Missionary, Keegan Cullen, who has been collecting winter-themed LEGO village sets since 2009, was enthused to share his collection with others while in the states to rest and rejuvenate before returning to the mission field in 2026. 

“Having an open house for church members was a great opportunity to talk with them and share what we have been doing overseas,” said Cullen. Keegan and his wife, Karmen, shared prayer cards with those who stopped by and had a fun contest for children to search for 10 Star Wars minifigures hidden in the display. The prize for finding all 10 characters being a Christmas-time favorite, a candy cane. 

Also on display was ceramic pottery made by Karmen, something she learned to do in high school and developed a passion for later in college. Her pottery items were works of art with practicality, and included toothbrush holders, spoon rests and travel cups for hot tea or coffee. 

Having been back in the states for six months, the Cullens have enjoyed spending time with family and friends, a welcome opportunity to recover from the homesickness and loneliness that can result from serving in long-term international missions. They have also engaged with the local community by volunteering weekly in the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at the University of West Florida and Pensacola State College. 

As they prepare to return to the mission field, they look forward to “starting fresh with a new set of people who have never heard the gospel,” said Cullen. Going to a city in Spain where around 30,000 unreached college students reside, the Cullens are excited to serve alongside a church plant, where students will have access to a local congregation where they can grow in faith and be discipled. 

Hillcrest Baptist Church already has plans to send summer interns and a mission team to help launch the new college ministry in 2026. “While we expect language barriers and other challenges along the way, we are looking forward to having a great church partnership while we serve on mission in Spain,” said Cullen. 

Trees for Hope is a ministry of Summit Church in Homestead that raises funds for disaster relief and local missions by selling freshly cut Christmas trees and wreaths each holiday season. Since 2016, trees are shipped directly from a small farm in North Carolina and set up at a lot hosted by Heritage Market on Krome Avenue. The tree lot opens on Thanksgiving Day and remains open until every tree is sold.

This year, the 720 trees sold out completely in less than two weeks.

Alex Pecina, Summit Church pastor, says that the ministry started in 2016 with an order of 150 trees and the desire to raise funds for people in the community who had been affected by the hurricanes and tropical storms that year.

Pecina, a Florida native, recalls how hurricane Andrew devastated his community after making landfall as a category 5 hurricane in 1992, becoming one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history. When the Red Cross showed up to help with recovery, 8-year-old Pecina witnessed the hope and relief the community felt. Through the funds raised from Trees for Hope, Pecina wants to bring the hope of the Gospel and relief found in Christ to those facing hardship after devastation.

Christmas tree shoppers had two ways of joining the mission. They could add a donated tree during check out or drop by to purchase a tree specifically to donate without no purchase for themselves necessary.

In the past, funds raised through Trees for Hope have supported disaster relief efforts in the Florida Keys, the Florida Panhandle, Southwest Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Haiti. In addition to disaster response, proceeds have benefited local nonprofit organizations, schools, and homeless outreach efforts in the Homestead area.

This year, the ministry was also able to provide free Christmas trees to 90 families in the local community, ensuring that households facing financial hardship could still celebrate the season.

Volunteers from Summit Church staffed the tree lot throughout the season, helping customers, accepting donations, and engaging with neighbors. For Summit Church, the Trees for Hope ministry as a simple but meaningful way to build relationships and demonstrate Christ’s love in practical ways.

“We are grateful for everyone who came out, bought a tree, donated, served under the tent, and showed up with so much heart,” church leaders shared in a message to the community. “Your generosity truly makes a difference.”

HIALEAH— During this year’s Thanksgiving celebration at Iglesia Bautista Northside, 23 individuals publicly expressed their faith in Christ through baptism, making it one of the church’s most memorable holiday events. Among these were seven young members from Northside English, the church’s English-language congregation led by Pastor Noel Morera.

One of the men baptized came to Northside English after Pastor Morera met him in the church parking lot. Initially a devout Jehovah’s Witness, he started meeting with Morera weekly to study the Gospel of John. Through these discussions and his increasing understanding of Jesus, he put his faith in Christ and publicly expressed his new life through baptism on Thanksgiving morning.

