Of all the places within our mission field, Socorro best represents its diversity. Karen, the kids, and I worshipped with First Baptist Socorro last Sunday. Pastor Bob Farmer, his wife Jenny, and the entire church family are always a blessing. This weekend was no exception.
But back to the diversity: Socorro sits at the heart of the old Spanish territory of New Mexico, right along El Camino Real. Many residents here are of Castillian heritage, tracing their ancestry to the conquistadors. They are the most unreached people group in New Mexico.
Then we have persons of Mexican background -- some of whose families have been in the area for generations; others who are new arrivals.
With the Alamo Navajo reservation to the west, many Native Americans call Socorro home. Add to that descendants of Anglo settlers and others, and you have quite a mix.
But it doesn't end there. Socorro is home to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, aka New Mexico Tech. Let me just say that Tech is a community of very smart people: mechanical engineers, nuclear physicists and the like. As operation center for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (the Very Large Array, itself located 50 miles west) Tech hosts its share of astronomers and astrophysicists too. This group as a whole tends to be hard to reach with the gospel. Still First Baptist is quite active with the campus ministry. Many members of the NMT community call First Baptist their church home.
And then there are the Chinese. Chinese students make up the largest group of international students at NMT. Under the leadership of missionary Anna Tai, new students are drawn by the hospitality shown by their Christian colleagues. One result: our thriving Chinese Bible study is growing into a new church plant (you can read about Grace Chinese Fellowship in a previous post).
A community of about 9000, Socorro is illustrative of the diversity found across the Mountain & Western Baptist Associations, and for that matter across New Mexico. Such diversity presents a great challenge as we seek to communicate the gospel with each group. As different as they may be, they all need Jesus Christ. On the other hand, there is great joy in serving such a diverse mission field. It reminds me of what heaven will be like: people of different races and cultures, bound together in love and surrender to the same Lord. I can't wait for that day! "For we are all one in Christ Jesus," (Gal. 3:28b).
Join me in prayer for the staff and members of FBC, Socorro. Pray for the Lord to direct their ministries and empower them with His Spirit. And pray for Karen and I as we serve them, that the Lord would show us how to penetrate each of these people groups with His gospel.
To His Glory!
Bro. Jim
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