Today in the Mission Yearbook - Building bridges across borders

Puentes de Cristo takes bold action for and with the poor of South Texas and Mexico

From left to right at Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Mexicana Brownsville:
the Rev. Lemuel Garcia-Arroyo, PC(USA)’s Ministry Engagement and
Support; Lety Martínez, Puentes de Cristo; and the Rev. Joel Martínez
López, pastor, Primera Iglesia. (Photo by Emily Enders Odom)

Dan Bautista once traveled the world with a pharmaceutical rep’s bag. Now all he carries is a Bible.

And a burden for the poor.

His call led him to leave his position of 20 years with one of the world’s largest biomedical and pharmaceutical companies to become more actively engaged as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Bautista, who was born in Puebla, Mexico, and became a U.S. citizen by marriage to Betty G. Bautista, a native Texan, is a commissioned pastor for most of Mission Presbytery’s Hispanic congregations. He also serves as a volunteer chaplain for several area hospices and as regional contract manager for Molina Healthcare of Texas.

Because his faith — coupled with his leadership on state and federal agency task forces on labor and immigration projects — practically demanded that he work to address the scourge of systemic poverty among the poorest communities across South Texas and Mexico, Bautista recently joined the board of Puentes de Cristo, a mission project of Mission Presbytery.

Puentes de Cristo, translated as “Bridges of Christ,” was founded in 1981 by a group of pastors from the Rio Grande Valley on both the U.S. and Mexican sides of the border.

The ecumenical, Christian nonprofit in Hidalgo, Texas, focuses its health, wellness and educational ministries on the world’s poorest populations, particularly those along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Puentes is the bridge between institutions, other mission organizations and the residents of the colonias,” said Leticia G. “Lety” Martínez, its executive director. “We are their point of connection.”

The colonias, translated as neighborhoods or communities, are scattered throughout the U.S.-Mexico border region. Their residents are primarily migrants and immigrants, whose children were mostly born in the U.S.

Martínez is a ruling elder at Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Mexicana Brownsville, the oldest Hispanic Presbyterian Church in the U.S., where her husband, the Rev. Joel Martínez López, is pastor. She spent 32 years as an educator, the last 23 as director of parental involvement at Weslaco (Texas) Schools.

Upon retirement, Martínez decided to bring her many gifts to the work of the church on a full-time basis. Because she was already serving as secretary of the board for Puentes when the organization’s previous director announced she was leaving, Martinez assumed that role as of May 2024.

Since then, the pace has been nonstop.

Dan Bautista

“Puentes is under reconstruction, both physical and missional,” she said. “Although we used to be about 95% social services, we’re now shifting to become a resource center for Christian education, establishing the center with a library and people coming from [Austin Presbyterian Theological] seminary to provide training.”

With its active board, small staff and a network of volunteers, Puentes offers a variety of educational programs and projects in the colonias and in the larger community, several of which are in cooperation with area universities.

One of their signature programs, a curriculum titled “Building a Healthy Temple,” offered in partnership with the University of Texas in San Antonio and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, provides health education in congregations and free colon cancer screening for church members without health insurance or who are underinsured. The program’s model requires that each congregation form a health care ministry team that will organize monthly health sermons and events.

Additionally, under Puentes’ colonia health programs, the organization recently partnered with the Texas A&M University Colonias Program.

“Through our new partnership, we will start providing prenatal health care for pregnant teen moms and young mothers in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties in the Rio Grande Valley,” said Martínez.

Puentes has also been offered collaborative support for its Christian Leadership Program, not only from Austin Seminary, but also from members of many congregations across the presbytery.

Faithful presbytery and board members, like Bautista, are also out regularly preaching in the colonias.

But, through Puentes’ holistic approach — attending to people’s spiritual, physical and emotional needs — he knows that there are other ways to proclaim the good news.

“I watch as volunteers bring food and programming into the colonias, but not always prayer,” he said, “In working with Puentes, I know that we can provide help with people’s spiritual care and so much more.”