The day started early with church members assembling at Miami Beach’s South Pointe for their beloved annual sunrise service. With the sky gradually brightening over the Atlantic, the congregation came together to worship, express thanks for God’s faithfulness, and contemplate His influence in their lives.

Once the sun was fully risen, the church family came back to the Hialeah campus for a hearty breakfast and fellowship. The morning was alive with laughter, testimonies, and conversations before everyone assembled in the sanctuary for worship and a short message from Pastor Alberto Ocaña.

The 23 baptisms stood as a strong reminder of God’s continuous work through Iglesia Bautista Northside and its ministries. At the end of the service, Pastor Ocaña urged the congregation to enter the Christmas season with hearts filled with gratitude and obedience. His message was straightforward: “Be thankful, follow Christ, and serve Christ.”

Down a hallway, behind a closed door, Helen Doimeadios, a wife and mom of two, sits alone with a headset, a microphone, and a small screen showing what’s happening in the sanctuary. As the pastor preaches in English, Doimeadios quietly carries the message into Spanish for those listening through wireless receivers.

She doesn’t consider herself just a translator.

“I don’t translate word for word,” she explained. “I listen to the pastor and review the notes he shares, and then I interpret what he has said. Sometimes that can sound like a literal translation and other times it’s not literal, but the words carry the same meaning.”

Often, she translates with her eyes closed, concentrating fully on the pastor’s voice and the message he’s delivering.

“In that little room, my goal is to take Sunday’s message to everyone who came to hear it,” she said.

Doimeadios is one of three volunteers who provide simultaneous Spanish translation during Reality’s English service, a ministry that emerged as multigenerational Hispanic families began attending together. Children and grandchildren were fluent in English; parents and grandparents were not.

Translation became the bridge that allowed the entire family to sit under the same sermon while hearing it in the language of their hearts.

“Abuelita Sitting There, Not Understanding Anything”

At Elevate Church in Miami Lakes, the story started in a similar way.

Pastor Dan Rodríguez, executive pastor at Elevate, remembers sitting in the chapel years ago and watching families arrive together—parents, children, and abuelita in tow. The services were in English, the worship vibrant, the room full. But something didn’t sit right.

“We started noticing that a family would come to church, and they would have abuelita with them,” Rodríguez recalled. “We saw people who were not singing or not worshiping. They had that lost look. When we asked, we’d hear, ‘Oh, I brought my aunt, my grandmother, but they don’t speak English.’ And we thought, ‘You’re willing to sit here for an hour and not understand anything?’”

That burden led to action. Around 2015–2016, Elevate ordered translation equipment and began offering live Spanish translation during the English service, even before launching a Spanish-language service.

What began as a simple solution to serve a handful of families soon became the seed of something bigger.

“That translation ministry grew organically,” Rodríguez said. “It was really the heart behind launching the Spanish service.”

Today, Elevate holds a full Spanish service at 8:30 a.m. that now averages around 300 people in attendance, alongside larger English services later in the morning and early afternoon. Many who use the translation in the English services also know they have the option of worshiping entirely in Spanish at 8:30 if their schedule allows.

Rodríguez says the goal has always been clear: one church, one message, multiple languages, so that families can share the same spiritual conversation after church.

“Our vision is for the entire family to be able to worship together and then go to lunch and talk about what they heard,” he said. “Kids, adults, abuelitos; everyone on the same page.”

Translation as Teaching, Not Just Words

At Elevate, the translation team is intentionally small and selective. Right now, only two people regularly translate.

“That’s not accidental,” Rodríguez explained. “We’re very selective. You’re not just translating, you’re teaching. You’re basically preaching.”

Translators are often identified from within the church’s existing leaders. They are typically life group leaders or seasoned believers whose spiritual maturity and teaching gifts are already evident.

“We choose people who are already walking with the Lord and bearing fruit,” he said. “They’re not brand-new believers. We’ve seen them teaching. We’ve seen their faithfulness.”

