By Gillian Brickey I
glesia Biblica Latinoamericana (IBL), a special congregation near and dear to our hearts, has been an outreach of the Catawba Presbytery to the Hispanic community in Columbia, South Carolina for over thirty years. IBL’s original mission was to reach Columbia’s growing Spanish-speaking immigrant population. Established in 1989, IBL began as a vision shared by mission developer Daniel Bautista in partnership with Dr. Jim Barker, minister at Centennial ARP Church and several others. The presbytery called IBL’s founding minister, Rev. Jose Juan Diaz, affectionately called Pastor JJ, to serve IBL as their full-time minister. Pastor JJ, along with his wife, Mrs. Blanca Diaz and their four children, faithfully served the church from 1989 – 2011. In 2011, after 22 years of faithful service, Pastor JJ stepped down from pulpit ministry due to early onset dementia. We only knew Pastor JJ after dementia had already changed him, but we remember his moments of lucidity at church as he continued attending with his family, heartily praising Jesus. Over the years we have heard many stories of his lov- slowly gave way to dementia, and on October 11, 2022, he entered his eternal rest with Jesus. Pastor JJ’s legacy and God’s faithfulness continue at IBL. IBL has not had a full-time minister since 2011, but this faithful congregation contin- ues in faithful worship. In 2011, as Pastor JJ was stepping back from ministry, my husband, Rev. Justin Brick-
ey, was studying for his Master of Divinity degree at Erskine Seminary’s Columbia cam- pus while working full-time as the IT director for First Presbyterian Church of Columbia. Rev. Neal Mathias, a minister at First Presbyterian Church Columbia, was on the provi- sional session for IBL. Knowing Justin had been part of Hispanic ministry locally for sev- eral years, Rev. Mathias invited him and a team of men to rotate pulpit supply on Sun- days. Justin preached monthly in this rotation for two years, but because he was the only one in the rotation who could preach in Spanish, the others preaching in English with Spanish translation by a church member, IBL requested that he preach more often. Justin then became “student supply” for IBL from 2013-2015. For all intents and purposes, he was their pastor. During these years, we attended and served IBL with our four children. After Justin completed seminary, we accepted a call to serve in Spain with World
Witness, and Rev. Scott Moore, former World Witness missionary to Mexico, became IBL’s “stated supply” minister. Scott and his wife, Julie, and their children, served IBL bi- vocationally in this capacity from 2016 until December 2020, when Scott Moore accepted a call to Due West ARP Church. Without a minister, IBL was yet again served by a rotation of pulpit supply preachers, delivering sermons in English with a member providing translation. Despite not having their own minister and despite a rotation of different ministers each week preaching in English with translation, this congregation continued faithfully attending their church.
In Spring of 2021, Justin accepted a call to transition from our roles in Spain to join
World Witness’s Mobile Theological Training Team (MT3). We moved back to the United States to base from Columbia, South Carolina in May of 2021. As we transitioned to the
US, we learned of IBL’s plight. Justin is working fulltime on his Master of Theology degree, which, for the time being, keeps him somewhat local and available to preach. Uniquely equipped and positioned to serve, we felt com- pelled to do what we could for this faith- ful congregation. Justin has become IBL’s pulpit supply when we are not speaking elsewhere for World Witness or traveling for MT3, and he is the moderator of their provisional session.
What does life look like at IBL today? Justin and I travel and visit churches
for World Witness, so IBL still often has visiting preachers with sermons in Eng- lish that require a member to translate the sermon into Spanish, but most Sundays Justin is in the pulpit to preach in Spanish. We have about 25-40 attendees on any given Sunday from newborn to age 91, and in July IBL welcomed four new mem- bers into the congregation. One couple said they had been praying for a Bibli- cally sound, Reformed church. They were ready to drive hours to one they heard about in Greenville when they found IBL on the internet. They were so thankful it was in Columbia, “just” forty minutes from their home. To our knowledge, IBL is the only Reformed Spanish language church in the Greater Columbia area. IBL needs more space. After sharing space with area churches in their early years, the presbytery acquired a former Gregg Street in downtown Columbia. The building opened for worship in January 2000. The building is a blessing to the con- gregation, providing stability in their own church home. Today, the congregation continues to worship on Sunday morn- ings in their building, but IBL is growing! When they host fellowship meals, the space that doubles as fellowship hall and sanctuary, and parking is limited.
26
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Cover Story
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
