By Ashley Perham
Contributing writer, B&R
Jorge Santiago, pastor of One Church Comerio (OCC) in Puerto Rico, baptizes a new believer.
KINGSPORT — In June 2020, Betty Cress of Beulah Baptist Church in Kingsport was shocked to learn about a church in Puerto Rico that had been without water for a week.
As she learned about the instability of water in Puerto Rico, she discovered that the solution to the problem was a well.
The Women on Mission group at Beulah Baptist learned about the ministry of pastor Jorge Santiago at One Church Comerio (OCC) in Puerto Rico last summer. The women made a video of encouragement to send to Santiago and began to correspond with him.
Touched by the need of the church, Cress began a journey of following God and living out her favorite verses, Proverbs 3:5-6. Little did she know that within three months, God would use her and the Women on Mission group of Beulah Baptist Church to raise more than $20,000 to dig a well for a church 1,600 miles away.
Cress recalled that the Puerto Rico church had been without water for a week and the pastor was trying to get water hauled in so the church people could wash their clothes and take showers.”
Santiago had told Cress the church’s goal was to dig a well, and Cress thought the WOM might be able to make a donation. The WOM asked Cress to get some more information on the well. Santiago shared that the drilling cost would be $18,700.
“I thought, ‘My goodness, how in the world can I present this to our ladies group of about 10 people when our treasury has about $900?’ ” Cress said.
Members of the Beulah Baptist Church WOM gather for a photo after a recent meeting. Pictured are, from left: Lynn Rodgers, Courtney Conkin, Shelia Shaw, Shirley Lane, Marsha Davis, Jane Millsap, Tina South, Pat Lett, Beulah Baptist WMU Director; Karen Ogan, Gloria Hobbs, WOM Facilitator; Sandra Gardner, Betty Cress Not pictured are: Vivian Bradshaw, Secretary/Treasurer; Charlene Jessee, Prayer Leader; Sue Robertson, Audrey Hedgecoth, and Marilyn Slaughter.
She then had the idea to partner with the 91 churches in the Holston Baptist Association and to apply for a grant through Pure Water, Pure Love, a compassion ministry of national Woman’s Missionary Union. PWPL provides missionaries with water filters, wells and clean water.
Through direction of national WMU leaders, Beulah Baptist set a goal of $4,675, 25 percent of the well’s cost. The goal was approved by the church. After approval, 131 letters were sent out to WMU directors and pastors in the association, and others outside of Holston Baptist Association inviting them to partner in the project. The deadline was Oct. 31.
As the churches prayed about giving, Cress shared the story of One Church Comerio with BBC through bulletin inserts, video spotlights and even a Zoom interview with Santiago.
“One Church Comerio was born out of Hurricane Maria,” Santiago said. He and his family had moved to Puerto Rico to serve the Lord in 2017 as North American Mission Board church planters. That September, Hurricane Maria hit.
In the aftermath of Maria, Santiago and his wife, Rebeca, began a Bible study to meet the spiritual needs of the 20,000 people of Comerio, and in March 2018, the church was born.
“One Church Comerio started out with serving the people, with meeting the needs of the people of our community,” said Santiago.
A main ministry of the church is providing water to the community. Water is an unstable resource in Puerto Rico and service can be cut off at any time for any reason, including natural disasters such as earthquakes, the pastor said.
Back in Tennessee, Beulah’s WOM followed up their letters with phone calls. As a result, the money for the well started to pour in.
Beulah Baptist raised $7,622, including $500 out of their budget. This was $2,947 over their “hallelujah goal” of $4,675, Cress said. “It was unbelievable how the money came in.”
Southwestern Baptist Church, Johnson City, gave $4,000 in memory of Sarah Farmer, their beloved mission leader who had recently died. After Cress told Central Baptist Church, Johnson City, that the project was $2,500 short of its goal of $18,700, the church said that they would give the remainder of the money.
Churches outside the association and even individuals gave. One church member told her plumber about the well and he gave $50. “It brought such an encouragement, and it was such a blessing,” Cress said. “This project renewed our hope; it was just like a ray of sunshine to us.”
In total, $20,960 was raised with no need for the PWPL grant. Cress sent the money to Santiago in December.
Now, Santiago is waiting on permits for the drilling process. The drilling process itself should take about a week, he said.
Beulah Baptist is exploring taking a trip to Puerto Rico next year to see the fruits of their work. Cress fully expects the Lord to continue His mighty work in the planning for this (His) mission trip to become a reality.
Both Cress and Santiago described how God grew them through this miracle. “We knew that we needed a well to better serve our community and to provide for our community as well, and I know that that’s God’s plan but honestly, I didn’t know where all that was coming from,” said Santiago. “Betty was that person that God put a fire in.”
“I just kept going and moving forward because of her faith,” he said. “Because honestly, I thought that was going to be impossible.”
Cress, who describes herself as a church mouse, said the project was way outside of her comfort zone. “But we didn’t let the devil get us down and say that we can’t do this. We followed the leading of the Lord to do this, and He just worked in mighty ways using us,” she said.
“The Lord just worked all of this beyond all of my expectations that I could ever imagine,” she added.
Santiago said his prayer is that God would keep giving them opportunities to share the gospel with their community. “So many people will come to OCC looking for water, and they will find Jesus,” said Santiago. B&R
