Matamoros, Tamaulipas

Iglesia Centro Cristiano Las Palmas (Las Palmas) was started in 1993 with 8 families. With God's help, the church has grown to over 300 in active participation. A solid core of leaders is now in place, with Juan Roque currently serving as the local pastor. In the city of Matamoros, with a population around 1 million, the church has numerous targeted evangelistic projects underway. At kilometer 12 on the road to Playa Bagdad in Ejido Longoreno, a weekly ministry is held to build up a body ready to join forces when the Las Palmas church re-locates to the new land at kilometer 13. At last count, there were over 100 attending the worship and studies. A jail ministry serves those incarcerated and the families of the prisoners. On occasion, a medical ministry is allowed to work inside the prison.

The new land development continues to see new improvements. Dormitories, classrooms, a pastor's house are now dotting the landscape. Ground has been broken for the new church building, electric lines have been put up, and the funds have been raised for a paved road leading back to the new construction. We are waiting on the Mexican government to issue the approved plat, so that construction can begin on the new road. We deeply appreciate the significant labor and contribution to the project that has been made by First Baptist of Lake Jackson, Brazospointe Fellowship of Lake Jackson, and the Smyser Christian Church of Illinois. The pool of talent that God has sent in these groups has been a tremendous blessing in moving the work forward.

Las Palmas is a self-supporting church-planting church. To date, Las Palmas in partnership with Bread of Life Frontier Missions (BLFM) has been directly involved in planting churches in:

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon: Under the leadership of Pastor Leo, this new work is ministering has approximately 30 in membership;

Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas: Formerly led by Pastor Leo, who left this work to start a church plant in Monterrey, this work currently has over 100 in membership and is fully self-supporting.

San Felipe, Hidalgo: One of the first church plants in Aztec country, the work has struggled in recent years. One of its successes is the birth of a church plant in the nearby village of Taxico. Pastor Ladislao is transitioning out of this work and Pastor Juan will be coordinating a leadership team to assist with the teaching and worship ministry there. A work group is planned in early 2006 to seal the roof of the church building. There is much opportunity here and we look forward to this work growing significantly over the next 12 months. Please pray for wisdom during this transition time.

Taxicho, Hidalgo: This is exciting to witness-the birth of a thriving church plant from a church plant. Under the leadership of Pastor Santiago, the church continues to develop. The church now has over 50 in active membership, has hosted a medical/evangelistic outreach to the village and continues to thrive.

Oxtomal, Hidalgo : The Jesus film was shown in this village on an outreach. The few that were interested were chased out with machetes of the village by the locals. One of the chased is Pastor Fernando. With the help of the ministry, a new plot of ground was purchased and this past summer a group from First Baptist Lake Jackson sponsored and help build the second story on to the existing church building and a pastor's house. Because the pastor, Fernando, is a furniture builder, the church is self-supporting. We were recently able to purchase a band saw that has greatly increased his productivity. The church has grown to over 80 and is ministering to several nearby villages. At the medical outreach that was held this summer, Gary Chamblee remarked how awesome it was to see the ones who had been a part in chasing out these villagers, now being served by the one they had chased out.

In addition to direct church planting, the Las Palmas church and BLFM are currently working closely with the following existing villages:

Tenango, San Luis Potosi : This is a bright star shining in a dark place. Agripina, a godly woman, has been actively praying for this mountain for years. Her son, Nicolas, is a godly pastor in the only church in the village. Dormitories have been built to house missionaries and this summer the walls of the existing church building were expanded to accommodate the growth. There are over 100 who actively participate here, and they are very active in reaching out to the neighboring unchurched villages. This past summer, a group of dedicated folks from Lake Jackson, Texas spent a week in the dorms helping with the construction expansion and evangelistic outreach.

Citlala, San Luis Potosi: Just up the road from Tenango, this thriving church now has over 60 in attendance. Pastor Ismael is a village leader with a tremendous heart for God and serves as the local pastor. Several medical and evangelistic outreaches have been held here to help bolster the work.

Tenexco, San Luis Potosi: Under the direction of Pastor Tomas, this work is growing. Last fall, we held a medical, evangelistic, construction outreach. Tomas is a lumber cutter by trade and serves as the local pastor. The church is doing well with a small membership of just under 50.

Approximately once a month, BLFM sponsors Juan Roque to "circuit ride" to these works to help with teaching materials, pastor training and support. From there, new doors open up to reach out to the approximately 2,200 unchurched villages in the 3-state region known as La Huasteca.

We solicit your prayers for the following unchurched villages where inroads are being made and "underground churches" are meeting:

Totonicapa, Hidalgo: BLFM has sponsored a fish hatchery. The Jesus film has been shown. Small medical teams have gone in on several occasions to help build relationship. To date, there still exists resistance to a formal church plant. Please pray for the believers (about 10) that are meeting underground at this time.

Chichatla, Hidalgo: This work is in a neighboring village to Totonicapa. BLFM has sponsored a large medical clinic where an evangelistic film was shown. Tensions were high. The local leadership is fearful. We had one children's minister traveling in and out of this village, but she has returned after much opposition and threat. There has been some positive reception and one villager has offered a plot of land to build a church on. At this time it is still a difficult call. Please pray for the believers here that their faith would be sustained and their dreams of an open church presence would become reality. There is a great spirit of fear and idolatry making a stronghold over this village.

Hueyapa, Hidalgo: There is a strong leader over this village who violently opposes any outside "evangelical" to come into this area. Villagers have suffered persecution for associating with the outsiders. There are several believers here who are meeting underground. BLFM has sponsored the building of a home for one of the poorest villagers-the accusation was that the construction was done without permit. We had made arrangements to have a medical outreach in this village, but had to move to nearby Citlala, under threat of violence. Many of the villagers came and were very upset with their own leadership for not allowing the medical clinic to come to them. Please pray for this village, for open doors and for wisdom in moving forward.

Chalcocatipa, Hidalgo: As I am writing this today, a medical missionary is serving the local village in a small scale medical outreach to try and build relationships with the village. This is a repeat trip. There is a house church meeting here. Juan has been welcomed to come and teach. Please pray that God would give the increase here.

Cerro Alto, Hidalgo: Juan has been invited to come into this village and relationships are being built. A group from Las Palmas is planning to distribute bibles and gifts as part of an outreach to new church plants in early January. There are no known believers in this village, but some are expressing interest. Please pray that God would raise up believers who would be instrumental in beginning a house church there.

We are constantly re-evaluating the way God is opening doors and how we should respond to these opportunities. Please pray that we would have wisdom in proceeding.

Thank you for your partnership in this ministry. It takes the goers, the senders, the prayer warriors and the whole body coming together to work for His Glory. May God give us the harvest.

Dios les bendigan,

David Nuckols, BLFM Coordinator