April 17, 2000
Ministry opportunities along
Rio Grande border multiplying rapidly
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___JUAREZ, Mexico--Offerings at Good Shepherd Baptist Church far outweigh the coins, checks and bills most Baptists bring to worship. Every Sunday, members of the growing congregation in Juarez, Mexico, bring cinder blocks to help construct an education building.
___Across town, members of God Is With Us Baptist Church are hungry for the future--literally. They are fasting for 21 days as they pray for God to help them remodel their building so they can accommodate their burgeoning ministry.
PRAYER WALKERS from First Baptist Church of Midland (above and top right) visit locations in and around Juarez, Mexico, during a recent trip, where they also were led in worship by Mexican Baptists.
___Such spiritual fervor in the face of overwhelming need confronted about 25 members of First Baptist Church in Midland who conducted a recent prayer walk in Juarez.
___The Midland church and the Mexican city have a long relationship. For several years, the church has sent mission teams to conduct a variety of ministries with the 36 Baptist churches in Juarez.
___Last summer, members of First Baptist helped present the "Jesus" film to an estimated 1 million residents, resulting in 48,500 professions of faith in Christ, reported Pastor Gary Dyer.
___While those numbers appear strong, they represent the front end of tremendous spiritual need and opportunity, said Dyer, who noted the border city is home to between 3 million and 4 million people, with thousands arriving weekly.
___"Thousands upon thousands of those residents live in cardboard houses," he said. "Most of those residents still don't know Jesus as Savior."
___The prayer walkers viewed the needs firsthand, visiting five churches and journeying through numerous communities, said Deborah Fikes, chairwoman of First Baptist's Mexico missions committee.
___At every location, they met pastors who sacrifice to serve Christ and minister to hurting people, Fikes said.
___For example, she described the ministry of trivocational Pastor Luis Cambrero of El Camino Baptist Church: He gets up at 4:30 each morning to deliver newspapers, returns to help start the day at the church's preschool program, leaves to sell fruit around town, returns to help with preschool classes in the afternoon and later leaves to sell fruit. Around this schedule, he also visits prospects for the church, prepares sermons and takes a seminary class each semester.
___"His story (is) echoed by others who report similar accounts," Fikes said.
___"I am always humbled and encouraged to see the dedication and cooperative spirit of our Mexican brothers and sisters in Christ," she added. "But at the same time, it grieves me to see how few resources are available for Baptist work in Juarez and along the border. All the churches we work with do not have adequate facilities and resources to carry out the vision God has given them."
___The missions challenges all along the Rio Grande are unprecedented, stressed Dexton Shores, director of River Ministry, the Baptist General Convention of Texas missions program that works all along both sides of the Rio Grande River.
___"As Texas Baptists, we now have the most challenging opportunity and responsibility for impacting the kingdom of God in the 32-year history of River Ministry," said Shores, who participated in the Juarez prayer walk.
___"Texas Baptists need to rediscover the River Ministry, which has become a part of the life for Texas Baptist mission work," echoed Dick Maples, associate executive director of the BGCT and another participant in the prayer walk.
___"Even though most Texas Baptists are familiar with the River Ministry, they are not fully aware of the challenging population explosion along the border that is creating a unique opportunity to evangelize now and prepare for the future."
___About 1,500 new residents arrive in Juarez daily, leaving the interior of Mexico for the chance to work in the booming city's factories, Shores said, noting the newcomers are from "the least-evangelized states" in Mexico. Beyond that, similar growth is taking place down the river, and the border population is expected to triple in 20 years.
___Projections that 36 million people will live along the Mexico/Texas border by 2020 reflect a number almost twice the size of Texas' current population, he observed.
___"This population growth will continue to directly affect our state, and we must seize the opportunity to share the message of salvation and make disciples in this overwhelming mission field that God is bringing to our doorstep," Shores said. "Today, there is only one Baptist church for every 75,000 people in Ciudad Juarez, and if we complacently stand and do nothing, there will be only one church for every 87,000 by this time next year.
___"We must recognize the urgency of responding now by accelerating our evangelistic efforts along the Rio Grande."
___Prayer walk participants sensed that urgency, and recently the Midland church's missions committee voted to send all its unallocated funds to churches in Juarez, Fikes said.
___"But this won't begin to address the needs there," she added, calling on other Texas Baptist churches to "step up to the plate and help our Mexican counterparts change their nation for Christ."
___"We have a very limited window of time to address this critical situation," she said. "If anyone doubts that we must do more in Mexico, consider taking a trip with us to Juarez."
___For more information about Texas Baptists' River Ministry, contact Shores at (214) 828-5246.
___
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