English
Korean
Spanish
CORPUS CHRISTI—Ronaldo Morales had a vision of winning his old neighborhood to Jesus Christ and spiritually revitalizing the inner city of Corpus Christi. Bill Simmons, Morales’ mentor and pastor of River Hills Baptist Church of Robstown, shared that dream. River Hills at Oak Park, which held its first service 15 months ago, is the result.
“The area we are reaching has the highest crime rate in Corpus Christi,” Morales said in describing the location and challenge facing the church he now pastors. “There are a lot of single moms, drugs, prostitution. You can see the ladies walking up and down [nearby] Leopard Street. Some have started coming closer to our church. We have led a few to Christ already. The need is great.”
Ronnie Morales should know. He grew up in the barrio in Corpus Christi. Drugs and alcohol were commonplace. “Alcohol killed both my father and grandfather,” Morales said. “I got into drugs at a very young age. By 16, I was a full-fledged drug addict and alcoholic.” Morales’ mother, forced to work long hours to make ends meet, could not provide the structure and discipline Morales and his siblings required.
Things got so bad that Morales’ mother had him admitted to a psychiatric ward at the age of 24. “I was suicidal, an addict, an alcoholic,” Morales said. “I was lost.”
Today, his mother sits on the front pew at River Hills at Oak Park. “I am now her pastor,” said Morales, living testimony of a life radically changed by Jesus Christ.
He had spent six years in Alcoholics Anonymous when Chuck Brush found Morales on the corner of Josephine and Nueces streets and placed a gospel tract in his hands. A few weeks later while reading Scripture, Morales realized God was telling him he was “lost.” He knelt by his bed and prayed: “Jesus, if you don’t save me, I’m not going to make it.”
“Right there I got born again into God’s family,” Morales said. “October 12, 1991, in my bedroom, I was born again and have never been the same. I stuffed gospel tracts in my pocket and went out to win the world.”
Morales served in two different churches before starting the new work that would become River Hills at Oak Park. “We started a Bible study in a house with 12 or 13 people,” Morales recalled. Corpus Christi Baptist Association Executive Director Anson Nash provided office space for the church.
“We were winning people to Christ and people were coming to the church,” Morales remembered. “Before we knew it, we were about 40.” The group conducted baptisms at River Hills Baptist Church of Robstown where Morales was ordained.
The Robstown pastor wanted to help Morales find a permanent location for the growing church. Simmons had long been concerned about the inner city of Corpus Christi and the decline in the evangelical church there. Many churches in the inner city were “dying or dead,” Simmons said. “I believe that instead of losing everything that a lot of people had sacrificed to build, we need to do what we can to put life into some of those churches,” he added.
West Heights Baptist Church was such a church in decline. The aging congregation numbered around a dozen when interim pastor Ron Watson told Simmons of the church’s circumstances. Simmons and Watson started meeting with West Heights members to discuss their options.
Harvey Kneisel was brought in to help. The former missions pastor of First Baptist Houston and author of “New Life for Declining Churches,” Kneisel had extensive experience assisting in the revitalization of inner city churches in Houston and elsewhere.
“Harvey had been a pastor in Corpus, and he had been our director of missions [at River Hills], so the people at West Heights trusted him, too,” Simmons said.
As Kneisel guided the transition, West Heights deeded its property to River Hills of Robstown. A governance committee with representatives from West Heights, River Hills Robstown, and Morales’ group was formed, overseen by a chairman from River Hills Robstown. The governance committee makes major decisions relevant to River Hills at Oak Park and will continue to do so for the immediate future.
“It has worked really well,” Simmons said. The goal is to eventually transition River Hills at Oak Park into an autonomous church.
In the early days of negotiations with West Heights, Simmons thought of Morales as the ideal candidate to revitalize the inner city church. “He is the perfect guy for this,” Simmons declared. “We put him in as the pastor of River Hills at Oak Park. He won the hearts of those older Anglo people already there. They love him. Ronnie is a real soul winner.”
Indeed, many former West Heights members have remained at the new congregation, including a 99-year-old woman.
“Brother Bill called and told me there was a church about to shut its doors, and we want to get the building for you guys,” Morales recalled. The property includes a well maintained fellowship hall, sanctuary seating 240, education building and parsonage where Morales and his wife Minnie live.
