June Missions Update
- Borderlands Family Baptist Church
- Jun 3
- 11 min read
Hey everyone!
The last month has been jam packed and there have been many, many changes as we have been settling in to our long term rental, that will be our home until at least the beginning of June 2027. It's amazing how God has worked to place us in a great situation here on the East side of El Paso, only 5 minutes away from the church we are serving in as we prepare to plant. Of course, since we moved in on May 1 (and Zsel and Dani moved out at the same time) that means that the first several days of May were incredibly busy, as they helped us move in and then I drove with them to Dallas on May 4 and helped them get settled in to their new apartment.
However, I have to mention that on Sunday of that weekend (May 3), Ivy bought tickets for her to take her little sister to the BTS concert at the Sun Bowl (the UTEP football stadium).What I learned (since I'm not young and hip anymore, haha) is that BTS is a world famous Korean pop group and they are currently on a world tour. They only had five stops in all of North America, so people from all over the western half of the country (and Central America, too) flocked to El Paso to cheer for these young men like they are Elvis circa 1957. In short, this was a MASSIVE deal.
Then on the first Monday of the month, I got up at 2:30 to drive 11 ½ hours across the state (Texas is massive) to Dallas. There, I helped Zsel and Dani unload the U-Haul before they dropped me off at the Greyhound station for my ride back to El Paso. It ended up being just as cheap to get a Greyhound ticket as it would have been to rent a car and drive back, so I rode the bus and slept most as much as I could, and I got home at about 6 AM on Tuesday the fifth.
We spent our first full week in Las Tierras (our neighborhood) just resting and trying to settle in and figure out how to best set up the rooms to maximize space. About Thursday of that week, we finally just pivoted to "rest and recuperation" mode, which was desperately needed. None of us really understood just how unsettled we were at the AirBnB until we were in our official long term residence. Of course, that Sunday was Mother's Day, so after church, we left it up to Patricia what we were going to do for the rest of the day. Initially, she had said something about going out to eat, but instead she chose for us to just stay home and rest, so instead of going out to eat, we ordered Applebee's delivery, haha.
I knew I would be preaching soon, so I spent the week following Mother's Day in preparation to preach on the 24th. I'm really glad that I did, because on Saturday night (May 16th), Pastor Diego called me and said, "Pastor Josh, I really don't think I can miss preaching two weeks in a row, if your sermon is ready, do you think you could preach tomorrow instead?" So I preached on May 17th, and the message was on John 3:1-18, that famous passage that begins with the necessity of the new birth and culminates in the great promise that "whosoever believes in the only begotten Son of God" would "not perish but have life everlasting." As always, you can view a replay of that sermon on my YouTube channel, youtube.com/@joshdavispreaching, it's titled "Painted Fire & Living Flame: From Canvas to Christ." As always, you can always view our weekly (as much as possible) Vlogs on my channel as well.
That week was also my first opportunity to go to a men's fellowship on Friday nights where I was able to sit, enjoy a meal, and discuss scripture with about 15 other men. It was really refreshing just to fellowship with those other men and to hear how God is working in their lives.
Of course, we have continued Christine's homeschooling, and earlier in the week (before going to Mexico), Patricia and I took Christine and Nathaniel on a "field trip" to the El Paso Museum of Art. It was really interesting to see the cultural art works in the museum and then to enjoy a picnic lunch under "the Star Ceiling," a 120' long overhead LED array that looks like stars moving in the night sky. Under the ceiling are seats where we could have reclined to watch the light show. We also walked from there to the "Friendly Meeting" statue of General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing meeting the notoriously vicious north-Mexican warlord, Pancho Villa.
The statue commemorates the peaceful handshake between one of the highest ranking members of the US Armed Forces and the Mexican revolutionary leaders Álvaro Obregón and Villa. General Pershing is one of only three men to hold the somewhat mythical rank of "General of the Armies," (considered the equivalent of a "6-star general). The other two to hold that rank are General (later President) George Washington and General (later President) Ulysses Grant, but Pershing was the only one to ever hold the rank while he was still alive (Washington and Grant were both posthumously promoted in 1976 and 2024 respectively).
