Home Missions Starts Church in Florida

Carlos Palacios left his native Peru after serving in the army during a dangerous and volatile time of terrorism and chaos.

He dreamed of something better, but wasn’t sure what shape that dream would take. His search led him through Columbia and Panama, to Belize and Mexico, and finally to the United States.

Currently, he is in Grand Rapids, Mich., taking his final, on-campus class at Calvin Theological Seminary.

When he finishes, he will return to Florida, where with the support of Christian Reformed Home Missions he is trying to start a church in a mostly Latino section of the community of Kissammee.

“Right now we’re called ‘Christ the Rock of Salvation Ministries’ because we believe so strongly that Christ is the root of this planting,” Palacios explains. “But we also want to build a church that will grow into the center of the community.”

He says that he will be helping to teach church members about the Reformed faith. He also will focus on helping them learn how to “take the inside out into the community” as it does on finding ways to bring the community into the church.

Palacios says his ministry team in Kissammee has formed two study groups that meet separately–one Bible study and one group that focuses on evangelism and leadership.
 
But they join together once or twice each month for praise and worship. Once they have a third group in place, they’ll start weekly worship services.

Shortly after coming to the United States and settling in New Jersey, Palacios saw a flyer from The New Horizon CRC in Clifton, New Jersey. The church was offering Bible study for Spanish-speaking neighbors.

Not only did he take the class, he soon began teaching English as a Second Language and leading small study groups in the church’s Spanish outreach ministry. His wife, Trini, began teaching children’s Bible classes as well. As the ministry grew, he felt God was calling him to become a pastor.

In order to do that, he recalls, he was led to a Home Missions online degree program offered through Calvin Seminary. Needless to say, he enrolled.

Meanwhile, last year Home Missions Hispanic and SE U.S. Team Leader Javier Torres called Palacios to tell him about a new ministry in Florida. It would be a big step, but after three months of prayer and discernment, he and his wife felt God was leading them to Florida.

InSeptember 2007, Carlos became an intern at the Oasis Community Church in Winter Gardens, Florida, and began planting the church in Kissammee, about an hour’s drive away.

“Before I came to Florida I listened to the voices that said, ‘be careful, this might not be the right move.’ But I also heard, ‘be faithful, maybe God has more for you’,” recalls Palacios.