Maguire State Missions Offering

Pastor expresses Great Commission toward migrants

Aug 26, 2008
BARBARA DENMAN
Florida Baptist Convention

A family worships at Iglesia Roca de Salvacion in Okeechobee which ministers primarily to the workers and families of migrant laborers from the area’s dairy farms and orange groves. FBC photo by Ken Touchton

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OKEECHOBEE (FBC)—"This is my mission. This is my passion.”

That is how Geraldo Armendariz characterizes his calling to start and serve as pastor a new mission church for migrant farm workers on the outskirts of Okeechobee—40 miles away from his primary ministry at a Fort Pierce church.

“I am happiest when I am reaching people for Christ,” said the pastor through a translator.

For the past two years, Armendariz, a native of Mexico, has led Sunday morning worship at Iglesia Bautista Fuente de Salvacion in Fort Pierce. He then drives to Okeechobee to hold evening worship at Iglesia Roca de Salvacion for migrant laborers who work in the area’s dairy farms and orange groves. On Thursdays he returns to Okeechobee to lead weekday services.

But that is not the extent of his travel as he regularly travels back and forth to minister to the migrants’ physical and spiritual needs throughout the week.

“In Matthew Chapter 28, Jesus issues the Great Commission,” said Armendariz. “I believe that all Christians, the church, its pastors and leaders have a great responsibility. We are all fulfilling the Great Commission.”

During a typical Sunday night service, as many as 80 farm workers and their families will attend worship held at the Cornerstone Baptist Church, located across the highway from one of Okeechobee’s largest dairy farms.

Pastor Geraldo Armendariz prays with prays with migrant workers. FBC photo

Adjacent to the church is a large complex of non-descript stucco-covered concrete-block homes where hundreds of migrants reside. Armendariz has visited most of those homes—as well as other similar neighborhoods in the town. He has held block parties and hosted movie nights in his efforts to cultivate for Christ the community.

Leticia Salazar, 28, is a committed member of the Okeechobee congregation. Through Pastor Armendariz’s teaching, she realized she lacked a personal relationship with Christ and subsequently made a profession of faith and was baptized.

“My faith has helped me overcome bouts of depression,” she said. “It has made a whole difference in my life and improved my relationship with my husband.”

Getting to church is a challenge for many migrants, who do not own vehicles or have drivers’ licenses and must catch a ride with friends. Armendariz and his wife Naomi travel throughout the community in their own automobile to transport members and prospects to and from church—a time consuming and expensive effort.

Gifts to the Maguire State Mission Offering make possible ministry to migrants who live on meager wages. FBC photo

The church is a second family to the migrant laborers, said Misael Castillo, director of migrant ministry for the Florida Baptist Convention. “Many of the farm workers are kids—16-to-17-years old—and have left their homelands. They have no family and no papers. The church is everything to them—their brothers and their sisters.”

Because they seek to relieve their loneliness through the church family’s open arms, many migrant farm workers are led to the Lord. And some will even return to their homelands as committed evangelists and start churches in other countries.

In contrast, those who do not turn to the church for comfort, seek solace in drugs and alcohol, said Castillo.

“Among the serious problems they face today is a lack of education, the ability to speak the English language and proper documentation,” said Armendariz. Other more severe problems are drug and alcohol abuse.

“We praise God for the ones that are being reached and are living a new life, but we still need to reach those who do not know Christ.”

Because of the many problems faced by the migrants, Armendariz must provide a needs-based ministry as well as a spiritual one. In a course of a week, he is called upon to transport them to doctors and hospitals, fill medications, visit them in jails and help them with government documentation.

Hunger is a constant difficulty for many of the migrant workers who must live on meager wages. Using Florida Baptist hunger funds, Armendariz purchases food from local food banks and helps families in crises. The funds, also, help stock a food pantry at the Fort Pierce church.

Okeechobee resident Dulce Quesada and her two preschool children had no transportation or money to purchase groceries after her husband was arrested on a minor charge. When Armendariz learned of her plight, he took bags of groceries to the family. “We had no food in our house until the pastor came,” said Quesada, through a translator

The pastor receives financial support through the Maguire State Mission Offering that underwrites the purchase of gas, food and medicine for the migrants. His wife Naomi cleans houses to help with their livelihood.

Together they make many sacrifices to follow their calling to evangelize Florida’s migrant families.

“One of the great mission fields we have is right here in the United States and in our own backyards,” said Armendariz. “There is work to be done here. There is a need for the migrants to know Christ.”