Archive for October, 2012

Jesus Shines Brightly in Tijuana!

Posted: October 31, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Tijuana
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Phases of Church building

Phases of Church building

Jesus shines brightly as the church grows and the gospel goes forth in Tijuana!

This last Saturday a number of people and ministries came together to build a church in eastern Tijuana, in an area called Pipila. My son, David Diaso Jr., and I went down with a group of friends from Harbor Church. We built the church for the ministry of “Lo Mejor Del Trigo,” (The Best of the Wheat). Baja Christian Ministries coordinated the building of the church.

When we lived in Mexico City we helped a number of churches build their church buildings. We loved it then, and we love it now! This was different from our experiences in Mexico City, in that through the system we use here we are able to build the church over two weekends.

This last weekend we got the walls and roof up, and started some of the electrical work. This coming Saturday we will work on finishing up the inside of the church, and painting. We will also help the church launch their outreach in the community.

Pastor Rodrigo with his wife, Nancy and their children

Pastor Rodrigo with his wife, Nancy and their children

Then this Sunday afternoon at 3 PM the church will hold their first service. Pastor Rodrigo will lead the ministry at the church.

It’s a different way of doing ministry and outreach than I’ve done before, but the Lord is using it in a mighty way. This is the 16th or 17th church (I have a hard time keeping up!) that Daniel Nuñez has started. His vision is to start 50 churches in 20 years.

Pray with us that the Lord will not only allow him to reach this God-given vision, but to exceed it! Pray as well for our safety and the Lord’s rich blessing as we head down again this weekend.

David Jr., Issaid Arechiga and I will be going into TJ on Friday night to meet with the Lo Mejor Del Trigo pastors for their monthly meeting. The rest of the group will join us Saturday morning.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

A New Church is Born!

Posted: October 27, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Tijuana
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A group of us at the new church plant site in eastern Tijuana

A group of us at the new church plant site in eastern Tijuana – in about a week there will be a church on this site!

Saturday morning we will head down to eastern Tijuana to start phase one of building a new church!

I’m thrilled to be a part of this! It’s an added bonus that my oldest son, David Jr. will be joining us.

Please be in prayer for us as we head across the border at 8:30 AM with 25 people from the Harbor Church Network. It should be a good time. Pray for our safety, and that we work in a unified fashion as we seek to present the gospel in word and deed.

We will be working with Daniel Nuñez and Lo Mejor del Trigo. I’m looking forward to connecting with the people and meeting the pastor of this church site.

Thanks so much for encouraging us and standing with us in prayer!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

God Opens Hearts Through ESL!

Posted: October 25, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Prayer, San Diego
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Oliva - God is doing a good work in her life

God is doing a good work in Oliva’s life

The Lord has done a good work through our Friday evening English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Two woman have come to faith through our ESL ministry. Last spring an international Korean college student, Tesory, came to Christ and was baptized into the church.

Recently, Oliva, a Mexican woman started coming to ESL classes. She learned about the class through a newspaper ad.

As a part of the class, Ray Call leads a devotional time in English to encourage their English and to share the love of Christ with the students. Our intern, Emily Gryder is also involved in ESL. She has been teaching the classes while she’s been with us. Emily took the initiative to invite Oliva to the Spanish service we have on Friday evenings.

While Oliva was at the service she met Edgardo and Elizabeth Avila who lead the Spanish ministry. Elizabeth explained the gospel message to Oliva, and she gave her life to Christ.

Oliva has been faithfully attending Harbor Mid City on Sunday. The Lord is drawing her nearer and she is considering making a deeper commitment to Christ and his church.

It’s so encouraging to see the Lord at work!

A huge need we have now is to build up our teaching team. Emily has done a great job, but she is leaving in about a month, on November 30th. We are talking to some other friends about teaching English. Pray the Lord raises up a good team, and that he continues to use ESL to be a blessing to the City Heights community.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Church Multiplication in Tijuana!

Posted: October 22, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Tijuana, Video
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The next two Saturdays we will work with our good friend, Daniel Nuñez and Lo Mejor del Trigo (The Best of the Wheat) to build a new church building for Daniel’s 17th church plant. His vision is to plant 50 churches in 20 years! This is the second church plant that Harbor has partnered with Daniel on.

It’s been so encouraging to see what the Lord has done in Rosarito through the first church plant. I’m thrilled that we are on the border, and that we can participate directly in this new work!

This video that our talented friend, Danny Kim put together features some of the highlights from the Rosarito church plant.

