Once an outlaw, now he's known
as God's man in the village where he grew up
___PORVENIR, Mexico--Bernie Segura never doubts God's presence in one of the most remote villages in northern Mexico.
___The tiny church in Porvenir, Mexico--45 miles out from Van Horn, over a low-water crossing of the Rio Grande and down washboard roads into the desert--is one of the oldest ministry points in the 33-year history of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' River Ministry program.

ONLY GOD'S GRACE could turn around the violent, alcohol-sotten life of Bernie Segura, he and his wife, Gracie, admit. But God intervened, and now Segura is pastor of the Baptist church in Porvenir, Mexico, where he grew up.

___The community is home to about 14 families, maybe 120-125 people.
___"God has given us complete confidence this work is going to go forward," Segura stressed, on behalf of himself and his wife, Gracie. "It's very remote. But we just really love the work here."
___And after how the Seguras have seen God's work in his life, they have little room to doubt God can continue to touch lives, even in the barren, rock-strewn hills around Porvenir.
___When Segura was growing up in Porvenir, his mother was the only Christian in the village, he recounted.
___Although her faith was strong, her son was wild. "She told me Jesus still loved me," he remembered. "She spoke to me with words, and when words wouldn't work, she spoke to me with tears. God let her live long enough to see me become a Christian."
___By the time God called Segura back to Porvenir to preach, he needed to work miracles on Segura's reputation, just as he already had done in his life.
___"I had been a troublemaker here, a fighter," Segura admitted of his younger life. "I was afraid to minister here--where I had that reputation.
___"So, before I began to minister here, I had to go to all the people who knew me here and ask forgiveness."
___That meant looking up Simon, a former friend. Simon once threatened to kill Segura, after Simon was bucked from a horse and blamed Segura for the accident.
___"Simon, please forgive me," Segura recalled pleading when he found the man.
___Segura also looked up another "friend."
___The two got into a fight in Ojinaga and were arrested. When they got out of jail, Segura told the man, "The next time we see each other, we're probably going to kill each other."
___"When I started ministry, we ran into each other, met and cried and asked forgiveness," Segura said.
___"But I was still fearful, because the people in the village watched me grow up. Why had the Lord sent me to the place where everybody knows me?"
___Perhaps because those people, more than any others, could appreciate the change. "My former drinking buddies saw the difference in me and asked, 'What happened to you?'" he reported. "I told them, 'God has transformed my life, and he can do the same for you.' The work began to go forward."
___Even physical setbacks couldn't stop his witness, he added.
___"On June 6, 1996, I had a stroke," he said. "I couldn't speak for an entire month. I couldn't eat. I was in a wheelchair. I prayed to God that if I was going to stay in this condition, like the physicians said I would, that he would just take me home.
___"But he gave me my voice again, and the ability to walk again. And with this I could really praise God."
___"It hasn't been easy," his wife acknowledged, "but God has given us enough grace."
___

The Baptist Standard