August 5, 2002

Mason turned pastor still a builder
___By Brandon Kirk
___Staff Writer
___McALLEN--When Meliton Ramirez left a high-paying job in the construction business to become a minister, it wasn't long before he was applying his skills as a mason to his ministry.
___First he built the fences and brickwork surrounding Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio. Then he began building churches 10 years ago, when he became pastor of Iglesia Bautista Tierra Prometida in McAllen.
___This "Promised Land" Baptist Church, as its name is translated, sits only a 15-minute drive from Mexico, where many families of its church members still live. Being aware of the need for church buildings across the border, Ramirez began taking teams of workers in the church van to build churches in the interior of Mexico.
___Since then, they have received support from the Texas Partnerships Center of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Texas Baptist Men and other churches. They build sanctuaries, bathrooms, fellowship halls and other church facilities from adobe, concrete, metal rafters and ceramic tile.
___Each year, Tierra Prometida sends about 50 people for a week at a time in March and July for mission trips to Mexico, where they build churches. The materials often are bought with the tithes of the church members, most of whom are far from well-off.
___"We're not a rich church," Ramirez explained, "but we have a rich Father" in heaven.
___He and pastor Oscar Carrosco of Iglesia Bautista Bethel in Progresso have been working together to start churches in Mexico.
___"It weighed heavily in our hearts to start something like this, and so we did," Ramirez said. "We started it from nothing."
___The churches they build in Mexico are led by pastors who were not even Christians before Tierra Prometida reached out to them. Over the years, the South Texas church trained and educated them to become ministers.
___"Sometimes we would stay up until 2 in the morning teaching them," Ramirez said.
___Rick Hagar, former director of missions in the Rio Grande Valley, said Tierra Prometida has set a great example for others.
___"Here is a church that has caught the vision," he said. "They're showing their love in action."
___Tierra Prometida works from the concept of a "key church," where they start and train new churches, educating people and sending them out.
___Tierra Prometida has seen the growth and outreach of churches like San Luis Potosi, which they built from the foundation up. They are currently working on a 40- by 60-foot building for Templo Calvario, a new mission in the Rio Grande Valley.
___Though the workers are many, transportation has become a problem. The church is in desperate need of a new van to further its work.
___Editor's note: Ramirez may be contacted by phone at (956) 686-0447.

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