“Lord, we do pray that there will be many more churches, and that the city of Tijuana will be transformed as people are won to Christ, and the gospel is powerfully proclaimed. Amen!”

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

A Shout Out for Harbor Mid City!

Posted: October 21, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, Prayer, San Diego
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Worship with Harbor Mid City

Worship with Harbor Mid City

Now that we’ve moved to the border each week we look forward with much anticipation to worshipping with our good friends at Harbor Mid City Church. It’s a wonderful multicultural, bilingual time of worship each Sunday morning.

We sense the Lord’s presence in a very real way during the service. God is both immanent or present and transcendent.

Pastor Stephen Phelan has assembled a great team to minister alongside of him. Stephen is the lead pastor at Harbor Mid City, and Edgardo Avila leads the Spanish-speaking congregation.

Even though we worship in two languages, we are able to start and end each service together. It’s a beautiful sign of the diversity in the church. We conclude most Sunday mornings with communion, The Lord’s Supper, which reminds us of the death of Christ, and that he is coming again. It’s also an equally beautiful display of our unity in Christ.

I wanted to highlight the church this week, because we just launched an upgraded and new looking website. It’s an awesome upgrade, so I figured you’d want to check it out. Here is the website with the weblink: http://www.harbormidcity.org

Pray for the ministry of the church as we reach out to the various cultures represented in City Heights and beyond.  The following two Saturdays we will go down to Tijuana with those from the other Harbor sites to build a church for a new church plant in east TJ.

Our prayer along with Harbor is that the bi-national city of San Diego – Tijuana will be transformed in every way socially, spiritually and culturally by the gospel.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

A Second New Birth in TJ!

Posted: October 16, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Tijuana
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A group of us visited the new church plant site in eastern Tijuana

A group of us visited the new church plant site in eastern Tijuana

It’s so encouraging to see how the Lord is blessing the first church that Harbor partnered with Lo Mejor del Trigo and Daniel Nuñez on. Later this month, October 27th and November 3rd we will again partner with pastor Daniel and his church planting movement to start a new church in eastern Tijuana.

I recently posted a video about the church plant in Rosarito. Leo Nevarez shares his testimony on the video. The Lord is doing an outstanding work through pastor Leo and the church there.

It’s amazing that in just a few months we are ready to start a second church in Tijuana. The Lord is providing the funds and the planter to begin this new work.

A few of us visited the new site a couple of weeks ago. It’s in a busy and populated part of the city. I can’t wait to see what the Lord will do through this work.

Join us in prayer as we recruit people to help build the church, and as that the Lord opens doors for the planter and his team as they share the good news of the gospel.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

P.S. Harbor Mid-City just opened a Facebook page – check it out here…

Nothing, means Nothing in TJ

Posted: October 14, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Missions, Tijuana
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Dave preaching at Lo Mejor del Trigo

We had such a wonderful time Thursday night with pastor Daniel Nuñez and his church, Lo Mejor del Trigo. I preached in Spanish for the first time in a while.

I felt a little anxious going into the night, since it’s been a while since I’ve preached in Spanish, but the Lord blessed. It reminds me of how God works through our weaknesses.

I enjoyed the opportunity to share the Word of God from Romans 8. My sermon was titled, “Nada, quiere decir Nada,” (Nothing means nothing). Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. What a great promise. Why do we worry? Why do we fret? Our loving Father holds us in the palm of his hand and he will never let us go.

Romans 8:37-39 (ESV),

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Pastor Daniel Nuñez

Paul repeats over and over again that there is nothing created that can separate us from the love of Christ. If we are in Christ we are not condemned, and it’s impossible for anything to separate us from Christ’s love.

It was so good to worship together with our brothers and sisters from Tijuana.

Then after the service we enjoyed fellowship over some delicious tacos!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Taking Jesus to the Streets!

Posted: October 10, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, Prayer, Reflections & Musings, San Diego, Tijuana
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Pastor Leo & Gloria with Vicente & Billy with Dave in the middle

Pastor Leo & Gloria and Vicente & Billy with Dave in the middle

Yesterday Ray Call, Emily Gryder, Vicente Salinas and I took Jesus to the streets in City Heights. We paired up and walked the streets. As we  walked along we prayed for the city, and we invited people to our English class. We offer English to the many Spanish speakers, and others who don’t yet speak English.

I walked with Vicente and it was a great experience. He was very bold as he invited people to come to the English class. I enjoyed ministering in the city with him.

Another cool connection with Vicente and his wife, Billy is that they have some friends in Rosarito. You might remember that Rosarito is where Leo and Gloria Nevarez work on the new church plant. Vicente and Billy were so excited when they learned about the new church, because they are concerned for the welfare of their friends.

