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"Fishers of Men"
Present at Esperanza Mission in Tecalote Community
Though a very small country community and small church nine miles north of Alice on Hwy 281, the members of Mision Esperanza are reaching people for Christ and being effective as a congregation in Christ.
My recent attendance there noted 36 present in the worship service where testimonies and prayer requests are given special time in every service. Bro. Jesse encouraged the people in the way they were reaching out to the community and families and pointed out how many there (almost all) had come to know Christ due to the hearts of the members willing to be "Fishers of Men". Another baptism was announced to take place that Sunday evening! ~ mto
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NEW REPORT: Orange Grove Reorganization
June 18, 2008 - According to Tony Haufler the church at Orange Grove has been running between 70-80 for the past month with near 90 following the week of Vacation Bible School. He and Van Hilliard feel wonderfully blessed!
June 8, 2008 - VBS Report: Orange Grove's VBS was held June 1-5. There were 52 children & preschoolers with 26 workers, averaging 61 per day, with 6 decisions to accept Christ!
Summary - FBC Orange Grove decided in March of 2007 to disband and turn all of their facilities over to FBC Alice to reorganize as a new work. At the time the numbers were low and the work difficult for the small group of senior adults that attended. Since then, FBC Alice's Missions Committee assigned their Minister of Missions, Van Hilliard to the work.
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FBC Kingsville VBS Report
VBS Director, Margie Mixon, reported a total enrollment of 313 with 108 workers and 205 children. There were 3 decisions made for Christ and an average attendance of 225. There were 50 prospects recorded. FBC used the Outrigger Island curriculum by LifeWay.
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21 Backyard Bible Clubs in a 3 day blitz!
Emmanuel Baptist, Alice
Pastor Art Reyes stated that Emmanuel Baptist in partnership with a mission team from Bear Valley Baptist Church in Lakewood, Colorado will have 21 Back Yard Bible Studies in a 3 day period June 23-25. Bear Valley will bring 20 youth and 5 adults to combine with the youth at Emmanuel Baptist. There will be 7 BYBCs in the morning, 7 in the afternoon, and 7 in the evening!
On Sunday morning, June 22nd, there will be a joint service and fellowship dinner. After the 3 days of BYBCs the mission team will help set up a children's playground at Emmanuel.
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Summer Events
(Send Us Your Information!)
June
June 1-5 VBS at Orange Grove
June 8-12 VBS at FBC Kingsville
June 15-20 VBS for Cornerstone, Alice - Youth
June 16-20 VBS for FBC Alice 5:30-8:30PM using Outrigger Island
June 19-20 VBS at Community, Riviera
June 22-27 VBS for Cornerstone, Alice - Children
June 23-25 Backyard Bible Clubs in Alice (21) led by Emmanuel Baptist, Alice and
Bear Valley Baptist Church from Lakewood, Colorado
June 23-27 VBS at San Ignacio, Texas led by Calvary Baptist, Dallas
July
July 7-11 Backyard Bible Clubs (4) in Falfurrias led by FBC Seabrook
July 7-11 VBS at Trinity, Mirando City led by FBC Seabrook
July 14-18 VBS at FBC Falfurrias
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Pastor Wes Hodges of Coastal Bend Fellowship Resigns
We will greatly miss Wes and Jennifer Hodges as they enter into a new call from the Lord! Wes announced his resignation to the Coastal Bend Fellowship Sunday, May 25th. They will be moving to a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah to begin a new work in July. The new start will be called LakePoint Fellowship.
Wes pastored his first congregation in Utah and Jennifer was a US2 (two year) missionary there when they met.
Jennifer has been our Administrative Assistant here in the CBBA office since July 2005. She has had a wonderful ministry here and helped so much in the areas of finance and administration. She and her children have been a wonderful blessing to me personally and to our entire association.
Please contact Wes if you would like to support their new work individually or as a church. Mission trips by your church and monthly financial helps are always needed in these new starts especially for the first two years.
Please pray for them and pray for Coastal Bend Fellowship as they prepare for the pastoral change.
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Churches With Mission Trips Planned
Faith Baptist Church of Benavides will be traveling to Matamoros, Mexico July 18-21 to lead VBS, visitation, and worship services. There will also be some work on the facilities to help with plumbing, electrical, and some other needed updates. Contact Sonny Garza at 361.207.4079 if you or your church is interested in helping.