Preparation is also key. Elevate’s internal goal is to have the sermon manuscript complete by Thursday each week. That allows the worship and tech teams to load slides and Scriptures and run full rehearsals, and the translation team to receive the message in advance.

“They get to read it, digest it, internalize it,” Rodríguez said. “If it’s a more complicated message, we’ll even schedule a one-on-one call to walk through it together.”

Rodríguez and other leaders will occasionally sit in and listen to the translation live to offer coaching.

“I’ll tell them, ‘You did a phenomenal job. Make sure to use inflection, make it your own content,” he said. “We want them to continue growing as teachers, not just translators.”

The church is also careful to care for the translators themselves. For now, Elevate offers translation only at specific services, ensuring translators serve one service and sit in another so they can also be fed spiritually.

“We Have to Reach Them Where They Are”

For Rodríguez, the translation ministry is deeply personal and profoundly missional.

He grew up bilingual, worked nearly 20 years in the corporate world (most of that with Apple), and learned early the importance of knowing the people you serve.

“One of the things ingrained in us was that you have to know your customer,” he said. “These are not customers. These are our people. You have to know where God has placed you.”

And God has placed Elevate in Miami, a city he calls a “melting pot.”

“We’ll always have a migrant community here,” he said. “People coming from other countries who are learning English but don’t fully understand it yet.”

That reality has shaped how Elevate thinks about ministry and how they’ll respond if future language needs arise.

“I’ve even thought, what if we started getting more Haitian families who need Creole?” he said. “We’re not here to entertain. We’re not charging people at the door. The whole purpose is to share the gospel and show people who Jesus is. If that means we have to show it to them in their language, then yes; translation is essential.”

“Our vision is to see Christ elevated, to connect people to Christ, help them grow in Christ, and serve Christ,” he added. “To do that, they must understand. We must reach them where they are.”

A Statewide Step: Simultaneous Spanish at the Florida Baptist Convention

This growing commitment to translation ministry isn’t limited to local churches. At this year’s Florida Baptist State Convention gathering, a new simultaneous transcription service of preachers and speakers was offered for the first time.

“As a convention staff we are continually trying to think of new ways to be ‘right beside you’ in your context of ministry life,” said Tanner Cade, communications and events manager for the Florida Baptist Convention. “The opportunity of expanding our translation services for gatherings reflects the wonderful multicultural family we have here in Florida, and we want to make sure as many as possible can actively participate in our meetings.”

Attendees were able to follow along by choosing from 10 different languages in real time as sermons, reports, and business sessions unfolded.

Just as Reality Church, Elevate Church, and others are making sure abuelita can understand the sermon on Sunday, the Convention is taking steps to ensure that language is no barrier to participation and partnership across the statewide family of churches.

Since then, Duncan has gone on mission to Cuba several more times and was excited to go with her home church this year. The nine-member mission team partnered with the Baptist Seminary of Havana where Mike Orr, pastor, First Baptist Church Chipley, gave an encouraging talk to students during the convocation to begin the new semester.

Training next generation of pastors

Earlier this year, as Orr celebrated 25 years at First Baptist Church Chipley, the church honored his name and service with the Mike Orr Scholarship to provide tuition for students at the Baptist Seminary in Cuba.

“Our pastor has a heart for training up the next generation of pastors,” Duncan said.

While in Cuba, the mission team presented the scholarship to its first recipient. “He was so grateful, and it was very humbling,” Duncan said. The recipient, a man saved out of the practice of Santeria and addiction, burned his idols when he began to follow Jesus and is now attending seminary to become a pastor.

‘Door is open for gospel’

The team also led vacation Bible school and worship services at Iglesia Bautista Salem de Arroyo Apolo. After hearing Orr preach about “renewing your first love” from Revelation 2, several people came to the altar.

“It is exciting to see how God is using the Church in Cuba. The door is open for the gospel there, and He is showing Cubans that true hope is found in a relationship with Christ,” Duncan said.

Orr also preached at Star of Bethlehem Church. There, the mission team provided and served meals for the local community.

