How God Turned One Missionary’s Calling into a Ministry Among Migrant Workers
When Ronnie Barron first sensed God calling him to missions, he never imagined that ministry would one day bring Mexico to his own backyard.
Growing up with a love for agriculture and a heart for missions, Ronnie felt drawn toward serving farming communities. During his teenage years and college years, mission trips to the U.S.-Mexico border deepened his love for Hispanic people and planted the seeds of a lifelong calling.
“I wanted to work in agriculture,” Ronnie recalls. “Then I heard about agricultural missionaries—people who used farming as a way to share the Gospel. That’s when the Lord began directing my heart.”
A Decade of Ministry in Mexico
Ronnie and his wife followed God’s leading to Chihuahua, Mexico, where they served as missionaries for ten years. Their years in Mexico were filled with both challenges and blessings. Doctors had once told the couple they would likely never have children. Yet God had other plans.
While serving in Mexico, they found a specialist uniquely equipped to help with their situation. During their time on the mission field, God blessed them with three sons. “It was one more reminder that God was in control,” Ronnie says. “He was taking care of us every step of the way.”
The Barrons faithfully served, sharing the Gospel and investing in communities throughout northern Mexico. But after a decade, they sensed God leading them to return to Tennessee. What they didn’t realize was that their mission field was about to follow them home.
The Mission Field Comes to Tennessee and Kentucky
After returning to the United States, Ronnie began working with the University of Tennessee Extension Service as an agricultural agent. He would eventually spend more than three decades serving farmers across the region. Not long after returning home, he received a call from Kentucky Baptists.
A growing number of Hispanic agricultural workers were arriving in western Kentucky through the H-2A visa program, a legal temporary worker program that provides labor for farms when local workers are unavailable. The need was obvious. Thousands of workers were coming each season. Many were far from their families, isolated in rural communities, and had little connection to local churches. Leaders in Kentucky wondered if Ronnie would be willing to help.
His answer was yes.
What began as a Sunday worship service for migrant farm workers soon became a ministry that would impact lives on both sides of the border. Every Sunday during the growing season, Ronnie drove two hours from Tennessee to Murray, Kentucky, and two hours back home.
The schedule was demanding. He often worked long days in the field before ministering at night. Yet the opportunity was too important to ignore.
“These men were heads of households,” Ronnie explains. “They were here working hard, away from their families. If they heard the Gospel and took it home, entire families and communities could be impacted.”
The ministry served workers employed primarily in tobacco farming, one of the most labor-intensive agricultural industries in the region. Churches partnered together to provide meals, transportation, Bible studies, worship services, and discipleship opportunities. Volunteers drove workers to services, prepared food, and built relationships that often lasted for years. For many workers, it was their first meaningful connection with a local church.
The ministry was never just about gathering people for a Sunday service. It became a place where men could be discipled, encouraged, and equipped to grow in their faith. Ronnie worked closely alongside Hispanic ministry leaders like Pastor Luis Martinez and others who helped provide leadership and continuity for the growing work. Workers studied Scripture together, prayed together, and learned how to share their faith with others. Some returned home to Mexico and became leaders in their own communities. Several became active church leaders. At least one answered God’s call to pastoral ministry.
One man who had come to faith through the ministry eventually returned to Mexico, attended Bible college with support from Tennessee believers, and now pastors a church in his hometown.
“It’s exciting to see the Gospel continue long after someone leaves Tennessee,” Ronnie says.
One of the most remarkable outcomes of the ministry has been the development of a church in Santiago Ixcuintla, Nayarit, Mexico. Over the years, Tennessee believers traveled to visit former workers and their families. Relationships formed during the growing season in Tennessee continued across borders. As workers returned home and shared what they had learned, a congregation began to grow. Today, that church is led by local believers who were impacted through relationships that started in Tennessee. What began as ministry among agricultural workers has become a living example of disciples making disciples. The Gospel traveled home with them.
“I Just Brought Mexico Here”
When Ronnie reflects on decades of ministry, he often laughs and says, “I just brought Mexico here.” But behind the humor is a powerful truth. God opened a door that Ronnie never expected. Instead of returning permanently to the mission field overseas, the Lord brought the nations directly to Middle Tennessee and western Kentucky.
For more than twenty years, Ronnie has watched God use local churches, farmers, volunteers, and ministry leaders to share Christ with workers who then carry that message back to their homes and communities. The impact continues today through Hispanic churches, English-language ministries, ESL programs, citizenship classes, discipleship efforts, and partnerships between congregations across Middle Tennessee. The ESL, English Language Program, and citizenship classes are all ministries of the Harvest Baptist Association in Robertson County.
The Opportunity
Ronnie believes the opportunity is greater now than ever before. Thousands of Hispanic families and workers live, work, and raise children throughout Tennessee. Many are searching for community, practical help, and spiritual guidance. Churches do not have to cross an international border to participate in global missions.
The nations have come to us. As Ronnie has witnessed throughout his life, one conversation, one Bible study, or one act of kindness can create a ripple effect that reaches communities hundreds of miles away. His ministry story is proof. A young man who once dreamed of serving farmers in Mexico discovered that God’s mission is never limited by geography. Sometimes the mission field is exactly where God has placed you.
And sometimes, the nations are right next door.
For Ronnie Barron, that verse has served as a guiding reminder throughout decades of ministry. Whether in Mexico, Kentucky, or Tennessee, the calling remains the same: make sure people hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
“How, then, can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?”
Romans 10:14
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