, for the first time, I heard a prayer and discovered the Bible. What impressed me most was the genuineness of their faith. They gave me a Bible and I started reading the Gospels. This changed my life. Until that moment, like the majority of the young people in my town, I was only interested in having fun. I didn’t have any particular interest in religion and I certainly wasn’t looking for God, but surprisingly God was looking for me and He found me.
In just three months I surrendered my life to Christ. I decided to follow and serve Him. It wasn’t easy in the beginning because in a traditional Roman Catholic society it is hard to understand and accept somebody becoming an Evangelical. I had many opportunities for giving testimony to my faith to my friends and neighbours, explaining to them why I “changed my religion”. It was strange for them to see me every Sunday going to the Evangelical Church with the Bible in my hand.
My family, and especially my dear father, were never an obstacle to my following the narrow road. I will never forget the day I first spoke to my family about my faith. We were having lunch and I was a little bit afraid of their reaction, but my father was kind and reassuring: “I am happy for you…that you are now attending the Evangelical Church. They are good people. I myself have been to some of their meetings a long time ago”. My father visited the church on various occasions at a time when English missionaries were in charge of the work. He had good memories of them and the church.
Next step
Not long after my conversion I was encouraged to attend a Bible Seminary. It was at the Seminary where I discovered the Doctrines of Grace. In my last years as a student I had the opportunity to preach and do evangelistic work with José de Segovia’s church in Madrid. After four years I obtained my degree and also a scholarship to study English and Theology in England through the EMF in Guessens (1997-98). There I met my wife Krisztina.
...before the silver cord is loosed…
I am Krisztina Paksy Kiss. I used to attend one of the oldest Reformed churches in Transylvania, which stood more as a symbol of our Hungarian national identity than a spiritual wall against the world. If I cast my mind back I cannot recall a time when I wasn’t searching for the truth. And yet I never felt real peace or freedom until I went to a Christian camp.
It was a magical place, far away from civilization in the very heart of the Carpathian Mountains, where God seemed to be present in a special, silent way – even for a person like me who didn’t believe that the Bible was more than a nice myth. And then there was that old preacher and his gentle little wife, both having spent many cruel and horrific years in the communist prisons because they were not willing to deny Christ.
And it was that old man, with his serene and tranquil voice but words that were alive and powerful, that old man with hundreds of wrinkles and shaky hands, who spoke about the foolishness of youth. His words rang out clear and firm: Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…before the silver cord is loosed or the golden bowl is broken…then the dust will return to the earth and the spirit will return to God who gave it”. There was no shadow in him or menace, and yet I felt the grip of death in my heart. I saw all the splendour of my sparkling young days turning into ashes and dust. But there was hope. He who created me also provided salvation for me and life everlasting. And He set me free. I saw Him there; He was the way, the truth and the life. And He brought me to the Father. To his Father. To my Father.
Some years later I went to England and what was until then more of a mystical experience found its firm doctrinal ground in the teachings and studies in Guessens.
Marriage
After we got married we went back to my home town and while Krisztina was studying Law at the university and helping in the local church with the children I was working in my family’s business and preaching in the local church.
From North to South
In 2001, after a year of conversations and visits, the Evangelical Church “Sión” in Málaga called us to work in the pioneer project in Almuñecar. We moved to Málaga, helping the local church there and travelling to Almuñecar twice a week to evangelize and teach at the Bible study that at that time was held in a lady’s apartment. A year passed and we moved from Málaga to Almuñecar and after a few months I was ordained as pastor of the small congregation.
The church planting project in Almuñecar started through an evangelistic radio programme. Listening to it a lady became a believer. She and a small group of ladies gathered for Bible study and prayer. A few months after our arrival in Almuñecar, we decided to find a place in which to hold our meetings.
Five years have passed and we can say “Ebenezer” (until now God has helped us). We go on trusting in God’s work, we believe that He has his people in this town. The Evangelical Reformed Church in Almuñecar has a defined evangelistic personality. Throughout these years we undertook many evangelistic projects: adverts on the local television (5 per day of 1.20 minutes), the same on the commercial radio station “Onda Cero” (5 per day of 1:20 minutes and one interview of 15 minutes every Friday), conferences at the Arts Centre, a market bookstall every Friday and every first Saturday of the month, but we are aware that only God can edify His Church: “...let the beauty of the Lord, our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands for us” (Psalm 90:17).