The team served with a house church led by a husband and wife who open their home as a place of worship. There are more than 800 house churches in Cuba’s Western Baptist Convention. In this particular home, the wife prayed for 20 years for her husband to know the Lord. When he came to a saving faith, they both were baptized and saw the need for a place to worship in their neighborhood.

As the team shared the gospel of Jesus Christ in the community surrounding the house church, they saw idols from the practice of Santeria and received resistance from families who refused to forsake the idols. The team continues to pray for these Cubans.

First Baptist Church Chipley will continue to invest in spreading the gospel in Cuba through seminary scholarships and future mission trips. Dane Caldwell, missions pastor, Grace Church Bonifay, also joined the team. “I had heard that the church was growing in Cuba, and I couldn’t wait to see it. The leadership structure and plan for sending out the gospel amazed me. God has stirred a revival in Cuba, and Grace Church wants to be a part of it,” said Caldwell. Grace Church Bonifay is currently making plans to establish a long-term partnership with the Church in Cuba.

As a team, we came away spiritually renewed and encouraged by our Cuban brothers and sisters in Christ,” Orr said. “Spending time with them and sharing the gospel with others rekindled our fire for evangelism and gospel conversations.”

That image stayed with me. I believe Florida Baptists are called to be that kind of launch pad for the gospel, where God’s people are equipped, encouraged and sent out to take the message of Jesus farther than ever before.

The Mission that sends us

In Romans 10:14–15, the Apostle Paul writes:

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

Paul reminds us that the gospel advances when churches become sending centers for the good news of Jesus Christ. That is our shared calling as Florida Baptists. Everything we do must help propel the gospel forward through faithful witness, church planting, and cooperative mission.

Our work is guided by four mission imperatives that keep us focused on this calling.

Imperative 1: Evangelizing and Baptizing More Each Year

The first imperative keeps the Great Commission at the forefront: We must evangelize and baptize more people every year.

All around us are people who need to know Jesus, His love, His cross, His resurrection and His invitation to new life. As we share the gospel and baptize new believers, we experience visible evidence that God is still changing lives and that the Spirit of God is moving among us.

In 2024, Florida Baptist churches celebrated 30,701 baptisms, surpassing a longstanding goal. I’m praying that number continues to grow as we reach more people with the life-changing message of Christ. Every baptism reminds us that the gospel still lifts souls from sin and that our churches remain faithful proclamation points for new life in Jesus.

Imperative 2: Calling Out and Discipling More God-Called Leaders

The second imperative focuses on leadership multiplication: We must call out and disciple more God-called believers to fulfill the Great Commission.

The advance of the gospel depends on people who answer God’s call and are equipped to serve: pastors, missionaries, church planters and lay leaders. When we invest in training those leaders, we ensure that the mission continues through future generations.

Across Florida, churches are developing pipelines for ministry preparation. Baptist Collegiate and NextGen Ministries are discipling students deeply, while Florida Baptist missions mobilization provides hands-on opportunities for service. Each of these ministries helps prepare the next generation of leaders who will step forward when God says, “Go.”

Imperative 3: Planting and Revitalizing More Churches

The third imperative emphasizes where gospel witness takes root: We must plant new churches and revitalize existing ones.

New churches reach new people. Revitalized churches become renewed lights in their communities. Through Send Network Florida, our 50/50 partnership with the North American Mission Board, we are starting about 60 new churches each year. Yet, with Florida’s rapid population growth, the need only increases. The fields around us are ripe, and new congregations are needed to gather the harvest.

The local church remains God’s primary means for gospel advance. Every strong, healthy congregation serves as a liftoff site for mission, equipping believers to share the gospel in their neighborhoods and sending them to reach the nations. When we plant and strengthen churches, we extend the reach of the gospel to people who might never otherwise hear.

Imperative 4: Giving More Generously to Support Our Shared Mission

The final imperative is about resourcing the work: We must give more generously each year to sustain and expand our mission together.

Every dollar given through the Cooperative Program strengthens our shared capacity to send missionaries, plant churches and reach the lost. Giving isn’t merely about balancing budgets; it’s about fueling ministry so the gospel can go farther than any one church could take it

alone. Generosity becomes the spiritual fuel that powers every part of our shared mission.

