Fresh Start Trip April 2006:  The last ten months have been awesome. During my trips, I became aware of the need for a ministry tool that can help people process the issues of their heart, especially “Offense, Hurt and Loss.”  Virtually, every family in Tijuana has been wounded in some way by the lust and corruption that has been part of Tijuana since its founding as a prostitution ranch targeting the military bases in San Diego.  And Tijuana, like most cities, has deep wounds and divisions between pastors and between churches.  Every time I came to Tijuana, Pastor Jesús Rodríguez asked me to speak to these issues...

Last summer I talked to Pastor Steve Peterson from Trinity Church in Omaha about visiting Tijuana with me and sharing his FreshStart materials. I felt that they would not only be excellent in counseling adults and children to process wounds and offenses into forgiveness and healing, but also give pastors a tool to process the wounds between pastors and leaders to strengthen unity in the city.

In September Pastor Steve came to Tijuana with me and the response was remarkable as pastors and leaders all over the city embraced FreshStart. Since our trip, Pastor Jesús has been teaching FreshStart weekly in churches all over the city.

In March we took a team, including Sheryl, which ministered to and trained leaders in FreshStart. In seven days our team taught and ministered at six local pastors prayer groups, preached at five church services, and did  an all day FreshStart training for about 130 leaders which included the training of 25 children’s workers in “Is My Heart A Happy Heart?” 

We also taught and ministered to the leaders of three orphanages. We had special ministry times with orphanage founders, Eduardo and Ana Méndez as well as our hosts, Pastor Jesús and Rosa Rodríguez. Over 100 ministry leaders and couples received personal ministry sessions from our team.

The new and only orphanage for girls in Tijuana is finished, furnished and sits EMPTY! The wife of Tijuana’s mayor was part of their dedication, but she is from a different political party from the one that controls the state, which decides where orphans are placed… Eduardo and Ana hope that when the elections are over this summer that the partisanship will diminish and girls will begin to fill this beautiful facility.

An unexpected blessing occurred during the trip to Tijuana last September. The leaders of the Tijuana ministerial association asked to meet with us and began asking me questions about leading city transformation, then asked me to be the key speaker at the annual city-wide pastors and wives dinner in December. They have now asked me to bring a group of pastors to lead a city-wide pastors conference in November of 2007.  Here are Pastor Jesús and I with Pastor Rafael, president of the evangelical ministerial association of Tijuana.

Click Tijuana Trip Pictures to see the Photo Album for this trip.

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