About 23 years ago, a small group of people gathered in the South Waco home of Yolanda and Augustine Romero to study Scripture, pray and seek God’s will for their lives.

What started then has become Mighty Wind Worship Center, which now has 500 members holding lively praise and worship services in a three-story building at 11th Street and Washington Avenue.

Senior Pastor Joe Carbajal (right) and Associate Pastor Yolanda Ramiro, of the Mighty Wind Worship Center, grew the church from its small roots.
Jerry Larson / Waco Tribune-Herald

But as they say, what goes around comes around.

Yolanda Romero will serve as senior pastor of Mighty Wind’s first satellite church. About 40 members will join her to form the New Life Praise Center in Bellmead.

Mighty Wind pastor Joe Carbajal said this is the first of five satellites he wants to create in the next 10 years.

“I’m very excited,” Romero said. “This was a vision Pastor Joe had in his heart, one the Lord gave to him two years ago, and he presented it to our ministerial board.”

Later, Romero said, she felt a tug on her own soul. She gladly volunteered to serve as pastor of the first satellite and she knew she wanted to start it in Bellmead, where she and her husband moved five years ago.

How she and her family, which includes five children, ended up living in the suburb just north of Waco is another story. The Romeros were renting a home in Chalk Bluff when the owner found a buyer for it.

“He refused to just make us leave, Yolanda Romero said. “Instead, he said he was going to build us a four-bedroom home and he said he was going to make it accessible to our daughter, Sophia, who is handicapped and uses a wheelchair.”

He found a piece of land he thought the Romeros would like and they now are buying the home he built.

“Again, I could see the hand of God moving,” Romero said. “He wanted us in Bellmead for a reason.”

New Life Praise Center does not yet have a permanent home. Carbajal said members will introduce the ministry to Bellmead with monthly meetings at various locations in October, November and December.

By January 2012, Carbajal said, the satellite hopes to begin meeting weekly at a permanent location. Mighty Wind will support it with tithes and offerings until it gets on its feet financially.

This is not the first time Mighty Wind has spread its wings. About seven years ago, it launched a ministry for Spanish-speaking people that later moved to Hewitt, then to its current meeting place at Kendrick Lane Baptist Church, 2015 Kendrick Lane.

The congregation has about 100 people who meet in the church sanctuary on Sundays, while the English-speaking members meet in the fellowship hall.

Tom Gutierrez serves as pastor of Viento Fuerte Centro de Adoracion, which translates roughly to Rushing Mighty Wind Worship Center.

He said attendance is growing since the congregation relocated to Kendrick Lane Baptist Church. He hopes to soon offer classes to people wanting to learn English as a second language.

Carbajal credits the will of God for the growth at Mighty Wind Worship Center. But God uses men and women to carry out his will, and Carbajal believes the blueprint Mighty Wind follows contributes to its success.

“We wanted a non-denominational church free of all man-made doctrine,” he said. “We want people of all races and nationalities, so we represent what heaven is going to be like.”

Hispanics make up the largest ethnic group, but the congregation is 30 percent Anglo and 20 percent black.

The services proceed in English and praise teams backed by a band leading the congregation in contemporary songs. Worshipers stand with raised hands during much of the singing.

The church offers an array of services, but tries not to overload the schedule of its working, blue-collar congregation that has commitments away from Mighty Wind Worship Center.

“At one time, we had something like 30 ministries and everybody was exhausted by Sunday morning,” Carbajal said, adding that small group meetings in the homes of members are popular.

“I hear people say they come back because they feel love,” Romero said. “They don’t know exactly where the love comes from. They think it comes from us. But it is really from Jesus Christ.”

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

757-5736