Wonderful Day at Memorial Park Church of God Jasper

Sunday, April 30, was special day for Memorial Park Church of God in Jasper.  The church was established on Feb 15, 1953 when eight people met in a rented house with co-pastors Margret McCleskey and Betty Jo Teaford.  The building where the church would eventually meet was built in 1958.  Since that small beginning the church grew to an apex of 50 in attendance during the pastorate of Philip Hardin in 2012.  The number of people attending started to decline after Pastor Hardin left until this year when eight people remained.  The church was considering closing until a new opportunity opened up.  Elbin Morales, the pastor of Iglesia Fuente de Salvacion in Decatur, has a vision to plant a church in every town and city in Alabama.  He already has planted a church in Harvest and in Huntsville.  When he learned the Memorial Park church is considering closing, he visited the church to discuss allowing him to use the church to reach the community.  Though out the last decade their neighborhood had been changing.  Now espanol is the most common language heard in the community.  The congregation of Memorial Park loved the idea since they had been trying to minister to the community for years.  The children from the community would attend VBS but the parents would not come.  Now Elbin comes with a vision to reach the community through a Hispanic church pastored by Josea Morales, his father.  The few remaining members of the church whole heartedly embraced the idea of the church not closing but transitioning to a Hispanic church.  As former pastor Philip Harding commented, “The Holy Spirit has no language.”  The church voted Josea Morales as the new pastor and a board of trustees help him from Elbin’s church in Decatur.  On April 30,  Memorial Park Church of God had its first service with the new pastor and staff.  They celebrated the ministry Memorial Park has had up until now then they turned toward the future of a new vision for the church.  The church was full of the wonderful sounds of babies crying, children running in the aisles, along with youth and adults worshiping together.  The service included songs in Spanish and English.   The service concluded with every one gathering at the alter for a prayer of dedication of the new congregation God is building in Jasper.  Josea and his wife will move into the parsonage and start visiting the neighbors to invite them the new Memorial Park Church of God.