We are very excited and humbled to announce that a pastor and his church from Cuba have joined the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC) network. Pastor Richard Lemus Diaz first reached out to ARC Director Mike Bradley over seven months ago, seeking relationship with a network that embraced the evangelical, sacramental, and charismatic streams of the faith, as well as desiring a relationship with a spiritual father or mentor. After months of communicating back and forth, Pastor Richard requested membership in the ARC. We’ve asked Richard to share a bit about himself, his family, and his church with you. He writes to us the following:

“Dear ARC members, my name is Richard Lemus Díaz. I am 31 years old and have been married with my wife, Lariza for almost 9 years. We live and minister in Cuba, a country that needs to experience the love and the power of God. I thank God He saved my family from Santeria, my grandmother was a spiritist medium and my mother was a fortuneteller. But the Lord arrived to my family and saved all of us.

I felt God's call to pastoral ministry early in my life and at 15 years of age I began to serve as a missionary in the mountains of Cienfuegos. After Lariza and I got married, we went to the seminary in Havana and we served in pastoral ministry in several churches located in Havana, Trinidad, and now in our own city—Cienfuegos, in the center of Cuba.

When we returned to Cienfuegos we had nobody, so we planted a church from scratch, walking on our city's streets, preaching the Gospel of Jesus. It was a hard work but now there is a church here with people who have given their lives to God. We named our church Gate of Heaven because our desire is that people experience the same thing Jacob experienced when he arrived at that place. He arrived alone, poor, defeated, hopeless and confused. But in that place he had an encounter that changed his destiny. He was exposed to the Almighty's glory.

A gate of heaven is a point of contact between God and men, a place of supernatural events, a portal that allows Heaven's atmosphere to pour into the earth. That is our desire as church, to experience God's glory in our generation.

That's why we are so thankful to God that He allowed us to find the ARC. We know we have joined people and leaders of God who desire this same atmosphere and work together to honor and celebrate the person who creates this atmosphere—the Holy Spirit. We believe when people like this are connected in love relationships and serve and worship God together, great things happen. We thank the ARC's National Leadership Team very much for allowing my wife, me, and our congregation to be part of this.”

Welcome Pastor Richard and Lariza, and Gate of Heaven church to the ARC!