Planting Stories
Our church planters come from all walks of life — from various stages of life. Each one is called to minister to the lost, assessed to determine their giftedness and trained to be fully effective in the field.
Featured Story:
Gerardo Leiton, Tampa, Florida
Five years ago Iglesia Cristiana Communal was just a dream in the hearts of Gerardo and Paz Leiton. After a time of very effective evangelism this now-thriving Hispanic congregation of 180, located in the Town and Country section of Tampa, Florida, recently celebrated the dedication of their new worship facility.
This is just one example of how the ministry of Go2 and our Hispanic Church Planting Director, Jesus Munoz, is at work in the United States. Jesus’ involvement with the Leitons began before they were even married. He was a good friend of Paz’s family from their days in El Salvador and began mentoring Gerardo when he emigrated to the U.S. Jesus introduced Gerardo and Paz, and as they say, the rest is history.
Before moving to the U.S., Gerardo was a paralegal in his homeland of Costa Rica. He then went on to study at Word of Life Bible Institute in Argentina, from there making his way to the Tampa Bay area. From their start as a small Bible Study in Jesus Munoz’ home, Gerardo has seen phenomenal growth during his five years of ministry, sharing, “There is no way we could have been successful in planting the church without the help of Go2’s Jesus Munoz and his support.” Of course the Leitons and all of the church in Tampa recognize that it is God who must give the increase, but the financial and systems support provided gave the stability and encouragement necessary for the work to be accomplished.
If you visit Iglesia Comunal Cristiana today you will find a vibrant church with wonderful worship, a Spanish service translated into English, and in spite of being a very young church, an already mission-minded congregation in the process of planting a daughter church north of Tampa. This vision and insight is producing a rich harvest among Hispanics in the Tampa area. With church planting couples like the Leitons joining forces with our experienced staff, Go2 is providing the Hispanic community a system for taking the gospel to this fast-growing segment of the U.S. population.