The Rev. Jesus Gomez says people can only be transformed by understanding the will of God and he tries each week to give his members and visitors at New Hope Church what they need to progress toward that.
“My objective is for people to leave with a golden nugget of knowledge that they can easily apply throughout the week,” the Rev. Gomez said. “Part of our process is that we prepare a take-home sheet with five questions relevant to the sermon for the person to ask himself or herself.”
Just having preached on making the home a safe haven, he said, “The three ingredients we need to apply in the family are love, respect and submission to one another.
“We sometimes don’t understand the word ‘submission.’ We think of it in the context of just being obedient or compliant, but the way I was talking about it was having a heart of service.
“Jesus took a towel, washed the feet of his disciples and said, ‘Do this with one another.’ We are selfish by nature and to serve doesn’t come naturally.”
Gomez is an El Paso native who graduated from high school in Anthony and studied for three years to take a degree at Instituto Biblico Filadelfia in El Paso. His 1801 E. Sixth St. church averages 50-60 people at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. He and his wife Alejandra have four children.
Gomez was the associate pastor for 7 1/2 years at the First Assembly of God Church in Snyder, where he was mentored by the late Rev. Steven Pena, and he began his ministry here in June 2021.
One of his favorite scriptures is Romans 12:2, which says, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Another is Philippians 4:8: “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Citing Psalm 27:14, Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:25 and other such scriptures, Gomez said Christians must be patient.
“We wait on the Lord because everything worth having is being cultivated in us and our church,” he said, noting that his services are bilingual. “God cultivates our minds and souls for us to see what he has seen long before we can experience it.”
Gomez said Jesus’s miracles are described in the New Testament “to give us a greater understanding of who we serve.”
Mandy Pena, the Rev. Pena’s widow, said Gomez “is a very genuine, loyal person who does what’s right and beneficial and deals with people honestly.
“Jesus does not enter into friendships with any intention of seeking what’s best for himself,” Pena said. “He is not self-seeking at all. He wants to know about the other person’s life and he genuinely cares for that person.
“He is a fantastic preacher, very knowledgeable of the word of God, and he puts that knowledge into real life applications. He is very exuberant and he has a way of putting people at ease.”
