"One million people could die." The somber threat leapt from the page of the magazine. José Quiroz put the article down on his hotel bed and thought about the number again. One million people.

Popocatépetl, a 17,883-foot-tall volcano, had begun spewing plumes of smoke. Should it erupt, according to the dire predictions of the article, the towns and villages below would be wiped out. José couldn't get the image out of his mind. "I realized that they could die at any point," says José (or Pepe, as he is more commonly known). "This was my inspiration for reaching these people." The retired businessman, evangelist and president of Alpha and Omega Bible College wanted to make sure that no one would die without first having the chance to hear about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

So he contacted Cruzada Estudiantil y Profesional para Cristo (Campus Crusade for Christ) in Mexico. "Cruzada emphasizes evangelism, and for 30 years I've been an evangelist," Pepe explains. "We share the same passion to introduce people to Jesus." He approached Mexico City director Bernardo Sierra in June 1997, and Bernardo immediately agreed to help Pepe reach the people in the volcano region.

Since Pepe's Bible school is just 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the volcano and located safely up a hill overlooking the valley, the government asked if he would make Rancho Alpha and Omega an official evacuation site. In exchange for his help, the government provided detailed maps of the area, maps which enabled Pepe (pictured at right with map) to find the people.

In October 1997, the outreaches began. They showed the JESUS film 1,400 different times and handed out 980,000 flyers advertising film showings. An estimated 355,000 saw the film, and volunteers passed out an additional 350,000 pieces of evangelistic material. "We saturated the volcano area with literature and the JESUS film from October to the end of November," says Bernardo.

Team members tell stories of the ground heating up beneath their feet from the active volcano, to the point where they couldn't stand still. "You could hear the volcano explosions and you could see the fire of the volcano, but our volunteers worked there," remembers Bernardo, "and as soon as they finished they immediately went as far away from the volcano as possible."

Successful in enabling large numbers of people to hear the gospel, the outreach also marked the beginning of a friendship between Pepe's ministry and Cruzada. Eventually, Pepe invited Bernardo to join him on his weekly radio program, Proclaim!, which boasts the largest number of call-ins of any program--secular or Christian--aired on that station. Pepe continued this partnership with Cruzada throughout the Mega Plan effort to help reach the largest city in the world in just four months.

"The people see two ministries working together," says Pepe's son, Israel, who teaches at the college and also joins his father and Bernardo on the air each week. "In Mexico, many times people don't see unity among Christians. But when they see that, we can say, 'Please come with us; let's work together.'"

Together they can reach the country.