I began taking groups to Acuna, Mexico, in March of 2003 while pastoring Pleasant Glade Baptist Church in Colleyville, Texas. When I became Pastor of First Baptist Celina [FBC] in May 2011, I began to plan the first trip for FBC Celina. The first group from First Baptist Celina went over Spring Break in March of 2012 and consisted of 25 people. Since that time, FBC Celina has ventured down to Acuna, Mexico every Spring Break for a total of 12 years. The only year we missed was in 2021 because of ongoing Covid restrictions.
We’ve always done some sort of construction project as a part of these trips with some community ministry as well. Most of the time we help churches that are in need of a building to gather for worship. However, we have also built a children’s building and a kitchen that was used by the church to cook meals for people in their area. One year we worked with the city and painted various parks and community centers.
Through all these years, we have worked with our ministry contact in Mexico, Rosie Borrego. I met Rosie in 2005 and we’ve worked together for these trips ever since. Her children are close to the same age as my children so we have become like family to one another. Several years ago, she began working for the city of Acuna and the Lord opened a door for us to partner with the city of Acuna as a part of our trips. We still continued the construction projects, but also added in community service projects while partnering with the city. Members of our church go to the community centers around Acuna where our ladies do manicures and pedicures for ladies; some women cut hair, while others help run a children’s ministry. Through interpreters our ladies are able to build some relationships, share the love of Jesus, and pray with people. We also distribute clothes, diapers, and snacks for people. We have been so blessed to partner with the city of Acuna all these years. Because of our partnership, FBC has been able to build some really good friendships with city personnel. Even as mayors have changed, God continues to give us an open door to work with them because they know our heart is to help the people of Acuna. If my numbers are correct, we have built eight churches during our time.
Each year in December we meet Rosie in Mexico and she has a list of pastors for us to meet. We go down there with an open heart and ask God to guide our hearts to the project that He wants us to do. Our planning team usually consists of myself, Mike Lohmann, Aaron Walrath, and Kelly Juergens. Our groups usually vary in size but most years average about 50. The largest group we’ve ever taken was about 90 people. God always puts together the team and the numbers are always exactly what we need.
Our desire at First Baptist Celina is to live life with a missionary mentality. For me, one of the blessings is the number of people that have gone on these trips and have developed a heart for missions. We’ve had former students that became involved in other mission work as adults because of this mission trip. It is heart transformational.
Special thank you to Kevin Lykins, Lead Pastor of First Baptist Celina, for their editorial submission. If you have an editorial for consideration, please send to Barbara.Ireland@CityLifestyle.com.