Baker Bill Rosa 1999 Mexico

8/11/2019 Baker Bill Rosa 1999 Mexico

1/5

Bill

Baker,

07:26

M

1/14/99 -0600,

Update

from th e

Baker's

Sender

[email protected]

From: BillBaker

To: ALVisser

Cc: Billand Carolyn Eagan ,

Belinda Landry ,

Bart & Kathy Morse

,

Barbie

and

T.J. ,

Baker, Thomas (Thomas Or Tom), CCARE ,

Anita Pacheco ,

Amy Lau ,

lvin

Kuest ,

Alfredo & Lupe Jose ,

Albert Schmid

Subject: Update from

the

Baker's

Date: Thu,

14 J an

1999 07:26:04 -0600

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Dear Friends and Supporters of

the

Baker Family,

This is a rather lengthiy update, it recaps

the

progress

the

Lord

has

made

through us In our ministry in Dei Rio. i pray that you will enjoy and be

enlightened by It.

Rosa

and I picked Dei Rio specifically

because

the

work of

the

Independant

Christian Churches was very

weak that

area.

Just

60 miles away in Eagle

Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Mexico, our brotherhood ha s numerous

ministries, a Bible College, an orphanage, several evangelistic ministries

and

approximately 20

churches.

Four years ago, we

saw

potential in Dei Rio/Acuna for

the

work of

the

Lord

but,

the

potential

was

hidden very deep. God opened doors

and

we were able

to

relocate

easily.

We

were able to find and finance property easily.

Del Rio had no independent Christian Churches. There were two

weak churches

which were affiliated with th e Disciples of Christ. Acuna had a small

struggling Christian Church which had history of problems.

I began working on re-establishing a publishing ministry. Through my own

efforts, we made progress in developing

the

physical facility needed fbr a

printing ministry. But the Lord did not open that door. I kept knocking, but

it

appeared

to

me that

in order to

get that

door open. Itwas going to be on

my effort alone

it was then that the Lordbegan opening other doors for us. Iwas given the

opportunity to serve

as

interim

pastor

at Dei Rio Christian Church,

one

of

the Disciples of Christ Churches in Dei Rio.

Rosa and

i continued to work

with First Christian Church, th e other Disciples of Christ Church in Dei

Rio. At

one

point inworking with both

churches

simultaneously, I even had

dreams ofgetting both churches to reunite their efforts

Printed for Mission Services Association


2/5

BillBaker, 07:26

AM

1/14/99 -0600, Update from

the

Baker sl

Tliese two churches had a veiy bittersplit many years earlier.We were

seeing

growth

in twthchurches. InNovember of1995, bothchurches were

scheduled to vote to leavethe sciples ofChrist on the

same

day. One vote

was taken, the other was postponed and has yet to be taken.

Following

a

unanimous

vote

to

leave

the disciples, First

Christian

beganthe

struggleofbecoming an Independent Christian Church..

Thedooropenedto a newministry in

Acuna.

IIbund a small nucleus which

was

stmggling

to becomea newChristian Church and beganworking and

encouraging them in theirministry.

They

wereworshiping in a pallet,

cardboard and tar paper roomabout 12X18 feet insize. We havenow

relocated them into an unfinished concrete block building which ha s two

stories a functioning bathroom and a dream of

evangelizing

Acuna for

Christ.

During the

annual meeting

ofthe Christian Churches, wewerethe only new

independent

Christian

Church

congregation

in all of

Mexico

to receive

certification

under Mexican

as an

official

churchi

The church inAcuna

sent

it s minister

Mario

Lara)to Scottsbluff, Nebraska

to be a missionary to the United States Thanks to

funding

by the Nebraska

Evangelistic

Accosiation) Hehas

begun

servicesand the prospectof

establishing a permanent work inSpanish there is

very promising.

The

church in

Acuna

continues to have around 40 in services

The school situation in DelRiowas deplorable. We had an opportunity to

place

both

FrancesandCaleb ina struggling

private

Christian

School.

The

school was Insuch bad shape financially that Itcouldnot find a churchin

DelRioveiling to take it

over.

Ithad been inthree different rented

facilities all churches)and hadcreated hard feelings

with

each ofthem.

We

were able

to s tart

school this

fall in

our

own facility,

and

are

now

debt free

First

Christian Church

is experiencing

growth

which has beendescribedby

miraculousby many ofthose who haveheard ofour story.

The

Lord

is moving. Wewent through a period oftimeinwhich the attendance

dropped

to 10orless. A

new minister,

Frank

House,

was

hired

andthe

turn-around

was

completed.

Today attendanceis averaging about ICQ to 110at FirstChristian, weare

experiencing regular conversions

and

baptisms. The

ministry ofthis church

is

taking off

inareas inwhich we

could

only

have

dreamed3 or4 years ago.

As a result ofthe flood inAugust of1998,we havebeen

given

the

opportunity to constmct several

houses for

someofthe

members

ofthe

congregation

in Congregation

in

Acuna

who

lost everything

the

flood.

We

have five houses started. We recently ran intoa problem purchasing block.

Ithas become almost impossibleto purchase cement blockinAcuna.

The

largest

plant has the capacity to make 10,000 block a dayand has it s

entireproduction purchasedfor the next three months.



