Casas Por Cristo with Keturah Richison

CasasPorCristo.org pairs Christian mission with service in the time-honored way…demonstrating Christian love. Providing something as simple as a floor can add twenty years to the lifespan of the residents. The opportunity to share the Gospel is resulting in an average of 1.8 baptisms per household served! Keturah Richison, Development Coordinator for Casas por Cristo, explains the opportunity for U.S. churches to partner with this mission group, one that is making a difference in Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua.

Transcript

The following program is sponsored by evangelical life ministries.

Welcome to engaging truth, the manifestation of God's word and the lives of people around us. Join us each week. As we explore the impact of his message of spiritual renewal from the lesson of forgiveness forged and the crucible of divorce, to the message of salvation learned by an executioner from a condemned killer to the gift of freedom found in the rescue of victims of human trafficking. This is God's truth in action

And welcome to another edition of engaging truth. I'm your host pastor John Kane with us today, we have Ms. Katurah RO Richardson. She's the development coordinator for Casa PO Christo in, uh, El Paso, Texas, and Casa PO Christo opens the door for, uh, local pastors, churches and missionaries to share the love of Christ by serving and their mission is to build homes and serve families that need to be reminded that Jesus loves them to welcome to the program. Cura.

Thanks for having me, John. I appreciate it.

So tell us a little bit about Casa per Christo.

Yeah. So just a little bit about us. I mean, you hit the main points, but we are a short-term mission trip organization and we provide short-term mission trips for churches throughout the us and Canada to come down. And in just three days, they get to build a home for a family that needs one and gifted that home to that family, coupled with the gospel message and a local pastor who gets to share it and their native language and build that long-term discipleship relationship while we come in in the short term and serve, serve, serve. So that's a little bit about our ministry.

So where, uh, where are you building these houses?

Yeah, so we have five locations. We have two on, in the borderland. So I am currently based out of El Paso, Texas, and we work across the border in Warez, Mexico. We work south of San Antonio, Texas in Oya, Mexico, and then we are also in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua as well.

That's awesome. So tell us, uh, about the families that you serve.

Yeah, so the families we serve are, um, people that our local pastors have chosen to receive these homes and we kind of leave it up to our pastors committee of however they wanna choose the families they get to. So I've built for families where the pastor has said this family's living conditions are just so appalling that we want to be able to give them a leg up in their poverty cycle that they're in and help them get out of that living condition. And then I've also built for families where, you know, the pastor said, Hey, this couple comes to our church and they've been having marital problems and they have two teenage girls. And I don't want these teenage girls to ever have a reason to doubt the goodness of God. So let's give this family a home and have them have that as like an anchor in their faith.

And so we, um, serve the impoverished communities throughout Latin America and to give a little perspective onto what that looks like, you know, in America, we know that they are impoverished, but we don't really know the full scale of that. And so there are over 29 million families and people throughout Latin America that live on less than a dollar and 90 cents a day. And so whenever you think of, you know, they have the same basic human needs that you and I have. I think it's easy to think of them as like, oh, a different country, different expenses, but the reality is they still have to cover all the exact same costs that you and I have to cover in our lives. And so after covering food and clean water and education for their kids, they're as little to nothing left over for adequate housing for these families.

And so that's where we get to come in in one week. And a lot of times the families we build for will use. And we started, like I said, across the border and whereas Mexico, which is kind of like a main hub for families and people that are kind of traveling north, trying to make their way into the us. And a lot of times they get stuck there without family, without community to kind of help them. And, you know, getting jobs is the same there as it is here. And so they end up making these makeshift shelters out of whatever they can find, whether that be tin sheeting, I've seen walls that are just made of blankets, um, wood, pallets, whatever they can find to make their house. And so that's where in one week we get to come in and take whatever house they have and replace it with a concrete foundation, um, wood frame and our border locations.

We do, we have to do insulation because it does get down to freezing temperatures. We give them electric, you can gift the family, a mini split, uh, heating air conditioning unit, just a home that really does provide them a sense of dignity and worth and comfort that they before didn't have. Um, so those are kind of the families that we get to serve and we love getting to do it. Um, another kind of fun fact that I learned since coming on staff with Casas is that even just taking a family from a dirt floor to a concrete foundation can add 20 years onto their life expectancy, which when you just think of their overall health and comfort and wellbeing of, you know, having a floor that doesn't turn into mud every time it rains, um, it's a huge difference in these families lives to give them the homes that we get to give them.

