BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade (above, left) receives an oversized check from Pastor John Garcia of Iglesia Bautista Agua Cristalina. In the photo at right, Pastor Garcia receives commendation from Danny Quintanilla, minister of missions at First Baptist Church of Portland.

New church thanks BGCT by giving
back to Mary Hill Davis Offering
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___CORPUS CHRISTI--Nine months ago, Iglesia Bautista Agua Cristalina did not exist. But on Oct. 29, the congregation dedicated a building it purchased with help from Texas Baptists and celebrated its own giving to support missions efforts in the state.
___At the end of the building "rededication" service, Pastor John Garcia presented Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Charles Wade with a large copy of a $250 check the church gave to the convention's Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions.
___"Our church knows that it is better to give than to receive," Garcia said. "As small as we are, my brothers and sisters decided they would give more of themselves. ... We believe in giving back."
___Agua Cristalina is the fourth church started by First Baptist Church of Portland during an 18-month period, said First Baptist Pastor Charles Higgs. It also has started North Bay Fellowship in Ingleside, New Community Church in Portland and Agape Fellowship in Taft.
___"I love to start missions, because that is what a church is supposed to do," Higgs said.
___Agua Cristalina is in a "gang-ridden, rough" neighborhood in northwest Corpus Christi, Higgs said. The church started in February with 10 to 12 people meeting in a school cafeteria. In June, the sponsoring church helped the new congregation buy the building with a loan through the Texas Baptist Church Loan Corp. Thirty-three people attended Sunday morning worship Oct. 29.
___Agua Cristalina is one of about 1,500 churches started by Texas Baptists during the past five years, Wade said. "This is going on all across the state of Texas."
___It's important to start churches because of the 20 million people in the state, more than 10 million "do not have a church home," Wade said. "That's more people than live in 44 states. This is a huge mission field."
___Agua Cristalina will grow as its members go into the community and preach the pastor's sermon by the way they live and the way they talk, Wade added. "A church that is a Jesus kind of church is always going to be looking for ways to let the Spirit of Jesus spill out around them."
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The Baptist Standard