Toronto Church Planting

Exceeding Expectations – JD & Andreina Fasolino

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2017 was a year that exceeded expectations for the leaders of Emmanuel Baptist Church East, JD and Andreina Fasolino. The Fasolinos lead a two-and-a-half-year-old church plant reaching the Hispanic population of East Toronto. In 2017, EBCE grew to a congregation size of 60 people, raised up leaders from within the church to engage with the vision, and mobilized the youth of the church to lead the body in worship. In two short years, they have witnessed 10 people follow Jesus through believer’s baptism. This is a huge victory since most of the Hispanic population in the area come from Catholic backgrounds and were baptized as children.

JD and Andreina are originally from Venezuela, and before moving to Toronto, they were leaders in a large church of 800 people. Upon moving to Canada, they connected with a Hispanic Southern Baptist church, Emmanuel Baptist Church, who had a vision to plant 20 Hispanic churches by 2020. Emmanuel Baptist Church East was one of five new churches planted in 2015, and they are currently the only Hispanic Southern Baptist Church in the east. JD is a pastor fulltime, and Andreina works in the marketing field. They have a three-year-old son named Daniel Isaac, and recently welcomed a brand-new son, David Andres, on December 28th. Needless to say, JD and Andreina are not getting much sleep these days, but they have a fresh vision for their church for 2018.

This year, they plan to incorporate their church and send out leaders from their body to plant a church in an area they have pinpointed about 30 minutes away. They are continuing to train leaders from within the church to serve underneath their leadership, and they plan to continue engaging with their community. Their church building is just down the road from a welcome center, and they partner with the welcome center to meet new people and help them assimilate into the area. They offer Spanish translation services, mentoring, and financial counseling to those who need it. Once a week, they rent out the gymnasium at their local school and invite the community to play volleyball. EBCE also partners with the Durham Pregnancy Center nearby to help mentor young moms-to-be. Their vision is to be a church who lives out their faith every day of the week, not just on Sundays, and make an impact in the community by practicing the values in the Bible.

As JD and Andreina continue to lead Emmanuel Baptist Church East, please pray that they will find a home to live in and for financial provision, as Andreina is out on maternity leave. Please join us in praying for strength and guidance as they work to reproduce themselves in their core team, and in the new church plant so they can continue to reach the Hispanic population of East Toronto.

Daniel & Evelyn Smith – The Key to Multiplication

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“Discipleship is the key. Until you do this, there will not be multiplication.” This was Church Planter, Daniel Smith’s answer to the question, “What do you want people to know about your church?” Daniel and his wife, Evelyn, are visionary church planters with a passion to see churches planted out of their current church, Baptist International Worship Centre in Brampton. They started BIWC in 2012 with a vision to multiply across the world. Currently, their church meets on Sundays, and Daniel preaches in English and Cwi, a language native to West Africa. Daniel said, “Immigrants [from West Africa] are coming in large numbers,” and he and Evelyn see this as an opportunity to impact more families with the gospel. By day, Daniel works in the accounting department of a large security company, and Evelyn cares for senior adults at a local nursing home. They have been married for 23 years, and they have four children, one of whom still lives at home. They are currently in the process of planting another church in Toronto, which will function as a multi-site of Baptist International Worship Centre. They identified a leader from within their church who felt called to lead and trained him to lead a Bible study out of his home in Toronto. The Bible study in Toronto takes place on Saturdays, and they have already seen God at work within this new body of believers. A lady named Guana attended the Bible study and gave her life to Jesus two weeks later as a result of her experience. They immediately began walking with her through the discipleship process, MasterLife. Daniel is passionate about mentoring church planters, and he believes the work God has called him to do is paving the way for the church of the future to be stronger and more centered around the gospel of Jesus. Daniel is less focused on numbers, but more focused on teaching converts the demands of the gospel and how to live their lives following Jesus. Please join us in praying for Daniel and Evelyn Smith as they celebrate five years of ministry in Brampton, launch their next church in Toronto, and pray through the next steps for this multiplication movement in Brampton.

Beacon Baptist Church Sees God Move

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Patrick and Nadine Armstrong, who serve Beacon Baptist Church in Victoria Harbour, recently held a community outreach and invited Harold Peasley, Church Planting Mentor and Director of Evangelism, to speak. He preached a powerful message entitled “The Tragedy of the Titanic”. The message was well received and as a result, Beacon Baptist has two new people attending church and Bible studies and one other new person attending weekly Bible study. One woman, whom Patrick and Nadine had been interacting with but who had not come to church or a Bible study before, came to the presentation and felt a call from the Lord that night. Since that night she has attended church each Sunday and Bible study every week. She accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Saviour and Patrick baptized her in Georgian Bay of Lake Huron a short time later. This was only a few weeks after Pat baptized another woman in Georgian Bay who they had been working with since last spring. Harold’s message powerfully impacted both of these women, and they are already evangelizing friends and neighbours who are asking questions about their faith. Not long ago, Pat and Nadine were eating lunch with these two women and saw their faith put into action. They engaged in an interesting theological discussion with another patron as well as the owner of the establishment who is an atheist. Please join us in praising God for these new believers. Continue to pray for the Armstrongs and Beacon Baptist Church as they bring the gospel to the Victoria Harbour community.

