March 19, 2001

San Benito's Helping Hands put
answered prayers in reach
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___SAN BENITO--At Helping Hands ministry in San Benito, poor people find more than free food and short-term financial assistance. They find answers to their prayers.
___Three years ago, Jearl Petree, pastor of Baptist Temple in San Benito, contacted leaders of the other Baptist churches in town to discuss ways they could pool resources to meet the human needs all around them.
___Combined attendance at the five Baptist churches in San Benito is about 500 on any Sunday, "generously speaking," Petree noted. No single congregation could hope to minister effectively to all the needy people in a community of 34,000 where the average household income is $10,000 a year.
___"Every kid in town is on the free lunch program," Petree said. So few children fail to meet the government guidelines, the school district has determined it is more cost efficient and effective to provide the service to the entire student body.
___The Baptist churches formed Helping Hands, launching the benevolence ministry in an old gas station/convenience store. The pastor and one lay member of each cooperating church serve on the Helping Hands corporate board of directors.
___In its first year, Helping Hands assisted about 5,000 people. Last year, the ministry averaged helping 1,012 people per month.
___"We serve about 45 families a week," Petree said. "We put a 90-day limit on assistance. The idea is to not build dependence on us."
___Helping Hands works closely with the Edinburg Food Bank in providing for families and individuals. The ministry places a gospel tract in every sack of groceries.
___The Helping Hands board of directors decided to refuse USDA products because board members did not want to be shackled by the accompanying restrictions, either in terms of sharing their faith or in forcing recipients to meet rigid requirements. For instance, they did not want to be required to turn away a small homeowner who was between seasonal jobs.
___"If there is a crisis, we want to be able to meet the need, regardless of someone's income level," Petree explained.
___While the ministry proved to be very effective at responding to human needs, volunteers felt less satisfied with the results of their church starting efforts. A mission congregation failed to thrive because of the transient nature of its membership, and ultimately it was abandoned.
___Participants in the ministry also questioned the effectiveness of their attempts at evangelism. For the first two years, they conducted religious surveys of ministry recipients.
___"We had many who prayed the sinner's prayer, but I honestly doubt that there were that many true professions of faith," Petree acknowledged.
___"Then the Lord led Joe Torres to us."
___Torres, who had been a pastor in another denomination, assumed the director's post at Helping Hands. One of his first decisions was doing away with the religious surveys and focusing instead on offering prayer for clients.
___"Let them experience God meeting their needs," Torres suggested.
___He started leading chapel services two nights a week, focusing primarily on prayer.
___"Eighty-five to 90 percent of those who come for food go to the chapel for prayer and a time of praise and worship, along with a gospel message," Petree said.
___"In the last two to three months, there have been more coming for worship than for food. People are feeling God here and seeing God here."
___One woman who came to Helping Hands for assistance told Torres that tests revealed that she needed heart surgery. Worshippers prayed for her, asking for God to heal her. When she reported to the hospital for surgery, the cardiologists could find no evidence of the arterial blockage that had been present before.
___"The Lord is answering a lot of prayers," Petree said. "We're not slapping anybody on the forehead around here, or anything like that. We're just praying for people. And we're seeing a lot of people touched."
___As they are touched by God, some of those people are becoming part of the ongoing ministry at Helping Hands. The woman who had been spared from heart surgery volunteered her services for the Saturday morning children's ministry, making choir robes for the children to wear in a Christmas program.
___One of the children in that Saturday morning program last fall was a boy who had been "kicked out" of another church's program two years earlier because he was so disruptive, according to his father. But the youngster responded eagerly to the love he found at Helping Hands.
___"I met Lorenzo's father at the Christmas program," Petree recalled. "He was so proud of his son and so happy about how he had been treated."
___Lorenzo's father, Juan, was an out-of-work shrimper who initially came to Helping Hands needing short-term assistance. After he received groceries, he was ready to leave. But Lorenzo did not want to go home until after all the children received a much-sought-after treat--animal crackers.
___While he was waiting for his son, a worker talked with Juan about spiritual matters, and the rough shrimp boat fisherman prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior.
___"Who would have thought that God would use animal cookies to bring someone to Christ?" Petree said.

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