October 2023

Newsletter

Touch Baja: Today and the Future

(Written by: Pastor Ron Brink)

Donna, our two children, and I arrived in Tijuana in 1986. Under the ministry of Calvary Chapel Spring Valley, we purchased about two and a half acres, oversaw the construction of a training center, and started a program for training missionaries. The training center would also host teams from all over the country desiring to do ministry throughout Tijuana and Baja. Our continual work in the community spawned ministries that were not part of the training center. These ministries laid the foundation of what became the work of Touch Baja. Much of the work done was in church planting but also included outreach into orphanages, homes for the elderly, hospital ministry, and drug rehabilitation.

Most of the churches in Tijuana were small, consisting of about 30 to 50 members with the pastor and his family living on the church property, which was purchased in his name. With the pastor doing almost everything in the church, there was very little discipleship happening. In contrast, the churches we were planting focused on discipleship, fulfilling the biblical instruction of “equipping the saints for the work of ministry.”

For many years, Donna and I expected that the work of Touch Baja would cease once we were no longer able to continue in the ministry. The churches we had started would continue on and others would fill in the gap for the ministries that we had come along side to assist. However, in the last couple of years we have grown and started ministries such as the youth rehab, discipleship school, elderly home, and ministry center that all require Touch Baja to continue beyond our involvement, requiring a change in our thinking and strategic planning on sustainability of Touch Baja beyond us. In reality, we would all like to think we will live a super long life and often we feel much younger than our age. I still feel like a young man but my doctor and the mirror tell another story. Each day that passes, we are reminded that we must prepare ourselves for the inevitable.

In light of this, we have been making changes slowly but steadily such as expanding our staff, working at increasing our communication, finishing a redesigned and improved website soon, and further expansion and reorganization of the ministry. By doing all of these things, our hope and prayer is that Touch Baja will continue to be a ministry that makes Jesus known and makes disciples of the Mexican people, and beyond, until Jesus returns. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly! <top>

Reaching Out To Youth In Granjas

(Written by: Staff)

In the U.S., approximately 18% of the population is under the age of 14 but in Mexico it’s over 25%, making it a very large part of the ministry of Touch Baja.  In Granjas, a very poor and isolated community with very little to do for the children and youth, we estimate that about 80% of the youth use drugs. To counteract this, it is critical that we reach the children with the gospel before they begin to use drugs and this is where Capilla Calvario Granjas is stepping up and stepping into the fight.  The church, under the leadership of Juan Guillen, is working diligently to reach these children in various different ways, including using Mexico’s national sport to do so.

The national sport in Mexico is soccer (fútbol) and the children begin playing soon after learning to walk.  So, assisted by a a mission team from a church in Southern California, the church held a soccer tournament as an outreach to the community. Over 70 children participated and formed 8 teams in the tournament.  Many of the children’s parents were present and received bibles and heard the gospel.

Please pray that, as the gospel was shared verbally, in action, and in the passing out of Bibles, that the Lord would bless the faithfulness and work of Capilla Calvario Granjas and the mission team to reap a harvest of saved souls in the youth and the families of Granjas. <top>

A Touch Baja Team Addition

(Written by: Staff)

Sometimes in business or ministry you have someone join your team that you can’t believe you were blessed to add;  someone incredibly talented and experienced in so many ways. Touch Baja was recently blessed in this way with the addition to our team of Steve Venable.

Pastor Ron ministered with Steve about 30 years ago when they both were on staff at Calvary Chapel Spring Valley (CCSV). Steve was new to ministry and Pastor Ron was his direct overseer at the time. As time passed, the two families became good friends with Donna even babysitting Steve and  Michelle’s (his wife) adorable children. When Pastor Ron went on to seminary, Steve remained at Spring Valley continuing to grow in ministry assisting Pastor John Michaels as CCSV grew in impact locally and around the world. Steve increasingly had an impact at CCSV in administrating the church for Pastor John as well as teaching services as opportunities were given. Upon leaving CCSV, Steve and his family moved to Wheaton, IL. where he worked for a post-prison ministry assisting Christian ex-inmates make the transition from prison back into community and the church outside the walls. The bulk of his work was in adapting a successful home-based model into a “one church, one ex-inmate” model where local churches would “adopt” an inmate and walk them through a set program of transition. Many times, seeing the fruit in the life of the ex-inmate as well as how it challenged and grew their congregation, churches would minister to more than one ex-inmate. Steve would say, even today, regarding the time he spent in that ministry, “I learned more about God’s grace, love, and forgiveness, and the redemptive power of Jesus’ work in the lives of people through the blessing of working with those who many  consider the ‘least of these’ in society.” After a time, the church he and his family were attending asked Steve to lead, solidify, and grow a fledgling church plant in Phoenix, AZ, which he did faithfully for two years. When the church was at a good place, having grown to close to 150 people and a new pastor installed, Steve and his family moved to the Flathead Valley in MT, where Steve and Michelle along with two of their daughters, and a son-in-law and two grandsons, still live today. Steve was involved in ministry, overseeing mission locations and a discipleship program for a para-church organization based in the Flathead, until almost 4 years ago when the progression of ALS, which he was diagnosed with in July 2014, got to the point where he could no longer work outside the home.

As is common in ministry, for Touch Baja Steve increasingly wears several hats. I guess you would say he’s an IT manager, communications director, ministry and administrative advisor to ministry leadership, and, perhaps his most difficult function, helping computer-illiterate Pastor Ron move forward into the 21st century!

The addition of Steve to the Touch Baja team has been an incredible blessing to the ministry, and we look forward to serving with him on into the future. Please be praying for Steve and his incredible wife, Michelle, as they co-labor with us and you all to reach Mexico and the Baja with the redeeming message of the Gospel. <top>