About Us
Gary Schwer
Founder/Director
Gary Schwer is the founder/director of Hands Across Borders and currently lives in Sonora Mexico with his wife Tammy. They have been married since 1984 . He has pastored for nearly 2 decades and has been conducting ministry in Mexico since 2005. He has helped to start 7 churches, and has averaged delivering 3 million pieces of Scripture every year since 2009. The vision for the future includes not only church planting and Scripture delivery but an orphanage, Bible institute, Radio station, and a Yearly Bible conference to help encourage national pastors.
Shawn Cuthbertson
Assistant Director
Evangelist Shawn Cuthbertson is the Assistant Director of Hands Across Borders and has worked with Brother Schwer for many years to get the gospel to the Hispanic people. He has been in the ministry for over twenty-six years as pastor and evangelist. Brother Cuthbertson was married for twenty-five years until his late wife went to Heaven and has now been married to his wife Krista for six years. Brother Cuthbertson has four grown children and six grandchildren. Brother Cuthbertson is available for revival meetings, missions meetings, and men’s and family conferences as the Lord leads.
Hands Across Borders
Our Mission
Hands Across Borders is a local church ministry of Victory Baptist Church, located in Milton, Florida. Our director, Dr. Gary Schwer, and his wife Tammy, have been traveling in Western Mexico since 2005.
It did not take long for them to see the great need for scripture distribution and church planting throughout Western Mexico.
Since 2005 ten’s of millions of Spanish gospel tracts, booklets, and Bibles have been delivered throughout Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Baja California, and Baja Sur by the Hands Across Borders team. In addition to the scripture distribution, HAB has planted seven churches and is involved in helping other churches be planted.
The mission of Hands Across Borders is Evangelizing through Local Church Revivals, Soul Winning, and Church Planting; Equipping through the distribution of Bibles, Tracts, Hymnals, and Discipleship Material and finally Encouraging through Developing National Pastors.
Statement Of Faith
HAB exists to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to all we can by every effective means available to us and by equipping believers to do the same.
- We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God and is the final authority in all faith and practice.(1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17)
- We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19; John 10:30; Ephesians 4:4-6.)
- We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood on the cross, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory. (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1-4 and 1:29; Acts 1:11 and 2:22-24; Romans 8:34; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:1-4 and 4:15.)
- We believe that all men everywhere are lost and face the judgment of God, that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ results in regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore we believe that God will reward the righteous with eternal life in heaven, and that He will banish the unrighteous to everlasting punishment in hell. (Luke 24:46-47; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23; 2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Ephesians 1:7 and 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7.)
- We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, whose indwelling enables the Christian to live a godly life. (Joh, ts 1:8 and 4:31; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Galatians 5:16-18; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:6-10.)
- We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation and eternal punishment. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Revelation 20:11-15.)
- We believe that the ministry of evangelism (sharing and proclaiming the message of salvation only possible by grace through faith in Jesus Christ) and discipleship (helping followers of Christ grow up into maturity in Christ) is a responsibility of all followers of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:9-15; 1 Peter 3:15.)
- We believe God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage, that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other. God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female. (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:6-9; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9.)
- We believe that we must dedicate ourselves to prayer, to the service of our Lord, to His authority over our lives, and to the ministry of evangelism. (Matthew 9:35-38, 22:37-39, and 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:9-15 and 12:20-21; Galatians 6:10; Colossians 2:6-10; 1 Peter 3:15)
- We believe that human life is sacred from conception to its natural end; and that we must have concern for the physical and spiritual needs of our fellowmen. (Psalm 139:13; Isaiah 49:1; Jeremiah 1:5; Matthew 22:37-39; Romans 12:20-21; Galatians 6:10.)