Building bridges across borders

Puentes de Cristo takes bold action for and with the poor of South Texas and Mexico

by Emily Enders Odom | Presbyterian News Service

From left to right at Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Mexicana Brownsville: the Rev. Lemuel Garcia-Arroyo, PC(USA)’s Ministry Engagement and Support; Lety Martínez, Puentes de Cristo; and the Rev. Joel Martínez López, pastor, Primera Iglesia. (Photo by Emily Enders Odom)

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Dan Bautista once traveled the world with a pharmaceutical rep’s bag. Now all he carries is a Bible.

And a burden for the poor.

His call to care for the most vulnerable of God’s children led him to leave his position of 20 years with one of the world’s largest biomedical and pharmaceutical companies to become more actively engaged as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Bautista, who was born in Puebla, Mexico, and became a U.S. citizen by marriage to Betty G. Bautista, a native Texan, is a commissioned pastor for most of Mission Presbytery’s Hispanic congregations. He also serves as a volunteer chaplain for several area hospices and as regional contract manager for Molina Healthcare of Texas.

Dan Bautista

Because his faith — coupled with his leadership on state and federal agency task forces on labor and immigration projects — practically demanded that he work to address the scourge of systemic poverty among the poorest communities across South Texas and Mexico, Bautista recently joined the board of Puentes de Cristo, a mission project of Mission Presbytery.

Puentes de Cristo, translated as “Bridges of Christ,” was founded in 1981 by a group of pastors from the Rio Grande Valley on both the U.S. and Mexican sides of the border. The ecumenical, Christian nonprofit located in Hidalgo, Texas, focuses its health, wellness and educational ministries on the world’s poorest populations, particularly those along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Puentes is the bridge between institutions, other mission organizations and the residents of the colonias,” said Leticia G. “Lety” Martínez, its executive director. “We are their point of connection.”

The colonias, translated as neighborhoods or communities, are scattered throughout the U.S.-Mexico border region. Their residents are primarily migrants and immigrants, whose children were mostly born in the U.S.

Martínez is a ruling elder at Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Mexicana Brownsville, the oldest Hispanic Presbyterian Church in the U.S., where her husband, the Rev. Joel Martínez López, is pastor. She spent 32 years as an educator, the last 23 as director of parental involvement at Weslaco (Texas) Schools.

Upon retirement, Martínez decided to bring her many gifts and skills to the work of the church on a full-time basis. Because she was already serving as secretary of the board for Puentes when the organization’s previous director announced she was leaving, Martinez assumed that role as of May 2024.

Since then, she said the pace has been nonstop.

“Puentes is under reconstruction, both physical and missional,” she said. “Although we used to be about 95% social services, we’re now shifting to become a resource center for Christian education, establishing the center with a library and people coming from [Austin Presbyterian Theological] seminary to provide training.”

With its active board, small staff and a network of volunteers, Puentes offers a variety of educational programs and projects in the colonias and in the larger community, several of which are in cooperation with area universities.

One of their signature programs, a curriculum titled “Building a Healthy Temple,” offered in partnership with the University of Texas in San Antonio and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, provides health education in congregations and free colon cancer screening for church members without health insurance or who are underinsured. The program’s model requires that each congregation form a health care ministry team that will organize monthly health sermons and events.

Additionally, under Puentes’ colonia health programs, the organization recently partnered with the Texas A&M University Colonias Program.

“Through our new partnership, we will start providing prenatal health care for pregnant teen moms and young mothers in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties in the Rio Grande Valley,” said Martínez. “We will also offer baby showers with educational presentations and overall health care for moms and their babies.”

Puentes has also been offered collaborative support for its Christian Leadership Program, not only from Austin Seminary, but also from members of many congregations across the presbytery, including a group of church members from San Antonio who have pledged their help with construction and repairs.

Faithful presbytery and board members, like Bautista, are also out regularly preaching in the colonias.

But, through Puentes’ holistic approach — attending to people’s spiritual, physical and emotional needs — he knows that there are other ways to proclaim the good news.

“I watch as volunteers bring food and programming into the colonias, but not always prayer,” he said, “In working with Puentes, I know that we can provide help with people’s spiritual care and so much more.”