Serving At: The Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Belize Honduras District Home Country: Philippines Rev. Warren V. Alfeche is?a Global Missionary with the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. He is a circuit pastor, trainer and mentor with The Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Belize Honduras District.? Studying public administration in college, Warren dreamed of a political career. However, he admitted, “I ended up miserable and searching for the true meaning and purpose of my life.” After graduating college, Warren met?Rev. Dr. Arnaldo Estrella, the dean of Bishop Han Theological Seminary in Malaybalay, Phillipines. Estrella offered him a three-year scholarship to pursue a Master of Divinity degree.? “I courageously accepted the offer,” he said. “I began to affirm the purpose and calling of God to become his disciple and follow the direction to become a pastor. During my seminary years, God equipped me to be ready to be part of his greater mission to transform the world.”? Warren applied to become a pastor in the East Mindanao Philippines Annual Conference in 2014. He was assigned to a local church in Compostela and mission churches in Butuan City, of the CARAGA region.? “Doing God's mission is not just saying ‘yes,’ but giving your entire self for the sake of others,” Warren asserted. “It’s not about my agenda. It’s about God's agenda. Because of this experience, I started to contemplate [working] on a cross-cultural mission to be part of the larger mission of God.” Warren is a former Global Mission Fellow.?“To revitalize and connect the church in mission, to reach out to the marginalized and to address the systemic issues that affect lives continue to resonate in my heart and in my calling as a pastor,” he said. “I realize that God is still calling me to do mission outside of my context and offer the graces and gifts that I have for the expansion of God’s kingdom in the world.? “It excites me to think that I will be engaging again in a new culture, new context and new community – and getting ready to do mission from everywhere to everywhere.” Warren credited attorney and church member Byron Milstead for nurturing his perspective of mission. “When I was assigned to this church in 2023, Byron became the outreach chairperson and started to engage outside the church’s geographical area,” he said. Together, they conducted medical and dental missions in Indigenous communities, provided food for patient assistants in hospitals, distributed school supplies to children and developed a prison ministry program.? Family shapes Warren’s life. “My wife and our three children play a vital role in my life as a pastor and as a missionary,” he said. “The gifts and graces of my wife as a public teacher helps me a lot in doing mission, particularly in children's ministry and education.” His co-pastor, Rev. Gilvren Decal, also influenced his decision to apply for missionary service. Decal also serves as a Global Missionary with The United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, in Tanzania as a church planter and developer.