When Vision Baptist Church was officially started in March of 2006 we had all the dreams and desires of most church plants. We prayed that God would use our combined efforts to see people come to know Christ and become followers of Him. It was also our desire that God would use our new church plant to be a place that people could be equipped for missions service. Over the last 12 years God has been very gracious to us and allowed us to see this dream become a reality!
In the summer of 2005 a handful of use moved to Alpharetta. We started to learn the “lay of the land” and begin meeting people. One night a group of us decided to go to “Meetup” where people were learning spanish. Being that we spent time together in Peru, South America most of the group knew some spanish and thought it would be a great way to meet some people we could talk to about Jesus and let them know about the new church that would be started the following year. At that meeting we met a very, young Miguel Sanabria. I believe he was a sophomore in HIgh School at this time. Shortly after that night a Bible Study was started in the home of some of the family members of Miguel. He began to hear the Word of God taught. Miguel came to know Christ around this time!
Miguel was the first fruit we saw as a church family! As I look back on those days I think about all the decisions Miguel made. I also think about the time he wondered away from church for a short time and how an invitation to help translate our discipleship material (Foundations) helped bring him back into being an engaged member of the church. There is no doubt God used Vision Baptist Church to help mold his life into the servant he is today. As I reflect on this I can’t help but think about how much this first new disciple helped build and shape our church.
It was because of Miguel we first gathered and prayed for people of Alpharetta by name to come and know Christ. It was through this first convert that we discussed finding a place for our first baptism. It was in part because of our responsibilty to this new convert we worked to develop a discipleship curriculm in spanish. Through Miguel being involved then starting to drift away we began to consider how to help our young people who leave church after high school. In later years God used Miguel to help build the church as he serves our spanish pastor.
The story of any church is the story of God using people to help lead others into a growing relationship with Him. Tonight as Miguel will share testimony of the fact that God has used this church to mold his life we must also remember how God uses new beleivers to help build and shape the ministry of our church. The life of our church and the life of Miguel will forever be connected and that is how it should be.