MATHIS, Texas — At Life Reach Fellowship in Mathis, it was a Sunday Service that will set the tone for the rest of year here. It's their celebration of religion, America and whats to come.
Life Reach Fellowship has a goal to show the people of Mathis, a bad situation can always be turned around.
To “reach” lives if you will.
It's reflected Sunday, with a donation from the United States Marine Corp. to create scholarships for Mathis High School seniors.
“They get to see that, we’re not alone. If I need help there’s a place I can go and get help. If I need maybe just somebody to hear me out, there’s a place I can go to have someone hear me out,” said Isaias Villarreal, lead pastor.
Life Reach Fellowship has been around 10 years now and Villarreal has been trying to exemplify resilience since the beginning. He turned a condemned building into his church.
“I want this building to serve as a testimony that the way we turned this building around, is the way I want to work with people in our community or surrounding communities, to turn lives around,” he said.
Since then, it’s been about finding ways to do that.
“It’s an honor for us to be able to see some of the kids have been growing up and were brought up in a poverty state and bring themselves up," said Mathis Mayor Ciri Villarreal. "And be able to get out of that poverty state and succeed.”
A recent mission of the church has been partnering with local agencies to support victims of addiction and human trafficking.
“We’ve helped them with sweet 16’s and Quinceaneras," Isaias said. "We help them the best we can to find a normal life after something that difficult. And we do everything we can to protect them here.”
Once more money can be generated, there’s a future hope to create a tutoring center at the church.
The donation from the Marines will be up to $700 Isaias said. But people at the church believe its just the start.
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