hispanic missions in california Home Missions and the First Free Will Baptist Church in Chula Vista, California Form a Strategic Partnership By John Smith   Find out more about Free Will Baptist Home Missions by visiting www.homemisions.net.

IN RECENT YEARS, the congregation of the First FWB Church in Chula Vista, California, recognized that their community had increasingly become Hispanic in population. Under the leadership of their pastor, they began to pray for God’s help in locating a pastor who could reach the community. The made a request to Rick Bowling, director of Hispanic ministries for the Home Missions Department, to help find this person.

With Rick’s help, the church located Jose Gonzales who accepted a position pastoring the Hispanic congregation. The group has quickly grown to an average attendance of more than 50 on Sundays. They are proud of their worship music group and look forward to baptizing their five most recent converts.

Among the converts are Gregorio and Hermillo Lopez from an indigenous Indian tribe in Mexico. The two men have begun training to return to their homeland with the gospel.

José’s son Jesus, a graduate of the Gwen Hendrix Bible Institute, recently began to pastor in Salinas, California. The English-speaking congregation has flourished under His ministry, and during his brief tenure, Jesus has instituted a Spanish-speaking ministry that enjoys an average attendance of more than 20.

José’s work is a joint project between the Chula Vista church and National Home Missions. The work of both José and Jesus are supported in part by the California State Missions Board.