Spending time with
a WCG church planter

 By Lorenzo Arroyo

 ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico—I arrived at Albuquerque International Airport Saturday afternoon, July 16.

I was there to interview Pastor Jesus Acosta, who has planted three churches during his ministerial career. Raul, one of Pastor Acosta’s sons, picked me up and took me to the southwest part of the city to meet with his father.

CHURCH PLANT—Members of new church in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Acosta family and friends had gathered at his daughter Becky’s home to

Pastor Jesus Acosta

 celebrate the birthday of one of his 18 grandsons. Pastor Acosta invited me to stay at his home down the street. As we relaxed after the festivities, I mentioned that I would like to interview him about church planting.

Suddenly, members in cars and pickups began honking horns outside the pastor’s home. As we climbed into a borrowed pickup, Pastor Jesus told me that we needed to slaughter the fatted goat and prepare it for the next day’s meal.

A special Sunday service had been planned; guests, seek-ers and first-time attendees had been invited to hear an evangelistic message followed by a banquet.

It became dark as we made our way to the outskirts of Albuquerque to a place called Pajaritos. We reached an area of 10-acre parcels of land, one of which belonged to the Acosta family and a couple of church members. All I could see were the porch lights of a few mobile homes scattered over a vast space of desert land. Finally, 10 vehicles in a caravan pulled into a make-shift ranch that reminded me of the remote provincial ranches I visited in old Mexico years ago.

Someone strung up a row of extension cords and lamps and rigged them to his pickup truck battery to give us light. As I stood by, somewhat baffled at what was going on, several of the men went into one of the wooden corrals that housed pigs, rabbits, goats, sheep and horses and pulled out the prized fatted goat.

The goat’s throat was slit, its carcass skinned, hung up and gutted by an experienced young man with a quick blade. Although I love barbacoa (goat’s meat), I had never witnessed the entire process of preparing it.

The next morning, I woke up early for my interview with Pastor Acosta. As I made my way to his patio, I heard voices and realized I was already too late. Instead of getting the interview, I met Mario, a new convert. He is a rugged-looking man, tall with a slender build and tattoos.

He told me his life was typical of one who had been an alcoholic, drug addict and gambler in the Albuquerque area. He said his life had been a mess and without hope until he’d met the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he helps whoever he can and has become good friends with Pastor Acosta.

I didn’t get a formal interview with the pastor that morning or afternoon! There was food to prepare, and then Pastor Acosta and I had to leave for the Sunday service, while Mario stayed behind to monitor the meal preparation.

About 60 people came to the worship service—several of them first-time attendees. For a church that started just a year ago and is averaging about 25 in weekly attendance, this was a good showing, indeed. After the service, members and guests moved into the fellowship area, where Mario and others served the steaming hot barbacoa.

I saw Pastor Acosta and others talking to several new people as well as taking down their addresses and phone numbers. It was then that I realized that my interview with this church planter had indeed begun the day before. That’s because the story of this pastor’s church plantings and gospel outreach is wrapped up in his relationship with the community.

Just before joining the Worldwide Church of God in 2003, Jesus Acosta had worked for a year planting a new church in Riverside County, California. Then, Jesus contacted Tom Ecker, the WCG pastor in the area, about using facilities for starting another church plant. Ecker invited him to use the facility where his group met at the time. This was a great help in establishing the new church.

A pastoral team was appointed to oversee Pastor Acosta’s church plant when he moved to Albuquerque in 2004 upon retiring from his occupation as a truck driver. Jesus and his family, including three married daughters and one of his sons, had all relocated from Southern California to Albuquerque by early 2004.

Jesus Acosta credits his wife of 46 years, Lidia, for her faithful service to the Lord as being a major player in the three churches they planted. Soon after the third plant in Albuquerque was established, Lidia died of cancer. Harold Jackson, pastor of the WCG congregation in Albuquerque, was most helpful to the Acosta family at this time of trial and sorrow in their lives.

At a much earlier stage in their ministerial career (1979), Jesus and Lidia with their nine children planted what is today the WCG Santa Ana Hispanic church. Jesus not only planted but also pastored that church for 17 years before stepping down from his pastorate to plant two more churches.

What is the secret to successful church planting? L-O-V-E. It is obvious to me that the church planting success of Pastor Jesus Acosta is based on his unconditional love for people of all walks of life. In our face-to-face interview, Pastor Jesus relayed to me the absolute need for a church planter to be people-friendly.

He talks to neighbors, storekeepers, non-Christian family members, new families moving into the neighborhood, people on the street—just about anyone who will lend an ear. He asks to pray with them and for them and even to visit their sick relatives in the hospital.

When he gets to know people, at the appropriate occasion, he talks to them about Jesus Christ. He invites them to a home for a small group prayer meeting and Bible study.

In Albuquerque, Pastor Acosta found in his target area a most gracious pastor, Pablo Lucero, who gave him the first six months in his church building rent-free.

Pastor Pablo heads an English-language ministry and welcomed pastor Acosta’s Spanish-language ministry. In fact, although Pastor Pablo is of a different evangelical denomination, he sends all his Spanish-speaking inquirers to Pastor Acosta.

When I asked Jesus what motivated him to begin engaging in outreach and church planting, he mentioned a church growth seminar he took a few years ago that emphasized the networking and planting of several smaller congregations as opposed to the mega-church model.

He also explained that when he became acquainted with the WCG, his participation in the regional conferences helped him to keep focused on church planting.

His introduction to Sonlife materials and Rick Warren’s approach, similar to Sonlife’s, but much more accessible in the Spanish language, were also helpful to him in making his church planting activities more effective.

I must say, I enjoyed the time spent with Pastor Jesus Acosta, his family and our Albuquerque Hispanic congregation. The barbacoa was great too.

Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2005