Church Planting in the High Country

One of our seminary church planters is moving on to an exciting new ministry in Denver, Colorado.

Juan Peña, who graduates this month from our training, came to Baptist Bible Seminary in the summer of 2002. He left his mechanical engineering job in Rhode Island to move to Northeast Pennsylvania and BBS with his wife, Courtney. His focus was Master of Divinity concentration in church planting and personal involvement with a new church start.

The Peñas hit the ground running. Within days of their arrival, Juan was going door-to-door with Project Jerusalem Director Ken Davis. He was learning how to conduct community needs surveys preparation for the launch of a new church there.

Juan was the first seminarian recruited for the launch team. He has served faithfully in numerous roles – leading outreach efforts, overseeing the new church’s small group ministry, discipling leaders, and preaching on occasion. Courtney has organized and led the children’s ministry.

“What a great six years,” he said. “As we step back and look at all the things the Lord has done in and through us, we can only say one thing: ‘He and He alone is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Eph. 3:20).’ Living Hope Baptist Church, the four-year-old multi-ethnic church we helped start in the Poconos stands as just one testament to God’s power at work within us.”

The Peñas’ exciting adventure has not been without a few bumps. They used most of their life savings for school bills. Juan lost his mom to cancer as they were transitioning to BBS. With the birth of their first son right after the 2004 grand opening, Courtney had to quit her job. Juan had to find full-time work again as an engineer to provide for his young family.

Project Jerusalem provided tuition scholarships when possible. Over the last 18 months, Juan has been self-supporting as he diligently completed his seminary internship at Living Hope. His required projects have all been focused on ministries he has led at Living Hope.

Born in Colombia, South America, Juan speaks Spanish and English. He has a large burden to reach Hispanics. Over the last four years, Living Hope has attracted a lot of Hispanics moving to the Poconos from New York City.

With graduation on the horizon, the Peñas have sought God’s direction for their future. They considered the prospect of church planting and leadership training in Latin America. Two years ago they made an exploratory trip to Ecuador, but the Lord seemed to shut that door for now.

“Our desire is to serve in a church plant that is above all centered on the life-changing power of the Gospel,” he said. “We want to be a part of a church that proclaims and expounds the full implications of the Gospel to every area of life, and a church that reaches out to all people regardless of their race, color, ethnicity or socio-economic status because the Gospel demands it. We want to serve in a church that is actively seeking to meet the needs of its neighbors in the community simply because they’re made in God’s image”.

In March, Ken Davis sent Juan a link to a news website article about a new church plant in downtown Denver. In the article, the lead planter, Jason Janz, explained his burden for starting a multi-ethnic, socio economically diverse church in the heart of the city. Juan excitedly recognized the team leader – 18 months earlier, Janz had visited Living Hope to learn about Project Jerusalem and experience the celebratory worship of a multicultural church.

Juan discovered Janz’s core group had been fervently praying for six months for a Hispanic pastor to join their launch team. In April, the Peñas flew to Denver to spend four days with the Janz family and meet the people of the soon-to-launch Providence Bible Church.

“We were able to personally experience the ethnic diversity in Denver,” he said. “On Saturday, PBC was helping to sponsor a carnival for the Hispanic community. We were able to interact with hundreds of Hispanic people in the city. We also talked about philosophy of ministry, prayed together, visited churches, and spent time with the core group.”

Juan and Jason immediately saw they shared a mutual theology, philosophy and passion. For the Peñas, this was an answer to prayer. Invited by Providence leaders to join the pastoral team, and after seeking wise counsel and much prayer, Juan enthusiastically responded.

This summer, he will leave his engineering job and begin to raise three years of full support in a relatively short time. Providence’s grand opening service is less than five months away. Yet, Juan and Courtney are confident God will provide. One core-group member has already offered temporary housing for the Peñas in Denver.

Juan feels God has used his church planting experience with Project Jerusalem to equip him well for the challenge ahead.

“For six years, I’ve been privileged to be mentored by Ken Davis and to serve alongside Living Hope’s lead pastor Tom Hutchinson,” he said. “We thank God for Baptist Bible Seminary and Project Jerusalem and their vision to prepare men to be skilled and passionate church planters.”

To learn more about the Providence Bible Church and its vision to impact metro Denver, click here.