God’s Story in Arizona

Jesús Gomez arrived in Phoenix, AZ from Guatemala five years ago.  Back then he knew that God existed but did not see a need to belong to any church.   Fastforward to the present.  Jesús has been attending  a course on “Biblical Worldview “ at the Hispanic Ministry Training Center of Arizona.  He says his classes have been a great experience which has transformed his way of thinking.  “Tuve una mentalidad religiosa que esta basada en palabras de hombres.”  (I had this religious mindset that was based on words of men.)  After digging deeper into the Word, he understands that the bible tells “THE STORY” from the beginning to the end.  He is now eager to tell of God’s story instead of man’s story.

The Hispanic Ministry Training Center of Arizona is a collaboration of ministries and churches in the Phoenix area which comes alongside of Hispanic congregations to assist them in empowering and equipping their pastors, leaders, and workers for ministry within the local church.

Vision and Strategy: To equip pastors and leaders of Hispanic churches in the Phoenix area with appropriate and adequate education and training for their roles within the church and for church planting among the Latino population by providing them with accessible, convenient and low cost formal education.  The target audience is primarily pastors and leaders who have had little training or lack the access to the available formal training in the Phoenix area due to cost, time, language and other barriers.

Founding Organizations:

PIC International—a non-denominational mission organization training pastors and churches in the developing world and in the Phoenix area.  PICI also distributes discipleship and training materials to Hispanic churches and schools around the U.S.

Longview Community Church—an RCA congregation in Phoenix with both Spanish and English speaking congregations that is currently training Hispanic pastors and leaders in small group settings.

Christ’s Community Church of Chandler—a CRC congregation that is looking to begin a Hispanic congregation within its church.

Leadership Team: The initial leadership team (Nick Beezhold, Exec Director, PICI; John Wood, Director of Training, PICI; Richard Caballero, Pastor, Longview Community Church; and Jonathan Gerstner, Pastor, Christ’s Community Church) provides direction, oversight, and development to HMTC.  Other pastors and leaders will be invited to join this team as the Center develops.

Classes: Classes are offered in 6 week modules and began its first course in Biblical Worldview  in September, 2011.   For the first year, 4 classes will be offered: Biblical Worldview, Bible Interpretation and Study Methods, Theology and Doctrine, Spiritual Growth and Discipleship.  These classes may require additional intensive coursework, examinations and evaluations in order to fulfill RCA and CRC requirements for ministry certification.  The expectation is that graduates will plant new RCA and CRC churches among the Hispanic population.

Reporting by Karla Camacho