Teen's Idea to Feed Pumpkin Pickers Now Brings Spanish Preaching to 250 Illinois Farmworkers
Five years after it began on one Pinckneyville farm, Food to Field Migrant Ministry pairs downstate Baptist cooks with Chicago Hispanic pastors during the pumpkin harvest.
See where this is ›PINCKNEYVILLE, Ill. —
A ministry that began with supper for about 80 men picking pumpkins on Leon Adams' farm in Pinckneyville, Ill., now reaches 250 migrant workers in three locations during the two weeks they spend in Illinois pumpkin fields, the Illinois Baptist reported. The Biblical Recorder reprinted the story Nov. 6.
See where this is ›The idea for Food to Field Migrant Ministry came five years ago from Hunter DeJournett, a teenager who worked on the Adams farm and wanted to learn Spanish so he could share the gospel with the men working beside him, according to writer Kayla Houchin. A group from downstate took the idea to Pastor Jonathan de la O of Starting Point Church in Chicago's Belmont-Cragin neighborhood, about 300 miles to the north, who agreed to help and recruited a team.
Ten Mile Baptist Church, Logan Street Baptist Church and Immanuel Baptist Church supplied the food and the servers. The first year, volunteers served hot dogs, sandwiches and spaghetti while the Chicago pastors preached and led worship in Spanish. “That first year they were asking, 'What do these guys want with us?' They ended up warming up to us,” said Jared Pryor, a member of Ten Mile Baptist Church.
The meals have since changed to Hispanic cooking, with worship and preaching at night, and return visits have built friendships with workers who come back year after year. “We see those Chicago pastors start praying for them and sharing the gospel,” Adams said.
Tony Munoz, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Latina in Effingham, Ill., is also part of the effort. He recalled a night when the moment to preach came unexpectedly: “This was not planned, but I thought, I don't need to preach.”
Organizers are now talking about next steps, the Illinois Baptist reported, including a mission trip to Mexico, connecting workers with churches in their home countries and deciding where new Spanish-language churches should be planted. Some Illinois Hispanic pastors are planning ways to link the workers with congregations near their homes.