So on the average adding 20 years to someone's life, uh, is, is quite an incredible gift. How about, um, the religious aspect, um, of, of what you do?

Yeah, so even a lot of people who are familiar with us and come on trips with us, they just see us as a mercy needs ministry. We are construction based and that is definitely true, but we would not exist without our local pastors committee. They are a huge part of what we do. And so throughout our five locations, we have over 150 local pastors that we partner with. And these people meet together monthly to pray with one another, encourage one another. And they, like I said, are the ones who get to choose, which families will receive these homes. And we know that while, um, a home might be the greatest earthly gift that these families ever get in their lifetime, that it really means nothing unless they have the eternal gift of knowing Christ. And so that's where these pastors get to come in and share the gospel.

We always have translators there on the final day of the dedication ceremony and our pastors. Um, they they're required to by partnering with us, but really they get to go into that. Family's home at least before, during, and after the build, in order to share the gospel with these families. And so what that has looked like for us as a ministry is, um, which our tracking has been a little off since COVID, we are set to hit 200 houses this year, which we're really excited to get to build that many houses and bless that many families this year. But in a typical year, we do build around 300 homes a year in 2019 alone, alone. We built just under that benchmark and we had over 500 commitments to Christ from these families. We had over 600 new church members for the local pastors. And then my favorite thing that we track in our ministry is that on average one house equals 1.8 baptisms. So that's almost every single group that comes down and serves with us. Every single, single family, they get to house. Almost two members of their family are gonna get to know Christ in this life and for eternity, which is why we're here and why we're doing this kingdom work.

So you're building homes and it, you've got a evangelistic explosion in each one of these areas where you're, um, uh, adding to the kingdom of Christ. It's, it's quite a multifaceted program that you have in each of these locations. So you're talking about local pastors. You also need the support of, uh, congregations individuals, uh, pastors, uh, Christians throughout the United States. Um, and Canada, I think you mentioned. So, um, what would you say to them?

Yeah, so we, um, just as much as we want to be kind of a tool in the toolkit for our local pastors, we wanna be the same for our churches throughout the us and Canada that come down and partner with us. And we want to provide a mission trip that is going to be a blessing for them, something where we know that it is not their full-time job. Most people who lead mission trips to do that, a lot of them are, you know, preaching and teaching every week, they're discipling, they're leading their kids, ministries, youth, ministries, whatever that is. And we want to free them up as much as possible to do the ministry that they're called to do while we, on the other end of it, get to set up these trips, run in a really excellent way, take care of all the details for them, so that they don't have to.

Um, but on top of that, the thing that we really want for all of our, um, local church partners from the us and what we pray over, every single team that comes down, every single team member is that every single person who comes on our trip leaves more in love with Jesus Christ and more ready to go home and serve other people. And so I know that I have been on mission trips where I am planning coffee beans. One day I'm de Laing one day, I'm doing a VBS in a language I don't speak. And I think God is amazing. And he can use all of those things for his glory and the kingdom, but there is something really beautiful about our mission trips in the way that you get to come down and in just three days, build a house and gift it to that family.

And this is a family you've been, you've gotten a video on, you've gotten their, you know, information on them about their job, their salaries, their family, what their prayer requests are. So you're getting to really pray over that family. You're raising funds for that family to give them the truly the greatest earthly gift that they will ever get. And so when you get to come down and do that, and on the final day, you get to celebrate that all that you've done for that family and get to see the impact you have on that family. Um, the way God works is he has wired us intrinsically just to do good works and has set these things up for us. Andwhenever whenever we get to be a part of that and live that out. And, you know, we provide that low barrier of like, come fulfill the great commission with us.

You don't have to know a language. You don't have to have evangelism training. You just have to be willing to serve, serve God and come and love on this family. With us. It does really something special in the hearts of people that come and work with us. And so in our staff meeting this morning, we are even just talking about some guy who wasn't really involved in his church back home, but heard about our mission trip and wanted. He said, that's something tangible that I feel like would be a good thing to do. He came on our trip and since then he's been serving in their local church and is, you know, lit that fire in him for the gospel and what it really means. And I know it was my first mission trip when I was 14, my home church loaded up vans and drove me 24 hours across the country from Illinois down to the border and crossed into Mexico.

