Hello Friends,
We are anticipating the wedding of our son, Kaden, in just a couple of weeks, October 4th. He is marrying a lovely young woman, Kerry Cannegieter, who grew up in Kaden’s home church of Central Christian from Rockford. Our family is excited about this addition.
I (Linda) have been to Rockford recently for bridal/wedding showers for Kerry. The reason I write of this is because I have often been asked while there, “What is Brad doing and where is he at?’ We understand that question because we know during this time of transition the actual work that Brad is doing is at times not clear. He continues to return to Mexico from Tennessee, at least once a month. When he is there, he meets with Antonio and they go over things that Antonio has been doing in his absence. (Antonio sends monthly staff reports to Brad, which Brad follows up on with leadership or advice) He checks on the property at the camp to see how things are going there. He is actively involved, whether in Mexico or in Tennessee, with monitoring crop production and/or giving oversight of the needs of the animals at the ranch. In almost every trip back to Mexico he has a van load or trailer that has supplies in it for the ministry in Mexico that have either been gathered from donations in the U.S. or bought while Brad is in the Tennessee area. Over the past couple of months he has delivered two vehicles obtained up north for use in Mexico and also secured a commercial sink for the camp’s use. In July, as has been our regular service for the past several years, he took a trip to Florida to visit in supporting churches. That visit included preaching on Sunday morning at Southwest Christian Church in Ocala, doing reporting and promotional visits in another churches. Southlake Christian in Groveland, and meeting with a potential new supporting church, Christ’s Church in Ocala/ He also loaded up supplies that had been gathered by those churches.
An exciting things for us, is that while we are currently attending a church in Cookeville, Brad met a young man that was interested in returning with him to Mexico on one of his trips. Jase Phillips, is his name and he is a student at Tennessee Tech. Collegeside Church of Christ building in Cookeville is located in the midst of and has a primary ministry to the students of Tennessee Tech. Jase did just that. Along on this trip, Brad met up with another man, Ken Nagele, who does a lot of cross country driving and is always searching for things he can take to Mexico for ministry uses. Together, Brad, Jase and Ken, while in Mexico, put in two concrete slabs that will be foundations for four future classroom pavilions. Later this month, on Brad’s return to Mexico, our long time friend, Chuck Gilson will return with Brad. In October, when Brad returns, his brother Kevin’s church, First Christian in Mountain City, will go with Brad.
This is a good place to insert an invitation to anyone who might want to return with Brad for a short-time of service in Mexico or to just “check things out” to give him a call
(830-765-0088) and say, “I’d like to go!” All you would need to pay for would be your food and also have a current passport.
Another important note, these trips back and forth do not cost the ministry of Rio Bravo Christian Ministries anything. He does all of these trips by securing paying shipments both coming and going so all travel costs are covered.
Brad is currently involved in working on plans for the building of the Rancho San Jose Event Center. This is scheduled at this time to be built in the spring of 2015. We have a commitment from our home supporting church (Central Christian in Rockford, IL), to donate funds for the building and it’s erection. We have one group of men (First Christian of Chilhowie, VA), committed to the labor of the foundation for this building (we still need funds for the cement for the foundation $5,500) . This is a MOST IMPORTANT building, as over the course of our years at Rancho San Jose, we have used one of the cabins for our all purpose/all weather building and we have grown enough, that the cabin needs to be returned to it’s original purpose for use. The event center when built will accommodate the needs that have previously been handled by that cabin.
The teaching and training at Rancho San Jose just this summer brought ten young people to Christ and they were baptized at the nearby reservoir, San Miguel. (See photo above). We hear frequently from others in Mexico about a seminar they attended, or a bible study, or even a family event gathering that touched them in some way and brought conviction of faithfulness in their relationship with Christ.
This is a success story still in the making! A biblical success story of the seeds of the gospel being planted, others giving nurture, God watering and giving increase with a bountiful harvest.
None of this would have been possible without your prayers and support. We thank you.
Because of Christ,
Brad and Linda Berg and the Rio Bravo Christian Ministries Team
Young people gather in prayer before ten baptisms at youth camp. July 2014