{"id":66401,"date":"2025-09-09T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/?p=50705"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:26:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:26:04","slug":"glory-city-church-lake-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/glory-city-church-lake-worth\/","title":{"rendered":"Trusting God with every step: Glory City Church brings gospel hope to Lake Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Andy Vital is one of the featured church planters in 2025\u00a0<\/em>Maguire State Mission Offering<\/em><\/a>\u00a0resources. The statewide 2025 offering goal of $1 million is earmarked to help reach the 16.7 million Florida residents who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, with 100% of all receipts designated to help launch church plants in the state.<\/em><\/p>\n

LAKE WORTH\u2014When Pastor Andy Vital and his wife, Deborha, packed up their belongings in New Jersey and drove toward an uncertain future in South Florida, they had no jobs, no savings for the journey\u2014and no doubt that God had called them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have enough money to make the trip,\u201d Vital recalled. \u201cBut we knew God had said to go. And from the U-Haul rental the night before we left, to meals and gas money along the way, He provided through the kindness of friends\u2014every single step.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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“We want to build a truly Haitian-American church that resonates across cultures and generations.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Andy Vital<\/strong>
church planter, Glory City Church, South Florida<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\nNow, four years later, the couple is preparing to launch Glory City Church<\/a> in Lake Worth, a gospel-centered church plant focused on reaching Haitian Americans and young minorities in South Florida with a message of purpose and hope.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a journey marked by faith, hardship and provision\u2014and one that\u2019s been made possible in part through the generous gifts of Florida Baptists to the Maguire State Mission Offering.<\/p>\n

From loss to new life<\/strong><\/p>\n

The road to church planting hasn\u2019t been easy. After arriving in Florida in 2020, Vital accepted a ministry role at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale\u2014an unexpected opportunity that reaffirmed God\u2019s provision. But as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the couple faced wave after wave of personal tragedy.<\/p>\n

His wife\u2019s father passed away in 2020, followed by her mother\u2019s rapid decline due to dementia in 2021. Then, just before their son was born, her brother died suddenly in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn America, we don\u2019t talk much about the gospel of suffering,\u201d Vital said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve learned that joy and sorrow can live in the same house. Those years were difficult, but they also deepened our faith and our understanding of who God is.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a mission trip to London, Vital met Pastor Cliff McCray, pastor of Radiant City Church<\/a> in Boca Raton, who became a mentor and sending pastor. Their meeting reignited the call to plant a church and laid the groundwork for the establishment of Glory City Church.<\/p>\n

A vision for Lake Worth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Glory City Church exists to help people without purpose find meaning in Jesus. Strategically located in Lake Worth, the church seeks to serve a diverse and underserved community, with outreach efforts already underway before its official launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressures of this generation\u2014financial, emotional, societal\u2014are real,\u201d Vital said. \u201cPeople are searching for meaning. We believe they can find it in the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s vision is focused on reaching Haitian Americans\u2014especially second-generation immigrants who often feel culturally disconnected from both traditional Haitian churches and broader American congregations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to build a truly Haitian-American church that resonates across cultures and generations,\u201d explained Vital, a second-generation Haitian. \u201cOur goal is to offer a space where young people feel seen, known and called.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fueling the mission<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks to the generous gifts through the Maguire State Mission Offering, Glory City Church has been able to put its missional heart into action. \u201cWe are deeply grateful for your support and invite you to continue supporting us as we prepare for our outreach launch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent projects include a community backpack drive and the launch of a \u201ccare closet\u201d at a local elementary school, designed to meet practical needs\u2014like clothing, hygiene items, and school supplies\u2014while offering prayer and encouragement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with the school and local partners like CarePortal to be present before we even launch,\u201d Vital said. \u201cWe want people to know: the church is here, and we care.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to support Glory City Church<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of this year\u2019s Maguire State Mission Offering emphasis, Florida Baptists are invited to pray for and support new churches like Glory City.<\/p>\n

Vital shared two specific prayer requests: that God would continue to bring a diverse and committed launch team\u2014including seasoned saints who can offer wisdom\u2014and that financial support would grow as the church prepares for its official launch.<\/p>\n

On a personal note, he also asked for prayers for balance and wisdom as he and his wife parent their two young children, Ezra (3) and Hadasah (1), while planting a church from the ground up.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything, we want our family to enjoy the process and draw closer to Jesus through it,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about starting a church\u2014it\u2019s about transformation, one life at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Pastor Andy Vital and his wife, Deborha, packed up their belongings in New Jersey and drove toward an uncertain future in South Florida, they had no jobs, no savings for the journey\u2014and no doubt that God had called them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":66455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,12,18,19,22,23,24,353,45,25],"tags":[2840,634,635,2841,2842,832,2843],"class_list":["post-66401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black","category-haitian","category-multicultural","category-news","category-providing","category-sharing","category-region-southeast","category-state-mission-offering","category-statewide","category-stories","tag-andy-vital","tag-boca-raton","tag-cliff-mccray","tag-glory-city-church","tag-lake-worth","tag-msmo","tag-radiant-cit-church"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66681,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66401\/revisions\/66681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}