Jesús Acosta: Ministry in Matehuala and Galeana

Jesús Acosta established a church in Matehuala that celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2009. His connection with Monte Hebrón began earlier, through Larry Averitt’s evangelistic work, and continued through the Averitts’ assistance in Matehuala and visits from Tommy Ashcraft. After closing the congregation in 2018, Acosta returned to Monte Hebrón. In 2021, he was called to pastor a church in Galeana.[1][2]

An early connection through Larry Averitt

Larry Averitt reached Acosta with the gospel while serving at Monte Hebrón. A July 2009 account described that encounter as having occurred about fifteen years earlier, placing it approximately in the mid-1990s.[1]

The association later developed into a working relationship. Acosta began a church in Matehuala, and Larry and Judy Averitt eventually joined him in its ministry after serving at Monte Hebrón for twenty-five years. Acosta was the founder of the congregation; the Averitts worked alongside him.[1]

This sequence connected personal evangelism with the establishment of another local church. The man Larry had reached became a pastor, and the couple’s later service brought them into the congregation he had started.[1]

The Matehuala congregation

The church’s tenth-anniversary celebration in 2009 places its beginning around 1999. That is an approximate founding year derived from the anniversary, rather than a separately documented opening date.[1]

Tommy Ashcraft traveled to Matehuala and preached for the anniversary. By then, Larry and Judy Averitt were working with Acosta there. The occasion brought together the congregation’s pastor, the worker who had reached him, and a visiting preacher from the ministry with which they were connected.[1]

The anniversary records a completed decade of the church’s life. It also provides a dated point of reference for the partnership between Acosta and the Averitts, whose earlier twenty-five years of service had been at Monte Hebrón.[1]

Closure and return to Monte Hebrón

In 2018, Acosta closed the church in Matehuala and moved back to Monte Hebrón. The closure ended the congregation’s work under his leadership in that city and marked a transition in his own ministry.[2]

No reason for the closure has been established in the information available for this account. Its circumstances should therefore remain separate from the documented chronology: the church closed in 2018, and Acosta returned to Monte Hebrón.[2]

A call to Galeana in 2021

In 2021, Acosta was called to pastor a church in Galeana. His return to Monte Hebrón was thus followed by a pastoral call in another community, rather than the end of his service as a pastor.[2]

The Galeana pastorate was a separate appointment. It should not be understood as a relocation of the Matehuala congregation: the earlier church had closed, and Acosta was subsequently called to serve a church elsewhere.[2]

Larry and Judy Averitt later made their home in Texas. Their residence there was confirmed in November 2026; a date for their move has not been established.[2]

Acosta’s history therefore includes distinct periods: his early connection through Larry Averitt, the establishment and life of the Matehuala church, his return to Monte Hebrón in 2018, and his call to Galeana in 2021. Together, these events trace a pastoral ministry shaped by continuing relationships as well as changes of congregation and location.[1][2]