And so for me, it shifted that first time ever seeing poverty and all that does in someone's heart. But also I was raised in a really great Bible, believing family and church camp and Christian school. And with parents who read the Bible to me every night. So by age 14, I really did have a grasp on what the gospel meant, but getting to live it out in a way that was like, you know, when I was home, it was okay. Be nice to kids at school, obey your parents, which is all well and good. But then you look at the gospel and you're like, it's so much more than just being nice. Like I know it's more than that. And so I feel like this trip gives people that opportunity to really live out the gospel and realize that God has kingdom work for them too. And there's a role that he has for them, whether that is abroad or back home, but gives them that kind of perspective shift to realize they have a role.

I don't think you can go on a mission trip and not be changed by it. And I think it's hopefully not all the more impact, uh, the younger the person is perhaps, uh, what are the age groups that you take on these mission? Uh, trips?

Yeah, so we allow anyone ages 12 and up to be considered a builder. And so we are happy to have youth groups come down. We have college groups, school groups, and then we have, um, older crowds that come down with us. We have men's groups, we've even had a women's group that was led by one of our female staff members. She led the build that week. We had all females come down to build that week. And I can only imagine what that Dominican family thought that week. Having this group of girls build them a house from starts to finish in three days and pour their love out on them and their family. Um, so we really are a mission trip for everyone. If you aren't quite as able bodied, you're welcome to come down and just minister to the family and community and hang out as we serve that family for the week. And we do allow younger kids to come on our trips as well. We just ask that parents keep in mind, you are bringing them into a third world country and it is a construction site. So just keep them safe. And that we understand that that's something that a lot of families want to instill in their kids from a young age.

So we're speaking with, uh, miss Cura, Richeson of Casa support, Christo. And, um, do you have a website where people can go and learn more about these mission trips?

Yeah. So if you are looking for a way to get involved, you can go to Casa, poor Christo, which is Spanish for houses, for Christ. So you can also just Google that and type in mission trips. You will find us on there, but it's Casas for christo.org. And there are a few different ways you can get involved if you are in ministry. If you're thinking about bringing a possible group down, we would love to have you join us on one of our free scouting trips. You can, we have our, our email addresses on the website and you can email someone for more information on our free scouting trips. And I will most likely, oh, sorry. That shuts off. Um, I will most likely be the one who reaches out to you to get you more information, but we have a free scouting trip. And each of our locations where up to three people per potential group could come down, check out our ministry, build a house with us for a week, meet our pastor's committee, meet the family you're building for, and just get a big, bigger view of like what our ministry looks like and what it would look like for you to partner with us.

We also have, um, group trips where you could just sign up your group and that is you would need to bring 15 to 20 people down to work with us. And we have times throughout the year where you can just hop online and schedule that out. We also have individual trips, those are preset trips. So if you're just looking for a mission trip for yourself or your family, and you just wanna go online and sign up for those dates that already exist, we are happy to have you on one of those trips. And then we also have internships and our intern manager is awesome. He is, um, the most pastoral of us on staff. And he does a really great job, not just, um, giving interns an opportunity to come, what we say, serve your guts out all summer, cuz they do come down and build week after week and get to know these families. But it's also a great leadership development tool as they will get to, you know, lead devotions and love on our teams that come down and love on the families and get to have a lot of fun with us. So those are kind of the basic steps of if y'all would like to partner with us. Those are some great ways to get involved.

We'll come back. Toura in just a moment. But first I'd like to, uh, tell our listeners that, uh, this program that you're listening to Elm Houston has been on the air since 2007 originating from Houston, Texas. We're a nonprofit Christian radio and media organization with a 5 0 1 C three designation from the IRS. So if you donate to us, you know, that your, uh, gifts go far in, uh, helping us secure airtime on the radio. Uh, all of our on the air hosts are volunteers and uh, we'd point you also to our website, Elm houston.org. There, you can find out more information about us donate online or jump to our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. Uh, you may write us at Elm Houston at PO box 5 68, Cypress Texas 7 7 4 1. Oh, coming back to you Kura, can you talk a little bit about the, uh, the different denominations that you work with in a sense of Christian unity?

Yeah. So one of my favorite things about our organization is that we are not picky about that. We have on our pastor's committee committee, we have people from all different denominational backgrounds. We have teams from pretty much every denominal denominational background that you can think of as well. And even on our staff here, we have a lot of different denominations represented. And I love that. I think this last few years, especially you can see how many things Christians even just fight over and these doctrinal issues and political issues. And so this really is an opportunity to focus on what unites us, which is loving Jesus, loving others and serving others. And so our ministry works in a beautiful way and I think I get to lead our scouting trips, which I love getting to do. So all those people who come down and check out our ministry for the first time, we typically have people from different denominations on those.