Emily Enders Odom, Associate Director of Mission Communications, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Let us join in prayer for:

• Darla Carter, Mission Communications Strategist, Communications Ministry, Presbyterian Church (USA)
• Heath Carter, Senior Editor, Presbyterian Historical Society, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray:

Gracious God, may we be bold to proclaim the good news of your love for us and for your whole world. May we reach out to support our neighbors and offer them kindness, hope and sanctuary. May we listen with care and respect. May we share our own experience of the gospel with joy. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) vigil raises gun violence awareness, honors lives lost

The Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024), brings words of hope and encouragement during event held as part of the Young Adult Advocacy Conference

The Rev. Christina Cosby of the Office of Public Witness, second from
right, speaks during a gun violence prevention vigil held as part of the
Young Adult Advocacy Conference. (Photo by Darla Carter)

T-shirts emblazoned with the names of local victims of fatal gun violence encircled a cross at Union Presbyterian Seminary on a recent afternoon.

The T-shirts, placed on the ground at the base of the cross, called attention to a problem that is all too common, not only in Mecklenburg County but the nation as a whole.

“We recognize the names of individuals no longer with us, lives taken (prematurely) … by a form of violence — gun violence — an epidemic in this country that impacts this soil, in this place,” said the Rev. Christina Cosby, representative for Domestic Issues and Environmental Justice for the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness (OPW). “Lord, in your mercy, hear their names in our prayer.”

The social justice action was the final activity of the Young Adult Advocacy Conference, “Jesus and Justice,” which was held on the Charlotte campus Oct. 18–20 by OPW and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.

PC(USA) has a long history of speaking out against gun violence and has declared 2022–2032 to be the Decade to End Gun Violence.

The T-shirts represented just a fraction of people who’ve lost their lives to gun violence in the local area.

The Charlotte Observer reported that 61 people were killed in Charlotte in the first half of 2024 (at least 50 victims having been shot to death). That’s more than in the first six months of any year since at least 2015, the newspaper noted in July. And the state as a whole averages more than 1,300 gun deaths a year.

But “today, we say no to gun violence,” said the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, PC(USA) advocacy director.

The Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024) of the PC(USA), was present to support the event, which included Scripture, song, and an opportunity to speak the names of victims, either someone local listed on a T-shirt or someone on the heart of a vigil participant.

“May this action, may this symbolic rite remind us and those who pass by that we have been blessed with voices that we might use them, that we are connected, all of us, one to another, that while we are resurrection people, all of these deaths that come too soon break our communities and keep us from being all that God would dream that we could be,” Larson said. “Bless this brokenness and bless us to be repairers of the breach.”

Earlier this year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis in America, noting that more than half (54%) of U.S. adults or their family members have experienced a firearm-related incident in their lives.

And, as pointed out by recent OPW Summer Fellow Olivia Phelps, firearm-related injury is the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents.

Hawkins said young people have inherited a culture of gun violence that includes living under the specter of school shootings.

Last  year, there were more than 2,300 victims of firearm-related violent crime in Charlotte as of early June, according to local police.

To change society, it’s time “to love one another,” he said, and to recognize “that we are truly the children of God.”

Though the vigil had a local focus, Hawkins also asked attendees to remember people experiencing war overseas, including those in Gaza and Sudan, noting, “only through our sorrow will we have the power (and) the energy to move and act and to speak” to bring about peace.

Recalling the words of previous speakers at the conference, Larson reminded attendees to have courage as they return to their communities and to never let anyone despise them because of their youth since their voices are needed and there is work to be done.

Until swords are turned into plowshares, “give them Jesus,” he said. “Let him abide in you and take care of one another on that work, for it is good when siblings can gather, even with broken hearts and hopeful hearts in unity.”

The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations are among the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Let us join in prayer for:

• César Carhuachîn, Mission co-worker serving in Colombia, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency
• Olanda Carr, Senior Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

O God of love greater than we can imagine, teach us how to love all your children as you have loved us, especially those who suffer unnecessarily. Give us boldness to argue and plead for your reign, especially in your house. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Faith of the heart

Hope for ‘перемога’ inside a blue and yellow heart

Olya Balaban displays some of the artwork contributed by children
cared for at This Child Here in Ukraine. (Photo by Jim Nedelka)

In the sanctuary of Avenue Church NYC, Olya Balaban is unpacking small sandwich bags containing adjustable blue and yellow wristbands — friendship bracelets in another vernacular — each adorned with a unique metal decoration. They are mementos brought from the Center for Creative Activities and Center for Sports in Izmail, Ukraine, supplementing a presentation by Balaban’s colleague, the Rev. Dr. Robert Gamble. His validated ministry, This Child Here, was initially founded to work with, and care for, many of Ukraine’s children abandoned to “the streets” in the wake of the severe economic turmoil of 2008–09; the Center, as it is more commonly known, is one outgrowth of his efforts.