Church Planting as a Family – Jennifer & Christina Masih

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Jennifer and Christina grew up as daughters of ministers. They moved around often and watched their parents love people and preach the gospel. Christina says, “God was always at the center of everything our family did.” Growing up this way helped these sisters see truth from a young age. Jennifer watched the struggles her parents faced in ministry, and she also watched the growth that took place in their life as a result of the struggles. This increased her faith and gave her the values she has today. Both girls live in Toronto with their parents, Yousif and Jacqueline, and are a very active part of the ministry at House of Prayer International Milton, the church they helped their parents start two years ago. Jennifer is 27 years old, sings in the choir, and helps teach young children about Jesus. Christina is 30 years old and serves the youth who are a part of their church. Before moving to Canada, their family lived in Pakistan where they faced enormous persecution because of their faith. They left Pakistan after their uncle was assassinated for preaching the gospel. This impacted their faith greatly. Jennifer says, “It makes you want to hold on to your faith tighter when you know that someone is so against what you believe.” In Canada, they get to experience a religious freedom they do not take for granted. Perhaps their biggest culture shock upon moving to Canada was seeing people refuse to take advantage of their religious freedom. They are thankful for this freedom and for the opportunity to help their parents lead a multicultural church which reaches people from all walks of life. Christina works for a large shipping company, and Jennifer plans to go to Cambridge Heritage Seminary to prepare for ministry. Serving in a church plant is not always easy, and there are many lonely days. Jennifer and Christina are praying for God to send more mentors and leaders into their life for encouragement and support. They are excited about the things God has in store for House of Prayer International Milton. To learn more about their parents and House of Prayer International, click HERE.

Yousif & Jacqueline Masih – Building Relationships in Milton

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Yousif and Jacqueline met while working as nurses in Pakistan. They moved to Bahrein and met the Lord through a local church in 2000. There was no doubt God was calling them back to Pakistan to spread the news about God’s love. Once they were back in Pakistan, they began seeing hundreds of people come to know Jesus. They were there for ten years and started three new churches before they were forced to flee the country for fear of persecution. In fact, the persecution of the church in Pakistan had become so violent, Jacqueline’s brother, who was also a pastor, was assassinated. God provided an opportunity for Yousif, Jacqueline, and their two daughters, Jennifer and Christina, to move to Canada. They may have thought they were only leaving to escape the persecution in Pakistan, but God had plans to use them to reach the diverse culture in Toronto. In 2015, Yousif and his family started House of Prayer International in Milton where they see people from all different countries gather to pray and worship Jesus each week. Yousif and Jacqueline can speak five different languages making it easier for them to reach many different groups of people. Jacqueline loves to host meetings with women in their home. She and Yousif meet people in the markets and invite them over for dinner, or tea, to build relationships with them, pray for them, and share the love of Jesus with them. Yousif works as a nurse and often has opportunities to minister to people through his work and invite them into their home. Their church is currently meeting on Sunday afternoons inside another church building. They are praying for God to provide them with a permanent meeting space of their own. House of Prayer International Milton seems to attract those who are new to Canada or new to their faith, and the numbers are continuing to increase. Please pray for this family and this church as they seek to help others grow in a relationship with Jesus. To learn more about how Jennifer and Christina are serving with their parents, click HERE.

The Importance of Discipleship – Mauricio & Mabel Botello

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Never underestimate the importance of discipleship. Mauricio and Mabel were working full-time as a computer tech and a dance teacher in Colombia, South America when they were approached by leaders in their church about being discipled into ministry. They began discipling others, and eventually became leaders of cell groups within their church. They knew God was calling them to something different, and after praying, they both had dreams that helped affirm they would be moving to a multi-cultural place. God later affirmed the new place would be Canada, 4,000 miles away from their friends and family.

After 2 years of preparation, including learning a new language, and mountains of paperwork, they moved to Toronto and began building relationships and sharing Jesus through those relationships. Initially, they met with four to five others in the dark, cold basement of their apartment. As their numbers grew to fifteen, they outgrew the basement and searched for another place in the community to meet. In July 2017, King’s Church Mississauga launched weekly gatherings at the local community center, and they have already seen numerical and spiritual growth take place.

