POWER TRIP: Week Two – Day Three …… “Worship Is More Than A Song” …. It Could Be A
Community Carnival!
After a light breakfast at our hotel we set off for the border, crossing into Reynosa, Mexico; as we made our way to Alianza Christiana (The Dome Church); which is church of about 10,000. Arriving at about 8:00am our group held our morning worship and devotional in one of the many educational classrooms in this large church complex. Pastor Dave Burkett preached from 2 Kings 4:8-15, recounting the story of the woman who with her husband created a room in their home for use by the prophet Elisha, when he was visiting in their town. Pastor Dave emphasized that this woman recognized that Elisha was a man of God; and that she desired to be in his presence. She made an extra effort to be in his presence; in the same way that we should make all efforts to be in the presence of God, at all times. We can not have a relationship with God unless we spend time with him in prayer and in his word; which should result in desiring to worship him through all that we do, at all times.
Our Power Team joined another Power Team, based out of the Crossroads Church from the Dallas, Texas area, and attended the 9:00am service at Alianza Christiana. Alianza’s Senior Pastor, Mario Perez, an energetic (think Dynamo/energizer bunny!) led the singing, prayer times, made announcements,and preached the message (he did everything except the take up the offering and clean the glass on the entryway doors … The ushers were doing that as we walked in!). The service lasted nearly two hours, but seemed to just fly by; as we were caught up in the Spirit’s moving throughout the room. The combined Power Team was called up on the platform to be recognized by the congregation. The Week One Power Team had on Saturday, put on a major festival for the Reynosa community.. The appreciation of the sixteen year relationship between Power Ministry and The Dome Church, and their recognition of the work done by Power Teams over this time, was very evident in the enthusiastic response received from Pastor Perez and his congregation.
Following the service we departed for an afternoon at the Rio Bravo Children’s Home and School in Reynosa. This ministry; which has been called “The model for children’s homes across the state of Tamaulipas”, was founded in 1991, and currently provides a home for fifty-two orphans, and a school for 180 children. Power Ministry has a long relationship with the Children’s Home, having constructed many portions of the campus. Before and after lunch we joined with the Texas Power Team to set up for a festival for the children of Children’s Home, as well as families from the community.
This annual festival is provided as a way to share the love of Christ with this community. The children and families, totaling over one thousand were treated to hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, and about two dozen fun and challenging games. The games, manned by the Power guys, had a variety of prizes, ranging from little toy items, books, baseball caps, and stocking caps with sports team logos. The most sought-after of the prizes were the soccer balls!
The festival ran approximately two and a half hours and involved a lot of walking back and forth(my Fitbit hit over 14,000 steps!), bending down or squatting to pick up bean bags, frizzbees, whiffle balls and other elements of each game and handing out prizes …. “Exhausting” work in the seventy degree sunny afternoon (did I mention that the Ohio, Idaho and other cold weather guys were reluctantly enjoying the marvelous weather!) Without a doubt, the most enjoyable part of the afternoon was interacting with the children, and watching their faces when they were successful at a game, or won a prize … Especially if it was a soccer ball! It was even more enjoyable to watch the adults take part in these simple games … When a soccer ball is on the line even the Moms and Dads got competitive!
I am not sure who had the more enjoyable afternoon … The children and parent from the community, or the men of Power! While our intention was to share the love of Christ with these beautiful people …. I think our men may have received an equal blessing, not to mention a full memory card full of stories and the children’s grins and giggles! Our afternoon only continued the amazing worship we had begun at Alianza Christiana several hours earlier … praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Tomorrow, Monday, is our fourth day and will involve work projects in Reynosa, a visit to a local prison; and a long drive to Del Rio, Texas in the afternoon and evening. We are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us, as we strive to be available and useable.
Terry Hickey