On Easter Sunday three church plants in South Florida will be celebrating Christ’s resurrection by opening their doors to their communities for the very first time.
The churches launching on Easter Sunday are City Church Miami, Kendall Baptist Church and Iglesia Biblica Vida Real in Pembroke Pines.
Winston Williams, pastor of Vida Real, is excited about Sunday. He said that this week he and his launch team have been out in the community passing out flyers and inviting people to church on Sunday.
Vida Real’s launch service will be held at the Hampton Inn in Pembroke Pines. The church will continue to use the hotel as their meeting place until they find another location.
City Church Miami, pastored by Tommy Parke, will be meeting for its launch service at Iglesia Bautista Resurreción at 5 p.m.
Teams from the church have also been out this week and last week interacting with the community.
Emma Ostrout, an eighth grader from Fruit Cove Baptist in Jacksonville, was part of the team that helped spread the word about City Church in the community last weekend.
“On Saturday we canvased the surrounding area going into small businesses passing out church business cards and telling people about the church,” she said.
An Instagram post on the church’s account reads: “We have teams out today giving out snacks and invites letting people know the reason behind #Holyweek.”
Al Fernandez, southeast regional catalyst of the Florida Baptist Convention, said that Parke comes with “lots of church experience and passion for this city.” Parke was on the staff of Oasis Church in Pembroke Pines, which is also his sending church.
Kendall Baptist Church, pastored by Matt Diaz, will be holding its launch service at Central Presbyterian Church in Kendall at 4 p.m.
“Matt is a very mature guy with many connections and also lots of church experience,” said Fernandez. He added that Diaz is a native of Miami, which he thinks will be helpful in connecting people to the church and winning them for Christ.
Kendall Baptist, said Fernandez, has already committed 10 percent of its income to Cooperative Program giving, not a common move for a young church.
“We are passionate about planting churches so we want to do that by giving to CP,” said Diaz.
“These are incredible men of God,” said James Peoples, Send City Missionary with North American Mission Board.
“They have developed good core teams and they are doing quality work for the Kingdom.”
Still, Peoples encourages other churches to partner with them.
“They need other churches to come alongside them and partner with them in the long term and short term for missions and community outreach.”
By Keila Diaz, Florida Baptist Convention, March 29, 2018