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Bilingual Church In Ruskin Celebrates Its 3rd Year

Tribune photo by JOHN CEBALLOS

Victor Balderas, left, and Marvin Barillas are pastors at Ministerios La Red at 310 1st St. N.E. in Ruskin. They have enjoyed watching their young congregation grow.

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By JOHN CEBALLOS

jceballos@tampatrib.com

Published: January 7, 2009

RUSKIN - In February, Ministerios La Red will celebrate its third year in the area.

It's hard to imagine the Spanish-language church coming from more humble beginnings.

"When we first arrived in the area we had six people in our congregation, and we met in a hair salon on Shell Point Road," said pastor and founder Marvin Barrillas.

La Red soon moved to another space off Shell Point Road loaned to the ministry by the Ruskin Church of Christ Christian Church. There, the congregation grew to 50 people.

A year later, the ministry moved to its present location at 310 1st St. N.E., where members have been gathering for the past two years.

In those two years, the congregation has swelled to more than 120.

"We feel very fortunate to have grown so much from where we started, and we hope to keep growing," Barrillas said.

Ministerios La Red is an evangelical Christian church with three weekly services, including a Friday evening service for its youth group.

Barrillas, 38, is a native of Guatemala who moved to Florida at age 11. He moved from Miami to the Tampa area in October 2005 with his wife of 14 years and fellow pastor, Baleska, and their two children, Marvin Jr., 13, and Jonathan, 11.

"I'm not sure how this is going to sound, but I really feel like I got the calling from God to come to Tampa," he said.

Barrillas asked his cousin, Angel Barrillas, for help getting involved in the area. Today, as Marvin serves as pastor at Ministerios La Red, Angel is a pastor at CPR Ministries of Tampa in Brandon, which he founded.

"We helped each other a lot in the beginning, and we still do what we can to support each other," Marvin Barrillas said.

As the church approaches its three-year anniversary in South Shore, Barrillas hopes to do more outreach.

"We've tried to go into the trailer parks, and we really want to target and help the Mexican community," he said. "Our ultimate goal is that we're trying to build a food center for the homeless.

"We've done a lot of yard sales and other events, but we really want to reach out to the community going forward."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Ministerios La Red

WHERE: 310 1st. St. N.E., Ruskin

WHEN: Family service, 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; youth group service, 8 p.m. Fridays; Sunday service, 11 a.m.

INFORMATION: (813) 523-5052

Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 865-1555.

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