When a group of us went down to Rosarito last week we tried to call Vicente and Billy’s friends, but we weren’t able to get in touch with them.

This past Sunday at church Pastor Leo and Gloria came and I was able to introduce them to Vicente and Billy. They were able to explain to pastor Leo where their friends lived, and they also made sure that he had the right phone number. It will be interesting to see how the Lord works through these relationships.

It’s so good to see the Lord open doors and build bridges across the border. I was thinking earlier today that maybe our ministry should be called some like, Bridge Builders for the Border. That’s part of what our mission is. “O Lord, grant us huge success for your glory.”

Please pray for me as I attempt to build more bridges across the border this Thursday. I will be preaching in the mother church in Tijuana of “Lo Mejor Del Trigo.” It’s been a while since I preached or taught in Spanish. Pray with me that the Lord speak through me, and use us to love on and minister to the people of Tijuana.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Jesus & Birria, A Good Combo

Posted: October 5, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, San Diego, Tijuana, Video
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We went into Rosarito and Tijuana yesterday and had a wonderful time. Leo and Gloria Nevarez shared how God is blessing their work. They already have forty people coming on Sundays. The church is growing!

Gloria expressed concern for the needs of the children in the church. The building they meet in is small and it only has one room, so they have a need for more space for classes for children.

In a recent post I shared about how a woman in Oxnard saw my post on the homeless. She found pastor Leo’s number and called him. Since then she came down and donated 200 backpacks for children in the community. She also donated some land that they are planning on using for a drug rehab center. That is a huge need in the community. There are many people addicted to drugs in the neighborhoods surrounding the church. Leo and Gloria have a vision to minister to these needs.

Recently one of our interns, Lindsay Anne Dransfield shot some video of our work here. The video features the testimony of pastor Leo, and how the Lord used Birria to bring him to Jesus. I think you will find it encouraging!

The main ministry we are partnering with on the border is Harbor Presbyterian Church. Harbor worked with Daniel Nuñez and Leo to start the church in Rosarito. Later this month Harbor will be partnering with Lo Mejor Del Trigo and Daniel Nuñez to start a second church plant. I will share more about this new work in another post.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org

Beat the Drum for the Border

Posted: October 2, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, God's Leading, Ministry, Missions, Potential Team Members, Prayer, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana
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We are praying for the Lord to bring the missing pieces!

On my last post, Lord, Build Our Team I shared about our time in Atlanta meeting new people who have an interest in missions. Dawn and I are trying to encourage them to take a look at the border ministry. Obviously, the Lord is the one that has to work in their hearts to call them. Yet we must play our part. We our beating the drum and calling out so that people will be aware of the tremendous needs we have on the San Diego – Tijuana border.

We believe the Lord will raise up workers to join us and serve with us. The hard part is waiting, and I know that it’s dangerous to pray for patience. 🙂 I will stick to praying for more laborers.

This morning during our staff meeting with our friends from Harbor and Campus Outreach I shared about our trip, and our attempt to mobilize new workers to join us. I admitted that I felt some pressure to do a good job in describing the crying need here. I definitely still need the gospel in my life each day.

One of our friends at the meeting, Mark, asked, “What are the needs you have? What type of people are you recruiting?” That was a marvelous question. It made me think about who we need, so that we will be a more effective productive team.

It made me think, “I need to get the word out about what we are looking for. This will enable people to pray for us, and it could even help stir up some interest.”

So here I am late at night, writing on my blog. I do want to list here the type of needs we have. Please do pray with and for the Lord to hear our cry for workers. After all, he did command to pray for more laborers in Matthew 9:37 & 38,

“Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers in his harvest.”

Our needs for the San Diego – Tijuana border:

  1. Church planters and church planting facilitator – Both Mexicans or Latinos and Americans
  2. People with a heart for and gifted in evangelism and disciple making
  3. Someone to coordinate community development/mercy ministries:
    1. Facilitate and teach English as a Second Language (ESL)
    2. Homeless, orphans, sex-trafficking
    3. Construction
    4. Medical Missions
    5. Coordinate short-term mission teams
    6. Business as Mission (BAM) initiatives – businesses to support pastors and help the community.
  4. Administrative gifts
  5. Teaching/Training/Education
  6. An Intern coordinator – someone to minister to, recruit for and direct our internship program

Dawn & Davev

I hope that gives you a better idea of what our needs are, and how you can pray for us. “O Lord, Build Our Team!”

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org