Plymouth Church pastor had a vision

Plymouth Church

Contact: 2717 University Ave., San Diego www.plymouthsd.com/home

Membership: 105 

Pastor: Michael Gonzales

Age: 45 

Born: Sanger

Formation: University of San Diego; Fordham University, NY 

Years Ordained: 11 

San Diego Reader: What’s the mission of your church?

Pastor Michael Gonzales: Plymouth is a place you come to, to be sent from. When you come here, you hear the will of God for our lives; but you don’t only hear the message of Christ, you believe it, and find yourself doing it, and by doing it, you are enacting the love of Christ you find here Sundays or whenever we’re gathered, and going out into the community and lifting the community a little higher with the message of Jesus Christ. The perfect man died for our sins, resurrected three days later, and ascended on high. If you come and hear the love of Christ, you make it part of your faith which God gives you in your heart, and then you do something about it—a community program, proselytizing or sharing your story with someone who would be lifted up by it.

SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?

PG: I was living in a small country town, Dinuba, and the men of a local church had been praying and fasting for three days for a revival service that was coming up. I decided to participate—I was 13 at the time. In my bedroom as I was praying, I felt I had a supernatural experience where God was showing me something: he led me to a place with a church which had a steeple and cross. I remember vividly the Lord speaking into my spirit, “One day, I’m going to give this to you because I love you.” Fast-forward 23 years from that point, I was leading a Bible study group out of Plymouth, and it began to grow. The pastor at the time came to me and asked if I would take over his church… He said I was the right fit since the community is changing. I was young and connecting with young adults, something the church hadn’t been able to do. He brought me in for an interview with the board of trustees and he shared a story that 23 years ago the Lord had spoken to him. The Lord told him he was going to meet a young man who was going to take over his church and build the church that the Lord needed to be built in the community. I realized that his experience took place around the same time as mine when I was 13. That was a God moment. Plymouth has a steeple with a cross on it.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PG: As the Bible teaches, there is a literal heaven and a literal hell. When humans die, we will find ourselves in one of those two places. We go to heaven by following the words of Jesus Christ: a man must be born again of water and spirit to enter the kingdom of God and the apostles communicated that message to the early Church. In Acts 2:38, Peter says we need to repent, turn our hearts toward God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. The promise is that if we do these things, we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit… On the other hand, for those who do not repent, there is hell, which is, as Jesus says, a place of everlasting punishment.