August 13, 2001

Texas water quenches spiritual
thirst in Wisconsin community
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___FLOYDADA--Twenty-eight Baptists from West Texas prayed for a hot day in Wisconsin. They got it. And cold water from Texas helped change two lives, and perhaps others, forever.
___Rain clouds moved out, and the temperature rose as members of First Baptist Church in Floydada provided face painting, drama and testimonies for people at a park in Reedsburg, Wis. Their chief enticement for the parents was water.
___Bottled water, left over from the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session in Corpus Christi last year, had found a use hundreds of miles to the north.
___One mother, Tia, with six children in tow, accepted Les Reed's offer of free, cold water while her younger kids had their faces painted.
___"She had kids all around her, and she needed a break," said Reed, minister of students at First Baptist Church of Floydada. While she sat and drank the water, Reed told her about Christ. She and one of her daughters, about age 15, accepted Christ as Savior that afternoon.
___Many others got a drink of water and heard how to quench their spiritual thirst as well.
___"We probably shared our faith with over 100 people," Reed said. "It allowed us the opportunity to hand them something totally free."
___The water was donated by the BGCT's Center for Community Ministries. It had been distributed in Corpus Christi, and Reed had remembered it; so he called Jim Young at the Baptist Building in Dallas.
___"We weren't calling for free water," Reed said. They were calling to find out where the labels on the bottles had come from. The labels read: "Ministry is Not a Mirage: Through Love Serve One Another, Galatians 5:13."
___Young informed Reed that the BGCT still had about 15 cases of 24 bottles each. He sent them all of it.
___"They took care of us," Reed said. "They didn't charge shipping or anything."
___The Floydada group--13 adults, eight teenagers and seven children--had shirts designed to match the labels and headed north with the water. They worked with Trinity Baptist Church in Reedsburg, leading Backyard Bible Clubs and doing landscaping for the congregation's new building.
___After the mission trip to Wisconsin in July, the Floydada church still had water. They've been using it this month in their own town.
___A fire had destroyed First Baptist's building in March 2000, and the community had helped the church make do as reconstruction went forward. As a means of saying thanks to the town, First Baptist and some other congregations sponsored three nights of "Summer in the Park: Fun in the Son."
___The water has satisfied a lot of thirsty people in Wisconsin and Texas this summer. "The water was just a blessing," Reed said. It was a "great tool to reach out to the people of Wisconsin. Although we did not see great numbers saved, we did see results and seeds were planted."
___And those seeds already have been well-watered.

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