Dear Pastors, Youth Pastors, Elders, Parents and Mexico Caravan participants,

Greetings from Tijuana!

As I sit in my house here in Tijuana I have many thoughts that are racing through my head. One is that I’m truly blessed to be involved in a ministry that is committed to seeing God’s heartbeat for the lost pushed and prodded and preached.  I think of the close to 16,000 people that have been involved since Maggi and I started leading in 2003, and the ones that have gone to the mission field, or are on the way there, or the ones that have a new-found commitment to support missions as a sender.

But as I sit here, I’m also troubled.  And the reason is that many people are thinking about not coming and bringing people with them.  We are probably at 50% of where we were last year at this time as far as people coming down to Tijuana with MCM.

That is what I would like to address.  I know that the world economy has something to do with it, but I would say that 9 out of 10 groups that are wrestling with not coming are struggling because of what they’re hearing about Tijuana or Mexico as a whole.  There is violence in Tijuana just as there is all over the world.  Just think of what happened this week in Alabama and Germany (very sad).  But back to Tijuana.  I have been leading MCM for almost seven years, working and part-time living (now full-time living) and the situation of drugs and violence has never directly impacted the groups that have come.  In fact, we who work and minister and live here in Tijuana (a large city of well over 2 million people) had to be told by people in the States when this all began, and we have had to purposefully go out of our way to keep abreast of the situation.  During October, November and December, the drug-related violence was at its highest.  The crimes involved drug cartel leaders, gang members and police.  While there have been several innocent by-standers (all nationals), the lives claimed have been those of law enforcement officers and those fighting for control of the drug trafficking in the city.

Even though things were happening during those three months, we continued to have groups (some quite large) with nothing happening that would suggest any apparent danger for our groups. We taught from the word, built structures, interacted with the nationals, and ate many tacos – in peace.  I know of at least five other ministries here in Tijuana that experienced the same thing (nothing).

But now as we are in March and getting ready for summer we have had cancellations, concerns and questions because of what the media (i.e. 60 Minutes, CNN) is saying is happening here.  We find it a little odd that now, when the situation in Tijuana has radically decreased (with no drug-related deaths in February), the media would lead people to believe that to be entering Mexico is to be entering a “war zone”.  We don’t have any firsthand experience about living in Juarez or any other town in Mexico, but we do know what Tijuana is like, and we are disheartened that the media is lumping our city with other troubled cities.  My national friends feel that things are getting back to the way they were, and they are very calm and at rest here in Tijuana.

I’m not sure what motives fuel the media frenzy right now in the U.S., but I think there is quite a bit of sensationalism to much of what is being said and written.  Even the State department said if you travel here, just “use common sense”; go to areas with which you are familiar and be aware of your surroundings.  There was a statement about college students not going to Rosarito (a beach town about 30 minutes from Tijuana) for spring break, and I might tend to agree with this, because so many of them are just coming down to party and might very well find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Another concern was the U.S. Military not being allowed to come down, but again, many of them would be coming to party in areas that would not be safe.  Groups that come down to minister with MCM will not be frequenting the kinds of places nor keeping the kinds of hours that are addressed here.

Well I say all this to say, first of all, our trust must be totally on the Lord and allow His Sovereign hand to watch over us.  Also I believe we should not be negligent and that we should use wisdom in our decisions. And with that in mind I believe we, here in Tijuana, are at total freedom to have groups come down.  As a former youth pastor, senior pastor and parent I would still send my own kids and my youth department to Tijuana with total peace and rest upon our Lord.  I have made the commitment that if I ever felt that I would knowingly be putting a group in danger by allowing them to come down, I will call at once and tell them not to come.

I am always more than willing to talk to anyone about these matters.  Please don’t hesitate to call me on my cell phone (619.654.1777) or my office phone (858.309.4741) if you would like to visit with me.  Please feel free to forward a copy of this letter to any interested parties.

In His love,

Eddie Passmore, Director