Letters from Mark Adams
Mark Adams
Frontera De Cristo
P.O. Box 1112
Douglas, AZ 85608
Email: Mark
Adams
Watch a short video of Mark Adams and his work on the Mexican border
Mark Adams is a mission co-worker with the Presbyterian Border
Ministries in Agua Prieta, Mexico, where he has served since 1998.
As U.S. coordinator of the bi-national ministry, Frontera de Cristo,
Mark is responsible, in partnership with the Reverend Angel Valencia
of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, for the coordination
of the six ministry areas of Frontera de Cristo: church development,
health, family counseling, the New Hope Community Center, mission
education, and the Just Trade Center.
Through Frontera de Cristo, Mark brings together people from
both sides of the border, building relationships and understanding
between them. "I help them reflect biblically and theologically
about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ," writes
Mark, "in light of our spiritual, social, political, and
economic connected-ness."
Mark looks back at a mission experience in 1994 as foundational
for his present ministry. "I left South Carolina to live
in Piedras Negras, Mexico," he writes, "to be a mission
volunteer at the border ministry site there. I was excited about
developing close relationships with Mexican sisters and brothers.
The way in which God worked in our lives to bind us together in
real love amazed me. I had been proclaimed a child of the covenant
at my baptism and was baptized into a community of believers.
The reality of how grand this community is didn't become clear
to me until I lived and served with "Uno En El Espiritu,"
a church in Piedras Negras, Mexico. I experienced the power of
Jesus Christ to break down barriers that we humans erect. Language
did not define our relationships, nor did nationality, ethnicity,
or social class, for we are hermanos y hermanas en Cristo."
Mark was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament on August
23, 1998, in his home church, Clover Presbyterian Church. He is
a minister member of Presbytery de Cristo, PC(USA), and is a fraternal
member of the Presbytery of Chihuahua (National Presbyterian Church
of Mexico).
Mark graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur,
Georgia, with a master's of divinity degree in 1998. During seminary
he worked as an intern at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis,
Tennessee; as a temporary supply pastor at Beersheba and Ramah
Presbyterian churches in York, South Carolina; and as a counselor
in an after-school program for the city of Decatur Recreation
Department in Georgia. After graduating from Furman University
in Greenville, South Carolina, with a bachelor’s degree in
history, Mark spent a year as a volunteer in mission with the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) working with Proyecto Amistad in
Piedras Negras, Mexico, and a year as a high school Spanish teacher
with the Clover School District in Clover, South Carolina.
Mark is married to Miriam Maldonado Escobar. Miriam is from the
southern Mexican state, Chiapas. She left her home at 18 to work
at the border in the U.S.-owned factories, helping to support
her family. She has now stopped working there and is concentrating
on her education.
Miriam is a member of the Presbyterian congregation "Lirio
de los Valles" in Agua Prieta. She and Mark have been instrumental
in the development of the ecumenical group called "Healing
Our Borders/Sanando Nuestras Fronteras," a group that Frontera
de Cristo is active in.
Mark and Miriam have two daughters: Cindy Yessenia and Anna Flor.
Birthdays:
Mark - June 7
Miriam - May 15
Cindy Yessenia - March 29, 1996
Anna Flor - December 18, 2003 |
