December 12, 2024
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — More than 300 volunteers from 11 states and 28 churches met for Serve Tour Brownsville on Oct. 11 and 12. Partnering with Texas Baptists, River Ministry, and Texans on Mission, these volunteers undertook 33 projects, aiding 7 schools and 15 churches. Over the course of two days, they served 2,302 people, performed over 1,175 hours of construction work, held 1,011 gospel conversations, and saw 128 individuals accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
One of the most impactful ways Serve Tour volunteers ministered to the city of Brownsville was through food-based outreach. Working with the Baptist Student Ministry at two different college campuses, volunteers cooked hotdogs, prayed with students, and saw 35 people accept Jesus as their Savior.
Working alongside three different churches, other teams went on grill walks through communities, handing out free hamburgers and sharing their faith. At one grill walk, an entire family—husband, wife, and their teenage son—put their faith in Jesus. During another, 17 people were saved.
As one team was handing out food door-to-door, a volunteer felt like the Holy Spirit was prompting her to go back to a specific residence and talk further with a woman she met there. As they talked, this woman said that she used to know God, but the circumstances of her life caused her to question if God was still with her. The volunteer explained that God never leaves us, even in life’s most difficult moments. Through their conversation, this woman eventually surrendered her life to the Lord. She stated that from this day forward, she was going to count on God and trust that He was in control of her life.
Another element of Serve Tour Brownsville was working to bless local schools. Volunteers honored bus drivers and teachers by providing them with free lunches. They also worked to improve school facilities by building picnic tables and benches and painting a playground area. In one school, they gave the teacher’s lounge a makeover, a project the administration had been praying over for three years.
“We spoke all day about how wonderful this opportunity is for teachers and what a blessing this has been,” one principal shared. “The day was filled with conversations about how great God is and how He is working on our school community.”
Diana Cepeda worked at Villareal Elementary School for 35 years. Though she recently retired, she had the opportunity to return to the school as a Serve Tour Brownsville volunteer. According to Cepeda, “One way this has impacted our community is that they see there is hope for all that they’re going through. This is just one way we can touch their homes, lives, and hearts.”
With every Serve Tour, one of Send Relief’s primary goals is to serve the local churches that are serving these communities. In Brownsville, volunteers painted church classrooms in Iglesia Bautista El Buen Pastor, replaced a utility building roof at Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana, painted and installed a basketball goal for Olmito Community Church, replaced flooring for Iglesia Bautista Eliacim, and built a large pavilion for community ministry at Iglesia Bautista Horeb.
Olber Roblero, the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Horeb, explained that his church has become a distribution center for their community, providing food, clothes, shoes, healthcare, and other necessities. The pavilion gives them a designated place for this ministry, allowing them to work with greater efficiency to help more people in need and touch more lives with the gospel.
“Thank you for all of the collaboration Send Relief is bringing,” Roblero said. “We’re all together. I can see the kingdom of God is expanding to all of the world. I can see it here in our community.”
If you want to learn how your church can participate in an upcoming Serve Tour, visit SendReilef.org/serve-tour today.
