Today I have asked Jorge Zapata, Director of the Buckner Colonia Program since 2002, to write about Buckner Border Ministry.
Buckner Border Ministries serves people along the US/Mexico Border, from Texas to California. Texas is the home of over 3,000 colonias with a population of over 500,000 people living in poverty and developing country conditions. We serve three regions along the Texas Border: the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo/Eagle Pass and Presidio/El Paso, TX. In New Mexico, we serve in the Las Cruces, NM colonia area and the Mescalero Reservation. In Arizona we serve the Douglas/Tucson area and in California we serve the San Ysidro/Tecate area.
Buckner collaborates with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) through KidsHeart, the vessel that God is using to send mission groups to the borderlands. Seven years ago we launched our first KidsHeart in Progreso, TX. Today, KidsHeart reaches the Rio Grande Valley, Eagle Pass, and El Paso area. When church groups arrive in these border communities, the lives of children and families are transformed because they experience hope, something they had lost. Mission groups repair and build new houses for families that live in extreme poverty; they provide medical and dental services through trained medical personnel; provide free clinics in the community center; and volunteers share the gospel though VBS, sport camps, arts & crafts, sewing & quilting, gardening, ESL & GED classes. Volunteers build book shelves and bring books to families so they can read to their children. A total of five denominations groups serve through Buckner Border Ministries. Buckner has changed the way of doing missions in the 21 century. Our slogan is “Transforming Communities, One Family at a Time.”
Valley Ranch Baptist Church recently built three houses for three families. One of them was the Ramos family living in a 14 x 14 structure. Today they live in a beautiful new three bedroom house. Mrs. Ramos is a single mother with nine children. The youngest is seven months old and the oldest is 16 years old. The eldest young man is the provider for the family and attends school with work following in the afternoons. The young man was having a hard time finding a job. We provided him a lawnmower, a weed-eater, a gas tank and recommended a pricing strategy for his new business. Now he is mowing yards for a living and plans to start his own landscaping business.
About 3,000 short-term volunteers make a run to the border to make a difference in the life of a family every year. If you sense the Lord calling you to engage children and families along the border this year, please contact me at jzapata@buckner.org and we will help you find your place of service for a week or more. We preach the gospel and sometimes we use words.
Nobody can do colonia ministry like Jorge. Thanks for all that you do for His glory! You are truly a gifted man of God, Jorge. It is always a privilege to work along side the best! Keep doing what you are doing.
Posted by: Larry Floyd | October 20, 2009 at 11:34 AM