On the 18th of March, 2005 a huge fire broke out in the tiny town of Vinton on the border of far West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico. Firefighters from nine departments throughout the region were called in to quell the blaze at a plastics factory and at the home of about 30 residents who lived approximately 50 - 75 feet from the plant in a small apartment complex.

Because of the nature of the factory, deadly chemicals were dispersed into the environment which resulted in harsh living conditions. Water which was normally provided by a well nearby was contaminated and deemed unsafe. The owner was directed to clean the well with bleach to help neutralize the deadly chemicals that had seeped into it -- hardly a solution to a rapidly deteriorating situation. The Gas Company cut off the gas supply to the apartment complex which made it impossible to boil water as a means of purifying it from chemicals. Residents now had no water or gas utilities to cook or clean.

The damage was devastating to say the least. _Not only was the factory completely destroyed but so were the lives of the many families who called this place home. Left in terrible living conditions, they now also had no jobs due to the fact that the factory provided employment for the majority of the residents.

The call came to me as I saw the news report that evening concerning the fire.

"We must help them,“ I told my wife with a sense of sorrow and compassion overwhelming me. I thought to myself, "We must help these people who have had very little and now have nothing at all." So I prepared myself for a ride the following morning out to Vinton which was about 30 minutes from where I had lived at the time. I thought that I may be of some assistance to those who were out there helping already.

The next morning had finally arrived and upon opening my eyes I had a call of reminder to go and help the families who had just experienced this tragedy. I rolled out of bed and into the role of mercy that Jesus Christ had embedded in me. I did some quick research on the web to find the precise location of the small factory in the tiny town and prepared a quick packing list of things to take.

What happened next is what typically happens to a person when they have the motivation of doing good for someone. Satan reared his ugly head and first planted the seed of doubt in me saying, "There's plenty of people out there, you don't need to go -- let them handle it." He then began to chop me down to size by saying, "What do you intend to do out there? You have no understanding of the situation...you will only get in the way!" (Of course I didn't hear a voice, but these thoughts were running through my mind.) I contemplated for a moment the possibility that these thoughts might be true. This was when I realized what was going on.

I prayed and asked God to show me exactly what He wanted of me in this situation. (Prayer is indeed powerful, especially at moments when Satan is near.) While praying for His guidance the thought came to mind, "If there are 1000 people out there helping, there will now be 1001 people. If there are 1000 gallons of fresh water out there now, there will be 1001 fresh gallons of water out there!" Success! Satan had scattered at the presence of God and I was finally free to move forward with the mission I had been given.

With 50 gallons of bottled water loaded on my truck, I journeyed towards my destination. I thought to my self, "I wonder who I am going to have to talk to when I get there, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army... who?" This is the very moment when God put the United In Christ ministry in my heart.

As I approached the charred remains of what was once a plastics factory and place of employment to about a dozen underpaid people, I noticed something very unusual (or should I say usual?) There was no one there. Simply said, there was no one there except for the women and children who lived there as well as some fried chickens who were trapped in their coup and died in the great fire. No one had gone out to help!

The Red Cross was not there, the Salvation Army was not there, but sadder still, the Church was not there. As I pulled up to the apartment complex with my sister in law, niece and my own son, a news reporter who had also pulled up chased us down asking what we were doing there. I replied, "Doing what Jesus asked us to do, to love one another." She asked what church we belonged to. I replied, "Does that matter? We are following Jesus Christ and His example. We don't belong to any church but we belong to every church that follows Jesus Christ!" I think it's important to mention that when the 10 second piece was shown on the news, the reporter didn't mention that we were Christians who went to help, but instead we were called "good Samaritans." (I guess the media is ashamed of Jesus themselves?)

None the less, we made a second delivery which brought a total of over 250 gallons of bottled water to the people who desperately needed it. At that moment my heart became saddened as I thought to myself, "Where are all of your people Lord? Where is the Church that you have built? Why did none of them come out here to help these poor people in their time of need?"

In this part of the world where El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico virtually converge, there sit over 400 church buildings with that many congregations inside of them. If there was only one Christian in each of these churches, that would make a total of at least 400 Christians in this area, yet there was no one there in that time of need.

My thoughts were of great despair. How could this be? How could we be taught to love one another all these years for it all to come down to this? "God, Father…” I asked, "…where are your people?"

Had just one other person from the 400+ congregations throughout this region showed compassion for these people, what could have been done? How Jesus Christ could have truly been represented at this place? How many of these people who knew nothing of the love of Jesus could have been overflowing with it then? How powerful could this have been?

United In Christ (now All In Christ) was born. The determination to motivate and unite the followers of Jesus Christ to do good works for His glory was overwhelming. Could it be done? Only with the will and power of God, Himself.

This is our mission; this is our desire -- Jesus Christ is our motivation.