In 2012, it was rough finding work in Phoenix, so my family and I moved down to Green Valley, Arizona. My father became a chaplain at a homeless shelter, and the worship team at Evangelical Free Church of Green Valley (EFCA) volunteered to help him lead worship. My father also asked me to help with the service, and I became good friends with a pastor at Green Valley EFC. Later, they needed an audiovisual person. That's how I got connected with the EFCA.
[While we were attending Green Valley EFC], people [in the church] came up to me and my wife, Milca, saying, “You should start a Bible study.” I said, “Let's see what happens,” but we avoided it. We prayed about it, but in reality, we didn't want to do it. We knew the work it would take and didn't feel prepared. Finally, I said, “Lord, if this is something you want us to do, we will do it. But if we're going to do this, we don't want to do it alone.”
Finally, I said, “Lord, if this is something you want us to do, we will do it. But if we're going to do this, we don't want to do it alone.”
Later, my wife and I went to the Dominican Republic to work with the youth. While we were there, we ended up ministering to around 400 kids. Every night, a group of us would go to dinner together, but one night, it was just me, my wife and a ministry leader named Gary.
Gary said, "I see you two as pastors; I can see you doing something.” I said, “I don't want to do it alone, bro.” He looked at me and said, "Do you believe in God? He will provide the needs that you have.” That's how we started ministry to become church planters.
I let the elders [of Green Valley EFC] know about planting a church, and they said, “Call Alex Rivero [director of Hispanic ministries for the EFCA].” Now, Alex coaches us. We’re working on a three-year goal and have about 58 people for our church plant. Around 80 percent of them are in high school. We have a pretty big youth ministry.
We get to minister to a lot of new people who don’t know anything about Jesus. I love seeing young people—and older people—come and say, "Victor, I've never opened the Bible. I didn't even know this was here.” We have a lot of teens who are falling in love with the Lord. That's been a highlight for me.