- Texico Conference

TEXICO UPDATE
August 31, 2010
Still Spreading the Good News!
There has been an explosion of evangelistic activity taking place throughout our Conference,
which you can read about in this Update. I think you will be blessed to hear of all the individuals
who are taking their stand for Christ.
On occasion, I have heard people say that no one really wants to hear the message of the Bible
anymore, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. God is drawing His children into His remnant
church in many miraculous ways. Just recently, I spoke to a lady who learned the Sabbath truth
from her own study of the Bible and through several divine interventions. She is now attending the
Seventh-day Adventist Church every week and learning more truths from God’s Word. Another
lady came to church one Sabbath and said she learned of the Seventh-day Adventist Church from
watching 3ABN. Actually, she said that 3ABN is the only station she can get on her TV. She informed me that she had been all over town and attended many different churches, but she knows
that the Seventh-day Adventists have the truth. We cannot be silent about our faith at this time.
It’s time to tell everyone that Christ is coming!
Dr. James Stevens is currently conducting a one week reaping meeting in Odessa and there are
several already lined up for baptism. It looks like at least 10 will join the church.
El Paso, Texas just finished a city-wide evangelistic effort this
week. Speakers for the seven different sites included three
Southwestern Union Vice-Presidents: Duane McKey, Bufford
Griffith and Eduardo Canales, as well as four Texico pastors:
Gladstone Simmons, Jose Padilla, Manuel Rodriguez and Fernando Villegas. The Southwest Regional Conference was also
involved in this effort. It has been estimated that there will be
approximately 60-70 new members in our Conference and about
the same amount added to the Regional Conference.
My first encounter with Christianity was through my Catholic
classmates in nursing school in India. They encouraged me to
pray to the God of heaven about a problem in my family. God
miraculously answered my prayers and I began to think that there
was something real about the Christian God. My family are very devoted Hindus, so this was
something new to me.
Later, I came to the USA and lived with a Christian family who invited me to the Seventh-day Adventist church in Roswell, New Mexico. At first, I was reluctant to go to a Christian church, but I
decided to give it a try. From that first day, I never missed church. As I listened to the sermons
and stories about Jesus, I became convinced that Jesus was real. However, I still kept pictures
of my Hindu gods under my pillow – just in case.
I decided to take Bible studies to learn more about Jesus. Tom and Sherryl Jordan were very
patient in teaching me about the God of heaven and I became convinced that I needed to give
my whole life over to Jesus Christ. I got rid of all the idols and started to depend completely on
Jesus. I was baptized on July 31st, 2010, by Pastor Ken Davis at the Roswell SDA Church.
From the day that I completely dedicated my life to God, He has totally changed me. He has
come through for me in so many ways that I am amazed. He even provided a wonderful, Christian young man for me. I know this is just the beginning of a wonderful relationship with Jesus
Christ. Written by Komal Raval
Martha Schwartz was one of four individuals who was baptized
in the Abilene (Texas) Church at the conclusion of evangelistic
meetings presented by Jason Morgan from Amazing Facts. While
in prison, a church had sent Martha a Bible, which she began
reading. After her release from prison, she started attending the
church which had sent her the Bible. While reading The Word,
she learned the truth of the Sabbath and wondered why churches were not keeping the Sabbath. Martha began calling all the
churches in the community to ask
them about the seventh day Sabbath. No one had an answer to
her question. Then she called and
left a message at the Abilene SDA
Church. Pastor David McLauchlan
called her back and church member,
Clovia Rice started sending Bible
studies to her and her friend who
is still incarcerated. When it came
time for the evangelistic meetings,
Pastor McLauchlan invited Martha to attend. She accepted all the truths that were presented
from the Bible and willing surrendered herself to the Lord in baptism.
Also baptized were Shelly Dunning and Jacquie Almeida, who had been studying the Bible with
church clerk, Amanda Calvin.
John Huitt recommitted his life to Christ after leaving the church years ago following his wife’s
death. The Holy Spirit was working mightily in his life to draw him back to following the truth.
He drove 120 miles round trip every night to attend the meetings, even though he has been facing tough financial constraints. We thank God for each individual who has taken their stand for
Christ and for all the faithful church members and leaders who live a life of evangelism! Information submitted by Pastor David McLauchlan and written by Sue Hinkle.
The Gallup All Nations SDA Church is
currently in the middle of an evangelistic series with Amazing Facts evangelist, Jason Morgan. We had over
120 on opening night, almost 80 adult
visitors and 25 children visitors. Almost
1/4 of those attending are from Arizona
and over half of our visitors are Native
American. There are also several pas-
tors in attendance and THEY ARE ACTUALLY TELLING THEIR
MEMBERS TO COME TO OUR MEETINGS. In our second week,
we were still averaging over 50 non-sda visitors. Jason made an
appeal for baptism last week and 30 people are interested in being
baptized. Praise God!
Also, pictured is Pastor Mike Razon baptizing a youth from the
Gallup Church who has given his life to Christ. Submitted by Pastor Mike Razon
The Clovis (New Mexico) Church recently concluded evangelistic meetings with Amazing
Facts evangelist, Jason Sliger. So far there has
been one baptism
and another individual has joined
the church by profession of faith.
There are still five
or six individuals
who are continuing to attend the
church, but have
not yet made a decision to be baptized. Pastor Nehemias Basit will begin a Daniel and Revelation seminar tonight. Information submitted by Pastor Nehemias Basit and written by Sue Hinkle.
This Wednesday, September 1st, the Pampa (Texas) Church will celebrate its first baptisms following an evangelistic series held by Pastor James Wart. They also plan to accept at least four
more into the church by profession of faith. As a follow up to these meetings, there will be another crusade starting on September 16th, then a third series in October. Information submitted
by Pastor James Wart and written by Sue Hinkle.
Visiting nursing homes is
not supposed to be depressing. Nursing home
visitation is one of the
outreach ministries that
the Grants SDA Church
has begun. On July 31,
many of the members
went to the Good Samaritan Nursing Center
in Grants, New Mexico to serenade the residents with music, encouraging
Bible verses and prayers, then personally gave cards to each resident that
was present. It gives members the opportunity to do something for the community. Some of the other local churches were already doing something
there and we want people to know that the Adventist Church is not behind in
such things. Submitted by Pastor Mike Razon