At the time of "the Friendly Meeting," Pershing was the base commander of Fort Bliss as the leader of the 8th Brigade, and two years later he would lead the "Punitive Expedition" into Mexico to capture Villa after Villa invaded southern New Mexico, directly targeting civilians in ways similar to how he had while still an outlaw prior to the Mexican revolution in 1910.
Villa's violent attack on Columbus, NM is still recognized as the last coordinated hostile ground assault of the U.S. mainland (while Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 and invaded the Aleutian Islands of Alaska in 1942, neither Hawaii nor Alaska were US states at the time, and neither is contiguously connected to the "continental" US, even today). Of course, Pershing later led the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in World War 1 as a "full general," the first one since the 1880s, and was finally promoted to "6 Star" general after the war ended. A major reason that Pershing was granted command of the AEF was due to his experience hunting Pancho Villa in "Las Sierras de Chihuahua" in Northern Mexico.
This, of course, means that the "Friendly Meeting" statue records an incredibly unique—and incredibly important—moment in American history that is often overlooked.
From there, we explored a bit more of downtown, as we visited Pioneer Plaza and the monument to Fray Garcia de San Francisco, the Franciscan Friar credited with founding "El Paso del Norte" (which later split and became the twin cities of El Paso, TX, USA and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, MX) and finally San Jacinto Plaza, which was once home to several live alligators and is today home to a massive sculpture of four alligators that commemorate the alligators of the past. This reptillian history is why San Jacinto is still called "La Plaza de los Lagartos" or "Alligator Plaza" by locals.
Of course, you can view the photos from Christine's field trip and more in months photo dump in the private YouTube video below.
The rest of that week was a flurry of activity and preparation as we prepared for a jaunt across the border into Ciudad Juarez. This included preparation meetings, buying supplies, and a flurry of activity as we prepared to minister to people on the streets. Patricia, Heather, and I were a part of the team that went to the hospital to hand out free burritos, sandwiches, popsicles, and bottled water to families that waited anxiously on the sidewalks outside the hospital.
You see, unlike the US, the processes for hospital stays in Mexico result in severe over-crowding, sometimes with as many as four patients to a room. This means that even in the cases of severe illness or patients who might be on the verge of death, most of their loved ones can not get in to be with them as they pass away, or in many cases even to say goodbye at all. So, surrounding the hospital is a 15 foot tall fence comprised of 6 inch thick steel poles, and the only way in is for the security guard to open a small gate. Naturally, concerned loved ones still want to be as close as possible to hear any news as quickly as possible, so crowds of concerned loved ones gather outside the fence, anxiously waiting for any news. It was to these crowds that Patricia, Heather, and I were blessed to serve on Saturday the 23rd, and we were able to witness as the Spanish speaking members of our party were able to proclaim the gospel to people who desperately needed hope.
Meanwhile, we were walking on the sidewalks and giving away what amounted to "covert gospel tracts." Obviously, soccer is much more popular here than it is back in Virginia, and the FIFA World Cup is taking place in North America, with most matches taking place across the United States. The World Cup is more akin to the NFL playoffs than anything, so we were giving away "Horarios de la Copa del Mundo" for soccer fans who want to want to follow every match. Inside the "world cup schedules" that we passed out, there were scriptures and a Gospel presentation, along with information to "Iglesia de Bautista Eben-ezer" (Ebenezer Baptist Church) in Juarez, which Iglesia Jezreel has partnered with.
As we handed out the schedules, we proclaimed in broken Spanish, "¡Burritos y sándwiches gratis, allá!" ("free burritos and sandwiches over there!") and pointed to the back of the van where the Spanish speakers could pray for the hurting and proclaim the gospel to the lost. It was truly beautiful to be a part of, and we were blessed to see two women come to faith outside that hospital.
That trip across the border opened really opened our eyes to the sheer magnitude of human suffering and need in Juarez, as some members of the other team (that went door to door) were cat-called by cartel members and sadly witnessed a dead body lying in the Rio Grande as they crossed back into the United States. The weight of the needs in Juarez reminded us all why we are here—why we packed up and drove 1800 miles to serve in the desert.
