Brad and Linda Berg attended Minnesota Bible College.  Brad graduated in 1973 with an Associates of Arts degree. They were married later that year and settled down in southwest Minnesota as farmers.  Throughout the years, Brad has worked as a dairy and grain farmer, a maintenance mechanic and owned his own construction and remodeling business, The Renovator.

They have been active members of the Pleasant Grove Church of Christ in Stewartville, MN; Central Christian Church in Rockford, IL; First Christian Church in Del Rio, TX; and are now members of the Church of Christ in Brackettville, TX.  They have served in various capacities as Sunday School teachers, VBS teachers, Youth Sponsors, Bible Bowl coach, Librarian, members of various committees, and Mission Committee Chairman.  It was through Brad's experience as Mission Chairman and the short-term mission work in Mexico since 1990 that the Berg's became interested in moving to the border and working full time.  They worked with MBC Ministries, Inc., from 1997 to 2001 and began work as Rio Bravo Christian Ministries, Inc. on January 1, 2001.

They have six children:  Kynda, married to Scott Nelson.  They live in Oregon, IL and have three sons, Jericho, Canaan and Micah and are anticipating the arrival of another little one in November of 2007.    Kelly,  her husband, Jesse Crawford, make their home in Ft. Smith, AR.  They have three daughters, LanaeLee, Kaiya and Sadie  and a son, Isaiah.  Kasey  is married to Isaias Garcia.  They live in Murfreesboro, TN with their sons, Jacob and Jared, and daughters, Adela and Amelia.    Kandis,  is married to Kenny Moss.  They live in liberty TN, have two  sons, Bralin and Kenson and are expecting another child in February of 2008.   Kami,  was married on March 31, 2006 to Ryan Beavers, they also live in Tennessee in the Nashville area. Their first child is due in September of this year.   Kaden,  the only son of Brad and Linda resides at home with dad and mom in Quemado and is active in the Brackettville church as well as assists with the ministry in Mexico. 

 Congratulations to Kaden Berg who completed his high school studies this past year.  He will be graduating with his class next year and going on to attend Central Christian College of the Bible. 

Todd and Sandra Tate are not strangers to Mexico.  When Todd was four years old, he moved from Illinois with his parents, Lowell and Brenda Tate, as they began work with a  new mission work in Mexico.  Sandra is a native of Mexico and has a strong family heritage in Christianity.

After completing high school studies, Todd attended Lincoln Christian College.  During that time, he married Sandra and she moved to Illinois to be with him as he attended school.  They later returned to Mexico to work with the Sandia Chico Christian Mission, a mission established by Todd's parents, and assisted by Todd and his brother, Tim.

In recent years, Todd has worked with us on occasion, assisting with Pan de Vida  camp and with the C.I.Y. short-term mission teams.  After some discussion and much prayer, the decision was made to ask Todd and his family to join with us in the work of Rio Bravo Christian Ministries.  Todd and Sandra began their work with Rio Bravo Christian Ministries in July of 2005.

Todd and Sandra have two daughters, Brenda,  who recently graduated and is named for her paternal grandmother, and Sandy, who is in eleventh  grade  at the Brackettville, TX high school.

We have known Todd and Sandra and family for the past six years.  We share their love for the Lord.  We have witnessed Todd's gift to tpreach, teach and minister to others.  We see Sandra's firm conviction and sweet, gentle spirit and know they will be an asset to the work being done to introduce and win people to Christ along the Mexican border.

 Congratulations to Brenda Tate who graduated June 1, 2007 from Brackettville High School.  She will be attending Lincoln Christian College this fall. 

Carlos and Josefina Garcia have been working with the new church plant in the village of San Carlos since January of 2005.  They have several group and individual bible studies throughout the week, have a family focused  Pan De Vida ministry on Saturday nights complete with a supper for everyone.  They continue to visit and build relationships with those who live in San Carlos.

Carlos and Josefina have two daugthers.  Elizette, 20 and Vanessa 18.  Both graduated from  prepatory school in Piedras Negras.  Elizette and Vanessa help their parents on many occasions with the ministry effort in San Carlos.

