It began as a set of classrooms housing ministry to 20 children and youth. It became a soccer field reaching out to 160 young people around the neighborhood. A pastor’s passion and the voice of God prompted the change.

Cristian Juarez is pastor of Tres de Mayo Church of the Nazarene in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. He was a man on a search. Like most Hondurans, Pastor Cristian is an avid soccer fan, but he also has a passion for ministering to youth.  The mix of these two passions is where our story begins.

Cristian had a vision for a soccer field near his Tres de Mayo church where he could invite youth from his neighborhood to come and play. The church occupies a two-story building. The upper level is a new, very commodious sanctuary. The ground level was divided into Sunday school rooms, with twenty children in average attendance. For two years, he searched for an affordable nearby property. Two Nazarene churches in the United States were ready to back the project if he found something suitable. When he could find nothing, one of the churches moved on to support another project.

It looked like his dream had hit a dead end. Then early one morning during his devotional time, he sensed God speaking to him. This is what he heard: “Use what you have. Get rid of the classrooms and open up the space for a soccer field.”

For the rest of the story, see Engage magazine.