By Elket Rodríguez Despite COVID-19’s grinding misery, pastors who form the backbone of Fellowship Southwest’s ministry to immigrants are adapting to an ever-changing refugee flow and escalating needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Lorenzo Ortiz comforts immigrants torn apart by trauma and despair in Nuevo Laredo, just across the Rio Grande from … Continue reading
By Elket Rodríguez A “call from heaven” enabled Pastor Eleuterio González to help a desperately sick child in Matamoros, Mexico. Supported by Fellowship Southwest, González and his church, Iglesia Valle de Beraca, feed and protect more than 1,600 immigrants living in the Alberca Chavez shelter, across the U.S.-Mexico border from Brownsville, Texas. They also minister … Continue reading
By Marv Knox On the tails of Hurricane Hanna’s punishing winds, the gentle breeze of God’s Spirit breathed new life into a Rio Grande Valley family. Thanks in part to financial support from Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Disaster Response, CBF Texas has started helping two families rebuild their homes in colonias—poor unincorporated villages—near the U.S.-Mexico border, … Continue reading
By Marv Knox When the COVID-19 pandemic forced many nonprofits in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley to shut down, Hearts4Kids rallied volunteers to take up the slack. And thanks to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship donors, the CBF Coronavirus Emergency Relief Fund fueled the effort for almost a month. “H4K’s mission is to stay committed and focused to … Continue reading
By Marv Knox Through its extensive network of churches, missionaries and nonprofit partners, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship serves thousands of immigrants who live in the United States. They are not government statistics; we know them personally. They are our friends and neighbors—in colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border, Eastern Seaboard cities, and neighborhoods in-between. Because we … Continue reading
By Jennifer Colosimo A story’s most profound message most often comes from the people who lived it. So, in the case of the first Relay of Kindness, hearing it called “a story of collaboration,” transfers the focus of the story from numbers to people, from statistics to hearts and hands. Those words come from Mark … Continue reading
By Marv Knox A perfect storm of calamity—the immigration crisis, COVID-19 and a hurricane—has buffeted Fellowship Southwest’s immigrant relief ministry in Matamoros, Mexico. The needs are dire; the response is sacrificial. Since 2018, Fellowship Southwest has supported feeding projects on the Gateway International Bridge between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, as well as in the sprawling … Continue reading
By Elket Rodríguez Hurricane Hanna left a trail of devastation as it tore through Texas’ Rio Grande Valley near the Gulf of Mexico July 25. Hanna dumped more than 15 inches of rain on the region, severely flooding rural areas and colonias. Hanna’s impetuous winds also wreaked havoc, overturning trailer homes and ripping roofs off … Continue reading
By Elket Rodríguez COVID-19 not only tests the limits of medical care, economic endurance and society’s willpower, but also congregations’ ability to meet burgeoning needs all around them. Three pastors from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley experience the pandemic’s stress on their churches and communities every day. Ivan De León of Iglesia Vino Nuevo—New Wine Church—in … Continue reading
By Elket Rodríguez The pastors on the front lines of Fellowship Southwest’s Immigrant Relief Ministry do not labor alone. Their strongest allies—their spouses—support, encourage and fortify them as they fight hunger, deprivation, exploitation, injustice and vulnerability all along the U.S.-Mexico border. These women’s tenacity, commitment and passion is unparalleled. They willingly sacrifice most of their … Continue reading
