When COVID-19 forced a Mesquite church to cancel its regularly scheduled mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley, the congregation reallocated missions funds in ways that would make a lasting difference—both locally and in South Texas.
The Crossing Baptist Church has made mission trips to the Rio Grande for nearly two decades, primarily focusing in recent years on the area around Donna in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
A significant portion of the church’s annual missions offering has been devoted to working with families living in Rio Grande Valley colonias, serving as a partner organization with Hearts4Kids.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“Our missions team knew packing everyone into vans and taking them to the Valley would not be safe,” Pastor Patrick Adair said.
Discovering needs, reallocating funds
The missions team wanted to make sure missions funds given to make an impact on the lives of families would achieve that goal. Since hands-on ministry in South Texas was not possible, the missions team wanted to meet a perceived need for access to healthy food in the eastern Mesquite neighborhoods surrounding their church campus.
The congregation had appointed a vision team to examine the church’s future. The team recommended a study of the surrounding community. Personnel from Buckner Children and Family Services conducted a community needs assessment, and it showed a high level of food insecurity in the neighborhoods around the church.
As a result, the church’s missions team recommended funds from the 2020 mission offering—collected each year the Sunday before Thanksgiving—be reallocated to provide funding for a food distribution ministry.
Brian Washington, the church’s minister to students, is a trained social worker who serves on the board of Sharing Life Community Outreach. He recommended to the missions team that The Crossing Baptist Church become a Community Distribution Partner with Sharing Life to make food accessible to families.
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To deliver food to hungry individuals and families most efficiently and cost-effectively, the North Texas Food Bank supplies food to hubs—such as Sharing Life—throughout its service region. Churches and other Community Distribution Partners pick up food at the hub and then make it available in their own neighborhoods.
Funds reallocated from the cancelled mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley enabled The Crossing Baptist Church to launch a monthly drive-through food pantry in the church’s parking lot, beginning in March.
“And it has grown very fast,” said Brenda Palmer, volunteer director of the monthly food distribution ministry.
Palmer, who had served in administrative posts on church staffs for 23 years, took on the responsibility after retiring early from a position at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. She estimates she spends about 40 hours a month in the volunteer role—most of it concentrated within a few days.
“I’m thankful the timing worked out so I could be involved in this ministry,” she said.
Monthly drive-through food distribution
On the first Friday morning of each month, several volunteers from The Crossing Baptist pick up food from Sharing Life.
“Initially, it was just grabbing a few guys with pickup trucks and a trailer to meet at the church at 10 a.m.,” Washington said.
However, demand has increased in just a few months. So, the church has started renting a 24-foot moving van to cut down on the number of vehicles required and to make the process more efficient.
Washington—a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps—admittedly has a penchant for finding the most efficient way to carry out a mission. He quite naturally gravitated to the role of logistics coordinator for the monthly food pantry ministry.
On the first Friday evening of the month, The Crossing Baptist Church hosts a “packing party.” About two dozen volunteers of all ages participate in sorting groceries into boxes and bags.
The next morning, 10 to 12 volunteers arrange the bags on tables in the church parking lot. Then as cars line up, the volunteers load an average of 50 lbs. of groceries per family into the vehicles.
Once cars are filled with food, drivers who wish to do so are invited to stop at a station marked by a simple sign that reads, “How can we pray for you?”
Members of the church’s prayer ministry intercede for all those who submit requests.
Currently, food is stored on the first Friday of the month in an early childhood Sunday school room that is not currently being used, Palmer said.
In time, the church’s missions team envisions having a building dedicated to the food pantry and related community ministries, she added.
“This ministry is an expression of our church’s mission statement—sharing Christ, equipping believers and serving people,” Adair said.
And while the hands-on ministry to neighbors in need continues to grow, The Crossing Baptist Church has not forgotten people they have grown to love in the area around Donna.
On July 25, the church voted to use all the remaining funds it would have spent on its 2021 mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley to contribute to the creation of a Buckner Family Hope Center in Donna. Currently, Buckner’s only Family Hope Center in the lower Rio Grande Valley is located in Peñitas, about 35 miles to the west in Hidalgo County.
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