Big Bend Director of Missions serves Mexico border towns through medical clinics with River Ministry

Before Gary Lamar, director of missions (DOM) for the Big Bend Baptist Association, knew he was involved in River Ministry, he was a missionary along the Rio Grande River with the association, as they have been “working across the border for many years,” ministering to 14 Mexico churches by caring for their medical needs. 

He said Mario Gonzalez, director of River Ministry/Mexico Missions at Texas Baptists, heard of the work he was doing along the border and in Mexico with the association and recruited him to be a part of the River Ministry team. 

“[Gonzalez] called me up and he said, ‘Gary, what would you think about being our representative on the river out there?’” said Lamar. “I said, ‘Man, I really don't have time, possibly, to do this because I’m so involved in these churches in Mexico and Texas and on the border.’ And he said, ‘Well, Gary, that's what this River Ministry is... you're basically already doing a lot of this work.”

Lamar accepted Gonzalez’s invitation to join the River Ministry team. 

Texas Baptists’ River Ministry connects churches to specific projects along the Texas/Mexico border and in the most populous Mexican cities. The specific projects and areas of ministry include medical clinics, counseling sessions, events to help various family needs, outreach, VBS and social events.

Gonzalez said Lamar’s “contagious spirit motivates us to continue working to extend the kingdom of God to Big Bend and the border.”

“Brother Lamar joining the Rio ministry has been a blessing. Every month, he organizes medical clinics to support the churches in Ojinaga, a border town, where they express that they have felt more supported by the BGCT,” said Gonzalez.

Lamar said since taking the DOM position at the association in June 2024, this year has been “a wonderful, glorious busy” one, and he looks forward to the completion of the association’s dormitory to house missionaries traveling to Mexico to serve in River Ministry’s medical clinics. 

The dormitory is a renovated building located on one of Big Bend Baptist Association’s border churches’ campuses in Presidio, Texas. Once the renovations are finished, Lamar said it will have the capacity to house up to 30 missionaries and will help doctors and medical teams cross the border safely and efficiently. 

“This dormitory in Presidio is going to help us on the river so much, [especially] when people want to come down and help out,” said Lamar. “Their biggest expense a lot of times is a place to stay and… if we can have that, the Lord's work can really prosper, I believe, on the river down here.” 

Caring for border towns physically and spiritually

Lamar said every two or three months, a team of missionaries and medical professionals travel across the border to host churches who provide their buildings as a space for medical clinics. 

The medical teams consist of a doctor, a psychologist, two nurses, two missionaries willing to set up and convert the space into a medical clinic, then tear it down afterward and two missionaries who get patients signed up for their appointments.

As patients enter the clinic, they are “greeted with gospel” before they sign in for their appointment. 

“When they first enter the [waiting] room, they are, for the most part, greeted either by the pastor or another brother or sister and a table… with Bibles on it and tracks,” explained Lamar. “When they leave, we give them a Bible, we give them tracks… and we like to invite them to the next morning's [church service].” 

He said that the clinics being held on Friday and Saturday is “a big deal” because the team is able to invite the patients back to that same church that hosted the clinic for Sunday worship. 

“You would be surprised how many show up to church [the next morning],” said Lamar. 

At the conclusion of each appointment, a missionary has the opportunity to pray over the patient. 

Lamar’s first medical clinic with River Ministry was held in Templo Bautista Getsemani (Getsemani Baptist Church) in Ojinaga, Mexico, in March, where he and his team had “61 appointments in a day and a half.” He said one patient left an impact on him. 

At the conclusion of this patient’s appointment, Lamar was asked to pray over him, and “he was so thankful.” But what caught Lamar’s attention was that he didn’t leave, but “sitting down and just relax[ing]” in the waiting room “maybe three and a half, four hours later.” 

“[I wondered], ‘Why is this man still in here?’... I'm assuming he felt like he was in a place of peace and a place of comfort and a refuge away from outside of that church,” said Lamar. 

Throughout the weekend, he said he started to notice that other patients were doing the same. 

“When [patients] came into that church to get medical attention, I guess the average stay [was] at least 45 minutes or an hour–when they weren't even at the doctor–up to three, three and a half hours because they felt so at peace being in that place with the love that was shown to them in both the Word of God being spoken to them, the prayer for them, as well as the service to them,” explained Lamar. “Then, of course, the gift for them of medicine and the hope of eternal life through Jesus, [and] the hope of a better life with the gift of medicine.”

Medication is prescribed and administered to patients by Victor Hugo Castillo, a River Ministry missionary in McAllen and doctor who is “licensed in Mexico.” 

Lamar returned with other River Ministry missionaries to operate the medical clinics again in May. The next trip is scheduled for August. 

Lamar said each trip, the medical teams “try to [visit] 3 or 4” different churches. 

Trusting God in uncertainty

He said “River Ministry is a great ministry because you are able to reach people for Christ, some of which are in the most trying times in their lives,” but it also grows “your relationship with Jesus.”  

Serving as a River Ministry missionary has grown his faith by having to trust in God to do the work, he said. 

“There is so much to do and so much uncertainty, and you’re just flying by the seat of your pants and you just have faith that ‘Okay, this can work out, and it's gonna happen and we put it in your hands, Lord… we hope that we can fulfill your purpose here,’” said Lamar. 

He said the medical clinics are “just a wonderful, spirit-filled place,” and his faith has been sharpened by the kindness of the people he gets to serve. 

“My personal faith has grown every time I [work] with the pastors across the river… Every time that I think that we're going to go down there and these [patients] are going to get so much from, but we end up, and I personally end up, growing in my faith because of the gift that they give me without even knowing it– in their kindness,” said Lamar. 

He said the people he gets to serve through the medical clinics “go back out and spread the word” after they are treated. 

“The people that you actually take care of are your biggest market. They do all your marketing for you. You don't have to do anything [except] show them [Jesus’] love,” said Lamar. “[So], the Lord can use you to reach so many people in this ministry, both national and international.” 

Lamar said “there is a great need for river ministry.” He encouraged anyone interested in serving with River Ministry to not be afraid to contact a River Ministry missionary for more information or schedule a trip to serve on the River to be hands-on and learn “what it takes to minister on this river on both sides.” 

“[River Ministry is important because it] gives someone an opportunity to go in and learn the real culture and [adversities] of these people and make a roadmap on how to reach them [for] Jesus Christ,” said Lamar. 

Lamar asks for prayer for funds to be able to provide meals and housing for the medical teams and River Ministry missionaries, medicine to provide the clinic patients and a large vehicle to transport teams and supplies to the churches. 

To learn more about River Ministry, visit txb.org/riverministry.