Pastor
Rafael Castro
Iglesia Bautista Emanuel
Pastor Testimony:
Pastor Rafael Castro Soza has been the senior pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church for the past three years, previously his father Rafael Castro Flores was the senior pastor but now for reasons that he is 76 years old and has some health complications he had to retire. Emanuel Baptist Church was founded by Pastor Rafael Castro Flores in 1980 and has been in operation in the city of Diriamba since that date. Pastor Rafael Castro Soza had a vision when he was a child and the vision God showed him that he was walking behind his father and crossing a stone bridge, in his soul he felt that he was going to follow in the footsteps of his father as a Pastor and from that moment he fell in love with that call to serve Jesus. Pastor Rafael learned to speak English and now he can preach in English and Spanish. In these last years he has developed the calling that God gave him in the ministries with the children, youth and the congregation where he is serving. Pastor Rafael is married and has 3 children, and he has witnessed God's forgiveness and that his purpose for people's lives always prevails, the ministry has grown, the projects have grown, there is a supernatural restoration in the church and he is very happy to be able to be obedient to the voice of God and fulfill the call and continue preaching the gospel of salvation.
Meet the church:
Iglesia Bautista Emanuel
The Emanuel Baptist Church was founded in 1980 by Pastor Rafael Castro Flores. At first he began holding family meetings to study the Bible in the homes of some members and the membership began to grow. When the church was founded there were only 7 members in total, but the need for the gospel was evident so God began to add more and more people. Pastor Rafael also dreamed of opening a school where the community could be educated and also taught about the Bible and the gospel of Christ. So during the years that he was at the head of the ministry, God made his dream come true and he managed to create a Christian school for the community of Diriamba. Currently Pastor Rafael Castro Flores is 76 years old and for health reasons he stopped pastoring full time and his son Rafael Castro Soza was delegated as the new pastor of the Church. Pastor Rafael Castro Soza has led the church for the last 3 years as lead pastor and the church is always very active doing outreach activities such as evangelism, activities with youth and children, cleaning parks and neighborhoods, evangelism in schools and neighborhoods. During the week the church has services on Wednesdays and Sundays, they also have leadership meetings on Tuesdays and prayer time on Thursdays. On Saturdays there are activities for young people.