Dear Praying Friends,

In this update, I’d like to share some of what has been going on in our ministry, some blessings since our last update, and some prayer requests and needs. I am very passionate about reaching Northern California with the Gospel, and doing it God’s way. I hope that you will join us in prayer.

Blessings of God’s Provision

In October of last year, the Lord provided for us to attend the Home Missions Conference at Yakima Bible Baptist Church in Yakima, WA. There, I was graciously encouraged to give an update and present a couple of needs that we had. Through the generous giving of others, including church planters and pastors, the Lord provided a vehicle that was an exact answer to our prayer, and about one-third of the need for electrical power. I’ll share more about this need in a moment. We are very grateful that God used his people to meet these needs. Outreach In November, we had a Thanksgiving-themed outreach – An Old-Fashioned Day of Thankfulness. We had several visitors, and were able to present the Gospel to some new faces. One family that came had received some of our invitations on their door, and the dad told me that he had been watching us meet in the park for over a year, but wanted to see if we would stick around before he visited. We continue to make contact with most of these visitors.

Our theme in December was giving, in this spirit of the great Gift (Jesus Christ) that we celebrate at Christmas. In conjunction with each service, we had a special outreach focused on giving. One Sunday, the Lord lead us to a homeless encampment, where we gave some baskets of food that we had prepared, along with a gospel presentation in each basket. Several were eager for prayer and we were able to visit with several of these forgotten people. One elderly man told us that he worked all his life, but his retirement barely covered food now, and he lost his house due to taxes. Now he lives in the homeless park in a tent. Some were there because of poor choices or drugs. Many were there because the fires have wiped out everything they had. Without a home, they were fired from their jobs for instability. Without a job, they lost their place on a waiting list for a home. Regardless of the reason that they got there, Jesus is the solution. Without hope that is only found in a personal walk with God, drugs and alcohol often take over, perpetuating the problem.

Around the end of the year, we as a family, and also some of the men in the church, helped an elderly couple with some much-needed repairs on their home to get them through the winter. We did this in obedience to Matthew 5:16 (“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”). The wife has a salvation testimony, and tells all she meets about the Lord. The husband, however, was raised in paganism, and was not open even to a conversation in the beginning. The last day that we were there in January, I was able to overcome some of his barriers, and pray with him. Hopefully soon, he will receive the Lord as his Saviour.

Please pray for those we visited with through these outreaches: Les, Pam, Allen, James, Philip, Pancho, Liz, Derrek, Harleen, Sarah, Aiden, Ezekiel, Clarence, Carla, Dani, Jason, Jason Jr, Shawna, Lupe, Alex, Luna, Raynna, Rose, Mindy, Treasure, Harmony, and Shane.

We have had some bad storms and flooding that has wiped out one of the mobile home parks that adjoins the park where we meet for services. Dozens had to be rescued from drowning with the flash flooding. Several moved their trailers to an area of the park to wait out the flooding. The flooding has given us the opportunity to reach out to more people, especially some we had met through previous outreaches. We also took the time to knock the doors of the trailers on Sunday, trying to encourage those affected by the flooding and look for an opportunity to share the Lord with them.

Our Needs

I am constantly amazed to see how God answers prayer in every aspect of life. I am absolutely convinced of the need in California, and am passionate about doing whatever it takes to establish well-rooted, Biblical churches here. The fact is that it is an expensive endeavor, and here are some of the most important needs that we would like to ask you pray for us about:

Electrical power – one of the great blessings that God has provided is a farm on which we live and for which we are caretakers. This presents many opportunities that cut our costs of living down tremendously, as well as give us the ability to reach out to others. And, it is the direct answer to prayer in many, many respects.

The farm is in a very rural area, and completely off-grid. This alone saves us thousands every year in power and water bills in the most expensive state in the country. However, it requires a combination of solar power and a generator. Part of the agreement of us living on the farm is that we rebuild what was destroyed by the drug dealers who lived here before us. Part of what they destroyed was the electrical setup. I have some experience in solar power, and so I am able to rebuild at a much lower cost since I can do the installation and configuration myself. We raised about one-third of this expense at the Yakima Home Missions Conference, which has allowed us to have most of the power that we need during sunny days.

At night, however, and during the long storms of winter, we require a generator. We have had some trouble with our generator, mostly due to sabotage from the aforementioned druggies who keep coming back to cause trouble. I’ve rebuilt it a number of times, but this last week it has broken down beyond repair. I have put what “band-aids” I can on it, but it desperately needs to be replaced.

Having reliable power would go a long way to accomplishing what God has called us to do here. It is also essential to my business. To complete the power projects (solar and generator), I need to raise about $8000.

