Tijuana has quite a reputation. This colorful city is known worldwide. If you come to visit San Diego, going across the border into Tijuana Mexico is a principal tourist attraction. Tijuana is a growing city of over two million people. It has the most heavily trafficked border in the world. Like any border city, it's tough, cold, and ruthless. Many of the people that make up this city are "rootless," that is, they have sold everything, leaving their roots in southern Mexico to come north and make a new life in the big city. Many come to this city for a pause on their way north to the country of golden dreams. Tijuana has a few rich and some very rich. It also has somewhat of a middle class, but most of the city is incredibly poor, and these people form the hidden majority we work with. It's the poor, especially the children of the poor, that are the principal target of our ministry.

The poor of any country are tough survivors and the poor of Tijuana are no exception. They ask for little and they give little in return. They make it from day to day. Drugs are not only a part of the city's economy, but a part of its affliction. People on a dead-end track searching for a high. Sex, violence and drugs form that high. Children don't sense the futility of their lifestyles, but teens and adults do. Whether figuratively or literally, the term "dead end" applies.

Food, clothing, education, and medical help form a vehicle through which we reach individuals and families with the Gospel. Our strategy is simple—to go into the world of the poor, build credibility, and work with individuals and individual families. The past twenty years have not only demonstrated impressive statistics when it comes to delivering food, clothing, medical help and care to the poor, but equally impressive is our record in teaching, challenging, and discipling individuals.