Rio Grande Bible Institute

During Summer 2009, I met the wonderful faculty and staff of the Rio Grande Bible Institute. They used our church facility to meet for their staff retreat. There was an instant connection, like they were members of my family. And my heart was blessed to observe their joy in action. They had a clear sense of purpose and a fired up passion for outreach and ministry to the Spanish-speaking world.

Recently, Russ received a call from Robert Crane, Director of Ministerial Advancement at the institute. He invited us to go to Edinburg, TX to visit the campus. Thursday we made the 50-minute trip. Yes--that close to home!

First we dined at the famous Echo hotel with Bob, along with the president of the institute, Dr. Larry Windle, his wife, and about 20 guests and staff from Bibleville. The hotel was like stepping back into the high society of yesteryear. And great food!

Bibleville is a Christian retirement center with some all-year-round residents as well as hosting hundreds of Winter Texans and locals at Bible conferences, music concerts, trips to Mexico and ministry opportunities. They have about 100 RV hook-ups and over 100 mobile homes available.

After lunch, we drove to the campus and had a lovely tour. The weather was 84 degrees (yes, in January!), and the landscaping was colorful, so it made for a good day. Felt like I was playing hooky or something.

The Bible Institute is a place where Spanish-speaking students can attend courses for training in Bible, theology and Christian education. The goal is to equip workers for the ministry.

The campus also houses a Missionary Language School, where missionaries preparing for the field can come to learn Spanish in a 10-month intensive study. They are often paired with a national from the region of Latin America where they will be ministering, to assure they learn the dialect and slang phrases of their region.

There is also a correspondence school and video ministry for distance learning. And Radio Esperanza reaches thousands of Spanish-speaking listeners in South TX, Mexico and beyond. They often receive 5,000 calls per month in response to radio programming, with requests for prayers and counseling.

The staff and faculty of the institute come from all over to serve the Lord here, and they are financially supported through churches and individuals. This is a true mission work.

Besides Bibleville, there is also a Winter Worker Program for retired friends who travel South to avoid cold weather. They agree to work a certain number of hours per week (I think it is 28 hours), in exchange for a free RV hook-up. But they get so much more. The fellowship alone is reward enough.

We saw retirees painting desks, doing maintenance, working on landscaping, and quilting blankets to take in to Mexico. It was clear this institute could not function without volunteerism and mission support.

I enjoyed the tour, and now have a better idea how to pray for Rio Grande Bible Institute. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers as well.

You can learn more about it here:
http://www.riogrande.edu/2006web/english/about.htm

I Spy!

This past week I've had opportunity to observe people and demographics (statistics about people). What I want to report, is "I spy with my little eye..."

And it is BIGGER than a breadbox!

We traveled to Dallas this week to the Baptist General Conference of Texas orientation. There we could have sung the children's song, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." Not really children, but adults of all the colors of the rainbow met to discuss the resources available to us by the BGCT. Russ and I were encouraged by the diversity and refreshed by the mind-share that happened when we all sat down to share stories and ideas.

We spied another people group...this time at the airport. We traveled one of the busiest times of the year in Rio Grande Valley (near South Padre if that tells you anything). Yes. Spring Break. Every flight was full. In fact, overbooked by 10 passengers each flight. That plus Southwest Airlines being grounded on Wednesday due to flying airplanes that were not cleared to fly (some sort of noncompliance issue that was being addressed). Well, you can imagine, this created the perfect environment for unhappy people! Add to that the already drunk college guys who used colorful language and had very few goals other than satisfying their more baser desires. Helped us realize just how many are out there who are willing to sacrifice any sense of life purpose to fulfill instant gratification.

And finally, I want to leave you with those demographics. The BGCT gave us the stats for a 5-mile radius of our church. This gives us so much to pray about and to figure out ways to help our community.

In 2007:
Population: 13,274
Anglo: 7.8%
Hispanic: 88.5% (97% in the schools)
African American: 3%
Asian/Pacific Islander: .1%
Median Age: 30.3
Of adults 25+ years, 49.9% with no high school diploma, 24$% are high school graduates, 16.6% have some college, and only 9% have a college degree or higher.

Households by Income Level:
Less than $15,000, 32.4%
$15,000 to $24,999, 17%
$25,000 to $34,999, 13.1%
$35,000 to $49,999, 14.7%
$50,000 to $74,999, 12.8%
$75,000 to $99,999, 5.5%
$100,00 to $149,999, 3.2%
$150,00 and up, 1.3%

Keep in mind, those incomes are by household, not individuals. And some households are holding down 3 to 4 jobs (between husband and wife, and either an adult child or a parent living in the same house).

I spy a people who have a love for family and a strong work ethic. They are loyal and enjoy life. But there is a large section of the population who is looking for something MORE. And a lot of children and teens who are bored and scared. They align with a gang early for protection and affiliation.

We have our work cut out for us, and we're grateful for the resources available through the BGCT.

This summer we hope to offer 3 different children's weeks at the church: Vacation Bible School, Soccer Camp, and Music/Band Camp. We are looking into offering some sort of after-school tutoring program, and computer lab, as well as getting a computer program that helps equip those who want to test for their GED. We have something like nine active teachers in our church, and about five retired teachers.

One word? HOPE!