{"id":22824,"date":"2024-03-07T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=22824"},"modified":"2024-03-05T14:44:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:44:11","slug":"cocaine-dreams-cracked-by-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/resource\/cocaine-dreams-cracked-by-the-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocaine dreams cracked by the gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jefferson &amp; Carol Hernandez: Campo Blanco\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/883807556?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dream was to make enough money to buy cocaine that I could then send to the United States,\u201d says Jefferson Hernandez, of his boyhood dreams in Cali, Colombia. \u201cMy dream was to fill up the United States with cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, sometimes dreams change.<\/p>\n<p>It started with a girl. One night in 2008, after Jefferson had come to live in the U.S., he and his girlfriend Carol visited a Hispanic church in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Jefferson had never attended a church before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a little afraid I was going to encounter some weird things,\u201d he says. But when \u201cthe man in the tie\u201d got up to speak, Jefferson heard something completely unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReligion had never made any sense,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the man in the tie was very clear\u2014he said because Jesus paid for all the bad things I\u2019d done, there was hope for someone like me. I left the church thinking about that. And several days later, I asked Jesus to reign over my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jefferson\u2019s girlfriend, Carol, was not a follower of Jesus at the time, and at first, she doubted the sincerity of Jefferson\u2019s conversion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought he was crazy. But he told me, \u2018I\u2019m in love with Jesus, and He\u2019s changed my life.\u2019 It was weird for me to hear that from him and that caught my attention, so I kept going to church with him. And then sometime later, I gave my life to the Lord too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jefferson and Carol, now married with three children, live in Loudon County, Virginia, one of the wealthiest counties in the United States. Lured by the promise of high-paying jobs, Loudon County has been a longtime landing spot for immigrants from Central and South America.<\/p>\n<p>Several years ago, God gave Jefferson and Carol a burden for their Spanish-speaking unchurched neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d go for a walk down the streets of our town, and we\u2019d pray,\u201d Jefferson says. \u201cAnd as we went along, we met people. When we witnessed to them, some of them responded positively. And so, we started a Bible study with them. And that\u2019s where it all began.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They named their new church Campo Blanco, which is Spanish for \u201cWhite Field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe name came from John 4,\u201d Jefferson says, \u201cwhere it says, \u2018the fields are white for harvest.\u2019\u201d The name turned out to be surprisingly appropriate. Just a few short years after launching, Jefferson\u2019s new congregation now fills up the fellowship hall of a local Anglo church. 70% of the attendees met Christ at Campo Blanco and there are now plans to launch a second work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the past, I thought, \u2018Why start new churches?\u2019\u201d Jefferson says. \u201cBut I\u2019ve learned that here, there\u2019s the potential to start a church on every block and still we\u2019d need more. So yes, my dreams have changed. Instead of thinking about filling up the United States with cocaine, now my desire is to fill it up with the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ui-provider bzx bzy it bzz caa cab cac cae caf cag cah cai caj cak cal cam can cao cap caq car cas cat cau cav caw cax cay caz cba cbb cbc cbd cbe cbf\" dir=\"ltr\"><i>Jefferson and Carol Hernandez are some of the many church planting missionaries supported by generous gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. To learn more about their story, and to discover how you and your church can support church planting and compassion ministry all across North America, visit\u00a0<\/i><a class=\"fui-Link ___1rxvrpe f2hkw1w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1hu3pq6 f11qmguv f19f4twv f1tyq0we f1g0x7ka fhxju0i f1qch9an f1cnd47f fqv5qza f1vmzxwi f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn\" title=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/resources\/annie-armstrong-easter-offering-for-church-planters\/\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/resources\/annie-armstrong-easter-offering-for-church-planters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Link FueledByAnnie.com\">FueledByAnnie.com<\/a><i>.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; \u201cMy dream was to make enough money to buy cocaine that I could then send &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/resource\/cocaine-dreams-cracked-by-the-gospel\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Cocaine dreams cracked by the gospel<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22424,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"content-type":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-22824","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.0 (Yoast SEO v24.0) - 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