MIAMI—On Sunday mornings at Reality Church in Miami, the sermon is preached once but heard in more than one language.

Down a hallway, behind a closed door, Helen Doimeadios, a wife and mom of two, sits alone with a headset, a microphone, and a small screen showing what’s happening in the sanctuary. As the pastor preaches in English, Doimeadios quietly carries the message into Spanish for those listening through wireless receivers.

She doesn’t consider herself just a translator.

“I don’t translate word for word,” she explained. “I listen to the pastor and review the notes he shares, and then I interpret what he has said. Sometimes that can sound like a literal translation and other times it’s not literal, but the words carry the same meaning.”

Often, she translates with her eyes closed, concentrating fully on the pastor’s voice and the message he’s delivering.

“In that little room, my goal is to take Sunday’s message to everyone who came to hear it,” she said.

Doimeadios is one of three volunteers who provide simultaneous Spanish translation during Reality’s English service, a ministry that emerged as multigenerational Hispanic families began attending together. Children and grandchildren were fluent in English; parents and grandparents were not.

Translation became the bridge that allowed the entire family to sit under the same sermon while hearing it in the language of their hearts.

“Abuelita Sitting There, Not Understanding Anything”

At Elevate Church in Miami Lakes, the story started in a similar way.

Pastor Dan Rodríguez, executive pastor at Elevate, remembers sitting in the chapel years ago and watching families arrive together—parents, children, and abuelita in tow. The services were in English, the worship vibrant, the room full. But something didn’t sit right.

“We started noticing that a family would come to church, and they would have abuelita with them,” Rodríguez recalled. “We saw people who were not singing or not worshiping. They had that lost look. When we asked, we’d hear, ‘Oh, I brought my aunt, my grandmother, but they don’t speak English.’ And we thought, ‘You’re willing to sit here for an hour and not understand anything?’”

That burden led to action. Around 2015–2016, Elevate ordered translation equipment and began offering live Spanish translation during the English service, even before launching a Spanish-language service.

What began as a simple solution to serve a handful of families soon became the seed of something bigger.

“That translation ministry grew organically,” Rodríguez said. “It was really the heart behind launching the Spanish service.”

Today, Elevate holds a full Spanish service at 8:30 a.m. that now averages around 300 people in attendance, alongside larger English services later in the morning and early afternoon. Many who use the translation in the English services also know they have the option of worshiping entirely in Spanish at 8:30 if their schedule allows.

Rodríguez says the goal has always been clear: one church, one message, multiple languages, so that families can share the same spiritual conversation after church.

“Our vision is for the entire family to be able to worship together and then go to lunch and talk about what they heard,” he said. “Kids, adults, abuelitos; everyone on the same page.”

Translation as Teaching, Not Just Words

At Elevate, the translation team is intentionally small and selective. Right now, only two people regularly translate.

“That’s not accidental,” Rodríguez explained. “We’re very selective. You’re not just translating, you’re teaching. You’re basically preaching.”

Translators are often identified from within the church’s existing leaders. They are typically life group leaders or seasoned believers whose spiritual maturity and teaching gifts are already evident.

“We choose people who are already walking with the Lord and bearing fruit,” he said. “They’re not brand-new believers. We’ve seen them teaching. We’ve seen their faithfulness.”

Preparation is also key. Elevate’s internal goal is to have the sermon manuscript complete by Thursday each week. That allows the worship and tech teams to load slides and Scriptures and run full rehearsals, and the translation team to receive the message in advance.

“They get to read it, digest it, internalize it,” Rodríguez said. “If it’s a more complicated message, we’ll even schedule a one-on-one call to walk through it together.”

Rodríguez and other leaders will occasionally sit in and listen to the translation live to offer coaching.

“I’ll tell them, ‘You did a phenomenal job. Make sure to use inflection, make it your own content,” he said. “We want them to continue growing as teachers, not just translators.”

The church is also careful to care for the translators themselves. For now, Elevate offers translation only at specific services, ensuring translators serve one service and sit in another so they can also be fed spiritually.

“We Have to Reach Them Where They Are”

For Rodríguez, the translation ministry is deeply personal and profoundly missional.

He grew up bilingual, worked nearly 20 years in the corporate world (most of that with Apple), and learned early the importance of knowing the people you serve.

“One of the things ingrained in us was that you have to know your customer,” he said. “These are not customers. These are our people. You have to know where God has placed you.”

And God has placed Elevate in Miami, a city he calls a “melting pot.”

“We’ll always have a migrant community here,” he said. “People coming from other countries who are learning English but don’t fully understand it yet.”

That reality has shaped how Elevate thinks about ministry and how they’ll respond if future language needs arise.

“I’ve even thought, what if we started getting more Haitian families who need Creole?” he said. “We’re not here to entertain. We’re not charging people at the door. The whole purpose is to share the gospel and show people who Jesus is. If that means we have to show it to them in their language, then yes; translation is essential.”

“Our vision is to see Christ elevated, to connect people to Christ, help them grow in Christ, and serve Christ,” he added. “To do that, they must understand. We must reach them where they are.”

A Statewide Step: Simultaneous Spanish at the Florida Baptist Convention

This growing commitment to translation ministry isn’t limited to local churches. At this year’s Florida Baptist State Convention gathering, a new simultaneous transcription service of preachers and speakers was offered for the first time.

“As a convention staff we are continually trying to think of new ways to be ‘right beside you’ in your context of ministry life,” said Tanner Cade, communications and events manager for the Florida Baptist Convention. “The opportunity of expanding our translation services for gatherings reflects the wonderful multicultural family we have here in Florida, and we want to make sure as many as possible can actively participate in our meetings.”

Attendees were able to follow along by choosing from 10 different languages in real time as sermons, reports, and business sessions unfolded.

Just as Reality Church, Elevate Church, and others are making sure abuelita can understand the sermon on Sunday, the Convention is taking steps to ensure that language is no barrier to participation and partnership across the statewide family of churches.