All went well for most of Gamble’s first dozen years in country. Then, on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine, widening his open hostilities begun following Ukraine’s 2014 revolution and the early stages of war; Gamble would later say during his afternoon presentation, “When war comes, you pivot.”

Seven days a week, This Child Here finds itself challenged to meet the needs of the expanded definition of “children of God.” The Center provides a safe space for families:

A girl named Diana created this piece bearing the message “hope for
victory.” (Photo by Jim Nedelka)

Grandmothers, aunts, sisters and mothers holding down the home front — many displaced by the war — caring for their young children and, sometimes, also those orphaned by the fighting.

Teens and young adults, many of whom once toughed it out on the streets as children now being called up to tough it out fighting for their country, if they didn’t “go over the hill,” as the saying goes, abandoning their homeland and families.

Those of all ages with special needs because “every person matters.”

Six of those seven days are devoted to programs designed for children; on the seventh day, instead of resting, the Center devotes its primary focus to programs and discussions, offering a shoulder to lean on to the women of the area.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Gamble speaks at Avenue Church NYC in
Manhattan. (Photo by Jim Nedelka)

Life in Izmail, located in Ukraine’s western region, is relatively “quiet,” yet the battle action raging in the country’s eastern regions directly bordering Russia is omnipresent. Seven nights a week, the Center’s cellar becomes a bomb shelter-dormitory, protection against the roar of drones loudly rocketing overhead being met by the “ack-ack” of the AK-47s returning fire from the defense installations. “Comfortable” sleep is difficult.

Far away from the storm of war on this Wednesday afternoon in New York’s avenue church, one with a long history of outreach to those in need beginning from its founding in 1877 as a congregation for Czech immigrants, Balaban opens a large, thin cardboard box revealing “hope” displayed in a triptych of snapshots from life in and around Izmail and the Center, all framed by children’s drawings. Among the masterpieces in crayon, the viewer’s eye is drawn to one along the bottom left. Its colors are not quite as vivid and strong as the others, but this drawing by eight-year old Diana still provides a strong pull for the viewer: under a yellow sun in a bird-filled sky sits a small brown and tan house with a red heart on its roof. A small dog stands in the side yard facing three red flowering plants spread out along a pathway leading to a blue and yellow heart, the color scheme in the manner of Ukraine’s flag.

Inside the heart’s yellow portion, Diana has emblazoned the word “перемог;” Balaban translates as she points to the Cyrillic: “Peremoha – Per-eh – MO-ha,” she helpfully pronounces. “Victory. Hope for victory.”

Gamble, an eloquent storyteller, describes the catharsis of people helping people, often strangers comforting the grief of other strangers.

Unlike other efforts by unnamed organizations that seem to parachute into Ukraine with supplies and goods then depart, Gamble vows that This Child Here will remain in country, continuing their years of efforts to build communities. Balaban, who was born in Russia when it was spelled “CCCP,” echoes the sentiment. “I see hope with the generation that has grown up with 30 years of Ukraine freedom.”

Jim Nedelka, Special to Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

James Carey, Director of Investments & Portfolio Management Services, Presbyterian Foundation

Tim Cargal, Director of Mid-Council Ministries, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray:

Sovereign Lord, empower us as we pursue your truth in your Word, and fill us with your transformative Spirit, that we might work to overcome discord, injustice and division through our peace, justice and reconciliation. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Dallas pastor challenges Stewardship Kaleidoscope audience to consider the relationship between desperation and generosity

The Rev. Amos Disasa of First Presbyterian Church speaks on the healing justice of generosity

The Rev. Amos Disasa, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in
Dallas, speaks at Stewardship Kaleidoscope. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

Desperation can be a faithful fundraising strategy, said the Rev. Amos Disasa, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Dallas.

He spoke on the healing justice of generosity in a plenary gathering at Stewardship Kaleidoscope in Portland, Oregon. The annual conference was presented by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Disasa offered two stories, the first from an encounter on his way home from church on a hot August day. A man standing in front of a minivan on an exit ramp shoulder waved him down.

Disasa stopped to help. He admitted the question “What will I think of myself if I don’t stop?” was in the back of his mind.

The man was well dressed, right down to his Gucci belt, Disasa said. He said he ran out of gas on the way to visit his brother in Denver and asked for money “to get to the next gas station.”

