Ever since Joel Aguero was a little boy, he wanted to become a pastor.
When Joel was a senior in high school, he received a scholarship to attend Northland Baptist Bible College in Wisconsin. Following college, he returned to the Dominican Republic, where he ministered for 10 years in his home church as the assistant to his father.
Joel served in youth ministry and music and taught in the church’s small Bible institute. “But the Lord put a burden in my heart to start a new church in the western part of the city of Santo Domingo,” he says.
People were increasingly moving to his part of the city, but it didn’t have many Bible churches. So four years ago the Lord led Joel to plant Iglesia Communidad De Vida (Community of Life Church). The Lord has been blessing, and about 90 people attend on Sunday mornings.
The church has received assistance from First Baptist Church of Spring Valley, California, and its pastor, RJ Cabugwas. And the church is part of Misión Evangelizadora Bautista Independiente, an association of about 30 churches in the Dominican Republic that joined Regular Baptist International in 2024 “to have fellowship with other fundamental Bible believing Baptists around the world,” Joel says.
People in Joel’s area are open to the gospel, and young couples have moved to the area because it’s affordable. “There are new couples who are raising kids, and they are coming to church,” Joel says. “Once they know that we are here, they’re coming. People in our church are inviting them, and there is a lot of need in this area for the gospel.”
The goal of Iglesia Communidad De Vida is to plant more churches, so the church is training men from the congregation to preach and teach in various locations around the city.
The church is in the process of buying property for a church building. But in the meantime, the church wants to buy a house near where the congregation currently meets and modify it to function like a community center, offering activities for children. Currently the church rents space in a movie theater to meet on Sundays; during the week, the congregation gathers in members’ homes. “We ask for your prayers for us and also for your support,” Joel says.
Joel and his wife, Brenda, have been married for 15 years and have two daughters, Leah, 9, and Laura, 7. Joel says, “I’m really grateful to the Lord for my family, and my wife has been very supportive.”
Joel says his church consists mostly of young professionals and new families but also has many older people and single mothers. “We are trying to teach [the congregation] the principles of God’s Word and to disciple the children, because they are the future of the church,” he says.