Junior Team
Junior Team started out this year with a Mini-Extreme Encounter, where we hiked up to the caves at Tom Mays Park and introduced our theme for this year, “Called by Name.” Throughout the year we learned about redemption, being chosen, and our destiny in and through Christ (Isaiah 44:1-7).
As the Jr. Teamers learned about Jesus we put feet to our knowledge and shared His message of redemption with many people in El Paso and Juarez. We winterized homes in Anapra and roofed buildings at a Tarahumara Shelter. At the Christian Men's Home and the Dame la Mano shelter for women and children we gave presents, played games and shared a program of worship songs that touched many people.
Through service to those who don't know Jesus yet and love towards each other, this year was one of great growth and deepening of relationship with Jesus. We are “Called by Name and created for His Glory.”
We celebrated Thanksgiving by working with a project to feed several thousand poor people in Juarez. The Senior Team shared the Gospel and many children responded to God's call.
In December, the Senior Team worked together with the Christian Men's Home in an outreach to the homeless in downtown El Paso. We were amazed at the boldness of some of the team as they approached some intimidating street people to share God's love with them. Touring the back alleys of the city to find the homeless was a shock and learning experience for many of the group.
This year King's Kids El Paso began a new event called Selah. It's a full day of prayer and fasting for youth to seek God's touch on their own lives and the lives of their peers. About 100 youth and leaders from several churches had a great experience looking for the Lord's blessings to come on our city.
The IGNITE youth conference, which is a unique concept in youth led events that we pioneered in King's Kids El Paso, brought about 300 teenagers from many churches across the city to a powerful 3 day event at Vista del Sol Baptist Church.
The marathon of Spring Break Outreaches in Juarez has ended for the year with about 400 total participants. We had three weeks of teams that came from Colorado, all over Texas, Virginia, 3 Canadian provinces, South Carolina, New Mexico, Missouri and California. Students from a YWAM school that participated in our first camp came from Nicaragua, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Korea and England.
God worked in a great way through the kids as they did children's evangelism throughout the city. Outdoor evangelistic fiestas drew up to 250 people from neighborhoods around our construction sites, and other means of sharing God's love in both spiritual and practical ways.
Construction projects for local ministries included working on buildings for a Vineyard church and a Christian school in Anapra, dormitories for a church to host future North American teams in Zaragosa and our major project at Parque Recreativo Vida, described on the next page.
Logistics for such large groups are always a challenge. Imagine the kitchen crews preparing 500 peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, or over 1000 tacos and enchiladas for dinner. Then there are the rows of buses taking kids to the ministry sites, staying ahead of the work crews with enough construction supplies for each day's work, and even the annual trip to the market for souvenirs and tacos with 230 people.
We saw an amazing response from the kids at the camps, with much personal ministry, weeping, repentance and some kids coming to Jesus for the first time. God is good!
We invested a lot of time and effort into a gang infested colonia where we saw a vicious gang fight a few years ago. The government gave a pastor there land to build a community center. He's using this as an opportunity to get involved in the lives of the local people through children's ministries and sports programs. Now they have a house, an office, a snack bar, volleyball, basketball and soccer fields plus a playground. Much of the labor and materials came through King's Kids teams over the last few years, and from the help of a local businessman. The new benches and trees make the park an inviting place for families. Many children and some adults met the Lord there during the spring break outreaches.
Four visits to the Tarahumara Indian shelter were eye opening experiences for the team. The Tarahumaras are a native tribe from the mountains in northern Mexico who lead a primitive lifestyle of subsistence farming and who often live in caves. A Juarez pastor started a shelter for the Tarahumaras who come to Juarez to look for work or beg to support their families. Now nearly 100 Tarahumaras live in about a 2100 square foot shelter. Our teams brought food, clothing and toys for the kids. One 15 year old from Plano collected 100 blankets, which the people warmly received . We also ministered to the children and mothers there. Our Junior Team also visited the Indians and we repaired the roofs on two buildings at the shelter.
There were four Vacation Bible School locations during our outreaches this Spring Break. We took groups of campers to La Vina, Agua Viva and other locations to share with the local children our theme of “God's unfailing love”. This message was about God's love being with us even in the midst of struggles. Using arts and crafts, skits put on by campers, sharing testimonies through a translator and outdoor recreation, we were able to communicate with the children. Taking time to play with them made a big impact on many young lives. We were able to speak God's truth into their hearts by sharing what God had done in our own lives.