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Area Churches
Reach Out in Love
Migrant Ministry Begins on March 1
by
Sue Kidd
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Each year in March, the churches of the Rehoboth
Baptist Association gear up to minister to the men and
women who come to Middle Georgia as migrant workers
each spring. They are legal immigrants brought here to
help harvest crops and then returned home to Mexico
when the seasonal work ends.
The Migrant Ministry began in 1983 and was started by
the late Ada Fernandez. She was appointed by the North
American Mission Board to minister to Hispanics in
Middle Georgia. She did a wonderful job and has passed
the torch to the co-directors who lead the program
today, Dalia Lopez and Roma Blair.
The Migrant Ministry is held every Thursday evening
from 6:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Templo Bautista
Hispano, located at 1306 Feagin Mill Road in Warner
Robins. It begins March 1st and ends July 26th.
Attendees learn English as a Second Language (ESL),
have a devotion, and are provided with health kits and
an opportunity to choose clothes from the donated
clothing provided by the Association churches.
The health kit is impressive: a gallon-sized zip lock
bag including soap, deodorant, shampoo (no
conditioners), disposable razors, shaving lather,
toothbrushes and toothpaste, combs, washcloths, and
band aids.
The participating churches use their church vans
and/or buses to pick up the workers and return them to
their work camps. The churches also provide
meals/refreshments each Thursday night of this
ministry.
Vans start arriving around 5:30 p.m. to be dispatched
to the assigned locations. At 6:30 p.m., the teachers
and other volunteers arrive. Then from 6:45 p.m. to
7:35 p.m., workers are offered ESL classes. From 7:40
p.m. to 8:10 p.m., there is a devotional time with
singing and a message emphasizing a personal
relationship with God through Jesus. References to
denomination or religion are avoided. An invitation is
extended to all attendees to accept this new
relationship, and many workers accept the invitation.
Attendance each year averages about 200 men and women.
At 9 p.m. the vans take the students back to the
camps.
The Migrant Ministry needs Christians from area
churches who would be willing to teaching ESL, as well
as for churches to lend their vans and drivers each
Thursday evening. To volunteer, contact Roma Blair at
922-4054.
Outreach ministry to Hispanics in Middle Georgia is
not limited to the Migrant Ministry months, however.
The Templo Bautista Hispano serves as a mission church
within the Association that ministers to the Hispanic
community year round.
Sunday School starts at 11 a.m., with the Worship
service following at 12 each Sunday. A Bible study is
held on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m., and on Tuesday
nights, the church is opened for prayer at 7 p.m.
Attendees to the Migrant Ministry are invited to the
church activities while they are here but are not
pressured to attend.
Donated items for the health kits can be dropped off
at the Rehoboth Baptist Association office located on
744 Lake Joy Road in Warner Robins. Their number is
987-0005. Clean, gently-used clothing can be dropped
off in the storage bin located behind the Templo
Bautista Hispano.
If you would like to volunteer your time to teach, or
donate clothes, or items for the health kits, please
contact Roma Blair at 922-4054, or e-mail her at romana_b_1999@yahoo.com.
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