And they also get to meet our local pastors committee. And every time that's what they say is one of their favorite things is they can't believe how well these people work together. And it's whenever you focus on those things that are the main things in our faith that unite us, it just is a beautiful thing. And the Bible is clear. Jesus says himself, like they will know you because of your unity. And so that's something that I get to see played out in this ministry all the time. And I just love that we don't sit around and argue about silly things and we just focus on doing the work God has called us to do

Well after COVID and people being forced into, uh, lockdown situations. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, I think it's so very healthy that, uh, we're able to get out once again and help others and, uh, really demonstrate what this calling is to be a Christian to touch other people's lives. Give us your website. Uh, once again,

It is Kaas for Christo C a S a S P O R C R I S T o.org.

And I think I saw that you have, uh, some YouTube presence also, is that right?

Yeah. We have a lot of videos, um, on our YouTube for just different promotional videos for our ministry, for each of our locations where you can kind of get a better idea of where you'll be going. We also have a lot of our family videos on there of families introducing themselves to us and staff videos, devotional videos, all kinds of stuff on our YouTube page. Just sharing stories from our ministry, including even you can watch our build process from, you know, beginning to end and those quick videos that go through it and all kinds of great marketing materials that our team does.

Well. The gospel of Jesus Christ is so wonderful in that. Uh, we have been saved from our sins, um, by our Lord's goodness, uh, so that we are now equipped as fully forgiven people to, um, worry about the salvation of others and, and do these good work such as what you are doing on the scene on the ground. In so many countries, uh, building homes, building shelters in the hundreds for, uh, needy families, uh, and pointing their eyes to Christ is, uh, is a wonderful, wonderful thing to do. So how long have you been with this organization?

Um, so I've been with this organization for two years now. I came on ride as COVID started.

And how did that, uh, change the way that you do ministry?

Um, it definitely changed for us. Unfortunately, COVID hit during our spring break season, which is typically our biggest season. So we were scheduled, um, March, 2020 that kind of spring break season to build 80 houses. And we had lots of people canceling last minute, of course, and rightfully so, everything was up in the air. And unfortunately our, we had already delivered a lot of our materials to families who were supposed to be getting houses in that next week. And so the most heartbreaking thing of COVID was our staff had to go back recollec those materials, which really, as soon as you give that family, the materials to their house, they bring so much hope. So we were having to go in and take those back. And so we started what we called our hope restored campaign, where people and ministries and churches could go ahead and donate the funds that they normally came down and used for their trips, for the houses to be built.

And so us as a staff, as a ministry and including our, um, local volunteers and locals that we were hiring to do these homes, we went ahead and throughout 2020, we're still able to build, um, we got close, I think like one eighty, a hundred eighty homes that year. So not as many as we were hoping, but still we just feel, felt so blessed to be able to continue doing ministry throughout that season. I know a lot of short term mission trip agencies had a lot, um, a lot harder time recovering from COVID than we had. So we felt very blessed. And then one thing that we were lucky with, um, being on the border, they really can't shut down, travel on the border. There are so many people that cross daily, especially here in El Paso and Warez, and because we are considered essential because we provide housing, we have been able to cross back and forth easily, um, ever since this started.

And so even June, 2020, that's when we had our first team back down on the border. And since then we've had teams back to Guatemala and the Dominican as well. And Nicaragua is our one location that is still closed. So all of you praying people out there, if you'll be praying for that location, we are determined to get back there. We just think that sometimes God calls us to hard things and we aren't quitters <laugh>. And so Nicaragua is the second most impoverished country throughout the Americas, right after Haiti. And so they are our neediest location and we are hoping to get back there, here before long. So just be praying for that location.

That sounds like a good thing to pray for. Well, we've been speaking with, uh, CURO Richardson of, um, Casa per Christo and, uh, Cura. We pray that, uh, your success, uh, builds and grows and uh, many more people come to a knowledge, a saving knowledge of, uh, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Join us again real soon for another edition of engaging truth. Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to this broadcast of engaging truth. Be sure to join us each week at this time to help support our ministry contact evangelical life ministries, post office box 5 6 8, Cypress Texas 7 7 4 1 0. Or visit our website@elmhouston.org, or find us on Facebook at evangelical life ministries. Thank you.

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