Consistent income – we did not go on deputation and do not receive any regular monthly support. God has put on the heart of several individuals and churches over the last couple of years to help us from time to time; most of the time these gifts have come in when we did not know how to move forward. God is faithful.

When I moved down here, I had a ministry-related job offer which fell through when I had to take a Biblical and ethical stand (with the prayer and counsel of my sending pastor and others). I also had some long-time clients in my website, graphics, and printing business. The economy has tightened spending everywhere, and I no longer have sufficient client income.

While God has never ceased to care for us, and has made it abundantly clear that we are ministering where we need to be, I am praying that God will provide consistent income to keep going.

If you need graphics, website, or printing work, I would love to help you out. For local church ministries and bi-vocational pastors, I offer my services at steep discounts.

Safety – When we first moved onto the farm 1 ½ years ago, we helped to evict a drug trafficker. We have since done extensive cleanup (we have removed over 25 tons of garbage and destruction). The drug dealers and their clients have not gone away peacefully, and we still face regular threats and sabotage. We have lost two guard dogs, four pigs, about forty chickens, and four rabbits due to poisoning and strangulation from these guys. We have had to rebuild our solar and generator countless times and repair destroyed water lines. I have been in the hospital due to poisoning. We have had our well tampered and gas lines cut. Our brakes have been tampered with, and our vehicle has had multiple instances of cut tires and other sabotage. In the last couple of months, we have come home on three occasions to our door kicked in and every bit of food we had emptied into the middle of the living room. On two occasions, those who destroyed our water and power then called in the police and child services, telling them that we had children out here without adequate power and water (thankfully, I had just finished the repairs when they showed up to investigate and nothing came of it – Praise the Lord!)

Drugs have a strong hold in our county. The state police told me that it is the poorest county in California, and the one with the least police presence. The particular area where we live in the county is known for its manufacturing and distribution of drugs.

It is understandable why many ministries have packed up and left. Here is the reality – there is a huge, ripe mission field. Never have I been a place that is so receptive to hearing the Gospel. With prayer and God’s provision, we can make a difference in this difficult place.

Attached are some pictures of our events and outreach over the last few months.

If the Lord lays on your heart to help with some of the expenses, or if you have a graphics or website need, please contact me. You can give directly to our family, or through our church website. Please contact me for a giving link. Either way, you will receive an appropriate receipt. Most who have helped us prefer to give through an electronic link that accepts debit / credit / ach. I can provide you a link or send you to the online giving page of our church website. You can mail a check to us or our sending church if you would like, but the mail here has proven very unreliable. Thank you for praying for us!

In Christ,
Jared & Krysta Watkins
Enoch, Ezra, Ezekiel, and EdWord

EDIT:

I was asked to make it clearer how to give. If you want to give directly to our family, here is a link:

Donate to the Watkins Directly

If you want to give to us through our church for tax purposes, use this link and choose "Watkins Family Support" from the fund drop-down at the top:

Donate through Grace and Truth Baptist Church

 

Old-Fashioned Day of Thankfulness

A church work day helping an elderly couple.

Flooding

Dear Friends,

I thought that I would take a few minutes to give you a family and ministry update.

Meeting in the Park

When the Lord burdened our hearts to move to California and plant a church, we “got all of our ducks in a row” – so we thought. We had a place to meet, a place to live, and work lined out to support the ministry. Things did not work out that way, as each of those provisions had hidden “strings” attached – strings by which I could not Biblically abide.

Yet, as each of these “ducks” fell out of line, the burden that God had given us grew stronger, and the need for a Biblical church here grew more evident. I spoke with my sending pastor (Steven Harper, Grace Baptist Church in Cle Elum, WA), and we determined to continue, while seeking the Lord’s direction and provision.

These circumstances led us to search the Scriptures more, and we found again and again how that Jesus’ ministry was carried out very much in public – the seaside, the plains, the mountain – places that we might call parks. We began meeting weekly in Mill Creek Park in Los Molinos, CA, and have had the opportunity to meet and work with about two-dozen families who have shown interest in growing in the Lord with our new church. They don’t all show up at once, and some are elderly shut-ins to whom we go and visit regularly. We have been meeting as a church every week, and Grace and Truth Baptist Church became an autonomous church on September 17th, 2023 (nearly one year ago).

We have been told that if we meet in the park, the weather will shut us down. Yet, even through the rainy season, we did not get wet even once. On more than one occasion, God held off the rain until immediately after services were over.