King’s Church Mississauga primarily ministers to Latinos, and their heartbeat is to disciple immigrants, refugees, and professionals. There are 35,000 Latinos in the city, most of whom are professionals.

Mauricio said God told him, “I sent you there [to Canada] because I have sheep there without a pastor.” This was further affirmed as God provided Mauricio a job as a delivery driver for a local company. Every weekday he drives around the city, meeting professionals in the community. This provides him with the perfect avenue to build relationships for the purpose of sharing the gospel.

King’s Church Mississauga has a vision to evangelize, disciple, and send out. They plan to start seven churches in seven years. They would also like to find a translator who can help them start an English service in the near future.

Mabel is in school to become more fluent in the English language, and she spends her days caring for their 21-month-old son, Oliver. She also leads music for their church’s weekly gatherings.

The Botellos spend a lot of their time pastoring couples, specifically immigrant couples who left their home country in pursuit of their dreams in Canada, and who do not have family close by, or a support system in place to help them navigate the difficult times. They are passionate about discipling these couples toward a Christ-honoring marriage and walking with them through their struggles. They are seeing couples begin to understand God’s design for marriage, and they are encouraged by the marriages that have turned away from divorce as an option.

They are praying for more influence in the huge Catholic and Muslim communities around them. They are also seeking God for the next church location. Please join us in praying for King’s Church.

Meet our Encourager – Kimberley McGibbon

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It takes more than one person to start a church. Kimberley McGibbon serves alongside her husband and church planter, Jason. She is not only his supporter, but she is also the mentor to many other women. Kimberley grew up going to church, where she learned all the “right answers.” “I really was skating along on the coattails of my parents’ faith,” she says. After surviving a flight that almost ended in a plane crash, Kimberley realized that she did not just want to know about Jesus, she wanted to know Jesus and she wanted Jesus to know her.

When she and Jason first got married, he was a musician and she was the owner of an event planning business. They were very active in their local church, but Kimberley was still surprised when Jason began to feel God’s call to church planting. “I didn’t see where I sort of fit in,” she says, “I wasn’t sure of what gifts I would have to bring as a pastor’s wife.” However, as they planted roots at The Sanctuary in Oakville and later at a church in Milton, Kimberley saw that she would be able to serve in many ways. She strives to “see the need, meet the need.” As her family moved to plant a church in Hamilton, she found that there were always tasks that needed to be done.

One of Kimberley’s primary roles is as encourager. She encourages Jason as the leader of a church plant and as a mentor to other church planters, she encourages their four children to have a leadership role in their church—whether that is in leading worship or working with the children’s ministry—and she encourages other church planter’s wives to rely on their unique community.

There are many challenges and obstacles church planters and their families face. According to Kimberley, one of the greatest challenges is the cost of living in the greater Toronto area. Most families are unable to purchase a house and many must work alongside developing and leading a ministry. As they struggle to balance demands from family, work, and their ministry, Kimberley seeks to offer the spouses support.

In January 2017, Kimberley joined the Toronto Church Planting team as the coordinator of spousal health and development. She provides practical resources for the spouses of church planters as they build their ministries throughout the Toronto area. “My biggest thing is to try to get everybody connected with each other,” she says. By hosting events and introducing the church planters to each other, Kimberley helps to foster a community of encouragement and support. With over a decade of experience in church planting, Kimberley and Jason are both able to mentor and encourage younger church planters and their families.

To learn more about the life and ministry of the McGibbon family, check out Jason’s story HERE.

Meet the McGibbons

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The McGibbon family serves a community not far from the place they call home. Jason grew up in Oakville, Ontario, and now he and his family minister to a network of church plants in the Greater Toronto area, The Hamilton Fellowships. Although Jason did not grow up in church, he became very involved in The Sanctuary Church as a young adult. It was in that community of believers that he and his wife, Kimberley, began to feel called to do something different. As they prayed about where God was leading them, they started to learn about the need for more churches across Toronto.

The McGibbons joined a group from The Sanctuary Church to start a new church plant in Milton. This church was thriving and they were happy to be part of this growing ministry. However, their son was receiving medical treatments at a hospital in Hamilton and they found themselves spending more and more time with the people in the Hamilton community. They began to feel burdened for these people, and five years ago they started a house church, Hamilton Fellowship.

Jason’s heart is in training leaders for the next generation of churches. He is working with other church planters in the area to start a network of church plants. He serves as a church planting coach and is the regional ministry leader for the Canadian National Baptist Convention.

Jason’s vision for Hamilton Fellowship and the other churches in the area is to identify those who are lost, invest in building relationships with them, invite them to a small group or service, and increase by making disciples. “One of the things we learned right from the beginning was the value of being active in the community and serving the community,” Jason said.