Below is the biography given to us by Carlos Garcia in September of 2004:

"I was converted to Christ in 1982 at the Church fo Christ of netzahualcoyot in the state of Mexico.  The preacher was Manuel Garcia O.  That same year I went to study at Colegio Cristiana del Centro in San Luis Potos.  I finished my studies in 1986.  There I met my wife, Josefina Arevalo."

From Josefina:

"I became a Cristian in 1982 in Soledad (arramberri Municipality) Nuevo Leon.  The preacher Filemon Castro baptized me.  I later went to Colegio Cristiana del Centro in San Luis Potosi.  I completed my studies there in 1985.  I met my husband Carlos at college."

From Carlos:

"We married on the 24th of May of 1986, the day after graduation.  That same day we traveled to Mexico City where we stayed for one year.  Sadly, we were not involved in church full time.  But in our hearts we always had the desire and love to work in the ministry on a full-time basis.  Because of that, we put ourselves in God's hand and let Him use us where we were needed.  We sent a letter to missionaries in the Yucatan, Mexico making ourselves available to the work there.  Thanks to God and Apolinar Calderon, we were able to work in Merido, Yucatan at a church he had there.  We were there for two years.  We arrived in the Yucatan in 1987 and our oldest daughter was one month old.

During 1990, we received an invitation from Samuel Gonzalez to work with him.  All the time we worked with Samuel, it was in the same church but we worked with the youth.  But the idea had always been in our mind to start a new church.  Therefore, at the end of that year we started working on a new church.  We began working in three different colonies in Merida.  We knew God had a piece of property for us, it was loaned to the church by Sister Margarita Perera.  God opened many doors for us.  We worked with the people there for one year.  After this time we were able to buy another piece of property.  The piece of land was 10 x 50 meters, which cost us $1000 pesos.  As time went on the church grew and we began to build in the Colonia San Antonio KauaII.  This building is due to the hard work of the people there.

We worked there until August of 2004.  There were 60 people in the congregation when we left.  We had 26 youth with which we were able to form a choir.

We are thankful to God and those who have backed us in the Yucatan, and with the same desire, we now are here in San Carlos."

Carlos Garcia Caballero

  Felicidades/Congratulations to Vanessa who graduated this June from preparatory school.  Elizett is now a student at Seminario Biblico in Piedras Negras, Coah., MX 

   

Caleb and Kelly both attended Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, TN.    In May of 2005, Kelly graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Education. And later went on to get her Master’s. They were married two days later and settled down to serve the Lord in the Knoxville, TN area working mostly with the West Town Christian Church in Knoxville. Throughout their studies at Johnson, we have been in contact with them and in prayer about the possibility of them coming to serve with Rio Bravo Christian Ministries in Mexico upon completion of their studies. Caleb grew up as the son of Mexican missionaries had worked with Rio Bravo Christian Ministries two summers during his time at college as the summer inter.  In the spring of 2006, Caleb and Kelly made a commitment to move to the border and began their ministry work with Rio Bravo Christian Ministries, they arrived on January 9th of this year. 

Caleb and Kelly are Here!

The Bakers arrived from life in Tennessee in mid January with a van, a truck, a trailer and a huge water tank atop it (for life in Mexico). The first days were occupied with fulfilling all the legal requirements to “live” across the Border. They worked diligently to do some finishing touches on the apartment they would occupy until the caretaker’s home on the camp/seminar property is completed.  March 19 found them “at home” on the San Carlos property (with several guests including her father, Chuck Holsapple, and crew from Dieterich, IL who came to do some technical work on the caretaker’s house). We are so glad to welcome Caleb and Kelly Baker “home”  to Rio Bravo Christian Ministries!!

 

Daniel is a "Timothy" of Carlos Garcia and a graduate of the bible college in San Luis Potosi, MX.  Last fall Carlos requested that we invite Daniel to come and minister in San Carlos with the church plant there.  Daniel arrived in December and has been living and ministering beside Carlos and family ever since then.  He began his ministry amoung the children of the Pan de Vida but moves easily among people of all ages.  Recently, he directed the first ever week of camp at the San Carlos camp and training center.  You often see Daniel with many young people gathered around him.  His humble spirit and sweet smile is infectious!  We are blessed to have him assiting with the work in San Carlos.  BIENVENIDOS!  Daniel.