March 3, 2003
Fort Worth church leaves a worker behind on mission trip
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___FORT WORTH--El Buen Pastor Baptist Church not only planted seeds during its three mission trips last year. On one trip, it left behind a gardener.
___A mission trip to Acuña, Mexico, allowed the Fort Worth church to show Christ's love to orphans, and a trip to Madrid, Spain, helped the Baptist church there enlarge its ministry to South American immigrants. But the Texans may have left their biggest mark in Mayfield, Ky.
___Although the trip to far West Kentucky officially ended last July, one of the church's members still is in Mayfield. He returned when an effort to launch a ministry to Hispanics there proved far more successful than anyone had dared dream.
___Allan Escobar, a layman, was one of 21 volunteers from the Fort Worth church who traveled to Kentucky.
___Their goal was to help First Baptist Church of Mayfield launch a ministry to Hispanics. Kentucky, which as recently as a decade ago had one of the smallest immigrant populations in the nation, has seen an influx of Latin American agricultural workers.
___"Probably six years ago, when I came here, there were only a few hundred Hispanics in the county, but now there are five or six thousand, and nobody was reaching out to them but the Catholics," said Bob Swift, pastor of First Baptist Church in Mayfield. "We felt very strongly that there needed to be an evangelical presence."
___The church first sought to hire a director of community ministries, with a primary requirement being fluency in Spanish. That brought Frances Irizarry to the field.
___"Originally, we thought if we found two or three Hispanic Christians in the area we could use to build the ministry we would consider it a victory," she said.
___Members of El Buen Pastor knew Irizarry from her student days at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, when she was a member of the Fort Worth church. They were drawn to Mayfield because going to help one of their own seemed like a good idea.
___"We went there to do Vacation Bible School in two parks," explained Robert Arrubla, pastor of El Buen Pastor. "We divided into two teams, but at one park we had no children."
___No children could be found, but there were a number of adults from Guatemala in the park playing soccer. It was July, and they were hot and thirsty but had no water.
___The missions team had gallons of water and lemonade they had brought for the children who were not there.
___Arrubla gave them drinks and a challenge. He offered to meet them at the park the next day with enough people to play a friendly game of soccer.
___"When we showed up the next day, there was not one team waiting for us but two," he recalled. The Texans agreed to play one team for 30 minutes, take a break and then play the other team for 30 minutes.
___"We lost that first game, but that didn't matter," the pastor said. "Then during our break, I shared from God's word with them and 12 accepted Christ as Savior right there."
___Relationships continued to develop during the week, and by the time the team from Texas left, First Baptist Church in Mayfield had the beginnings of a ministry to Hispanics. By week's end, 51 people had made professions of faith in Jesus.
___So many Hispanics were reached that the Kentucky church decided to start a Spanish-language service. But Irizarry was the only person in the church who could speak Spanish, and she did not feel comfortable preaching.
___Initially, Swift preached in English and Irizarry translated into Spanish. "And we had a couple from the church who didn't speak a word of Spanish singing these songs written in Spanish for them," she recalled. "We knew we couldn't go on that way."
___After brainstorming possible solutions, the Kentucky Baptists asked Escobar to return. Swift explained that Escobar had impressed many in his congregation during the mission trip. And because the 25-year-old did not have a wife or children, it would be easier for him to make the move.
___"We needed his help, and Allan was trying to decide what God wanted to do with his life," Swift said. "This was a win-win situation."
___So, three weeks after going home to Texas, Escobar left his job at Taco Bell and returned to Kentucky to lead the Hispanic services.
___Escobar sees God's hand in it all from the beginning.
___"It didn't look like I was even going to be able to go on the mission trip," he recalled. "I didn't have the money and couldn't get off work. God worked it all out, though, and it was great. When I got there, I saw that God had a purpose in my being there, and I was thrilled at how he used me. I got to preach my very first sermon on that mission trip."
___He has preached many more since then.
___"It's not always easy," he admitted. "I'm here not because I want to, but because it's God's will."
___That doesn't mean he's not happy, he quickly added. "I love what I'm doing, and it's even better because it's something God wants me to do."
___The Kentucky church initially asked Escobar to stay through December, but with the ministry flourishing, that stay has been extended.
___"I don't know how long I'll be here now," he said. "That's all in God's hands."
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