Englesia Envangelica Nube De Gloria Hispanic Ministry (Cloud of Glory Ministry) started with two small Hispanic families with a burning desire to seek the Lord and His Spiritual presence. Pastor Josue Rodriguez, his wife Jessica and their children Clarissa, Kaelyn, and baby Jaciel were one of the families to begin this journey in addition to Joel and Nancy Santiago and their son Marcos. As a Hispanic church our goal is to bring the Hispanic community to embrace the love of our Lord Jesus.
At the beginning we gathered in Pastor Josue Rodriguez’s house offering a Sunday service and a prayer service on Wednesday. After a few months other families were added to the gatherings and the place was becoming smaller as time passed. Pastor Josue felt the call from God a long time ago and was in the process of acquiring his credentials, which he did within a couple of months. Soon after the two families that began the ministry would go places like flea markets and other Hispanic populated places and inform them people about the ministry. An impending necessity of a larger place to worship drove Pastor Josue to offer to fix, and prepare a small area on the back of his cabinet shop to be used as a temporary church until the Lord Jesus opened a door for a church building. Nube De Gloria spent a period of 17 months in the cabinet shop. They continued to offer a Sunday School service in Spanish and prayer services on Wednesdays. The church kept on growing and kept praying and asking the Lord God to provide a larger place to congregate. As we Christians all know and understand the Lord works in mysterious and wonderful ways. In the back of the building apartments where on of the members of Cloud of Glory Church lives (Joel and Nancy) stood Victory Baptist Church.
Every day Joel and Nancy could see Victory Baptist Church from the back window of their apartment. One afternoon while going shopping, their son Marcos saw some cars in the parking area, they decided to stop and ask. The first person they saw was Deborah Bailey. Her attention and her kindness were indescribable. Joel explained our situation and our needs to her and in no time she went to ask Pastor Mike Naylor, who was in the office, to come and talk to Joel. Like Deborah, Pastor Michael was also very attentive and kind. As he spoke to Joel, Pastor Mike expressed he felt is was a blessing to help Cloud of Glory. Joel felt like it was a set up from a higher power when in conversation with Pastor Mike it was the great intervention of God.
Pastor Mike set up a meeting with the Hispanic church, Cloud of Glory Pastor, leaders and Victory Baptist Church Council members for further discussion/decisions. It was a great historical and wonderful meeting; every member of the meeting was as attentive and kind as Deborah and Pastor Mike. The members of the council told us that their church started just like us, looking for a place to worship as they grew bigger. They totally understood our situation, In an hour meeting we cried, we laughed, we shared feelings, emotions and we felt the wonderful presence of the Lord and the Holy Spirit upon us. What a wonderful, memorable day.
The next step was to wait for a church vote and decision so that Cloud of Glory church could enjoy the use of Victory Baptist Church building to worship. In about a week from that meeting Pastor Mike and the church council gave us the good news and the key to use the building as members of the congregation. We started our church services on a Wednesday with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Now the Hispanic church, Iglesia Evangelica Nube De Gloria (Cloud of Glory Church) is offering worship services at Victory Baptist Church every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 12:30 p.m.
This just shows how God sees no denomination, language, culture, or titles, just two churches, one Baptist, the other Evangelical with two different names but with only ONE GOD, ONE WORD, ONE LOVE, and ONE TRUE FAITH. The mission of Iglesia Nube De Gloria (Cloud of Glory Church) is to bring the Hispanic community of Hope Mills, Raeford, Fayetteville, and all areas we can reach to the feet of God.
There is a large Hispanic community that needs Jesus and a place to worship without language and cultural barriers. Together with the help of Victory Baptist Church in fellowship our mission becomes more feasible. We know in our hearts that Iglesia Nube De Gloria (Cloud of Glory Church) and Victory Baptist Church will be able to work together to break the boundaries or denominations, language, and cultural barriers thus bringing the Hispanic community to God.