Despise Not the Day of Small Things
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
Zecharaiah 4:9–10
In the ideal scenario when you church plant, you grow a core team and start small group meetings to build commitment, cohesion, and impart a vision. This vision leads the group to a passion and faith in Jesus to build his church. Pastor Ben Fortney’s scenario was all but ideal. But God still moved.
Ben Fortney had been living in mainland Honduras since 2015, initially serving in a bilingual school at an orphanage. There he met his wife, Nely. He planted a church on the mainland with his friend Rene, but God started stirring him for a change. In February of 2020, Ben and his young family made the move to Roatán, an island in the Caribbean forty miles off the northern coast of Honduras. Little did they know that the island would go into complete lockdown less than three days after their arrival. After arriving Friday afternoon, the island announced extreme lockdown protocols that Sunday. Due to the covid pandemic, the Fortneys were unable to make any real headway in developing a new church for over a year.
The island of Roatán runs on tourism, so when people aren’t traveling, the locals aren’t working. The isolated inhabitants of their new island home were hungry, which gave the Fortneys and a few friends a strong idea. They decided to purchase truckloads of beans, rice, and spaghetti noodles, and deliver them by boat to homes in their area. Slowly, the Fortneys were able to build relationships with the families they were helping.
Prior to the pandemic, missionaries had been serving in the area for two years, but their departure left a void in the community of Oakridge, where Ben and his family live. For those who were eager to find church community, Ben described them as “sheep scattered.”
In Roatán, an island full of diverse cultures, there is a highly legalistic seventh-day Adventist presence and a hyper-charismatic Pentecostal presence, but no real Bible-focused, gospel-centered church. And as a bilingual island, surprisingly there are also no bilingual churches. As they delivered food bags, the team heard stories of churches no longer meeting, of families who couldn’t worship together because of language barriers, and stories of unsettled feelings about the style of churches available in the area. There was a very real need—and Ben was finding that people were eager for what was missing.
With the blessing of the local municipality, by February of 2021, Ben Fortney and his small team were able to begin activities once a week, serving meals and creating events for kids. On Easter Sunday of 2021, they launched Iglesia Nueva Esperanza—a biblical, bilingual non-denominational church located at the center of Oakridge, Jose Santos Guardiola—with the mission of glorifying God by loving God, loving others, and making disciples. That’s when Vintage Mission became more involved.
For much of the island, it is predominantly women and children in church, and there’s a strong pastoral influence. But Ben and his team were meeting many young men eager to grow in their faith, or others curious about who Jesus is. Just a few months after launching Sunday services at Nueva Esperanza, they were able to launch two men’s bible studies: Ben leads one in English and one in Spanish. The English group grew quickly, reaching eighteen to twenty five guys each week. The Spanish group grew slowly but is now reaching a faithful sixteen to eighteen young men. They would also play football together during the week in the community, reaching out to others who might join them.
Ben was told about a guy who was really struggling. If it weren’t for the misinformed idea that he may have been suicidal, Ben may have passed up the meeting. But Pastor Ben took the time to meet with Aaron, who brought along his best friend Dani. Aaron shared about what was going on in his life, and Ben replied, “I am happy to talk with you, but what I am always going to share with you is Jesus because I truly believe he is the solution to all our problems.” Aaron quickly affirmed that he was interested, but Dani didn’t share the interest. Every Tuesday since that meeting Aaron and Ben have met. Ben gave him a paperback ESV Bible, and now he proudly shares how ragged the Bible is as he is eager to learn from God’s word. Each week they meet, Aaron presents questions to Ben. “You’re the only pastor that has ever given me answers about God using the Bible,” Aaron exclaimed to Ben.
Aaron accepted Christ and they began to discuss baptism. After clearing up some Catholic misconceptions from Aaron’s childhood, he was ready to be baptized. As the details about his profession of faith were solidifying, his best friend Dani came back around. After joining the conversation, Dani professed, “I thought this was going to be like a two out of ten, but it’s like a fifteen out of ten. This was amazing. This was so helpful!” Both accepted Christ, and this past June, Ben baptized both Aaron and Dani. Since that time, Christ has been on the move in both families. This past month, Ben got to baptize three of Dani’s sisters, and Aaron’s sister is ready to be baptized. Furthermore, Aaron’s mother has become a Christian, and a grandmother, aunt, and cousin of their close friend also all faithfully now attend Nueva Esperanza.
Through Ben’s willingness to sit down and answer the questions of a struggling teenager, he’s seen multiple families and friends changed for Christ—and it’s only been one year. God is on the move in Iglesia Nueva Esperanza, Roatán!
