Pastor Damian's Ministry

When I first met Damian he had only been out of prison a few months. Here is a little of his story.


Damian Cruz had been a quiet but wild young man who wanted to be popular especially with the girls. He was one of the few young men in his village with a car. His father was French and an alcoholic and died one night in a drunken stupor in the middle of the road. Damian had very little formal schooling. His mother is Zapotec and they lived in a remote village in the mountains between Oaxaca City and the coast.

When his father died he became the breadwinner for the family. While still a teen he opened a small store in Santa Cruz Huatulco and soon owned his first car. Americans came along and seeing his potential invited him to earn a lot of money. He became a drug runner for them. About 18 years ago he was ambushed and shot at in a drug raid.  He was left for dead. But God had a different journey for this talented man. Shortly after this he found Christ.

Two years later the law caught up with him for his previous life. He was then brought to trial and put in prison for ten years. God sent a missionary to minister in that prison in Oaxaca and this missionary began to see the potential and hunger for God in Damian. I'm not sure how Damian learned to read well but with all this time on his hands he began to devour the Word of God with the missionary. After about four years this missionary commissioned Damian as pastor of the prison ministry. Under Damian's pastorate God began to use him in many ways. He had the privilege of baptizing over 400 inmates that he had won to Christ there in three different prisons that he had been incarcerated in.

One of the inmates was a young man, Jesus, from San Agustin. An alcoholic and drug user. After Jesus left the prison I met him during the first weeks that we started the mission in San Agustin with Pastor Armando. He is the son of Hilda who I won to the Lord.

When Damian left the prison he returned to his trade as a fisherman to support his family. Armando had ministered to Damian when he was in prison and one day after his release he recommended him when I needed to rent a boat for visitors who came down from the states. Then when Armando decided he was returning to live in Mexico City he gave me the name of two who he recommended to take his place. After prayer and interviews we chose Damian. Or let's say God chose Pastor Damian. This man is true blue. A real man of God.

He still had his mission in the prison, returning weekly to minister to the other inmates. Then he had started a Bible study with another couple in La Cruzacita. Eventually this grew into the mission in La Cruzacita.

Also under Damian's ministry San Agustin has grown into a church. One of our supporters and friends who I attended Bible College with helped buy the property for San Agustin last year and a month ago Damian got permission from the authorities to put up a Palapa for their church.

When I returned from the states earlier this year Damian approached me and asked if he could start a non-profit organization under Agape Missions International, called "Suenos con Proposito". "Dreams with a Purpose". I had been trying to get a non-profit organization started here in Mexico for years so this was fine with me. Because of legal technicalities we will only have a personal document with Damian conecting him to Agape Missions. In other words they will be independent. We still will continue working with them as we have all along.

Damian and his family live by faith and God has blessed them beyond measure. We as a mission have provided a Ford pick-up, gasoline for their travel between the missions and Bibles, and material for children's ministry. Agape Missions helps pay the expenses for all of the coastal ministries. Should God lay it on your heart to support this family and their ministry we will pass 100% of any designated funds to them.

He has recently started Una Esperanza Huatulco for a center for the children and families of the incarcerated families. Check the links in the left column to  see what is happening there.

There have been spiritual battles but we will address some of those later. Please pray for Damian and his family that God will keep them and continue to use them for His glory.