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Faith In Action Extends South of the Border!

Saltillo International Church goes international...

Four hours southwest of Laredo, Texas, is the Mexican town of Saltillo, on the outskirts of Monterrey. There the small Saltillo International Church serves the Lord – and the community.

“We’re the only English-speaking church in Saltillo,” explained Pastor Damon Tripp. “Our members are from Mexico, the U.S., Canada – also Holland, Poland and El Salvador.”

Known as the Detroit of Mexico, American automotive plants abound there – GM, Chrysler, John Deere, Adelphi and others. Typically, non-native workers only stay six months to two years, so the church’s small membership is very transient.

According to Pastor Damon, people in Saltillo are very community-oriented. Many will come to help out with service projects, but won’t want to come to church. On their Faith In Action Sunday on September 23, this church of 50-75 people had 40 workers – plus 27 others from the community.

“Two families who helped out on our Faith In Action day have been attending church, and three other families are open but haven’t come yet – we’re still working with them,” said Pastor Damon. “Another man who came to help for the day said he’d been turned off toward religion, but when he saw how real we were, he decided to give it another chance.”

In the nearby village of El Higo, the group picked up trash, built a shelter at the bus stop, refurbished the city playground and installed playground equipment at a nearby children’s home. They also cleaned out a widower’s house, hauling off loads of trash, washing clothes and dishes, killing rats, and also installing a water line to his house (previously he’d had no running water).

Positive response from church members and the community was unanimous. “It was some of the hardest work we’d ever done – but everyone agreed it was very rewarding,” said Pastor Damon. Now the church uses the fifth Sunday each quarter as a Faith In Action day. “Our next project will be helping out in a medical clinic in Monterrey,” he said.

“We really saw the Lord working through us, drawing people to Him, because they saw that we are genuine in our faith, that we really care about people – we’re not just Sunday Christians,” said Pastor Damon, summing up their first Faith In Action Day.