First Baptist Church, Kingsville will travel to Mier, Mexico and partner with Iglesia Bautista Jezreel and their pastor Roberto Zuniga, to help in a new work in the community of General Trevino, south of Mier. They plan to pour concrete for a new building in a colonia of the town. The trip is planned for July 9-13.
SENEGAL, Africa: August - September and November-December 2008 - 2 groups will hopefully be sent to Senegal from FBC Falfurrias and FBC Seabrook, Texas. If you are being led to another continent, consider Senegal. Jerry Barker will help you understand the needs and costs. Call him at 361.701.2282 Costs between $1800-$2200. Jerry and/or his daughter Jessica are available to speak to your church.
International Missions
SENEGAL, Africa (see above)
ARMENIA (the Middle East) Annually - Van Hilliard, Minister of Missions, for FBC Alice travels to Armenia each year. This trip is usually in October or November. Costs vary but plan on $1800-$2200.
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INNER MEXICO: later in 2008 & 2009
I recently returned from a vision trip in an area east of Mexico City the second largest city in the world.
The following cities of Puebla, Mexico and Tehuacan would like to partner with associations and churches here in Texas. This is a great opportunity for our association to help them in starting new churches through VBS, evangelism, and other missions work. I hope you will give it much prayer and consideration personally and as a church. Together with Christ we can do all kinds of things!!
FOR INFORMATION ON AN INNER MEXICO TRIP CALL MIKE O'NEILL AT 361.522.5523
Puebla, Mexico is about seventy miles from Mexico City and has a population close to 4 million.
The inner city area has government housing apartments that literally consume several square miles of land. There are only 30 Baptist Churches in the association.
VBS and small group Bible studies would be very helpful. A group of 5-10 could be very effective.
Tehuacan is a city of about 100,000 another hour east of Puebla. There are only five churches there. This group of young pastors have a clear plan to reach the indian groups outside of Tehuacan as well as evangelize in the city. They are looking to start churches in the indian villages near the city with VBS and other evangelistic studies and events.
Encampment Construction - In the mountains near Tehuacan & Puebla is their association encampment. It is a beautiful ranchero over 200 years old that has been converted into dorms, kitchen, and housing for their youth and adult retreats. There are years of repair and work that can be done there. The climate there is very mild, higher altitude, and simply beautiful. They can sleep and feed 120 currently. The environment beautiful, relaxing and very helpful in reaching young people from the cities for Christ and developing leaders for the churches.
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Yucatan - for the past 18 years Bro. Van Hilliard has traveled in vans to the Yucatan area of Mexico and worked with churches in the cities and jungles. Many are Mayan and still speak the language. This trip is well established and has experienced leadership. The cost is approximately $250-$300. Contact Van or Jean Hilliard at 361.664.7900 if you are interested.
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ALONG THE BORDER: ~ NOW!!
Our churches have partners and friends in many places along the border from Matamoros to Juarez. These area are less costly and easily accessible for most of us.
Guerrero and Mier congregations are both reaching out to nearby towns with church starts.
Bro. Pedro Tobias is starting new work in Parras and Agualeguas about 30 minutes to an hour from Guerrero. VBS and Revivals are needed there.
Bro. Roberto Zuniga of Mier is leading in building a church in the colonia of General Trevino. FBC Kingsville will be traveling there in July to help with the concrete work.
CONTACT Pastor Raul Hernandez of Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida in Zapata to help you coordinate a border trip or contact an orphanage in Nueva Laredo area. His cell number is 361.319.2111
Faith Baptist Church, Benevides is working with revitalizing in Matamoros of old Primera Baptist building and congregation through outreach and repairs. Central Baptist, Kingsville is working in the LaPesca area Southeast of Matamoros. Ricardo Baptist Church has helped in Venecia further up the river from Matamoros.
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DON'T FORGET A PASSPORT!
APPLY NOW. If you are working near the border, a birth certificate and photo ID may be sufficient. However, inner Mexico or Senegal will require passports.
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Pray for our
CBBA CHURCHES WITHOUT PASTORS
Coastal Bend Fellowship, Kingsville - effective 7/1/2008
Ricardo Baptist Church, Kingsville - effective 1/27/2008
Trinity Baptist Church, Mirando City, Tx - effective 2/1/2008
First Baptist Church, Alice, Tx - effective 7/1/2007 Tommy Ingle was called as an Intentional Interim in early 2008.
Orange Grove - since May 2007 - This is reorganization led by FBC Alice with Van Hilliard, their Minister of Missions.
