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Crossing national, cultural and personal borders with the Good News of Jesus Christ"
Camp Dates for 2012
Summer Week-Long Mission Camp: June 18-24, 2012
Winter Shoebox Trip
December 7-9, 2012
"Important! To travel into Mexico you must now have a passport or passport card. See details under the Travel link" |
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Safety concerns?? See updated info under the FAQ link
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Mexico Mission Trip Highlights – Summer 2011
Crossing Borders mission camp is in its 6th year; twice per year we cross the border into Mexico to share ministry with Jesus and his devoted followers. Each trip is unique, with the Hispanic culture and changing circumstances providing opportunity to be very flexible (we call it “fluid”) with our plans.
Partnering with Jesus in Mexico
This time we had a group of 9 experienced camp missionary alumni, with each one on fire to share the love of God and encourage our ministry partners in Mexico. We normally average about 15 participants and have about 1/3 of our group as new attendees. But with the new passport requirements, the dip in many people’s financial situation, and the American news media’s slanted reporting of across-the-border violence, our group was “leaner” this time. But numbers are not our main concern; we want to do effective ministry. And in some ways, we probably made an even bigger impact this trip than any previous occasion.
As a “sampler camp” of mission activities, our week is made up of a variety of mission/ministry activities. On day one, we distributed dozens of large bags of dried beans and rice to 30-40 representatives from local churches (food is a critical need that the churches help provide). In the evening, we spent several hours providing a hot meal and bags of toiletries, socks and other necessities for homeless street people. As the coordinator told us, “This is Meals-On-Wheels for people without addresses.”
Other days found us cooking and serving a meal to non-Mexican immigrants that were being deported to their country of origin (mostly in Central America); visiting with native ministry leaders; preaching and performing dramas at a local church service in a very poor colonia (neighborhood) and then serving a meal and distributing bags of various basic groceries; conducting Vacation Bible School at three different locations; visiting a children’s home to play with the kids, cook them a hot meal and perform puppet skits; tour a private ministry facility to see how we might be involved with them on our next trip; and several other activities.
When we were serving the dinner to the immigrant deportees, the Nuevo Laredo city mayor heard what we were doing and wanted to meet us (city population is 370,000). When Mayor Galdán arrived, we were able to discuss some of our ministry goals with him, and he was very open to us about how he wants to help as many of his citizens as possible—even while drug cartels and gangs terrorize the city and nation. He was very friendly, gave us his cell phone number and told us to call him if he could help us.
While our camp participants always seek to “preach” the love of God by our actions, on this trip for the first time we had the exciting opportunity to conduct a church service and preach the Gospel verbally. Camp Chaplain, Steve Solari, and Director, Lee Berger, each gave a short sermon (with drama skits included), and it was humbling and inspiring for us to see the hungry response from the hearers (including two new professions of faith in Christ!). Telling people that God always loves them and has provided for their free inclusion into His family is definitely Good News that everyone needs to hear!
Our next trip to Mexico will be to deliver hundreds of shoebox gifts on the weekend of December 9-11. We’d love for your church or other group to provide shoebox gifts, or for anyone who desires to come along on the trip. For more info, go to www.cbmission.org or call Lee Berger at 903-746-4463.
Written by: Lee Berger
- Photo 1: CB team (with local ministry leader, Randy Leyendecker) distributes food and necessary items to Juan, a homeless man.
- Photo 2: Serving a meal to, talking with and praying for non-Mexican immigrants as they are deported.
- Photo 3: VBS crafts for children of Los Artistas colonia.
- Photo 4: Pastor Pedro Castillo is excited to receive large boxes of shoes, bags of clothes and some children’s teaching resources.
- Photo 5: Nuevo Laredo city Mayor Benjamin Galvan (center, behind flag) and other government officials meet with Crossing Borders missionaries [photo by staff photographer for mayor’s web blog site: http://benjamingalvan770.blogspot.com/]
Photos by: Lee Berger (except where noted)
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