Article on local Baptists: "None is more dangerous than Laredo"

Chuy & Maria Avila speak to a resident of a colonia near Laredo, Texas

An article appearing on a Baptist website cites the good work that a husband and wife ministering team are doing in Laredo. It explains how they plan to open at least 10 new Baptist churches a year,  of all sorts and sizes, in the Gateway City. On the negative side, the article starts by failing to show a clear distinction between the danger of Nuevo Laredo and that of Laredo.

From the Florida Baptist Witness

Amidst violence & bloodshed, Avilas share Gospel, one family at a time

Mar 15, 2011 By STAFF

LAREDO, Texas (NAMB)—Among all the hundreds of places North American Mission Board church planting missionaries work and minister across the United States and Canada, none is more dangerous than Laredo in south Texas, where Chuy and Maria Avila live and serve.
Laredo—with a population of 300,000 in the city proper—sits on the north bank of the Rio Grande, right across the river from Nuevo Laredo in Mexico. The Laredo-Nuevo Laredo metro area has a combined population of more than 700,000 American and Mexican citizens. It’s a mecca of cold-blooded murder, drugs and chaos.

Chuy, 48, and Maria—jointly sponsored by NAMB and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention—are two of more than 5,000 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American Missions. They are among the missionaries featured as part of the annual Week of Prayer, March 6-13, 2011. With a theme of “Start Here,” the 2011 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $70 million, 100 percent of which benefits missionaries like the Avilas.

“Laredo is a dangerous place to minister,” says Avila. “I need prayers and support from my Christian brothers and sisters.”

http://www.gofbw.com/news.asp?ID=12676&page=1

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