October 13, 1999

Texans taking gospel nearly
to the end of the Earth
___By Wally and Betty Poor
___SBC International Mission Board
___USHUAIA, TIERRA DEL FUEGO, Argentina--Texans Karen and Richard DeLeon stand on a hill across the bay from this southernmost city in the world. They are gathered with other Baptists to begin an evangelistic effort across Patagonia--a vast region of southern South America larger than Texas.
___The group gathers at a small monument erected in memory of Allen Gardiner, pioneer

"TO THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH," a biblical admonition for evangelism, takes on a near-literal meaning for Texans Richard and Karen DeLeon, Southern Baptist missionaries. Here, DeLeon stands on Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America. In this isolated region, he leads a team of Southern Baptist missionaries and Argentine and Chilean pastors seeking to evangelize the 800,000 people living in Patagonia, the vast region extending across the southern part of the continent. (IMB photo by Betty Poor)

missionary to this region only 700 miles from Antarctica. The English missionary came to the region in 1842. Nine years later, he died of exposure and starvation but not before recording this prayer in his journal: "If I perish or die, I pray, O Lord that you will send more laborers to this harvest--that the mission of Tierra del Fuego will be pursued with vigor."
___The DeLeons, International Mission Board missionaries from Corpus Christi, and other members of the Patagonia evangelistic team are an answer to Gardiner's prayer.
___They are working to win to faith in Christ the 800,000 people scattered over Patagonia. DeLeon estimates only 3 percent of the population has a personal relationship with Christ.
___He sees his role as being an encourager and equipper of Baptists to reach out to the many isolated towns of the area.
___"When we came in 1996, we found a lot of discouraged pastors," DeLeon recalled. He and his wife decided to live in Trelew. From Trelew to Tierra del Fuego is about 1,080 miles.
___"We have had to do a lot of traveling to fellowship with and encourage these pastors, just to try to help them go on. They had very little contact with the convention, very little contact with other churches," he explained.
___The DeLeons average 22 days per month on the road.
___One of the pastors they work with is Moises Riffo, pastor for nine years of First Baptist Church of Rio Grande, the other principal city on Tierra del Fuego in addition to Ushuaia.
___"Moises felt isolated and wanted to leave," DeLeon recalled. The church is now a lively, growing congregation with 26 cell groups meeting in the city of 50,000.
___It also sponsors a new congregation in Ushuaia, working with Juan Godoy, a Baptist lay leader there, and co-sponsors a congregation in the small (7,000 population) city of Porvenir, on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego.
___Getting the pastors together for fellowship and training has paid off.
___"I see a lot of encouragement, a lot of vision to start a church planting movement in towns where there are churches and use the people there to go into the interior," DeLeon said. "We're not going to be pastors or interim pastors, we're equipping the members to lead new works."
___The DeLeons and other team members are about to launch a new phase of their Patagonia ministry, as they start this month to use a multi-purpose bus, which will provide living space for them on the road like a recreational vehicle. The front part will be used as a chapel that will seat 20 people. The bus also will serve as a library and book store and will carry equipment for showing films.
___"The people in the zone are excited about the bus," Mrs. DeLeon said. "They have offered places to park it, and the ladies are making curtains. It's their bus to use in God's work."
___

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