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Posted: 10/3/03

Church provides oasis in the desert

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

SPUR–Like an oasis in the desert, Primera Iglesia Bautista Elim provides a resting place for the down and out on the South Plains of Texas.

The church, named after a campsite with springs in the Book of Exodus, has blossomed in the dry climate to feed as many as 100 families daily through its food pantry, 150 children in the summers and up to 30 people through a soup kitchen.

Additionally, the church launched a clothes closet and a prison ministry that gives people a place to stay and provides them meals while they visit incarcerated relatives. The most recent addition to the plethora of ministries is a crisis pregnancy center that gives pregnant women a place to stay during and up to a year after their terms.

The church has grown as it has launched and increased its ministries over the past eight years, said Pastor Geronimo Reyes.

When he and his wife, Lala, arrived eight years ago, the church had a congregation of one.

The duo quickly discovered the 1,300-person town needed the gospel but also found numerous physical needs. Employment is difficult to find in Spur, and many residents migrate northward for several months to keep working, the couple said. Regular income and food is rare. ”As we made home visits, we saw they needed to be fed spiritually but needed to be fed food as well,” Mrs. Reyes noted.

The Reyeses started meeting residents' physical needs through a clothes closet and a food pantry, and the ministry snowballed.

The church recently bought a three-story building for $500 and has outgrown it. Every space in the building except a portion of the second floor where the pastor and his family live is used for ministry. More and more people are visiting the church as word spreads about the benevolent work, Reyes said.

Not only are residents coming, but they are converting to Christianity after hearing the gospel through the ministries, the Reyeses said. The church now has about 150 people, and as many as 75 people attend Sunday activities.

“We minister with the word of salvation. We're seeking to win souls. The Bible says bring them in any way,” Mrs. Reyes said.

Many of the members cannot afford to tithe financially, so the Reyeses encourage them to give their time to ministry or devote substantial time to prayer. The congregation has taken the notion to heart, and more than half of the members are involved in an outreach.

“The Bible says you must give,” Reyes explained. “If you can't give 10 percent, give your time. If you can't do anything, pray.”

The congregation ministers to the community but also supports the Reyeses through the outreaches. The couple works for free and relies on the food pantry and clothes closet to sustain them. They do what they need to in order to glorify God, Reyes said.

“We don't want to work for money,” he added. “We want to work for the Lord.”