Seven years ago, First Baptist Church, Piedmont, began supporting the ministry efforts of hometown boy John Gunter, a church member and missionary to the Dominican Republic. They had no idea that seeds planted into his ministry would grow to eventually expand the church’s Hispanic ministry.
In 1987, Gunter and his wife, Dana, left America and moved to the Caribbean to spread the gospel to Latinos in Santo Domingo, the Dominican national capital.
“Just like in Alabama, the people in the Dominican Republic need to hear about the saving love of Jesus Christ in a context that they can understand,” Gunter said. “Many have a head knowledge of who Jesus is, but they do not know Him in their hearts, as their personal Lord and Savior.”
Before the Gunters left the country to minister to working-class Dominicans, to begin Bible studies and to plant churches, the church supported them and held a special commissioning service in their honor.
“John grew up here in this church,” said Derek Smith, pastor of First, Piedmont. “He still has family here in town and was called to missions here. He’s one of our boys that’s gone off to international missions, and we are going to support him.”
Relational evangelism
What began as a financial partnership between First, Piedmont, and the Dominican ministry expanded to hands-on participation when the church sent six members on a weeklong missions trip to the area last summer.
While in Santo Domingo, the volunteers participated in relational evangelism where they tried to form relationships with the Dominicans in hopes of sharing the gospel with them if given the opportunity.
“They do not respond very well to people showing up at the door, they are much more relationship oriented down there,” said Brian Smith, music minister at First, Piedmont. “We visited a number of families every day of the week and gave our testimonies in Spanish. Ultimately, we presented each family with a Bible in Spanish and if they would allow us we would present the gospel.”
The volunteers witnessed through door-to-door evangelism, street services and sports. They also held a Bible study in the neighborhood and presented a film one night where a local pastor preached at the end of the service.
While in Santo Domingo, the volunteers fell in love with the Dominicans with whom they worked, Gunter said.
“We found everything from hardened Catholicism to a witch doctor,” Brian Smith said. “Even with all I found, I found that people are still people and when you present them with the reality and love of Jesus Christ, the seed of the gospel is planted. Only He knows when that harvest will come. We have to be faithful in getting out there and working the field.”
Once the team returned to Alabama, they felt a sense of urgency to share the gospel with people in their communities, according to Brian Smith. “It reminds us when we look at our own community that the gospel is unknown to a lot of people even in Alabama,” he said. “It gave me a sense of the urgency that the gospel is needed even in the Bible belt.”
After the church saw the Hispanic need in their area, the church began a Spanish women’s Bible study but were unable to reach the Hispanic males.
This summer, the church brought a five-man ministry team from Santo Domingo to Alabama for one week to help them reach the males through backyard Bible club, a block party and door-to-door visiting.
“It was phenomenal,” said Derek Smith. “We had a totally Spanish service on Sunday night at the end of the week. We had 13 accept Christ while they were here.”
The visit from the Dominicans also got church members excited about the Hispanic ministry, he noted. As a result, the church is now considering starting a Hispanic church.
“Our students got involved, and we hung out with the Dominican teenagers and had Bible studies,” Derek Smith said.
First, Piedmont, is already planning a student-led missions trip to the Dominican Republic for next year.
“For us to get to go on missions, we know how it changed our lives,” said Derek Smith. “The neat thing about this is that the people on the missions field took a missions trip here. John said their lives are changed forever and that excites me more than anything.”
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