“Are we there yet?” That persistent inquiry is usually heard (more than once) from young children on long journeys. Such a question is not reserved for our kiddos. It certainly was on the mind, if not the lips, of the CPC missions team that recently drove to El Paso, Texas, to work with Jeff and Heather Vaughn.
The Vaughns, CPC-supported missionaries, are part of the Border Evangelism And Mercy Ministries (BEAMM) team ministering in the “twin cities” of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. BEAMM was formed through a mutual agreement between Mission to North America (MNA) and Mission to the World (MTW), the two mission agencies of the Presbyterian Church in America.
Typically, MNA focuses on church planting and enabling within the US and Canada. MTW focuses on church planting and ministry outside of these two countries. Because of the uniqueness of the US / Mexico border region, it was determined that the resources of both agencies were essential for ministry there.
The US / Mexico border is one of the longest borders between any two countries in the world. A hundred years ago the border region was vaguely defined with sparse populations and for the most part didn’t attract much attention. Commerce and people flowed freely along the fairly undefined border.
A century later the border defines a place where two distinct civilizations face each other and overlap. Border crossings, while still fairly easy, have been complicated by events such as the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001. Security into the US has been tightened, yet US industry is eager to take advantage of the ample supply of inexpensive labor and incentives made available by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Today, millions of people live and interact along this 2,000-mile boundary between these two neighbors that are so close and yet so different.
There are seven sets of major “twin cities” on the US / Mexico border: Brownsville & Matamoros, McAllen & Reynosa, Laredo & Nuevo Laredo, El Paso & Ciudad Juarez, Nogales & Nogales, El Centro & Mexicali and San Diego & Tijuana. The PCA’s BEAMM teams are promoting church plant movements by establishing a network of churches in each of these border cities. BEAMM is establishing training programs for ordained and lay people in each region of the border to equip the body of Christ to be able to teach and serve others. BEAMM is also helping the church networks to promote mercy ministries within their communities such as: English as a Second Language (ESL), skills training, counseling services, and job placement.
CPC’s team (Jason & Michael Coffey, Mark Miller, Curtis & David Owens, Eric Mullinax, Meredith Hobbs, Anna Steere) worked particularly on a house building project and a VBS outreach program in a poor neighborhood east of El Paso, where a future church will be planted.
To hear more about this team’s trip to the Southwest . . . along with reports from: Zack Carden and his work with Christ Community Church in Acworth, Georgia; David Close and his (and daughter Kelly’s) recent medical missions trip to Honduras; Lewis Reid and his past two weeks’ stint leading youth mission teams in Chattanooga . . . join us this Sunday evening, July 12.
Pastor Mullinax