God has been so good to me! I did not have the great privilege to be raised in a Christian home. My life was the complete opposite, fully engaged in a lifestyle of sin. It wasn’t until I first met my wife that I attended an actual church service. As a young girl, she rode the church bus every Sunday to First Baptist Church in Hammond, IN. Now, as an adult and away from God, she knew she needed Him in her life. 

While attending church, I made a “profession of faith” to please my wife, but I knew it was a false profession deep in my heart. Eventually, I stopped attending church altogether. Praise the Lord for the faithful church members of Northwest Bible Baptist Church (NBBC), Elgin, Illinois, who continued to visit and encourage me. 

 

In 1998, we began attending church again, and I started serving in the bus ministry. I continued to serve the Lord and my church, but unfortunately, it was as an unsaved man. In February of 2006, our church had a spiritual revival. It was then that I asked Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sins and to be my Savior. True Salvation was mine that day! From that moment forward, there was a fire burning inside of me. God had put the desire in my heart to preach His Word!

 

In September of 2007, I surrendered my life to full-time service and began attending Bible College at Providence Baptist College. I graduated in 2011 and immediately began pastoring the Spanish church at NBBC. 

In the Fall of 2012, I accepted the call to pastor a small group of Spanish people in Fort Pierce, FL. With the grace of God, we started our little work. With less than 40 people, including children, we began to plow forward, renting a small room in the back of another Baptist church. The motto I set for our church was “Just stay out of God’s way and let Him work.” 

 

Not long after, the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to rent a property where we could also begin to have English services. We quickly grew out of that property as God gave the increase. We then purchased an excellent property with just under 3 acres. Over time, God has allowed our church to grow well over 200 in weekly attendance, with big days of over 300 in attendance. We have services in English, Spanish, and for the Deaf. God also allowed us to have our own private K4-12th grade Academy and many other ministries. I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for allowing my wife, our four children, and me to serve in such a diverse church because that is how Heaven will be! 

 

It would be our honor and privilege if you would visit and see what God is doing at Treasure Coast Baptist Church.

​

~Pastor Rick Palma