The small town of Miramar, population 6500, is located in the Province of Puntarenas approximately 20 miles from the Pacific coast. The Church of the Nazarene has had no presence in the area, but that is changing as God leads the way to plant a church in this beautiful community in the mountains overlooking the ocean.
It’s a neat story, how this all got started. A man by the name of Jorge Ramirez Gonzalez has lived in Miramar for many years. Two years ago, he felt the Lord asking him to start a church. He has had some theological training, so he was ready to do so. Pastor Jorge has been ministering to small group of 10-12 people meeting 3 times per week in a rented building on the outskirts of town.
Pastor Jorge’s wife, Aurora, enjoys listening to a radio show that airs each morning out of a station in San Jose. The pastor who leads the show is one of the Nazarene pastors in the capital by the name of Oscar Cespedes. After listening to the show for some time, Jorge contacted Pastor Oscar to see if it would be possible to affiliate with his local church located in Desamparados, Costa Rica.
Pastor Oscar and other church leaders visited the group in Miramar but because of the long distance (2.5 hour drive), they asked Missionary David Webb to work with the North District to see if they could assist Pastor Jorge. The North district leaders, including District Superintendent Johnny Calvo began to visit Jorge and encourage him in his work in Miramar.
This small cell group received a huge blessing in July when an Evangelism/Jesus Film team arrived. The team of 22 was led by Darrell Leber and was represented by five churches in two states: Washington and Kansas. The team cleaned, repaired and painted in two local parks located near the church building, showed the Jesus Film three times, and they ministered in two elementary schools presenting a VBS to 650 children, breaking into small groups with 180 fifth and sixth graders, and making salvation bracelets with nearly 800 children of the community.
In all, more than 100 people prayed to receive Christ in the four days of ministry. To God be the glory!
A highlight was the church service on Sunday night where it was standing room only. The closest organized Church of the Nazarene is in Palmares, about a hour drive from Miramar. Pastor Felipe Flores from Palmares preached and the Palmares/San Ramon youth provided the music. It was a wonderful night of celebration.
Missionary David Webb shares, “It was a great blessing to minister in Miramar. We experienced God’s presence and favor in all we did in the four days of ministry. We are excited for what God is doing through Pastor Jorge and are already anticipating how this small cell group will grow into an organized Church of the Nazarene.”
by: Shelley webb, Missionary of the Mesoamerica Region.