However, it also demonstrated to us just how lacking our Spanish language studies have been. While Duolingo has been great for vocabulary and light daily practice, we have learned that it is wholly insufficient for actually learning conversational Spanish to the level we need to know it in order to proclaim the gospel here. For that reason, Patricia and I have hired us each tutors to work on learning Spanish, and my personal goal is to be able to communicate and preach in Juarez without the need of a translator within the next two years, something my tutor thinks is a real possibility—albeit a steep hill to climb to reach it.
We rounded out the month meeting with Pastor Daniel (of Jezreel, and my main point of contact with the North American Mission Board) and his wife Margarita ("Margie") for dinner, where we mapped out the next steps of our church planting journey, as well as him giving me advice on how to find a second elder so I won't be the only pastor of Borderlands for too long. The Moreno's are truly a blessing to us.
In that vein, I have connected with a gentleman who shares my same theological and philosophical convictions, and who also has a heart for Hispanic people. Completely separate from us, he has been studying Spanish with similar goals to ours for a while now, and we are discussing the possibility of him relocating to El Paso to join us in this work. So, when you pray for us, please pray specifically for him and his family (his initials are "JH") as we seek to know if it is God's plan for him to join us.
Finally, to really finish the month out, I went with about 30 men from Iglesia Jezreel on a three-day, two-night camping trip in the mountains of New Mexico (specifically in Cloudcroft) for the "Act Like Men" retreat. Along with several other brothers, I was blessed to kick off the teaching as I lead the first breakout sessions on the topic of "A Godly Man Works." It was truly a blessing because while I was preparing the study, I felt a compulsion to address each of the sins around Godly labor, most notably the misconception that work is a curse, that provision for a family is only financial, and the sins of failing to provide for relatives, laziness, AND overwork.
During the second, third, fourth, and fifth sessions, it became apparent to me that the compulsion I felt during prep must have been the Holy Spirit, because in each of those following sessions, the same themes were repeated several times—namely, the man's role in the family, what it means to provide for our families, and recapturing a biblical view of manhood.
I don't know about the rest of the men there, but I know that I was challenged and greatly blessed by that retreat and I got more than a few laughs at the nickname I received, "Coyote Blanco" (or "white coyote") because I was one of only two white men in that group of over 30, and I also drove a 15 passenger van full of hispanic men into New Mexico, including through the Customs and Border Patrol checkpoint just south of Alamogordo, NM on US Route 54.
For those who may not know, "Coyote" is the nickname given to members of the Mexican Cartels who help smuggle illegal aliens into the US, so "Coyote Blanco" was a joke about me "smuggling" Hispanic men into the mountains of New Mexico (and before you wonder, no: no laws were broken and there were no illegal immigrants on the trip...CBP did their job well, haha).
To finish this update, I want to let you know four of our immediate prayer concerns: first, as always please pray for the people of both El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and especially Horizon City. Pray that the people in these communities will have hearts that are tender to the gospel, that they would respond to the gospel call, and that we would be faithful to proclaim the gospel to them whenever we get the opportunity.
Next, please join us in praying for the man God is calling to be the second elder of the church plant. Please pray for JH and his family as they seek the Lord's will as they decide if he is the man God is calling to join us in this work or not. Pray that they will be blessed regardless of where they re-enter ministry—whether in El Paso with us or in a separate work elsewhere, as their next work is similar to ours even if it is not with us. Pray for us as I continue searching for the man God has in store to join me as an elder of the church plant—whether it is JH, someone else, or both JH and someone else.
Finally, please pray for us as we prepare to launch in home worship at our home next Sunday. If Borderlands Family Baptist Church was conceived in Moneta, VA, then these in-home worship services will mark the beginning of "the second trimester." Please pray that God will use our in-home worship services to his glory as we continue on the road to a public launch later this year or next spring. Of course, there will be more details about our in-home worship in next month's update.
If you aren't currently supporting us via Zeffy, I would also ask that you prayerfully consider supporting us with a tax exempt $20 donation each month. The funds from our supporters went directly toward doing ministry work in Juarez, and they will continue to do so, as well as helping us get Borderlands Family Baptist launched in the coming months
As always, blessings to you all. We love and appreciate each of you!
Josh Davis
Lead Planter, Founding Elder
Borderlands FBC
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