How do we develop local leaders from within complicated and difficult contexts? It requires embracing the cross and deep intimacy with God. Drawing on experience among gang members in San Francisco and neighbors in Tegucigalpa, José Peñate-Aceves will explore the process of developing leaders, the challenges and fears that arise, and the importance of personal relationships.
Since 1998, José Peñate-Aceves has been a member of InnerChange, a missionary order. Along with his wife and daughters, he began ministering among Latino gang members in juvenile hall in California.
Following relational ties to Honduras, the family moved in 2015 to serve in the barrios on the periphery of Tegucigalpa — an area known as the headquarters for organized crime and a place of extreme poverty. With God’s help, José and his family have developed local leaders for the good of the neighborhood and the local church, four of whom have joined their team as full-time missionaries.