Blessings, I would like to share a little bit of myself with you and as you are reading this, I hope you are well. I was born in Milagro, Ecuador; S.A. during the early 1980’s and lived there with my grandparents until the age of six. Ever since, I have been a New Yorker. I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. and later moved to Queens, N.Y and most recently after getting married, alongside my beautiful wife, we moved to Long Island, N.Y. I remember from an early age I found how cold this world could really be, and how easily one can be influenced and misled. Growing up thinking bad was good, and being good was bad, derailed the plans that God had for my life. For a long time I found comfort in the streets, seeking that fatherly/brotherly love I did not have at home. Later on I began yearning for that love through alcohol and partying, but no matter what I did at the end of each night the root cause of my problems always surfaced. No matter what I did or tried to do to numb the pain, my battle against this hurt deep inside my soul would not subside. Even when things did go the way I wanted them to be, I was not satisfied. I reacted defensively at the thought of possibly getting hurt again and so I lived this way to avoid more pain entering my life.

In 2006, my life had taken a few turns, and one of them was meeting my beautiful wife Deborah. God must have been thinking of me when he made her, because we are a great fit and complete each other in so many ways. At the same time, I was also pursuing a music management career with a group of friends and artists. Balancing music and life became problematic at times, due to the heavy demand and workload involved in both worlds.  Once again I caught myself in a mental battle with a decision of which path to choose, and which path to sacrifice. In the midst of this fight and feeling tired of being tired, those old feelings of hurt, betrayal, and pain came back into the picture, but God in His love and mercy reached out His hand to me in that moment of despair and I reached back and grabbed His hand.

 It is funny how God works, I took the invitation from my wife to attend a church service, and at this point I felt it was not a bad idea. I mean, what did I have to lose?   All it took was one service and the Lord touched my heart and spoke directly to me like someone who knew me my entire life. For the first time in a long time I felt that fatherly love that I yearned for. It didn’t take too long to realize God was with me all along, and knew me better than I knew myself. From that point on I have dedicated my life to serving him. What a blessing it is to be a child of the Most High God, and what an awesome feeling it is to be able to live in His promises here on earth.

Nowadays, I share my experiences and lessons learned in life with the teens whom I lead alongside my wife and other awesome men and women of God. I am blessed to also head up the sound room and for the Glory of God, I am once again working on recording music and also working with the creative arts ministry where ever the help is needed. Most recently my wife and I were ordained as Pastors and feel blessed to serve those God has placed around us so that they do not make the same mistakes I made. I thank God for his everlasting mercy and grace. May our Lord bless you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!    

Pastor Felix Rosero

Blessings to you all from heaven above! I am so thankful to have this opportunity to share a little about myself, and my testimony, may the glory be to God!

I was born in the Bronx (NY) to an Ecuadorian Mother and Dominican Father. I grew up with my mother and two older sisters. My father and mother separated when I was an infant and I remember seeing him on occasional visits. During my childhood, we lived in rough neighborhoods of Brooklyn and with that came struggles of poverty, violence, instability and poor decision making. It was a difficult upbringing, which in turn became scars and left me with a wounded spirit.

            My mother grew up Catholic, therefore we were raised Catholic, from what I remember she was always a strong woman of faith. Out of all her siblings, my mother was the only one placed in a convent in Ecuador at a tender age. She was raised under strict doctrines by Nuns until she was 16 years old. This decision was made by my grandmother who was struggling financially at the time. These unfortunate occurrences completely replaced the thought of ever going to church and when we did, it was done religiously because we thought if we didn’t, God would punish us. My concept of God was that He was a tyrant, a God that would only seek to find our faults with the purpose of punishing us. I remember being confused as to who God really was? I was curious, maybe it was because I heard two different versions of God? I remember encountering devout Christians from different denominations proclaiming “God is Good” and Jesus Loves You”; but I chose to believe that God was a God that only brought punishment. Therefore, this mindset drove me to seek less of him.