When Florida Baptists give, we participate in a partnership that spans our state, nation and world. We give not simply to maintain what is but to launch what can be, with new ministries, new missionaries and new movements of God’s Spirit.

Launching toward a greater harvest

If we truly believe this mission matters, we cannot measure success by what we have already done but by what remains unfinished. We thank God for what He has accomplished, with hundreds of thousands baptized, churches planted and renewed, lives transformed. And yet, our work is not complete.

There are still people who have not heard, communities without a gospel witness, and generations yet to be reached. The horizon before us is vast, but so is the power of the gospel we proclaim.

So let’s continue to share the gospel and baptize, call out and train leaders, plant and revitalize churches, and give generously to our shared mission.

When we do, we will see God launch new movements of grace all across Florida and far beyond.

May our Florida Baptist family remain a launch pad for the gospel, faithfully sending preachers, missionaries and witnesses until the whole world hears that our God reigns and Jesus saves.

“On behalf of our board of directors, I am pleased to announce that this year’s gift from the Florida Baptist Retired Shepherd’s Fund represents the single largest gift we have been delighted to forward to these saints in need,” said Wheeler. “As a cooperating ministry of the Florida Baptist Convention, ‘Stewardship. Simplified.’ is constantly looking for ways to financially resource the many Great Commission causes of Florida Baptists.”

Through the Florida Baptist Retired Shepherd’s Fund, Florida Baptist Financial Services is able to partner with GuideStone’s Mission:Dignity to provide an extra check—a 13th check—to retired pastors and their wives or their widows in the Sunshine State, many of whom spent their entire lives in ministry, often serving at smaller churches which had smaller budgets and were unable to contribute toward any type of retirement fund.

Aaron Meraz, director of GuideStone’s Mission:Dignity, immediately posted to social media his appreciation to Florida Baptists for this record-breaking financial gift.

“Mission:Dignity can’t say ‘THANK YOU’ enough to Florida Baptist Financial Services and Rick Wheeler. The generosity to these Florida recipients and those who served in Florida is truly an incredible blessing!”

Florida Baptist Financial Services has facilitated stewardship and generosity among Florida Baptists and has served as the charitable foundation of the Florida Baptist Convention since 1947. In 2022 Florida Baptist Financial Services began partnering with Mission:Dignity and GuideStone when the Florida Baptist Retired Shepherd’s Fund was launched following the sale of the Florida Baptist Retirement Center in Vero Beach. Since then, the total amount distributed from the fund has been more than $750,000.

“We are grateful to provide these funds from the Florida Baptist Retired Shepherd’s Fund,” said Wheeler. “Together, we are truly making a difference in the lives of these heroes of the faith who have faithfully led and blessed Florida Baptist churches.”

Across the nation, more than $9 million is distributed annually through Mission:Dignity, ensuring a well-deserved dignity and independence to those who have served faithfully in local Southern Baptist churches. Of the 2,700 individuals receiving assistance each year, approximately 60% of the recipients are widows. One of four is a pastor’s widow age 85 or older.

Wheeler said Mission:Dignity and the Retired Shepherd’s Fund are a natural channel to provide aid to those who deserve the highest honor as “heroes of the faith.”

“We stand on the shoulders of these wonderful heroes of the faith who have faithfully served churches across Florida,” he said. “What a joy it is to help meet their needs. May we be found faithful in our generation as they were in theirs.”

To participate in giving to the Florida Baptist Retired Shepherd’s Fund, please contact Florida Baptist Financial Services at 904-345-3222 or by email at rwheeler@floridabaptist.org.

For more information on assistance provided by Mission:Dignity for retired ministers, please go to https://www.guidestone.org/Mission-Dignity.

“No matter where we serve, prayer connects us to God and to one another. I’m grateful we can join hearts and voices to seek Him for revival and renewal across our state.”

ORLANDO–In preparation for the 2025 Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting, to be held Nov. 10-11 at  First Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida Baptists plan to unite in virtual prayer gatherings to seek God’s “blessing and power.”

