October 30, 2000
West Texas ranchers find joy
in 'whatever God has for us to do'
___VAN HORN--God closed one door for Lloyd and Phyllis Taylor. But that only opened up 40,000 square miles of far West Texas and northern Mexico.
___Years ago, the Taylors were "comfortable" farming and ranching near Stamford, northof Abilene. "We were counting on being there the rest of our lives," he remembered.
MISSION SERVICE CORPS volunteers Phyllis and Lloyd Taylor point out goats they are raising for an agricultural missions project as part of River Ministry's Big Bend Frontera program, based in Van Horn but stretching into Mexico.
___But she worked in the office at Double Mountain Baptist Area and read the mail, which described tremendous missions needs far outside the Bible Belt.
___That pricked their consciences and led to soul-searching.
___"We considered ministry in the mountains. We looked at seminary. We decided the best thing to do was just go," he reported. "We wanted to go to Montana, but God closed all those doors."
___Along the way, they also learned about the needs up and down the Mexico-Texas border.
___So, more than 13 years ago, the Taylors signed on as Mission Service Corps volunteers, assigned to help River Ministry along the Big Bend. They committed themselves to the work, and through friends and fellow church members, God provided for all their needs.
___After a year, "we knew we would not be going back to Stamford," he acknowledged. They drove back home and sold their farm equipment. A few years later, they sold the farm.
___"I came to realize what God had for us--helping churches along the river do whatever God has for them to do is my job," he explained.
___Taylor is the field assistant for Big Bend Frontera--the Texas Baptist ministry that covers the vast region along the Rio Grande, from near Langtry on the southeast almost to El Paso on the northwest. Big Bend Baptist Association covers 22,000 square miles, and Taylor regularly works south of the border, covering about as many miles of northern Mexico.
___She holds down the home front while he travels along the river and into Mexico. And she also ministers as a registered nurse.
___Taylor's phrase, "whatever God has for them to do," is a fairly apt job description, concedes Ed Jennings, director of missions for Big Bend Association and coordinator of Big Bend Frontera.
___Taylor utilizes both the agricultural and mechanical skills that made him a successful farmer and rancher. He has built medical clinics and church buildings. He helps volunteers minister with churches in tiny rural Mexican villages. He raises goats and provides them to poor families scattered along the river. He shows many of those families the best ways to make a living by raising their own food. He receives up to 20 vehicles, mostly church vans and pickups, a year and rebuilds them so Mexican pastors can have reliable transportation. He cooperates with Big Bend park rangers, Immigration and Naturalization Service officers and customs officials, making sure River Ministry programs comply with laws on both sides of the Rio Grande. He does what needs to be done.
___And he doesn't like to receive attention for it.
___"This is not our ministry. This is not River Ministry's ministry," he stressed. "It is God's work."
___But the Taylors make much of it happen, Jennings insisted. "Without Lloyd and Phyllis, we couldn't do three-fourths of what we do. They are a critical part of our ministry out here."
___
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