We are Elmo, Kat, Cinco, and Hadlee, a missionary family serving in Tijuana, Mexico, and among military families in SoCal. Elmo pastors Iglesia Centro Shalom and serves as a chaplain with the US Navy. Together we want people to find and follow Jesus, especially those who feel far from God or overlooked by the church.
Both fields carry real pressure. Tijuana lives with violence, poverty, and brokenness, and also with families from across Mexico and Latin America who need a healthy church. Military life in SoCal lives with deployments, transitions, and the strain those seasons place on marriages, children, and faith. We love serving across those cultural lines. We want to bring the Gospel to the lost, walk with people in the middle of hard places, strengthen the local church, and help others find and follow Jesus.
Please pray that God will use our family and ministry to share the Gospel with someone today.
Mission
Our mission is simple: to make Jesus known among the military community in SoCal and throughout the Latino world, beginning in Tijuana.
What began as church planting in Lima, Peru (2011–2021) is now rooted in Tijuana, where we serve at Iglesia Centro Shalom, and among military families in SoCal. Tijuana is a migrant city. People arrive here from across Mexico, Latin America, and much farther, so the Gospel preached here reaches far beyond our neighborhood. Wherever God sends us, our purpose stays the same: to help people find and follow Jesus, especially those who feel far from God or overlooked by the church.
We believe Jesus is the hope of the world, and that the local church is one of the greatest ways to share that hope. We care about the people Jesus cares about, including widows, orphans, military families, and others who are vulnerable or underserved.
Goals
As we pursue our mission of making Jesus known among the military community in SoCal and throughout the Latino world, beginning in Tijuana, these goals guide how we evangelize the lost, serve, and help others find and follow Jesus.
01. Strengthen the Local Church
We want people to have access to a healthy, Bible-centered church where the lost can hear the Gospel, find Jesus, and learn to follow Him. We are committed to planting, restoring, and strengthening churches that evangelize the lost, share the Gospel, and serve their communities. In Tijuana that work is centered at Iglesia Centro Shalom. Through Go. Trips we seek to help churches serve with it.
02.
Care for the Vulnerable
We seek to follow the biblical example of caring for widows, migrants, orphans, and others who are vulnerable or often overlooked. That includes military families pulled apart by distance and service members who have never been reached with the Gospel. Our pro-life convictions call us to value and serve people through every season of life. We want to show the love of Jesus in word and action, meeting practical needs while pointing people to the hope of the Gospel.
03.
Build a Generational Legacy
We want to help individuals and families form a lasting, Christ-centered legacy. Through ministries such as Manna, we provide biblical teaching, discipleship, education, and practical life skills that strengthen homes today. Our aim is to build up families now and point the next generation toward Jesus with Gospel truth, care, and a clear path to follow Him.
04.
Serve the SoCal Military Community
We seek to walk with service members and their families across SoCal through faithful pastoral care and a steady chaplain presence. We want to help military families find Jesus, grow in consistent Christian community, strengthen marriages and homes, and stay rooted in Christ and the local church through deployments, transitions, and every season of service.
Elmo
Elmo Compton is a missionary, pastor, and chaplain with the US Navy, with a passion for helping people find and follow Jesus.
He and Kat began serving as church planters in Lima, Peru, in 2011. In 2021 God led their family to Tijuana, Mexico, where Elmo pastors Iglesia Centro Shalom, trains local leaders, and cares for families in the church and the surrounding community. In SoCal he offers pastoral care, discipleship, and encouragement to sailors and military families walking through deployments, transitions, and the ordinary strain of military life.
Whether he is in the pulpit, mentoring a leader, sitting with a sailor, or at home with Kat and the kids, his desire is to faithfully follow wherever God leads and help others do the same.
Kat
Kat is a ministry leader, worshiper, writer, and mom who loves helping people feel seen, welcomed, and connected to Jesus.
At Iglesia Centro Shalom, she helps lead worship, women’s ministry, children’s programs, community outreach, communications, and visiting mission teams. She is especially passionate about creating meaningful opportunities for people from different cultures and backgrounds to worship, serve, and grow together.
Kat also works alongside military families in Southern California and helps build connections between churches in the United States and ministry in Mexico. Whether she is planning an outreach, leading worship, developing ministry resources, writing, or gathering people around a table, her desire is to love people well and point them toward Jesus.
Cinco
Cinco was born in October and is currently in 10th grade. He has grown up on the mission field and has developed a genuine heart for serving others and being involved in ministry alongside his family.
He loves soccer and volleyball, spending time with friends, and being part of a team. Whether he is helping at church, serving visiting mission teams, or joining in community events, Cinco brings energy, kindness, and a willingness to help wherever he is needed.
Hadlee
Hadlee was also born in October, and is the youngest member of our family. She joined our family through adoption at birth and has filled our home with so much joy, laughter, and personality.
She loves learning, being creative, and making new friends wherever she goes (she truly has never met a stranger). Hadlee is growing up bilingual and is already convinced that she is ready to translate for your team when you come to Tijuana!
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. ”
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