CAC Fields of Focus

Mexico


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About 6 hours south of the border, in Baja, Mexico is the small community of San Quintin. Over the years this place has become home to a ministry interested in working with God as He works big things in the lives of those living here. One Life One Chance exists to support local indigenous ministries, to encourage the Church and to bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to people and their communities.  


Pastoring a church in this area is challenging. Most of these pastors shepherd small congregations, working other jobs to support the ministry and their families. Few have formal theological training and lack denominational support or accountability. OLOC has dreamed to be able to provide biblical and leadership training for these pastors.


Enter CAC. We are working together to develop a program to address this need. Our ‘pilot’ event was held over a weekend in September 2019 and was well received. Hopefully this will be a great launch toward a series of conferences and regular events that will equip and minister to the pastors and renew their calling to ministry. We want to be able to provide these events at no cost to the pastors, so we will seek to absorb the full cost, in addition to sending small teams to help serve behind the scenes to make the event happen, freeing our OLOC friends to keep ministering to these pastors.


In addition, and to have ways for many to be involved, we want to continue to help these pastors help their congregation by sending teams to build homes. Keep your eyes and ears open as we move forward in both of these initiatives!


Covid Relief Update

We are well aware we are living in a complicated time for many. Our friends in San Quintin are willing and able to help provide basic and immediate needs to the communities in this area. They are being hit hard and many are not only struggling, but severely vulnerable. One Life One Chance is putting hands and feet to the heart represented by the financial aid we have given. Here are some of our stories!


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August 11, 2020

 

We never really know the impact that had by efforts made, or finances given towards work being done for God’s Kingdom. To date, the Mexico staff of OLOC has completed 2 rounds (24 meals) of community meals with pastors and their congregations. Some of these communities were repeats, but some were new areas pastors wanted to serve. The following is a note from Rob Wall, president and founder of OLOC Ministries:

 

“Thousands have been reached and more is to come from the funds CAC has provided for in San Quintin. What is really cool? The indigenous churches we’re working with are multiplying the CAC funds into extra care, clothing and shelter (using the little they have). Lives are being changed and CAC has a real footprint in the San Quintin Valley. It’s so exciting and beyond anything these times say shouldn’t happen. Glory be to God!”

I believe a good word to use is contagious. In the grand scheme of things, the money we received for them is (not understating or devaluing the generosity in which it was given) a drop in a very large bucket. But, what is springing out of the aid we could send is incredible. I believe it helped local pastors to see that they are not alone and that there are people coming alongside them, even from far away. I am sure they would have been able to find ways to contribute aid to their communities, but what can be done together is overwhelming. I would also like to note that the area pastors have also received some care from the donation as well. With churches not meeting, they aren’t receiving tithes, often their only or main source of income. Pray for them as they seek to meet needs in the community while struggling themselves.

 

One pastor (Pastor Isais) wanted to reach out to a community not yet served by OLOC. It is considered to be the “red light district” of San Quintin; run down, riddled with violence, drugs and prostitution. The pastor and team set up and could feel the heaviness of the area but were also very aware and convinced of the need for a meal and understood the reason for that area being identified as it is. They prepared for 200 and gave away all the food. Some refused to come close, but many did, and one actually asked if they were doing this because they were Christians. It made for a great opportunity to share and brought a smile and maybe a little bit of hope to the lady who asked.

 

Pastor Isais knows lovely, God-fearing Christians who live in this community who knew many who came for a meal. They greeted them by name and made them feel completely accepted and welcome. Providing a platform to help these people minister is a gift we could give.

 

Moving forward, OLOC is now able to start building homes. The pastors in the area are uniting with the OLOC staff in Mexico and have raised money for building materials to supply families awaiting a home to have been built from the now-canceled teams. These funds “have been multiplied by the momentum CAC started with community care,” says Rob Wall. As these homes are built, the communities around them will continue to be blessed with essential needs from the CAC donation. In time I am sure we will hear more on this. This is what Kingdom partnership looks like.

Old CAC pews arrive in Mexico (April 2020)

We have had an interesting and fun journey with our pews these last few weeks! With the remediation and following congregational vote to update our seating we wondered what to do with all of the pews. Well, fast forward to April 3, 2020. . . the pews arrived at One Life One Chance, in San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico. They will find their way into many local area churches! 


The following is from our friends at OLOC:

“Unloading the container was a true challenge. The container arrived at approximately 8:00am on Friday. When the operator was removing the chains that held the container, he hit his head and we had to take him to get emergency medical care. He was ok. We were waiting there for about an hour, and by the time we got back, a smaller crane was in place and ready to lower the container. But, unfortunately, after many attempts to lower the container, we didn’t have good results. The crane was too small, because the container weighed around 18 tons and the crane could only lift 11 tons. The smaller crane was donated and lent to us by a local business. They wanted to contribute to the ministry, and we had in mind unloading some of the pews, so that it would weigh less but we would have needed a lot of people and it would have taken too much time, so we ended up needing to hire a bigger crane. 


During the unloading we had many setbacks. Despite the crane being bigger, the problem was the way that the container was being lowered - maybe the chains weren’t adequate for the job, and at one point they snapped. But after many attempts, we finally were able to lower the container from the trailer platform around 1:00pm. A lot of time had already passed but there was still more work to do to place the container where it needed to go. It was finally placed around 4:00pm and then we began to reload, what we had unloaded, so it wouldn’t stay outside. 


We thank God so much for this blessing, and we thank all the people who were involved. May God richly bless your lives and continue to touch your hearts. Thanks to you, many churches will be blessed. We are aware of all the effort and sacrifice this took.