“The church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ but is Christ himself who has taken from among people.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Our vision
A Family on Mission
By Jesus Martinez
We are full-time missionaries with the Connect Region of MCUSA, living on mission in Southwest Florida and beyond. For over a decade, my wife and I have walked alongside the broken—serving the homeless, addicted, incarcerated, trafficked, and foster youth. We’ve opened our home to over 40 adults in transition, fostered 10 children, and built lasting relationships in the streets, shelters, jails, and group homes of Fort Myers and Dunbar, FL.
Since 2020, we’ve baptized over 200 people personally, witnessed third-generation disciples, and helped multiply house churches across Florida—families gathering in homes as spiritual communities that live out the Gospel together.
Most of those we serve won’t walk into a traditional church—but they’ll sit at a table. That’s where our ministry begins: through meals, real conversations, and consistent love, we’ve seen lives transformed by the power of Jesus.
Our mission has expanded globally into Latin America and parts of Asia facing severe persecution, equipping leaders to make disciples in the hardest places using simple, relational, and reproducible models of ministry.
We dream of seeing a lighthouse in every community—homes that shine as beacons of hope, actively and sacrificially reaching the lost within their cities. Places where the unchurched feel welcome, where disciples are made, and where Jesus is known.
We’re seeking support to continue giving our most valuable resource: our time. Your partnership helps us stay present at the table, on the streets, and in homes—reaching “the least, the last, and the lost” across the street and around the world.- Jesus Martinez
In 2019 Barna Group released its research findings unpacking faith trends in the U.S. including a general reluctance to engage in spiritual conversations, an aversion to evangelism and the erosion of religious belief and practice. Within there findings the City of Fort Myers was ranked #14 in the study of America’s most Post Christian Cities.
33% of Americans are interested/or attend church. This leaves 67% of the population who are not interested in Church as it is presented on Sunday morning.
59% of millennials who were raised in church have stopped attending.
31% of millennials believe that Church is boring and that they can find God elsewhere.
35% of millennials believe that Church is not personally relevant to them.We are interested in reaching them through unconventional ways. They are the future of the Church, and most will not step into a church building. The church is being called to mobilize, to “Love our neighbors.”
4% of Church growth is “New Believers” or “Converts.”
96% of Church Growth is Sheep shifting. People moving from church to church. Church hopping for a “New or better children’s program, a different Pastor, better programs and or better Worship.”
According to these statistics, American Church at large is not creating new believers but is simply marketing to existing believers in hopes of growing their attendance. 58% of those who do not attend Church believe there is a “higher power” or “God.” Our ministry focuses on these unchurched. Serving among the 2,700 people in Fort Myers, FL that experience homelessness at any given time of the year, advocating and providing mentorship for the 450 children in the foster system, and those who fall through the cracks for a variety of reasons. Our eyes are open to families and individuals here within the city limits that do not attend church, the “Post Christian community.” We are seeing new believers, we are seeing bridges being built and those who come into our home let down their walls and begin attending Church on Sundays.