“Prayer is vital for everything we do as Christians. Without the blessing and power of God on this annual meeting, we will not see much accomplished. Our theme this year is Out of the Fire: A Call to Evangelism, and what happens in this annual meeting could be a catalyst for great evangelical work across our state for years to come. It is important that we seek God during this time,” said Mike Orr, FBSC president and senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Chipley since 2000.

Stephen Rummage, Florida Baptists’ executive director-treasurer, expressed gratefulness for the upcoming virtual prayer gatherings as Florida Baptists unite to seek a movement of God throughout the state.

“No matter where we serve, prayer connects us to God and to one another. I’m grateful we can join hearts and voices to seek Him for revival and renewal across our state. As we pray for our annual meeting—Out of the Fire: A Call to Evangelism—we can experience the truth that God is right beside us, and we stand right beside each other in His work,” Rummage said.

The virtual prayer gatherings will be held at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. EST on the next three Thursdays–Oct. 23, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6– and will be led by FBSC first vice president David Perez, pastor of Iglesia Casa de Bendicion in St. Cloud, and FBSC second vice president, Jeff Crick, a layperson and member of Fruit Cove Baptist Church in St. Johns. Each prayer gathering is expected be about 30 minutes in duration.

“Certainly, as we pray together and seek the Lord, we are reminded of our collective mission. We are all charged by the Lord to make disciples, and as we unite in prayer we are uniting in the most important work on earth,” Orr said.

Rummage agreed, “Prayer unites us. I’m thankful for these virtual gatherings that bring Florida Baptists together to call on the Lord and seek His power for the mission before us.”

These virtual prayer gatherings are open to all Florida Baptists. To receive the link for these prayer gatherings, call the Florida Baptist Convention office at 904-596-3016, or contact one of the six Florida Baptist regional catalysts.

Sponsored by the Florida Baptist Convention and supported by Miami Baptist Association, the event became more than a banquet—it was a mission moment, calling the church to intercede for seafarers, their families and the global maritime industry.

‘Those who go down to the sea in ships …’

“Those who go down to the sea in ships … they see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep” (Psalm 107:23–24). These words framed the day as speakers reminded participants of the unique opportunity God has given the church to reach seafarers with the hope of Christ.

“God has brought the nations to our doorstep in Miami,” said Julio C. Salas, executive director of ISM Port Miami, one of seven seaport ministries of the Florida Baptist Convention. “Every year, thousands of crew members from over 100 countries dock here. They carry with them the burdens of family separation and spiritual need—but also the potential to carry the gospel back to their homelands.”

Meeting an overlooked mission field

Each year, ISM Port Miami, which partners with Miami Baptist Association, ministers to approximately 30,100 seafarers—27,100 from cruise ships and 3,000 from cargo ships. At the International Port Campus, the ministry welcomes 180–200 crew members daily during high season and 75–100 daily during regular season.

Through hospitality, prayer and the ministry of presence, ISM helps seafarers connect with families back home, receive spiritual and emotional care, and hear the gospel. “Many of these men and women are far from home for months at a time,” Salas said. “They need a place to belong, a place to be reminded of God’s love and truth.”

Partnerships that advance the mission

Royal Caribbean generously hosted this year’s gala aboard Icon of the Seas, underscoring the company’s commitment to the well-being of its crew. “We are deeply grateful for Royal Caribbean’s hospitality and support,” said Salas. “Together, we can encourage seafarers to not only serve passengers with excellence but also to grow in love for God and others.”

The Florida Baptist Convention’s sponsorship of the gala highlighted its commitment to ministries that meet both physical and spiritual needs across the state.

“The International Seafarers Ministry is a powerful reminder that the Great Commission begins right where we are,” said Marc Johnston, director of community ministries for the Florida Baptist Convention. “Through partnerships like this one, our churches and associations are living out the gospel by reaching the nations that God is bringing to our ports. ISM is not just a ministry at the port—it’s a ministry of the local church, serving people who will carry the hope of Christ back to their own countries.”