Morales is bi-vocational. He hopes to retire from his job in robotics at the Corpus Christi Army Depot in seven years and devote himself full-time to the work at River Hills at Oak Park. He receives a gas allowance and lives in the parsonage. He gets off work at 2:30 each afternoon, affording him time to prepare messages, counsel folks, visit, and otherwise fulfill pastoral responsibilities.
River Hills at Oak Park (RHOP) was a busy place even before the initial service was held on Oct. 23, 2011. When the facilities were first acquired, Morales led groups of members on weekly prayer walks, pausing at each corner of each building, eventually praying at street corners of the neighborhood. “Then we started saturating the place with the gospel. People would come out and sit on their porches and wait for us,” Morales said. Some would ask for prayer.
“We have to gain their trust,” he added. “We try to befriend the people.” This may mean mowing yards or bringing gifts to church visitors. Insecurity is an issue for newcomers to church, Morales noted. “We do whatever we can to help these people feel loved.”
Morales said discipleship is critical. New believers must be grounded, taught the “ABCs of Christianity.” RHOP sends members into homes to teach the book of John to neighborhood folks who are interested but hesitant to attend church.
“We do this every opportunity we get,” said Morales, who noted that at least six people discipled in the neighborhood have followed the Lord in believer’s baptism and become part of the church.
Indeed, since River Hills at Oak Park opened its doors, he has baptized more than 25 new believers. Their numbers are increasing weekly.
A family atmosphere pervades the church. Special activities for seniors are scheduled regularly. Monthly family nights in the fellowship hall attract crowds of 60 or more for games and fellowship. “There is a spirit of unity within the people. I let them know that if we continue to love each other, we are going to be a threat here in the community in regards to winning the community for the cause of Christ. There is something about the concept of loving each other,” Morales stated.
The church prays regularly together, including intercession for other area pastors and churches. Morales also meets regularly and works closely with the half dozen or so other pastors with churches in the inner city.
Mike Molina works with the RHOP youth. He was able to take 26 kids from River Hills and other inner city churches to a youth camp last summer where the group saw seven professions of faith. River Hills Robstown provided vans for transportation and contributed $4,500 to the camp outreach effort.
Morales praises the continued assistance offered by Simmons and River Hills Robstown. The parent church prints RHOP’s bulletins and otherwise provides invaluable help. River Hills Robstown members are also engaged in the community, mentoring students in inner city elementary and middle schools, with the blessing of the Corpus Christi ISD.
Through his ongoing friendships with SBTC pastors like Simmons, Mike Lujan, Roland DeLeon and others, Morales gains advice and counsel.
The Corpus Christi Baptist Association also provides many resources including printing materials for the “Blessed Bags,” which the church hopes to deliver to people in hospital waiting rooms and at bus stops. The “Blessed Bags” contain small bottled waters, packaged snacks, gospel tracts and faith
outlines.
“Right now, I am only thinking six months ahead,” quipped Morales when asked about the church’s future plans. A couples’ Sunday School class is in the offing. The recently started children’s church runs around 20 kids. Each week, 90 or more attend services. Baptisms abound.
There is even a vibrant women’s ministry known as Women Seeking God led by Minnie Morales with the assistance of Minga Valadez. “I don’t know where I’d be without that lady. She is a blessing,” Morales said of his wife.
God is changing lives in inner city Corpus Christi. One example: Noami, whose husband died tragically and her son was in prison.
Morales knocked on Noami’s door in an area trailer park, accompanied by another believer. “God had cultivated her heart like you wouldn’t believe,” Morales said. She trusted Christ and was baptized. At a recent women’s meeting, Noami even helped Minnie put on the skit.
“There is a lot of hurt and pain in the area where we are at. God has placed us there and that is where we are going to stay and we are going to reach that community,” Morales emphasized.
Simmons added, “I believe that churches need to make an impact on the community in such a way that people not only know they are there, but they would notice if they weren’t there. Ronnie is making that kind of immediate impact.”
“If Jesus changes people, Jesus ought to change that neighborhood. I believe he can,” Simmons said.
Ronnie and Minnie Morales and the congregation of River Hills at Oak Park said they believe he will.
