Two are Better Than One

One of the most beautiful features of the Christian life is its communal aspect. The redeemed people of God are not meant to live and minister on their own, they are meant to do it in community. King Solomon reminds us in the book of Ecclesiastes that “two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil” (4:9). This is contrasted over and against a man who is “all alone” and has “no end to his toil” (4:8). Solomon seems to suggest that life (and our labors) are better and more fruitful when shared with others. Our brother and sisters in Christ help us to overcome the many challenges of life and ministry. As Christians, we are to live in a way that would allow us to fulfill all the New Testament “one another” passages. We are to love one another, care for one another, serve one another, build up one another, and so on.

After choosing His disciples, Jesus “began to send them out two by two”. He knew that to engage in the public proclamation of the Kingdom of God was to engage in spiritual warfare and for this reason he send them out in pairs. Likewise, when we go out and proclaim the gospel of Christ in the public square we too are engaging in spiritual warfare and we are thankful for the many faithful brothers and sister who labor alongside of us. Ecclesiastes also teaches that if two are better than one, than three are better than two since “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (4:12). When we labor for the Kingdom of God it is always prudent to do so in community. There is strength in numbers.

At Christian Collegian Network University of Texas, we are thankful for the many brother and sisters who labored alongside of us during the month of August for the spread of the gospel. We are thankful for brothers like Ryan Denton of Christ in the Wild ministries and John Hedberg who preached the gospel with us during our return to campus at the University of Texas. We were so encouraged by these brothers presence on campus since we did not have anyone else to labor with us during the last school year. We praised God for allowing us to witness alongside such an experienced evangelists.

We are also thankful for brother Jacob Miller and his group from Killeen Bible Church in Killeen, Texas. These brothers and sisters live about 65 miles north of Austin and they faithfully travel down every month to protest the evils of abortion and to proclaim the good news of the gospel. This month we teamed up with them to minister at Whole Woman’s Health in Austin, Texas. We feel extremely privileged to join this cause and speak out for the unborn. We also partnered up with endabortionnow.com, a ministry of Apologia Church in Mesa, AZ, who will be providing us with training and materials to helps us get more involved in the pro-life movement.

We are also thankful for our brother Cory Holt of West Valley Bible Church in Hemet, California, who brought us a message about the gospel at one of our Thursday night Bible Study. This message stirred up our souls and edified us tremendously.  

We also want to give thanks for our faithful brothers and sisters who minister alongside us week-in and week-out and who are not officially part of the CCN UT ministry team, but who are nevertheless just as devoted to our mission of reaching the lost and evangelizing the found as we are.

We give thanks for David Santisteban of Cap City Gospel and Ana Maria Imbacuan. We want to congratulate them on their recent engagement (see the pictures below) and remind them that the purpose of marriage is to be a visual representation of Jesus and the Church.

We also give thanks for Sandra Garcia and her daughter Alina and for Carlos Sanchez and his wife Michelle and the rest of their family. We thank God for their faithfulness and devotion to reaching the lost. Last of all, we want to give thanks for our wonderful wives, Tammi, Barbara, and Viridiana. We would not be able to engage in this ministry without their support. We love you!