The Lord opens a door of opportunity to win the lost to Christ

December 15, 1998

Dear Beloved Family of God:

God is great, Jesus Christ is awesome, and the Holy Spirit is wonderful. It has been a pleasure living in the city of Dallas, Texas for the past two years and much has been done for the cause of Christ while living here.

The Good Lord calls me again to another mission field that will require us to move again. A door of opportunity has been opened for me to take the Gospel of Christ to a region of the country where the presence of the Lord's church is weak.

The brethren of the churches of Christ in the southwest region of the state of Texas near the border with Mexico have called me to re-establish the presence of the Lord's church in Crystal City, Texas. I have already visited this small town of 8,263 people, and we held a worship service at the church building three weeks ago. Ninety percent of the population of this community is of Spanish heritage. Ten minutes away is the neighboring community of Carizo Springs, and it has a population of about 4,000 people. The church in Crystal City was about to close its doors and the building was going to be sold, but the Lord had a different plan. It has been a number of years since this congregation had a full time preacher. The last of this congregation's original surviving members are two Christian women who were recently admitted into the nursing home. There will be no financial support for this new mission, but I go in faith trusting that God will provide via my work Internet Ministries. The building that has been provided is paid in full and the mission will begin debt free. This is a tremendous blessing. The building sits on one square city block, and the church auditorium will seat 250 people. The building has an annex that consists of five class rooms, but the roof in that structure must be completely replaced. I may need a few of you carpenters and roofers in our brotherhood to help me fix that structure. The annex has not been used in about five years or longer. The main structure is in good condition, but may need a new paint job. The auditorium furnishings are in excellent condition, and they look new. The brethren that built this structure were negatively impacted by the Raza Unida Party in the 1960's and 1970's. This political party had many good ideas and intentions, but they were extremely militant and provoked fear in the community and surrounding areas. Those days are long gone, but the scares remain. The Lord can heal those wounds and remove those scares, and I will do my best to be a light in that community and the surround Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico.

Crystal City is located in a remote part of the State of Texas. This is one of the poorest economical regions of the United States, and the opportunity to better the community with the Spirit of Christ is great. In the near future I will be asking some of you to travel to Crystal City to assist me in several Evangelistic campaigns.

I will be committing one to two years to this new congregation. I have made contact with two Christian families in Crystal City, and they are excited about re-establishing the church in their community. Since Spanish is the most spoken language in Crystal City, Texas we will initially have services in Spanish, but will be open for a second service in English if needed. With the help of Almighty God our goal is to establish a congregation with about 100 baptized Christians by December 31, 1999 with a growth of 250 Christians by December 31, 2000. After we have established Elders and Deacons and a church that can financially support its Evangelist, I will leave and go to another city on the Earth where the Lord calls me to serve again.

Thank you all for your love and care for my person. Internet Ministries will continue via Crystal City, Texas and it will serve to bring a greater awareness of the Lord's holy church to that part of the world. Our network will go off-line on Tuesday December 15, 1998 at about 1:00 p.m. Central Time, and Lord willing it will be back on line sometime Thursday December 17, 1998. There are a number of hardware upgrades that I will be implementing, and our network will function better as a result of this. I am adding a total of four new powerful computers to our existing network. The function of these new machines will serve to enhance our Internet gateway to the world, and all of the churches of Christ will benefit as well as the non-Christians who are searching for a better Way. These new machines were paid for in part by the all of the monies that we have received from those of you on this List and others. The Lord is blessing us and things are getting better for the days ahead as we reach out to win the lost souls of this Earth. Please remember me in your prayers, and I'll see you on the Internet.

May the grace of God, the love of Jesus, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you and your family forever.

The least of the Saints,

E-mail questions or comments to: garcia@church-of-christ.org

The church of Christ at Crystal City

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