            I was living life on my own strength in my early adult life and things were not going to well. I held a lot of anger, and resentment throughout the years due to the hurts of life and unforeseen occurrences. I felt cursed, and entrapped. Everything I attempted to do was unsuccessful. In my early twenties I met my husband Felix, and at that point in my life I felt “lucky” for once in my life. Although we struggled in our relationship, and at times felt like it was too good to be true, I felt in my heart he was truly a great person and I knew he was placed in my life for a greater purpose.

            In 2007 my mother found a Christian Church she felt good in, and knew her search was finally over. My mother, knowing my struggles, invited me to the church knowing I would surely like it. I remember feeling tired of being tired, and accepted the invitation to accompany her to church. I cried throughout the service because the preaching spoke directly into my heart and the worship to God was heavenly. My husband Felix (boyfriend at the time), was aware of my great experience that day, and agreed to come to service the following Sunday. I received Christ in my life that day, and began the journey of building that relationship with God, and realizing that I was wrong about him for many years. I finally understood that God is truly a God of Love, and of Blessings and so my walk and healing process began! Today my husband and I, are proud to say we serve the one and only True God at New Beginnings Ministries. Together we serve in Multi-facet ministries, from dance to sound room, teaching and recording and recently got ordained as Pastors and together we are always willing and eager to come into the next stage that our God has in store for us!

Pastor Deborah Rosero

May the blessings of our Lord be upon you, let me share some of my past and present life with you all. My name is Pablo Palacios; I was born in Ecuador, S.A. I remember from a young age I was introduced to the Lord and since the age of four, I was taught in the ways of the Lord and how to live a Christ-like life. I thought that it was enough for me to just listen to the preaching’s, assist the meetings and services and I grew with that mentality for some time. This is the way I lived until I reached adolescence and then curiosity awoke in me. I wanted to know what life was outside of the church and so I decided to isolate myself from the church and began living a life that was completely separate from God in every way. This went on for about five years, a godless life which in turn lead to drugs and bad influences; I was even exposed and surrounded by people involved in the occult. I thank the Lord for having mercy on me and taking me out of that path of perdition, one which I highly recommend no one ever take because it was the worst decision I have ever made in my life, separating from God.

About four years ago there was a vigil I was invited to by my brother and his wife Robert and Laura Palacios, now Pastors in New Beginnings Ministries. I felt God calling me once again to His service and to this house of worship and so after consulting with the Lord and my wife; together we decided to become an integral part of NBMI. Now I can truly say that I am blessed and the experiences that I have had have only drawn me closer to God and together with my lovely wife and two Young daughters we now serve in the house of the Lord. I now work as a minister of worship (playing the key board and guitar and recording music) and my wife leading the dance ministry and most recently I was ordained as an Pastor. We serve faithfully and with joy in our heart we serve God Almighty together with our family of the faith.

