In 2009, Miguel and Jessica were newly married. They packed up and left their home in Virginia Beach, VA to assist Carlos and Alejandra Rodriguez at La Roca de Reading, PA which at the time was a Church Extension Mission Church. Miguel and Jessica both grew up in Christian homes — Jessica in Hampton, VA and Miguel in Chiapas, Mexico. Both are fully bilingual in English and Spanish. They worked with the youth, trained leaders, served in AWANA, managed the church plant’s finances, taught Sunday School, translated, taught English, and did just about anything else you can think of that pops up in church planting ministry.
Ministry Life Challenges
Just a few months in to their ministry experience, Miguel discovered ministry life to be much harder than he expected it to be. He was faced with a lot of hard things in the lives of the people he was ministering to —hard things like child abuse and trauma as well as deceit and stubbornness. He and Jessica spent countless hours discipling people only to find some of them continuing to live foolishly. Jessica experienced some culture shock after having grown up attending a suburban Christian high school and Christian college and then moving to a Hispanic inner city.
Yet they continued to assist at La Roca de Reading and even purchased a house in the area and used it for ministry. No longer did they need to cram 15 teens at a time into their one-bedroom apartment for youth gatherings! They took the teens on trips to Bob Jones University and Pensacola Christian College and saw two youth group members from La Roca be the first to go to a Christian college from the church. Miguel helped investigate church planting in Lancaster, PA (which started as The Center and was the seed for what is now Christ Alone Fellowship with Pastor Los Morales). They continued with their teaching and discipleship ministry and saw the Lord work in the lives of the people they ministered to.
Leaving the Frontlines
However, by 2015, Miguel and Jessica decided to transition out of full-time ministry. Through a survey of his prayer letters over the years, it is evident that Miguel and Jessica poured themselves out while serving the Lord yet Miguel increasingly felt that he was not in the place that God wanted him to be. Instead, God opened the door for Miguel to go into business. Miguel’s undergraduate degree was in Engineering. Miguel’s father had been a successful Christian businessman who gave about 50% of his income to churches and other Christian organizations. Miguel discovered his giftings were also towards business and he desired to also be in a place to give to the Lord financially.
God’s Blessings in Business
Miguel Gonzalez left La Roca and started the Reasor Building Group with two friends and a truck. Today the business has over 100 employees and does over $150,000,000 worth of work with military bases across the Southeast United States of America. Miguel faithfully supports Church Extension Ministries and other ministries that build God’s Kingdom. Miguel learned a lot from his time with the Bible Fellowship Church. He saw the wisdom of leading with an elder board, so he created a board for his business that works in a similar way.
Fundraising Department
Upon reflection of how the Lord led him out of vocational ministries and into the business world, Miguel said, “Our desire is to minister. We went from ministering on the front lines of ministry to the fundraising department. We give to God what is His. We are grateful for what the Lord is doing here and we are grateful for what God is doing in the BFC. We will continue to support Church Extension and the BFC. The BFC and Church Extension reach the lost, start new churches, and keep things together.”
Serving the Lord with Joy
Like Miguel, you may have said yes to serving the Lord in particular way and you discovered it wasn’t the right fit for you. Don’t give up! Prayerfully move on to the next thing to discover how the Lord would have you serve His Kingdom. The Holy Spirit has gifted every believer in a special way and has also given each one skills, talents, abilities, and opportunities. One of those opportunities may an ability to give financially towards church planting projects. Pray to the Lord to help you discover how you can serve Him. Once you have discovered it, lean in and serve with joy.