USA- Little is known about how Dante Gebel was called to be pastor of the Hispanic church of Catedral de Cristal, but there is no doubt that this was going to be the beginning of a journey that was going to take Gebel himself and the church that he would shepherd to places and experiences that they would never imagine.
In fact, when Gebel arrived at the Crystal Cathedral (2009) he did not have all the financial resources to facilitate his work: “The church was not going through its best financial moment and those who made the proposal were very clear with me: ‘There is no budget available, only a little less than 300 members (speaking of the Hispanic church) but you have all the freedom (to develop your ministry)”, Gebel said at the time.
Gebel took on the challenge of pastoring the small Hispanic church that would later become what River Church is today, but the path was not easy, as the pastor himself says in a funny video of how God led them through the desert. and blessed them to get to the place where they are today.
In 2012 when the Crystal Cathedral was declared bankrupt and was put up for sale, the Hispanic church would not continue in the place and together with Gebel they had to wander for three years through various places in Orange County, such as the Convention Center, the Hilton and Marriott hotels, the OC Fair and even public parks. Amazingly the Church would grow to nearly 5,000 people during that journey. Back then it was called “Favorday”.
In 2014, the church would no longer be called Favorday but River Church and would become the fastest growing Hispanic Church in the United States. In that same year, not having a fixed place for meetings, in the summer he held meetings for fifty consecutive nights in a tent called the River Dome. The congregation grew by leaps and bounds during that time.
After spending three months in an auditorium called River Forum, finally in 2015 the church acquired its own indoor arena in Anaheim and called it River Arena, where an average of 6,000 people gather every Sunday for two services and remains open 24 hours a day. In 2017 River Church began funding missions in India, Uganda, and Mexico.
In March 2012 Gebel said: “We are very happy and are forever grateful to the entire Schuller family. If it weren’t for them, the Hispanic church would never have existed, they have been very generous with our Hispanic community. We left with our heads held high and with the blessing of the entire board of directors and Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman…”.
The Hispanic Church that was born in the Crystal Cathedral was founded by Juan Carlos Ortiz, who was invited by Robert Schuller.
As Gebel himself says, it was an intense decade but he himself as pastor and with the help of the congregation set out to save souls and continue to do so. From NoticiaCristiana.com we congratulate Gebel and the River Church for those 10 years and that great example of tenacity, perseverance and faith in Jesus Christ that has led them to reach the world for Christ.
Published in: NOTCIACRISTIANA.COM – Find out daily about all the evangelical Christian news.
Post Visitors:104