But Grace Found Me

So says Pastor David Rosa of South Florida when he reflects upon his life’s journey. Today, David provides leadership for church planting and mobilization strategies in a variety of ways in the Miami area. But at one time his life was far from God.

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, his family actively participated in a small church. He remembers, “The sacred rhythms of worship, prayer, and Scripture shaped my earliest view of God. However, that spiritual foundation was tested early.” With the death of his mother during his later childhood years, his family relocated to South Florida. As David struggled with the massive changes in his life, including adjusting to life without his mother, he went down a very dark road.

“I struggled with addiction, instability, and identity. I spent time in juvenile detention and wandered from any meaningful sense of purpose.” His path included dropping out of middle school, using illegal drugs, and eventually getting his girlfriend pregnant. His life was a mess without any good direction. But David could not see that God had a plan for him and was already sovereignly at work drawing him to Himself.

His sister persistently invited him to attend a church with her in Hollywood, Florida. Though a culture shock to go from the world of the streets back into a Gospel-centered church, he continued attending. David says, “Surrounded by faithful, Spirit-filled believers, I heard the Gospel in a way that broke through my pain.” Eventually, God got David’s attention. He surrendered his life to Christ, becoming a living testimony of the reality of 2 Corinthians 5:17, that “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (NLT). He also committed himself to being an active part of the church’s life: “What followed was a deep season of discipleship, service, and pastoral formation.”

David eventually pursued an education, completing a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and starting a pathway of seeing other lives also touched by Jesus Christ. A transformed life remains one of the most amazing displays of God’s work. He took this aimless, troubled young man and began forming David into “a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21 ESV). David is an example of one life that you touch through your faithful praying and giving.

A Gospel-Centered Catalyst

The past two decades, he has served as a senior pastor, prison chaplain, church planter, and strategist – a Gospel-centered catalyst for renewal—rooted in South Florida and shaped by years of ministry on the ground. He says, “My heart beats for the city, the marginalized, and the next generation of rooted leaders who will plant churches that heal even as they build. My work centers on resourcing leaders – particularly from Black, Brown, and average sized churches.” Today he partners with local and national organizations as a consultant, strategist, and trainer. He helps start and strengthen churches with a passion for Christ centered community impact.

In recent years, Leighton Ford Ministries has partnered with another Gospel-centered ministry, Church United of South Florida, which exists to strengthen the church in their region. They invest in pastoral care, build cross denominational relationships, and leverage tools and partnerships, with a passion to see churches and cities thrive.

David says that when he saw the work of Church United, he realized that “God was doing something incredible in unifying churches. Church planting pastors in South Florida gather to pray. They began collaborating more than competing. I was blown away to see what God was doing. We believe church is strongest when all of its parts are strengthened. We’re helping Black, Brown, and churches with bivocational pastors – the ones who often need these kind of resources, but most often find it the hardest to come by.”

David Rosa serves as Church United’s Strategic Partnerships Manager. In this role he partners with LFM as we work together to establish congregational learning cohorts across the area. These cohorts consist of pastors representing different churches, all committed to being healthy leaders who lead thriving ministries. Together we walk the pastors and churches through a process of self-discovery, clarifying their mission and core values, and resulting in strategic initiatives to help them impact their communities. We are especially helping churches of color and small to medium size who may not normally have these types of resources.

Seth, a pastor participating in one of our South Florida cohorts, says, “Churches our size usually don’t get access to this level of coaching and guidance. We’re very grateful for what this has represented, for myself personally and for our church.”

Unique Cultural Challenges

In addition to the changes affecting North American churches generally, South Florida has a unique set of opportunities and challenges:
• It contains a diverse, multilingual, and multicultural population. South Florida is a pipeline to and from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Combined with political diversity, it complicates the work of engaging the community.
• A culture of self-centeredness and pleasure seeking prevails.
• Residents grapple with a dramatic surge in the cost of living, which strains both local communities and congregations striving to sustain their endeavors

Tremendous Potential for Kingdom Impact

This fall, we will be starting six new cohorts, representing a number of congregations all over South Florida. David has been training a group of facilitators this year to prepare for these cohorts. These facilitators are pastors, all strong leaders in their own areas of ministry. They represent different networks and denominations, with tremendous potential for great Kingdom impact:

• Arthur directs a Baptist association and leads a cohort focused on Caribbean churches

• Ramis focuses on Spanish-speaking Gen-Z churches and pastors

• Joey invests in African-American churches with a passion for discipleship for the younger generation

• Carter is building a Miami-based network of emerging church planters and pastors

• And more!

In addition to the cohorts, we are currently forming fifteen new mentoring communities within this network. In light of the overwhelming obstacles facing many ministry leaders and churches, we are committed to providing an arm around the shoulder for these leaders. We are deeply aware of the need for these pastors to have safe places, safe times, and safe people in their lives.

Arthur, another pastor in the initiative, described the deepening of trusted relationships forming in his cohort: “Everyone in that room is a band of brothers. We are no longer seeing one another as competition. What pastors need are friends. Pastoring is one of the loneliest thing we can do.” He said that because of the brothers in his cohort, “If I’m in trouble, I have pastors I can call who will come alongside of me.”

Your praying and giving are touching the lives of pastors in South Florida – and other places. These ministry leaders and churches may not otherwise find the needed connections, resources, and networks.

David enthusiastically captures the heart of this movement: “This isn’t just strategy, it’s spiritual alignment. It’s Church United and LFM living into a shared vision: healthy leaders lead to thriving churches, which lead to flourishing cities. We’re seeing the ecosystem expand without compromising depth. We’re resourcing the margins without resorting to charity. We’re building leadership pipelines for the next twenty years right now. This is something you want to spread the word about!”

Will you continue praying for this initiative? God is at work among churches of all size, denomination, and color in South Florida. We are thankful to be one part of what He is doing for His Kingdom

Gratefully,
Kevin Ford

 

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Will you consider investing in the lives of kingdom leaders?

• Praying daily for this ministry and the lives it reaches.
• Sharing $100/month to help support our ongoing mentoring groups around the world.
• Investing $2,000 to train and equip a leader for one of these mentoring communities.
• Giving $5,000 to cover the first year of a new community.
• Providing $15,000 for the three-year launch of a new community
• Offering $30,000 to cover the costs of a three-year church cohort for church planters, small churches, and churches in communities of color.

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