Although he has no members yet, Pastor Miguel Martinez has big plans for the newest Baptist church in Morgan County. With attendance running as high as 40 at La Casa del Señor (The House of God) in Laceys Spring, Martinez has every reason to be hopeful. “Two times, we were so full of people that we did not have enough chairs,” he noted.
The church, which was established as an outreach to the growing local Hispanic population, held its first service July 30. It is sponsored by New Canaan Baptist Church, Somerville, and Highland Baptist Church, Union Grove, both in Morgan Baptist Association, as well as Brindlee Mountain Baptist Church, Laceys Spring, in Marshall Baptist Association. Ben Styles, pastor of New Canaan Baptist, explained that the idea for the church came from the Sharehouse, a benevolence ministry sponsored by a group of churches in the area.
“We minister to about 1,000 families per year through Sharehouse. In the last four years, we went from zero Hispanic to 25 percent Hispanic. As we saw more Hispanics, we realized there was a need to reach out to them.” Donnell Brown, director of missions for Morgan Association, is working with the sponsoring churches and others in the association who would like to see similar ministries. “I have a vision of this becoming a countywide ministry. We have other pastors interested in reaching out to this population and providing a network of support.”
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