Disasa offered to take him to get gasoline and bring him back. The man, saying his wife and children were in the minivan, just wanted cash.

Disasa decided to give the man $25, but there was no way to discreetly separate a $5 and a $20 from the $69 in his money clip.

“Five would have been enough to solve the problem he identified, but I added 20 to relieve my sense of shame” at not giving the man all he had, Disasa said.

He thought that would be the end of the interaction. It wasn’t.

The man handed back the money, took off the gold ring he was wearing and demanded Disasa hold it. He then took one step back, got on his knees and said, “Sir, I beg you, please — give me all of it. Now.”

The man was desperate and irrational, begging on his knees on an exit ramp in the heat, Disasa said. “His desperation was a demand for justice. He refused to shield me from my shame.”

A few weeks later Disasa saw the man in a different place on another Sunday, again waving cars down.

The discovery did not alleviate Disasa’s guilt. “He was acting the part of real people that subsist on the scraps from our feasts of decadent consumerism, ecological degradation and unfettered capitalism. His story was fictional but revealed something true for me: Injustice always exists in the absence of generosity.”

Disasa turned to a story of another desperate man: the royal official imploring Jesus to heal his dying son in John 4:43–51.

The man was from Capernaum, where Jesus had been rejected. The royal official had left home and walked two days to Cana to beg this prophet he’d heard about to walk the two days back with him and save his son. “Sir, come down before my little boy dies,” he said.

“Have you been there?” Disasa asked. “There is nothing you can reasonably do to make someone well, so you start pondering the most irrational, far-fetched and mildly irresponsible courses of action.”

Jesus chose to heal the boy from a distance and assures the royal official his son will live. Had he made the two-day trip to Capernaum only to find the boy had died, “he would have been just in his trying. Instead, he chose to be generous in his healing,” Disasa said. In doing so, Jesus gave the royal official immediate relief from the pain, grief and helplessness he carried.

“Generosity is how you tell healing justice from justice that makes you wait,” he said. “Healing justice is different in the time it returns to the people who have acted out of faithful irrationality to demand that people in positions to heal actually do it.”

Disasa asked the audience: “What are you so desperate for, what healing are you longing for, what hope do you cling to that you would get on your knees and beg someone, ‘Give me all of it. Please. Now.’

“If it is the survival of your institution, please go and find something else to despair and be desperate about.”

A long pause followed.

“All right. I’m going to stop talking,” Disasa said quietly before leaving the lectern.

Nancy Crowe for the Presbyterian Foundation, Special to Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

• Jerry Cannon, Vice President, Ministry Innovation, Board of Pensions
• José Manuel Capella-Pratts & Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, Regional Liaisons for Caribbean, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Gracious Lord, open our eyes and hearts to see your mission in the world, and give us discernment and courage to participate in ways that bring glory to your name. Amen.

Register TODAY and SAVE for the 2025 National Gathering!

The 2025 Fellowship Community National Gathering Do you have continuing ed or professional expense funds remaining for 2024? If so, NOW is the time to register for TFC's 2025 National Gathering in Lakeland, FL. As a bonus, you will SAVE with the early bird discount! We are busy planning an exciting event featuring keynote speakers Jim Davis & Michael Graham and Kaitlyn Wood (and more!). Register today and commit to being present in March and making meaningful ministry connections with colleagues and friends from around the country. Whoosh, what a year! Elections, divisiveness, hurricanes, floods, the PCUSA GA on top of all the usual stresses and strains...it can be draining for anyone, maybe especially for leaders in Jesus' church. And unless our hearts stay connected to Christ, we have little to offer our churches during such times. In 2025 The Fellowship Community will gather at First Pres, Lakeland Florida on March 25-27 around the theme "Hearts on Fire: Rekindling Our Life in Christ." Come to the National Gathering to worship, pray, dream, share friendship, and be renewed in ways that will fill up your reservoir and send you out to serve with renewed passion. For pastors, elders, church staff and anyone else you invite! More speakers will be announced soon! First Presbyterian Church, Lakeland, FL Tuesday, March 25 - Thursday, March 27, 2025 with an optional pre-gathering for pastors starting on Monday, March 24 Register Early bird registration: $275 by February 15 Special rates available for spouses ($100), seminary students ($100), and small church leaders (no cost for leaders of churches with 100 members or less). Click below for details or email us with specific questions. More details Email us

Fellowship Community | 600 E. State St. | Sharon, PA 16146 US

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Merry Christmas from CCA

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