There are many misconceptions about Christianity among the people Jason works with. “It’s a culture that has intentionally stepped away from the church,” Jason said. One of the greatest challenges is that many people have not heard the true Gospel.

Jason hopes the network of churches can become more established in the years to come. They hope to have a central building by the Fall of 2017 to act as an administrative resource to the churches in the network. Their vision is that over the next three years they would be able to reach more lost people by having four established churches in the Hamilton area.

To learn more about the life and ministry of the McGibbon family, check out Kimberley’s story HERE!

Meet Church Planter Matt Hess

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Multiplication is the heartbeat of Fellowship Pickering. The 4-year-old church plant located in Pickering, Ontario, is reaching a highly diverse, densely populated and widely unchurched area in North America. Matt and Arrica Hess first planted Fellowship Pickering in October of 2013 and by October of 2016, the church multiplied to plant Fellowship Church Rouge Park and Fellowship Oshawa.

Matt grew up near Tulsa, Oklahoma, and felt called to ministry as a 12-year-old. He joined the Marine Corp when he was 19 and again felt called to pastor a church. He began preaching, but still felt like something was missing. After moving churches and starting seminary, he realized that he had never truly given his life to Christ. After surrendering to follow Christ, he and Arrica started to feel called to church planting. When they learned of the need in Toronto, they knew God was calling them to plant Fellowship Pickering. Their family moved to Toronto and began knocking on doors and starting Gospel-centered conversations.

Fellowship Pickering is primarily made up of young families that gather in an elementary school building. They encourage their members to attend the church gathering time, invest in a small group, grow in a community, and give everything to God. Matt wants Fellowship Pickering to look to the harvest in their community. “People have to see that Jesus can’t be a hobby,” he says, “The call to salvation, the call to a life with Christ, is not ‘Hey, when you feel like it, follow me.’”

Matt trains and mentors church planters to fulfill their vision of multiplication. Although they have already planted three churches in the Toronto area, they hope to see nine more planted by 2023. Their goal is to follow where the Holy Spirit has already started to work in the lives of those in their community and raise them up in evangelism and discipleship. “We teach our church planters how to get in to the harvest early and often…to have a mentality to multiply from the very beginning,” Matt says. In the future, they hope to have a permanent space where they can gather to worship together and train believers to plant new churches in their community.

Matt and Arrica hope that more believers can join in their vision to see the Gospel spread and churches multiplied throughout Toronto. Churches can join them by praying, giving financially, and sending teams to serve at Fellowship Pickering. “We really believe in the power of prayer,” Matt says, “And we need people to come up and catch the vision.”

7 ways you can pray for church planters in North America

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This blog post first appeared April 10, 2017 on NAMB.net

If we want to see a move of God in North America, we should pray that God will move in and through church planters. Church planters are on the front lines, confronting the darkness and spreading the gospel in North America. They often serve in areas with little gospel witness, far from the familiar and comfortable, working week after week to see God’s Kingdom move forward in difficult places. Here’s how you can support them through prayer:

1. Pray for a close walk with Jesus.
Pray your planters prioritize their relationship with Jesus. Pray they stay in His Word, fellowship deeply with Him in prayer and keep their lives pure. Pray God would walk powerfully and intimately with them, so they are able to minister out of the overflow of this personal walk.

2. Pray for an identity grounded in Christ.
Planters are entrepreneurs who long to see something started from nothing. The temptation is often to find their identity in what they do and how well they do it. Pray your planters root their identity deeply in the gospel.

3. Pray for a strong marriage and family.
Balancing family and ministry can be difficult. Pray your planters are sensitive to the needs of their families and make shepherding them a priority.

4. Pray for wisdom.
Church plants can be fragile organizations. Every decision can be one that makes or breaks the organization. Pray God gives your planters great wisdom as they make decisions weekly that affect the growth of the plant—and the extension of God’s kingdom in their communities—for years to come.

5. Pray for favor in their community.
Pray local business would open their meetings spaces. Pray local leaders would help them connect with the community. Pray for natural relationships with neighbors. Ultimately, pray your planters find people open and excited about a new work in their community.

6. Pray for faithfulness in their work.
The hard work of church planting can be draining and discouraging. One week can be exhilarating with success, while the very next week can be a crash of disappointment. Pray your church planters stay focused and faithful to the call God has placed on their lives, even in the midst of the ups and downs of difficult ministry.

7. Pray for fruit for God’s kingdom.
Planters plant churches because they have a passion to see individuals and communities transformed by the gospel. Pray God will have His way in men and women across our land. Only Jesus can save lives. Pray that He will transform hearts and lives.