We were told that a building is essential for a church (Jesus evidently did not know this) and that our ministry would be limited without one. Yet, we have had all sorts of opportunities to reach the folks who live in the mobile home park next door, whom we would not otherwise have met. We had the opportunity to reach a group of Hispanics who played volleyball next to us every week for several months. In spite of a language barrier, they were receptive to receiving Spanish Bibles that we gave them, and instructed their children to listen and interpret for them several times.

I believe that one day, God will give us a building. We almost had one a few times. Renting a building has proven unsuccessful, because public halls have told us that they cannot rent to a church in California because of “separation of church and state.” Privately-owned buildings that are available have also declined to rent to us, because, as they put it, they have “no desire to rent to a church.” Until God provides a building, however, we will continue to meet publicly in the park; and, so far, that has not hindered the ministry at all.

Baptism, Salvation, and Baptism

One of the advantages of meeting openly in a park, and baptizing in the nearby river, is that sometimes people end up in church without realizing it.

One of the first folks to begin attending is a man by the name of Randy. Randy grew up Greek Orthodox, but trusted Christ as his personal Saviour as a boy. While in the Army, he jumped out of an airplane with a broken parachute, and decided that it was a great time to get right with God. He survived the fall, and has spent some years recovering. He has been attending church faithfully since we began meeting.

Due to his religious background, we spent several months going through what the Bible has to say about salvation, and then baptism, to make sure that he understood the truth outside of his religious upbringing. He became convicted that he needed to be Scripturally baptized, which we did in the river near the park. That baptism allowed me to present the Gospel to several families who “just happened to be there.”

One man who was there was a friend of Randy’s. He began attending services the following week, and trusted Christ as his Saviour the week after that. His name is Marcos. As I began to work with him on the subject of salvation, and later baptism, I came to find out that Randy had already began to witness to and disciple Marcos. Unknown to me, he had been taking my material on salvation and baptism that I had shared with him, and began teaching it to Marcos outside of church services. What a blessing this was!

Marcos had planned a time to be baptized when his kids and mother could be there. However, he called me one Sunday night and told me that he had read in the Bible about the Philippian Jailer, and how that he was baptized at midnight after getting saved. He told me that as much as he wanted his kids there, it was more important to him that he obeyed the pattern of the Bible, and wanted to know if I could baptize him the following day. So, we had a service that Monday, and had some more unsuspecting visitors in church.

One young lady who was there began asking questions about salvation and baptism, almost faster than I could answer them. By the time we left there, she, her mom, her siblings, cousins, and aunt, committed to coming to services, and were inviting other strangers at the park to join them. I believe that, in time, this group will grow as folks get saved and baptized and added to our church.

 

Pray for John and Mary

Another challenge that we needed to overcome was finding a long-term place to live. As we began to pray about it, the Lord laid on our hearts the idea of a farm for many practical reasons that have to do with the cost of living in California, as well as family and ministry-related reasons. Yet, it seemed impossible. We took it to a God who does the impossible, and He opened an opportunity for us to become the caretakers of an 80-acre farm that meets all of our needs and desires. God loves to answer prayer!

One of the first times we drove up to the farm, we met a neighbor (named Mary) who greeted us by saying that they “don’t want a preacher up here.”

Soon after this, a man (named John) got a cattle-grazing lease from our landlord, to bring cattle on our property. As the caretaker for the property, it was my job to make sure that John was following his lease, which did not set well with John. John began stealing from my landlord, and invited me to help him. I refused, which started a bit of a war. John was removed from the property, and he sued us (and lost on all counts). In retaliation, he has caused a lot of grief – from sabotaging the property, to poisoning our well tank, to vandalizing our vehicle, and more.

John and Mary became good friends, with a united vision of seeing us move off the land. Mary let John move onto her property, which gives him practical access to ours (not legally). We are praying for the salvation of John and Mary’s souls, which is the real solution to the problem. Please pray with us for this, and for the protection of our family and farm.

Laborers, Not Leaches

Jesus prayed for laborers. There are so many ministry opportunities here in California for whoever God will call, if they will determine to be laborers, and not leaches.

Dozens of churches have packed up and left California for various reasons (some economical, some political, etc.). Others have “given up” and gone in an unBiblical direction in order to draw a crowd and pay the bills. As a result, there is more ministry here than we can ever accomplish on our own.

Regularly, I have people seeking me out concerning Biblical and spiritual needs. One man came up to me in a park where I had taken my family for a picnic. Even though that is not the park where we meet, he said that we looked like ‘church people’ and that we might be able to help him. He told me how that he had trusted Christ as His Saviour, but the church that led him to the Lord had packed up and left, and he wanted to know if I knew where a church that used the King James Bible could be found. I could tell you story after story like this.

