Bittersweet

CORRALES, N.M. –  Our Texico Conference church family is ever changing. Some are born into the family, others are baptized into it and sadly, at times, we have to see some go. 

On Oct. 3, 2020, Andre Arrais preached his final sermon as pastor of the Corrales Seventh-day Adventist Church. Following the worship service, members and friends of the Corrales church gathered to bid farewell to Arrais, his wife, Natalia, and their children, Noah and Stella, as they move to take up new pastoral responsibilities at the New Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church in Fulton, Md. 

For the past five years, Arrais led the Corrales church and was also the leader for young adults within the Texico Conference. 

As a certified presenter for the Growing Young Adventists initiative by the North American Division intended to nurture intergenerational relationships, he took this training to numerous churches around the conference. He plans to continue its critically important goal of full inclusion of all generations, especially the youth and young adults, into meaningful church ministry and leadership responsibilities. 

“I want to thank the Corrales Seventh-day Adventist Church for embracing me and loving me during my time here. I couldn’t have asked for a better church in which to begin my ministry. You allowed me to be myself, and I am thankful for that. We experienced so much together, and I learned so much from you,” said Arrais.

The farewell event was bittersweet, but members of the Corrales church are grateful for the gifts Arrais imparted to them and pray that God will bless him and help him realize his calling. 

“Above all else, I’m forever grateful to Pastor Andre for giving me a perspective on Jesus’s grace that I had never seen.” said Rico Flores, head elder of the Corrales church. “What do you say to someone who helped you see the world from the very eyes of Jesus and changed your relationship with both God and man? I now know a different Jesus by the workings of the Holy Spirit through Pastor Andre and am left forever changed. Thank you, Pastor Andre, for always pointing to the cross.”

By Debby Márquez 

Communication Director