Lafayette Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Company

A Brief History of Lafayette, Louisiana

The Work Begins

Two Spanish women faithfully worshiped for over ten years at the Lafayette church although one of them did not speak nor understand English. After some time, a third Spanish woman joined them. These were the humble beginnings of the Lafayette Spanish group. During 2009 new Spanish families began to attend the church and a small group of them began to wish they could worship in their own language. In June 2010, they officially became the Lafayette Spanish group and began meeting in different homes for vespers, to pray and worship together in Spanish (History, n. d.; cf. Fresse, 2010).

A Time of Growth

The group was soon impressed to begin evangelistic work within the Spanish community in Lafayette. More than seventy Spanish speaking people started attending the meetings. The assignment of Pastor Juan Fresse to pastor the Lafayette Church was a blessing. He was bilingual and became the liaison between the English speaking and the Spanish speaking members. It was during this time that the group grew to more than 100 attendees. An elder was elected to meet the needs of the Spanish group. In 2012, the membership continued to grow and soon the meeting rooms were too small. A second elder was elected and a request was sent to the conference to formally organize the group into a company (History, n.d.).

Lafayette Spanish Company Organized in 2013

In 2013, the Lafayette Spanish group held a spiritual revival, had prayer vigils, and reached out to those who had stopped attending church. The Lafayette Spanish group was organized as the Lafayette Spanish company on May 11, 2013 (Newsletter, 2013). A church board was elected and meeting space was rented where they now meet to worship and praise God every week (History, n. d.).