November 17, 1999
AT ABRAZANDO EL PASO, workers with Buckner Baptist Benevolences joined volunteers from churches in El Paso, Midland, Port Arthur and Orange in Sparks Colonia for a day of free food, live music, games and recreational activities, a boot give-away and information booths staffed by county and federal agencies. Through Abrazando El Paso, which in English means "embracing El Paso," 335 professions of faith in Christ were recorded and nearly 10,000 Bibles, tracts and gospel videos were distributed.
(Photos by Russ Dilday/Buckner and Dan Martin)
Abrazando reaches Baptist
arms around El Paso
___EL PASO--Miguel's eyes brightened as his mother pulled a new pair of dark-green boots from their box.
___The excited 10-year-old dropped to the floor of the crowded Sparks Community Center, yanked off his worn sneakers and pulled the roper-style boots on his feet. Satisfied with the fit, he proudly walked away in his boots--the first new pair he ever has owned.
___Miguel joined thousands of El Paso and Juarez residents who experienced the Christlike embrace of Texas Baptists as they journeyed to the state's westernmost city for their annual convention Nov. 8-9.
ABRAZANDO EL PASO brought Baptist volunteers from El Paso and across the state into the Southwest Texas city the weekend before the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session for a variety of ministry and evangelism projects. This young girl performed in a folklorico dance exhibition as part of festivities in Sparks Colonia, a makeshift community of Mexican immigrants in east El Paso. (Photo by Russ Dilday/Buckner)
___The Baptists from across Texas, led by El Paso Baptist Association, threw block parties, distributed boots, showed the "Jesus" film, dispensed health care, sponsored a concert and generally reached out in love to people throughout the borderplex. The Nov. 6 effort was called "Abrazando El Paso," which means "embracing El Paso."
___"It is an effort to create an opportunity to share Jesus Christ with the people of El Paso," explained Jorge Diaz, pastor of Iglesia Bautista del Centro, where one of more than 40 block parties was held.
___Preliminary reports indicate 335 people made professions of faith in Jesus Christ through the block fiestas and other outreach ministries.
___The effort made God's love tangible for many people across the area.
___"Gracias a Dios"--"Thanks to God"--was all one woman (in photo at right), overcome with joy, could manage to say when she, like Miguel, received a shiny pair of boots at the block party in Sparks Colonia.
___Sparks, located on the eastern edge of El Paso, is one of 400 colonias--colonies of Hispanic immigrants who live in substandard housing, often without utilities or running water--in areas surrounding the city. The boots, which were donated by the Justin Boot Co. of Fort Worth and distributed by Buckner Baptist Benevolences, provided solid evidence of Christ's love for colonia residents.
___In addition to boots, the Sparks party featured live music, games, information on government and legal services, face painting, flu shots, a folk dance exhibit and free food donated and prepared by a local restaurant and members of Vista del Sol Baptist Church in El Paso.
___Many party participants watched the "Jesus" film, which ran continuously throughout the day, and received a Spanish-language New Testament.
___And the effort planted seeds to establish a church in the community, said RamiroCampos, pastor of nearby Montana Vista Community Church.
VOLUNTEERS gave medical exams during the Abrazando El Paso activities.
___El Paso Baptists took the lead in planning the evangelistic ministry event, investing months in preparation.
___Baptists are a distinct minority in the city of 700,000, and the effort was aimed at helping residents understand who Baptists are, said Lorenzo Peña, director of missions for El Paso Association.
___More than 300 Texas Baptists from all parts of the state--East Texas, the Panhandle and the Lower Rio Grande Valley--came to lend a hand to several hundred local Baptists. Forty-two churches in the association participated in Abrazando in some way, Peña said.
___More than 4,800 people attended a free concert by Yuri Valenzuela Espinoza, once regarded as the "Madonna of Mexico." Yuri told her fans of her conversion to Christianity four years ago and said she now has happiness and peace. "Fame does not give you that. God does," she declared.
___At Iglesia del Centro, hundreds of residents of nearby apartments poured into the smallchurch two blocks from the Mexico border to participate in a free clinic. Four doctors saw a variety of patients, reported Director Eleanor Poe. For 26 years, the clinic has been an ongoing ministry of the church, which averages about 120 in Sunday School.
A WOMAN admires her new pair of boots donated by the Justin Boot Co.during Abrazando El Paso activities.
___Augmenting the clinic was a free clothing distribution program, aided by the Parker-Palo Pinto Baptist Association Baptist Men's group. In addition, residents were given free hot dogs, soft drinks and chips and treated to a concert by a mariachi band.
___A team from Wichita-Archer-Clay Baptist Association in the Wichita Falls area brought in a disaster-relief trailer and cooked chili dogs and served other refreshments.
___Volunteers from a variety of places, including a contingent from Truett Seminary at Baylor University in Waco, showed up to help.
___A group of more than 50 volunteers from Touchpoint, a program of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, came to participate as well.
___A disaster-relief unit from El Paso Association provided the cooking at First Baptist Church. The block party there also featured mariachis, face painting, games and a demonstration from the ladder trucks of the El Paso Fire Department.
___Pastor Levi Price said members of the church prayer walked across the area two weeks before the block party and then visited homes the previous weekend.
___"We handed out 120 packets in English and 240 in Spanish as we visited the homes. On that day, we had nine professions of faith" in Christ, Price said.
___At Loma Baptist Church, the congregation of 65 members pulled out all the stops, offering food, drinks, door prizes and entertainment. A group of young people demonstrated folklorico dances from Mexico. They were students of Grace Castro, whose Ballet Folkloricao Guadalupe was asked to perform.
___Jim Kolb, a Tyler layman who previously served as a vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, came to assist in the program and did whatever was needed to help at the Loma church.
___As he looked at the children in gaily colored dresses dancing to the folk songs of Mexico, he commented, "This sure is a lot different from East Texas."
_Reported by Russ Dilday of Buckner news service and Dan Martin of Texas Baptist communications
DANCERS in folk costumes performed at block fiestas during Abrazando El Paso.
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