The job of planting a church in California will not be accomplished with college text-book solutions. I have been told that “if you are not running 200 or more in 6 months or less, then God hasn’t really called you there.” This won’t work for the small farm towns where God has called us.

This is one of many reasons that we did not go on deputation before coming here. To spend 2 or 4 years on deputation to get 2 or 4 years of support will net us nothing, when what is necessary is to put down roots, work, struggle, and pray with people on level ground with them, and build long-term relationships with folks who will eventually listen to the Gospel.

We have been convinced over and over that God will provide. He has directed some to support our work here from time to time, for which we are grateful. We have many needs and goals, but the same Lord Who instructed us to pray for our daily bread, delights in daily meeting our needs if we but ask.

If you know anyone who needs graphics or website work, please pass my name along, as we use such work to support our ministry. More importantly, please pray with us that souls will be tender to hearing the Gospel, and that God will raise up obedient laborers to reach the many spiritual needs that surround us.

In Christ,
Jared & Krysta Watkins
Enoch, Ezra, Ezekiel, and EdWord

 

 

Good Morning, Praying Friends,

I wanted to take a moment to update you on our current situation here in California.

What Was…

When the Lord first burdened our heart for the Los Molinos, CA, area last September, we sought the Lord for a plan and prepared to move down as soon as possible. Our burden is great because we have seen the need here. Many good churches of years gone by have packed up and left or else gone in a non-Biblical direction, leaving a very thirsty people with few options for Biblical, Spiritual nourishment.

We were presented with an opportunity to work for another Baptist ministry, and have an apartment to live in and a building to use to start the church. Our plan was to take several months to establish ourselves as a family, get finances stabilized between the job and my graphics business, and then begin to plant the church. We moved down to Los Molinos with our ducks seemingly in a row. However, after we moved down, we were informed that their funding had dried up for the job. Over the next few months, we realized that, while everything looked great on paper, there were some differences in doctrine, practice, and general character that would keep us from working together. We were able to use the apartment until the end of June, when we parted ways for good.

What Is…

Not having a place to meet or live has presented its own set of challenges that have given us the opportunity to trust the Lord in a greater way on a daily basis. In the several months since we have moved down to Los Molinos, we have been welcomed into the community in a very special way. Just in trying to be a blessing, we have been welcomed into many homes, and have been able to share the gospel with many needy people without even attempting to plant the church yet. We have been able to minister to about fifteen families who have said that they will be there when the church opens, and are thirsting for a church.

Because of these kind folks who want and need a church, it has put a ‘burr under our saddle’ to find a way to make this happen, with God’s help. We found a temporary place to stay in a nearby town, and have opened an office for my graphics / web business also. Every week, at our sending pastor’s recommendation, we meet with whoever wants to hear the Gospel, normally at a local park.

What Is To Come…

Please pray that God will provide for

• Permanent housing for us
• A place for a church to meet when started
• Stabilization of our finances to be able to continue moving forward
• Most importantly, the folks here who have graciously allowed us into their homes with God’s Word. Among them, here are some specific prayer requests:
  • Elizabeth and her husband, both in their upper seventies, and both of whom fight cancer. She has a clear testimony of salvation and has been praying for a church to help her win her neighbors. Her husband is not saved and is playing around with superstition and witchcraft from his old country (Mexico) in hopes of curing his cancer. Please pray for his salvation.
  • Rose, and her family, who have asked a lot of questions concerning salvation, and are hoping for the church to be started soon. They are trying to find the answers to mend a broken home.
  • Bertha, a lady in her eighties who has been through some terrible tragedies. She is currently battling cancer and lupus, and meets with us. She has a testimony of being saved and baptized in an independent Baptist Church several years ago. Despite the tragedies that have taken nearly everything from her, she has a sweet spirit and seeks a Biblical church.
  • There are several other families who have only ever known Catholicism, but are very welcoming and thirsty for the truth. There are others who were part of other independent Baptist Churches of years gone by, that have been left without direction since their churches disappeared. There are about twenty towns in a 30-mile radius here that have no Gospel-preaching church any more.

It is my conviction and burden that light is most effective in the darkness. We were given a Great Commission to reach the World with the Gospel. It may be convenient or safe to move to a place that is more accepting of a Biblical worldview or more politically- or family-friendly, but those Christians who have moved on have left a needy gap behind. If God will graciously allow us to stay here, we hope and pray that we can fill that gap with a lighthouse that can point people to Christ.

In Christ’s Love,

Jared & Krysta Watkins
Enoch, Ezra, Ezekiel & EdWord

 

Sending Church: Grace Baptist Church, PO Box 231, Cle Elum, WA 98922 - Pastor Steven Harper