In 2014, Iglesia Tierra Nueva purchased a piece of land on a hilltop in an almost empty community in Durango, Mexico.
Eight years later, the church partnered with First Baptist Church of Spring Valley, California, for assistance while the Durango congregation met for worship services on a concrete slab between two cinder block walls under a blue tarp roof.
Generate provided assistance as well, giving the Durango church a church-planting grant. And on Sunday, March 29, 2026, the church celebrated the official dedication of its completed building.
Clare Jewell, GARBC national representative, and RJ Cabugwas, pastor of First Baptist Church, participated in the dedication service, led by Pastor Emilio Valdivia and his congregation of about 70 people. The service also featured a presentation by 25 children, who each had given money toward the building project.
Iglesia Tierra Nueva, Durango, Mexico, celebrates its launch on September 4, 2022.
Iglesia Tierra Nueva “began with a simple but powerful vision—to one day build a place for future ministry,” RJ says. “With little finances and surrounded by an almost empty community, they stepped out in faith and purchased a piece of land, trusting God for what was to come.”
Then First Baptist and Generate stepped in to help. “What once felt impossible began to take shape through unity and shared mission,” RJ says.
“As the years passed, that once-empty land became a growing community, now filled with homes and life. In the midst of it all, the church faithfully ministered—teaching children every Wednesday under the open sky, using only a simple tarp for shade. Even there, they taught about God’s creation and encouraged the children to give, no matter how small the amount.”
“They did so much with so little,” RJ continues. “And today, we rejoice because that vision has come to fruition. What started in faith has become a testimony of God’s provision. To Him alone be all the praise, honor, and glory.”
Iglesia Tierra Nueva, Durango, Mexico, dedicates its new building in a worship service March 29, 2026.
Clare Jewell says plans are already in the works to use Iglesia Tierra Nueva’s building for training pastors and church leaders to plant churches across this region of Mexico.
“God designed us and His church to collaborate, cooperate, and work together to accomplish what we could never do on our own,” Clare says. “The vision of the GARBC is to be a gospel-centered movement of interdependent churches transforming lives and communities in every region of North America. This is just one example of that vision being lived out.
“Please pray that God will inspire more churches to work together to accomplish God’s mission in a way that gives Him glory.”
