A Real-Life Story

Fernando Tamara is the pastor of Orange County First Assembly of God Church (OCFA) in Santa Ana, California. He understands the significance of integrating spiritual growth with opportunities for people to grow socially in a community and economically through work.

The biblical truth—that God intends for all people to flourish—resonated with Jose, an immigrant from Latin America. He came to the church because he had a relationship with a young lady who attends OCFA. Jose comes from a broken family, and sadly, he came to the church with no vision and paralyzed by fear.

Jose is not the only Latin American immigrant paralyzed by fear. “In Santa Ana, it takes longer for Latino immigrants to be enculturated,” laments Tamara. “One reason for this is that many who migrate from Latin America consider oppression, poverty, and injustice as normative. Because they believe the American majority culture will oppress them, they hesitate to learn the English language or assimilate into the American culture.”

However, Jose mustered up enough courage to request a meeting with Tamara and said, “I notice you speak a lot about God intending for all persons to blossom or flourish. I want that. Would you pray that I find a job?” It was not too long after that Jose landed a job at a pool cleaning business.

Igniting Dreams

Jose arrived at OCFA with no vision for his life. However, after working for several years with a pool cleaning business, Jose developed a vision to own his own pool cleaning business. Again, he approached Tamara and shared his vision to be a business owner.

Tamara knew that aspiring entrepreneurs need financial capital and social capital. Tamara called three church members—a marketing professional, a cleaning company professional, and a financial advisor to meet with Tamara and Jose.

This was an opportunity for Tamara to facilitate what he calls “exchange of service and wisdom.” These professionals shared with Jose lessons learned, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid.

Jose got inspired to become a legal US citizen and also to pass a challenging pool inspector test that many fail the first time. In America, Jose learned that having pool inspector credentials equates to having credibility as a business owner.

Today Jose is a pool cleaning business owner. His clientele includes customers from OCFA’s English and Spanish speaking congregations, and he is now producing value for the local economy. Business is going so well that he is looking to hire someone from the church to be his assistant.

Equipping Whole-Life Disciples

Jose’s transformation from having no vision to having an economic vision commenced with Tamara’s preaching on human flourishing and the work of the Holy Spirit. Relationally and organically, Tamara invested in Jose’s life and soon became his confidante and prayer partner. Tamara’s hands-on discipling and access to social capital coupled with Jose’s economic vision catapulted him to launching his own business.

“The spirit empowers us daily to resemble Christ,” Tamara says. “He is reflected in everything we do, including our work.” When we have a large group of retired professionals who come to church every week and we avoid engaging them in this conversation, we have neglected one of the most important characteristics of human beings: sharing our narrative.”

Reflection

Within the walls of the church there is a great emphasis on spiritual development. Programs are filled with biblical teachings on discipleship, core values, prayer, fasting, etc. Learning about the spiritual aspects of Christianity is vital to any believer. Is the church meeting the needs of their community by investing in a holistic change?

A holistic change is a change that happens socially, spiritually, and economically. Striving to transform the whole life of an individual not only affects them, but also the community as well. Pastor Fernando Tamara understands the significance of integrating spiritual growth with opportunities for people to grow socially in a community and economically through work.

Tamara’s example encourages us to continue socio-economic ministry that closes the Sunday-to-Monday gap, and in this way lifts our congregations spiritually, socially, and economically.

Are you and your leadership team meeting the needs of your community by investing in holistic change?

An Excerpt from the book, “Church for Monday” by Dr. Svetlana Papazov.

Svetlana Papazov is Lead Pastor and Founder of Real Life Church, President/Founder of Real Life Center for Entrepreneurial and Leadership Excellence, a first of its kind model of church and business incubator that educates in entrepreneurship, leadership and faith praxis.