3/5

Bill Baker, 07:26

1/14/99-0600,Update from the Baker's

Thereare a lotofsmaller momand pop builders inAcuna, but the

quality

varries widely They havebeen requiring that we pay for the blockin

advance and then pickupthe blockswhile still green . Ifwe don't get

them

picked

upontime,they end upselling our block to somoneelse.

As a result ofthis, we havepurchased a small block-making machine. Once we

make 2,500 blocks, our

initial

investment

will

be recovered. I havetalked

to

the

leader of one of th e card-board cities and we are working out an

arangementwhich

will build

morehouses. Since we don't havethe funds to

build

10,000houses, we are goingto

offer

the equipmentand materialsto

men who need blocks and can work. Theywill receive 2 blocks for every 10

blocks they make. Ourtotal costs will be less and wewill be helping those

who genuinely want to better their ownsituation.

In closing, let me take some liberty

vwth

Paul's statement in ICorinthians

16:8 9:

But wewill stay on in Del Rio

until

God leads us elsewhere, because a great

door foreffective workhas opened to us and there are many whooppose us.

PLEASE KEEP OUR

MINISTRY INYOUR

PRAYERS

May the LordRichly Bless - Bill Baker

E-Mail [email protected]

Web Site

httD://www.delrio.com/~bbaker

Snail Mail:

P.O.

Box 420926, Del Rio, TX 78842

Phone 830 774 1543



4/5

Bill Bake>, 09:48 AM 4/10/99^-0400, Update from

th e

Baker's

Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 09:48:18 -0400

From: Bill Baker

Subject: Update from

the

Baker's

Sender

[email protected]

To: Rob Halvorson

Reply-To:

Bill

Baker

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Message-ID:

From: Bill Baker

To: Rob Halvorson

Subject: Update

from the Baker's

Date: Sat,

10

Apr

1999 08:25:12 -0500

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e r Friends:

We have just sent back our fourth Short-Term missions team In 5 weeks. Spring t ime is aiways busy with us

in Del Rio. This year was no exception. The groups we have worked with In Acuna were from, Enid, OK;

Craig, CO; and Grayson, KY. In addition to

these

three, we

assisted

a group from

Ozark

Christian College

in arranging and transportation for a teaching seminar in

Nuevo

Rosita, Mexico.

The

Lord

Is indeed blessing our ministryalong the border in both cultures Here Is a quick

run-down

of

some

of our

recent developments:

HOUSE CONSTRUCTION (Benevolent Relief in Acuna)

Two families

are

now

living

in

new

houses

which were built

as

a result of funds received for benevolent

evangelism following the flood in August. Four additional houses are under constmctlon and two of these are

ready for

the

roof.

THE NEW CHURCH

IN

ACUNAIsexperiencing grov/Ing pains. Since the loss ofMario Lara last fall, there

has

been a struggle fbr leadership withinthe men of

the

church. My philosophy of missions

will

not allow me

to

assume

dictatorial power In

the

church

so

It Is interesting to

see

how

the

local men are dealing with

leadership problems. I am striving to

provide

as much guidance as possible while still allowing this new work

to be a Mexican church. We have completed the floor fbr the new auditorium. Blocks are being made and

the

wails for this addition

will be

going up next week. As funds

and

manpower

are made

available, we

hope

to be able

to have it

seniceable

by

th e end

of May.

Printed

fo r Mission

Services Association


5/5

BillBaker, 09:48 AM 4/10/99 -0400, Update from the Baker's

THE MINISTRY IN DEL RIO withFirst ChristianChurch continue to amaze and encourage everyone

involved

Rosa is incharge ofcoordinating the entiremusic

program

Baptismare almost a weekly

occurrence and attendance is averaging130 since the firstof

the

year. Our Resun'ectlon Day sen/ices were

diffsrent. Rather than a resurrection drama, Idid the Sermon on the Mount from memory incostume. (The

picture is on

the

WEB SITED We were celebrating

the

teachings of a risen Savior (even though

the

Sermon

on

the

Mount

was

early In

the

ministry ofChristDFor

th e

main worship service, Rosa directed a

Resurrection Drama which took the place of a traditional sermon.

AMISTAD CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

(a local Christian high school inwhich Billserves on

the

board)

will

become a part of the ministry of First Christian Church as soon as

the

papenArork is completed. This is a

win win situation fo r

tx th t

church and

t

school .

Itis exciting to see what the Lordis doing and even more exciting to lookto the future as we consider

the

possibilities ofwhat he can do to continue to expand His ministry in the Land ofAmistad . (Land of

Friendship)

Our WEB-SITE has been completely revamped. Ifyou have not visited it recently, you willfind many new

features, including current updates with pictures ofour work teams. Duringthe visit ofthe team from

Grayson, we were able to baptize two team members in LakeAmistad

May

the

Lordcontinue to

Bless

and

please

keep us inyour prayers

May the Lord RichlyBless - Bill Baker

E-Mail [email protected]

Wetr Site httD://www.delrio.com/~bbaker

Snail Mail: P.O. Box 420926, Del Rio, TX 78842

Phon e 830 774 1543

AutofiwdUodate from the Baker

Printed

fo r Mission

Services

Association

Baker Bill Rosa 1999 Mexico

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