The greatest desire of every individual Christian and every church of Christ in the world should be to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." But where should we as individuals and as congregations take the gospel? Where is all the world? Should we just confine the gospel to the four walls of our meetinghouse, and depend on people to come to the meetinghouse to get it? Just exactly where is "all the world?"

When Jesus gave this great commission to his people, you remember that he told them to start at Jerusalem, then move on to Judea, and then on to Samaria, and finally to go to the very four corners of the earth itself. Now we know that those to whom he spoke lived at Jerusalem, which was in Judea. After Judea, the next area was Samaria, and if the apostles would just keep on preaching and keep on going, they would reach the four corners of the earth itself thus encompassing the whole world.

Just imagine if you will, the logic and wisdom in this method. What better plan could be used to spread the gospel? Your congregation right there where you are could be Jerusalem. The country round about you in your larger general area could be Judea. But then someone inquires: "Where is Samaria?" Well, why wouldn't Mexico be our Samaria, since it is the first region beyond Judea, and our great neighbor to the south?

Mexico, a nation of 38,000,000 souls; Mexico, a nation that is ripe and ready for the soul-saving gospel of Jesus Christ; Mexico, a country that is tired of and ''fed up with Catholicism -- a virgin field that is ready and willing to hear the good news of the restoration of New Testament Christianity. Yes, this nation of 38,000,000 souls is a great, willing, and ready-made field for the glad tidings of Jesus Christ. We have already learned through experience that the old idea that the Catholics will not listen to the gospel is not true. This idea has served the devil too long and too well. We know by experience by the spread of the Gospel in Mexico, especially within the past few years, that the people there are receptive to the message, because there are congregations of Christ within Mexico today. I had the pleasure of visiting 33 of them within 13 states within the Republic of Mexico during 1961. However, the majority of these congregations were under the influence of liberal congregations within the USA.

I think that perhaps the greatest advantage that Mexico affords for the spreading of the gospel to foreign fields (Our Samaria), is the opportunity we have of personally sharing in the work, and actually participating, by visitation right on the field itself, and by lending the preachers not only our financial support, but our personal encouragement as well. Mexico is at home, right in our own back yard. We don't have to travel over oceans to get there. The evangelists are qualified and can preach and teach in the native language of the people they are trying to reach.

One of the things that caused me personally to become interested in Mexico back in 1954 was its nearness. I began my work of helping in our "Samaria" at Nuevas Casas Grandes in the state of Chihuahua; then on to Tijuana, Baja California. The brethren who were standing for the truth were unable to support a gospel preacher right on the field of Tijuana, and our "liberal brethren" with plenty of money that they had begged and promoted won that battle from us. But four years later, it was quite a different story at Tecate, just 29 miles to the east of Tijuana, which became our base of operations, extending on in to San Luis Sonora, and Sonoyta Sonora.

By 1957 the liberal church at Chula Vista California had taken over the work that I had helped start at Tijuana, in 1954, and 1955, and that the Mexican brethren in Los Angeles tried to keep alive for a year. Thus by 1957 it became known all over the brotherhood as "their work." One report received from Tijuana, stated that they had had nearly 1000 additions. What that report failed to say was how they had obtained this great membership. Where are the converts? They are not all in the services of the church. They haven't begun to fill the building that cost many thousands of dollars that they begged and promoted from all over the brotherhood. They had a large room of the building filled with food and clothing that they used to get people to attend a service, which is passed out to all who come for it. I say these things with authority because Gomez and I have seen it. We have personally investigated at first hand, their unscriptural methods.

A personal dream and ambition of mine, which dates back to 1954 when I first became interested in Mexico, has been to see a gospel preacher and/or a congregation of the Lord's people in every border town on the U. S. - MEXICO border from the Pacific Ocean to El Paso, Texas. This ambition is well on the road to being realized despite the efforts of the liberal brethren, with apparently virtually all the money they need, and their "buying" of converts with food and clothing, as contrasted with the method we have been using, in offering only the gospel, the power of God unto Salvation. This work has been done in the past, and will continue in the future without the aid of a missionary society, one man or otherwise, and without violating the local autonomy of any of the local congregations.

The reason for wanting to start congregations on the border of the U. S. and Mexico is two fold: First of all, the work is close enough for the American brethren to visit and encourage the workers right on the field. (This is your job.) Secondly, as the work in Mexico grows along the border, and as it spreads down into the interior, it will eventually meet up with the work of the congregations within the interior and eventually cover all of Mexico. (This is our job, the workers, to see that it spreads all over Mexico.) Look at your map at the border towns along the U. S. - MEXICO border. We notice first of all, Tijuana, out on the Pacific Ocean. Tijuana is now completely established (but at what a price, due to procrastination and failure to "catch the vision!"). Fallbrook, California, USA is established and Bro. Gabriel Ortiz is preaching there full time. Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, the next town to the east 29 miles, and the congregation that Santos Gomez and I started in August 1958, is also established on a scriptural basis. But notice your map again. 85 miles east of Tecate is Mexicali. There WAS a liberal church there, and there was a Christian church there. Today the two preachers are preaching the TRUTH, having been won over by further teachings we had with these men.

Then still further east on this U. S. - MEXICO border is San Luis Sonora Mexico, and San Luis, Arizona, USA. The church at Tecate trained the preacher, Camilo Villegas, who preaches at San Luis Mexico. San. Luis, Arizona, USA is where I make my headquarters. My family and I live in a 1957, 36 x 8 foot trailer when we are not traveling up and down this border in a truck-camper working among the churches we have helped to establish. Looking east of San Luis on the map we see Sonoyta Sonora Mexico. The church at Tecate also trained the preacher, Fidel Cisneros, who preaches regularly here.

South of Sonoyta 86 miles is the inland town of Caborca, Sonora. Sonoyta started this congregation. The Sonoyta church also trained the preacher, Jose Olivas. Looking at the map again you will notice five more border towns in Mexico itself, namely: Sesabe, Nogales, Naco, Agua Prieta and Las Palomas to be reached before we reach El Paso, Texas. Within ten years half of the ten border towns now have churches in them, after much personal sacrifice on the part of the workers. When sufficient support does not come, like the apostle Paul, we all work at secular work to support our families.

From 1954 until 1960, I worked in the Mexican work on a part time basis, as I was supporting myself at secular work as a wholesale grocery salesman. I worked full time in the Mexican work during 1960 nearly a whole year with no support whatsoever from the churches until Wilmington, California started supporting us in December of that year. Little by little as others became interested, support started coming. Support for all of us working along the U. S. -MEXICO border is always a problem and changes from time to time. About the time one man gets his support to where he needs it, another has lost some of his, and the time consuming search for support begins all over again. This work is "long range" and must be financed "long range." As in other places, it Costs money, lots of money to take the Gospel to Mexico. This work is not "cheap" as some would think. A Mexican eats beans and tortillas because he has to, but he gets just as hungry as you and I when he doesn't have the money to buy them. This work takes sacrifice on the part of all of us and not merely on the part of some. You can do your part to preach the Gospel to "Our Samaria." The opportunity is yours.

Truth Magazine VIII: 8, pp. 18-20 May 1964