The Lord is faithful, sovereign and merciful. In 2003, the Lord revealed a vision to Lisandro and Carmen Gonzalez to start a church for the sole purpose of making disciples of all nations. This vision led them to resign from a growing and flourishing Baptist church in Lathrop, Missouri in the fall of 2003 with their six year old daughter, Giselle, and newborn son, Paulo. They spent three months in Paraguay seeking God’s will, direction and the next steps for their life.
While in Paraguay, the Lord confirmed to Lisandro and Carmen they were to start a new church in Tampa, Florida. Upon returning to Kansas City in the spring of 2004 to gather their belongings, the Lord moved in the hearts of Cameron and Kristy Greenhaw and confirmed they were to serve Lisandro and Carmen in this new church plant.
The Gonzalez’s and Greenhaws made the journey from Kansas City to Tampa in June of 2004. They arrived in Tampa on June 11th and the next day, they went to Fort Desoto Beach to celebrate Lisandro’s 40thbirthday.
The Lord was gracious and merciful in supplying the necessary provisions to begin this new church plant beginning with a house on North Rome to stay in from Lake Carroll Baptist Church. The Lord also provided a place to worship at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry building on the campus of the University of South Florida through the partnership with the Tampa Bay Baptist Association. The Lord provided finances through the Tampa Bay Baptist Association and North American Mission Board as well as training on church planting. The Lord brought additional friends to start International Community Church on August 20, 2004.
After starting the church, the Gonzalez’s were in Colorado performing a wedding the first weekend in September. During this trip, Paulo, who celebrated his first birthday a week before, began having seizures and was in intensive care at a hospital for 10 days. Over the next 10 years, Paulo’s health has been a continual focus of the church. Through this trial, God is Sovereign and we wait in expectation when we will see the Lord return to Paulo the years taken away and the Lord will receive much glory for Paulo’s healing and restoration.
We celebrated our first baptism at Fort Desoto Beach one year after arriving in Florida and since then the church has always held a baptism celebration with at least one individual being baptized at Fort Desoto Beach on the second Sunday of June. The baptism service is important as we are able to bring forth the fruit of our labor from the previous year.
In 2005, the Lord revealed the full name of the church as Livingwaters International Community Church. More families joined the church, but at the beginning of 2006 several founding families left the church. The Lord was continually leading us in His plan and purpose for Livingwaters and found ourselves being led to the Wesley Chapel area north of Tampa. In 2006, Livingwaters moved our Sunday morning services from the Baptist Collegiate Building at the University of South Florida to the Gonzalez’s home at 31348 Wrencrest Drive.
In meeting at the Gonzalez’s home in 2006 and 2007, we were small in number. Even when we had few people and even fewer resources, Livingwaters has been a church focused on giving. We have had a generous heart in giving love offerings to individuals and other churches in the United States and throughout the world. We have hosted missionaries and blessed those whom the Lord has brought to minister to His Livingwaters.
In the fall of 2007, the Lord provided Livingwaters with a new ministry opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic community in Wesley Chapel. The First Baptist Church of New Tampa was offering its building for a Hispanic ministry to utilize on Saturday evenings. There were a number of Spanish speaking families who met Lisandro through soccer and were looking for a pastor. Livingwaters started a Hispanic ministry called Aguaviva which met on Saturday evenings at First Baptist New Tampa building with services in Spanish and then Livingwaters continued its English speaking services on Sunday mornings at the Gonzalez’s home. The first Aguaviva service at First Baptist Church of New Tampa was the first Saturday in December 2007. Since then the church has celebrated its church anniversary on the first Saturday of December.
In 2008, the Lord led Livingwaters to stop holding services on Sunday mornings and unite the two ministries on Saturday evenings. Services were held in Spanish with English translations. As the years went on, families came and families left. As more English speakers started attending, the services were more bilingual and eventually the Saturday evening services were in English with Spanish translation. The language and culture differences have enriched Livingwaters and prepared the church to reach out to the nations and engage in different languages and cultures.
Along with this change in language, the Lord was leading Livingwaters to look for another physical location to hold worship services. In the fall of 2012, the Lord confirmed it was time to leave First Baptist New Tampa and we began meeting in individual homes. The Lord used this unique time to unify Livingwaters and create deeper relationships within the church. Livingwaters is highly relational and based on authentic and loving relationships. At the end of summer in 2013, First Baptist Church of New Tampa extended an invitation for Livingwaters to use their facilities again for the Saturday evening services.
What do the next 10 years look like for Livingwaters? While only the
Lord knows the details, this is what He has placed on our heart for the future:
To train, send and support our own missionaries to different nations of the world.
To conduct once a year a week long “Feast of the Gathering” where our people will come from every nation to celebrate a year of world harvest and to be trained, empowered, equipped and commissioned for another year.
To support our overseas missions by sending short-term volunteers and provisions, such as finances, food, clothing, medical supplies, professionals, etc.
To be a church-planting church in the USA and the world thus building a network of churches.
To be a church that trains and empowers churches and leaders around the world.
To become a church of cell groups where people get connected, nurtured, discipled and empowered to become Shepherd Leaders.
To allow an atmosphere for the indwelling of the Spirit in every worship gathering and in every worshipper.
To fill the Sun Dome and later Raymond James Stadium for the purpose of gathering the Livingwaters InternationalCommunity Church and people from all nations to worship our Lord.
To purchase a property around the Wesley Chapel area for our Church campus (parking lot filled with palms, water, flags of different countries, and banners that express our values)
The Church Campus will have a:
Sports complex for recreational and outreach (i.e. volleyball, basketball, soccer, baseball, etc.)
Family Center area with playground for children, bookstore, movie area, café area with live music, etc.
Master’s School for teaching and training with focused and general studies