Pastor Pablo Palacios

   Let me share a little bit about myself, from growing up being a Hindu, then marrying a Muslim woman and later becoming a Christian, are just some of the transformations that I went through and that I am still experiencing in my walk as a Christian. I received Jesus in my life after an accident I had where I unfortunately broke my foot really bad. That afternoon my friend prayed for me because the next morning I was going into surgery. That very same night I experienced the presence of God for the first time, I felt as if someone was physically pushing my foot back together again. After my discharge, I was told I could not go back to work for one year and had to see a foot specialist and undergo physical therapy. My second visit to the Doctor (who was Jewish) was amazing. After opening the cast he asked me: “what are you doing to your foot?” I replied: “nothing, Jesus is healing me”, he then said: “do you believe Jesus is healing you? And I said “yes”. The Doctor replied “he is doing a good job and you are released to go back to work” and within four months I was in work again on light duty.
                I continued attending church every Sunday giving my tithes and keeping my seat warm, doing the 50/50 Christian walk with no growth whatsoever. Then four years ago the greatest disaster struck me, my marriage came to an end and I went through a bad divorce. I was judged by pastors, my family, and looked upon as trash and even told not to come back to certain churches and went from church to church seeking God's help in my life. I cried every night with such pain and did not know where to go to seek His presence. Then one morning I felt God's hand reaching into my heart and taking away that pain and sorrow. I felt peace inside of me and I shared this experience with Pastor Joell Perez, not knowing that two weeks later he would have to go out and plant a new church: New Beginnings Ministries. I remember saying: “God, no hablo espanol” (I don’t speak Spanish, because initially it was a spanish only ministry), but God in His infinite mercy, knows the end from the beginning!
             Today five years later, I am blessed to be among people with real love, a Pastor and his family who care about me and the church members and brothers and sisters who love each other in the love of Christ. There is such an overflow of love in our church that it’s hard to explain; you have to experience it for yourself. God has blessed me from a Head Usher to an Elder standing side by side with my Pastors and brethren. I have experienced so many wonderful spiritual things in my life and I thank God everyday for putting me where I am today. I have seen miracles happen to my unbelieving family, my sister healed from cancer and so much more. This kind of love we have is called "Agape love"(unconditional love). We sincerely care for each other in the love of Christ.
            As I continue my walk with New Beginnings Ministries, I know God will continue to transform me into whatever he desires and wants of me. All I know is if I would not have obeyed the voice of God in my life to take this leap of faith, I would not be where I am in my walk with Jesus today.
Jeremiah 3:15 "and I will give you Pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."
                                                                                                                       

 In His service,

Elder Pooran Bassaw
 

Hello.  I would like to share a little bit about what the Lord has done in my life.  

Growing up, I was raised in a denominational religion where a relationship with God was not taught or understood.   However,  as a small child, I learned  in religion class that God loved me; Jesus loved me.  Those words were so sweet to my ears.  It’s hard to explain how elated I felt when I heard them.   The elation was short lived, and the seed that had been planted in my heart lay dormant for a very long time .  None the less, the challenges of growing up in a dysfunctional alcoholic home and the deep wounds of rejection could not quiet that still small voice in my heart that reminded me that I was loved and that everything would be alright.   The Lord continued to  protect and pursue me.   He  placed Christians in my path as I grew from a teenager into a young adult, but I unwittingly rejected Him,  and the Christian lifestyle.  

When I finally reached the end of myself, and asked Jesus into my heart, I was in my twenties, divorced with two children, and would soon give birth to my third child.  Initially, I expected all my problems to go away.  I was under a false perception that now that I had surrendered my life to God, He would immediately fix everything and I would live happily ever after.  Because I didn’t realize at first that everything I needed was in Him – (my peace, my joy, my strength, my life) my focus was off, and I became disappointed with God.    That disappointment caused me to be bitter, though I didn’t admit this at the time.   For many years I lived my life as a Christian looking good on the outside, having victories in certain areas, but feeling like a failure in so many ways.  The childhood hurts and rejections haunted me; no matter how successful I became, the feeling of not being good enough  and the fear of failure lay just beneath the surface.  This affected every area of my life, including the area of ministry.   I was living to please man and tried to attain a level of perfection that would at last make me acceptable; that would bring me peace.  Needless to say; I was trying to do the impossible.  I could not heal myself,  and only God can affirm me.  Once I acknowledged this, the Lord was able to truly begin the healing process.  Today, my confidence is in who I am in Him.  I am free to worship Him and to be all that He has created me to be.  

Over the past several years, I’ve served in several ministries.  I was leader in a children’s ministry and taught 3 to 5 year olds, a women’s ministry where I led worship and taught workshops on several  topics including self esteem, being a single mom and worship, to name a few.  I was a home group ministry leader where I hosted, taught and led worship.   In 2008 (before the earthquake) I went on a missions trip to Haiti.  My hearts desire is that the Lord would continue to use me as He wishes, for His glory and honor.  

I am so blessed; so grateful that the Lord sent my husband and I to New Beginnings Church.    Love abounds within this ministry and I am so honored o be part of it.   

May the Lord abundantly bless you,

Elder Judy Pechulis-Garcia