Ministry Description

We have been working with the Dios con Nosotros (God With Us) Baptist Convention in Baja California, Mexico since 2002. Our ministry in Baja includes leadership development for new church planting, teaching at the Seminary, and work with short-term mission groups from the United States. Our ministry area includes Mexicali, Tecate, Ensenada, San Luis and Tijuana.

New church planting can mean many things. For us it has meant leaving the old wineskins and discovering new ones. It has taken us down the road of dialogue about the value of tradition and innovation. We have learned to frame the terminology of new church planting with phrases such as cooperating churches, sponsoring churches, partner churches to help reshape the traditional structure and reflect a more relational approach when it comes to new church planting.

These ministries vary from a group meeting under a tree to a house church meeting in an urban neighborhood to a traditional church plant meeting in the mountains. The planters also range from idealistic new couples to seasoned leaders post retirement. Most of them target children, but many are also targeting broken families in need of healing, and single parents and families dealing with unemployment and poverty. All of these church plants have the goal of transforming their communities with the power of the gospel.

We also encourage different types of outreach like a breakfast program for transients and homeless people in one of the city squares, to breakfast for people who are taking care of family members at a local hospital.

We are both part of the faculty of the Dios con Nosotros Seminary, located in Mexicali, and associated with the Dios con Nosotros Convention. We teach courses on church planting, church history and ecclesiology (from a Latin American perspective) as well as pastoral ministry and discipleship. As intentional bridges between Baptist churches in the U.S. and the Baptists of Baja California, we also help shepherd short-term mission teams and facilitate continuing education for church leaders, adapting materials where appropriate.

About Our Family

Rick and Mercy are part of the faculty of the Dios con Nosotros Seminary, located in Mexicali, and associated with the Dios con Nosotros Convention. They teach courses on church planting, Church History and Ecclesiology (from a Latin American perspective) as well as pastoral ministry and discipleship. As intentional bridges between American Baptist churches in the U.S. and the Baptists of Baja California, they also help shepherd short term mission teams and facilitate continuing education for church leaders, adapting materials where appropriate.

They intentionally try to balance their ministry duties with family duties. They volunteer at school, and parent their children to the best of their ability. They live in El Centro, California, 12 miles north of the border with their children Aida, Rich, and Joshua.