Local Teams Impact the Southwest
Extreme Adventure was the theme for this years Junior Team, and our 27 young people ranging in age from 8-12 experienced just that. The adventures the team participated in were centered around learning about God’s character in extreme ways. The team became special agents, pirates, cowboys, and even soldiers as they grew in their understanding of God’s love, compassion, trustworthiness, power and constancy.
Other adventures came in the form of outreaches to the community. Here in El Paso, our team ministered in a special needs children’s home and a men’s rehabilitation home. The team took gifts and crafts, played games and made friends. In Juarez the team went into one of the poor colonias and winterized homes. This helped four families through the cold winter. The second time we went to Juarez we did a children’s program including dances, crafts and games. Some of the team’s bilingual members even shared about Jesus in Spanish.
The team had a great year and learned that the most extreme adventure of all was growing in our love for God and each other as we demonstrated that understanding to the many, many people around us.
This year the Senior Team of 45 kids ages 13-18 had a busy year. One major emphasis was ministering to their peers. The team led workshops at two IGNITE youth conferences, which is a concept we initiated of entirely youth led events. Kids do all the ministry at these conferences, while the adult leaders stay in the background. About 420 kids attended these conferences in El Paso and the Albuquerque area.
King’s Kids Senior Team also ministered in music, drama and prayer for their peers at an all day youth conference on prayer and worship, led by Christian musician Andre Gonzalez. The team took a full day prayer journey through El Paso, performed music and drama at Jesus Chapel West and many participated in the intensive discipleship course we offer on Monday nights.
Spring Break Outreaches Touch Many Lives
We’ve seen God touch many lives through the 40 major camps we’ve held in Juarez, Mexico during the last 10 years. This spring was an exciting time as four Spring Break Outreaches brought 450 children, teenagers and adults to Juarez for mission camps. Door to door evangelism, Bible distribution, children’s programs and ministry to the Tarahumara Indians brought many people to the Lord. We were able to encourage the work of local churches and other ministries as the teams did major construction projects for two Christian schools, two poor pastor’s homes and an orphanage.
Each week kids and adults from South Carolina, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Massachusetts and across Canada responded to God’s call to walk closely with Jesus, and we saw powerful times of ministry at the camps. Our largest camp was 217 people, and over 100 responded to a call to serve the Lord as missionaries.
Many campers were fascinated with ministry to the Tarahumara Indians, a primitive tribe from the interior of Mexico. About 70 Tarahumaras are living in a shelter in Juarez provided by a local pastor. We led children’s programs through the double language barrier of having English translated to Spanish, then to their language, Raramuri.
Evangelism in a poor colonia of cardboard houses was a new experience for others. Teams of 40 broke into smaller groups with a Spanish speaker, then took bags of groceries, New Testaments and Gospel tracts. The people were very receptive and many small groups saw people give their lives to the Lord. Several families asked if we could build them a better house, so we referred them to other ministries that concentrate on home construction and we’re considering making this the focus of next year’s spring outreaches.
Each year evangelistic fiestas with local children as well as Vacation Bible Schools are a highlight. A combination of fun and spiritual activities brings home the message of God’s love for each person, and the camp participants especially enjoy interacting with the Mexican kids. One location holds a feeding program for about 80 children who come to a church in western Juarez for both spiritual and physical nourishment.
Fierce winds, hail, cold weather and blowing dust didn’t deter the construction projects. One of our major work sites was an orphanage in the desert south of Juarez, where the director recently lost his wife to cancer. Our teams built an additional building for use as a private school as well as bathroom facilities.
The teams built playgrounds for two Christian schools, with slides, jungle gyms and other fun apparatus. The school children were so excited about a new place to play. The teams poured cement sidewalks, painted a Christian school, added on to two pastor’s homes and began construction on another home.
King’s Kids looks for strategic partnerships for our camp projects. Our desire is to bring people to serve the vision of pastors and missionaries who are in Mexico on an ongoing basis, meeting the spiritual and practical needs of people. We believe God wants to serve and encourage His faithful servants in every nation where we send teams.