A call to the churches

As a ministry “of the church, for the church,” ISM invited pastors and congregations across Miami, South Florida and beyond to consider seafarers part of their mission field. “The nations are literally coming to us,” Salas said. “By partnering together, our churches can engage in local international missions—reaching men and women from all over the world right here at Port Miami.”

Be part of the mission

Though the gala was a one-day event, the mission continues. ISM’s chaplaincy, outreach and care for seafarers depend on the prayers, volunteer service and financial support of churches and individuals.

To support this ministry, gifts can be made securely at www.ismportmiami.org/give.

For Caring for Miami’s Mobile Food Market, food is the invitation—but the gospel is the goal.

Caring for Miami is an initiative by Christ Fellowship Church.

“We meet physical needs, but most importantly, we share the hope of Jesus,” said Hannah Ulloa, volunteer and administrative coordinator for Caring for Miami.

“Wherever there’s food, there’s a line. We steward that moment to love people, preserve their dignity, and point them to Christ.”

A bus, a vision, and a bridge

The Mobile Food Market launched in February 2024 after Miami-Dade’s transit system donated a 40-foot Metrobus that Caring for Miami completely retrofitted into a single-aisle market. The ministry grew from Christ Fellowship’s long-running mobile dental outreach; leaders recognized that oral health and nutrition are linked—and that food distribution could become a powerful bridge to spiritual conversations.

Ulloa first served as a dietetics intern while studying nutrition at Florida International University, building the program’s practical backbone:

• Bilingual recipe cards tailored to local cultures (Cuban, Puerto Rican, African American, Asian styles) so families know how to prepare donated produce.
• Risk-behavior and chronic disease guides (smoking, alcohol, eating disorders, diabetes and heart-healthy tips) that connect food choices to whole-person health.

“It was a dream,” Ulloa said. “I was learning community nutrition in class—and practicing it in real time for my neighbors.”

How it works

The market runs three days a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) across 12 recurring sites monthly, including food deserts–communities where residents have limited access to affordable, healthy food–identified by mapping, backpack-program schools, senior adult centers, clinics, and Christ Fellowship campuses. Partners such as Trader Joe’s, Mac Edwards Produce, and J&C Tropicals supply donated food that volunteers sort for quality.

All guests get a personal shopper—a volunteer who walks with them, answers questions, and prays if requested. Guests choose what they take (no prepacked boxes), check out at a bagging table, and receive help to their cars. The average stop serves about 70 families, often with four or more people per household, with some events topping 150 families.

“Choice matters,” Ulloa said. “Letting people select their own food preserves dignity—and opens hearts.”

Powered by volunteers (and reaching them, too)

Caring for Miami has tracked approximately 1,100 active volunteers in the past year. The Mobile Food Market itself is staffed almost entirely by volunteers under a single full-time coordinator.

And the bridge goes both ways. “Not all our volunteers are believers,” Ulloa noted. “Some find us by searching ‘where to volunteer’—and end up invited to church after serving. God uses service to draw them, too.”

Faces that change

One volunteer, Bridget, puts it simply: “People arrive with heavy faces—and leave smiling.”

Ulloa sees it often: A mom in tears at Homestead Senior High School who said free groceries mean she could finally provide a full meal for her kids that week, or senior adults at WellMed locations who feel seen, prayed for, and cared for, or lines that start for food but linger because someone stopped to listen and pray.

Next step: Spiritual follow-up

Prayer happens at every site, but the team is formalizing a spiritual care team—core volunteers trained to present the gospel clearly and follow up after the event (calls, texts, church invitations, next steps in faith). “We already collect contact info for reporting,” Ulloa said. “Now we’ll use it to continue pastoral care beyond the curb.”

The road ahead

Scaling will take more leaders, more volunteers and, Lord willing, a second bus. “We’re at capacity on some days,” Ulloa admitted. “A second unit would let us serve two communities at once.” Until then, the market will keep rolling—three days a week, rain or shine—turning a practical need into a moment of eternal significance.

“Jesus said when we feed ‘the least of these,’ we do it unto Him,” Ulloa said. “Food gets people to the door. The gospel changes everything once they’re inside.”