Samuel Vitalino is the lead pastor at Esperanza Church in Orlando, Florida. Esperanza Church is a Brazilian-speaking church with services in both English and Portuguese. It serves a very diverse city—ten percent of Orlando’s population is Brazilian. Samuel knew he wanted to plant a church in an area of need, and because of the growing population of Brazilian immigrants in Orlando, it seemed a perfect fit. Little did he know, nearly three years after planting, that the church would grow exponentially.
Samuel planted Esperanza Church in 2021 after spending many years in Brazil as a lawyer. He came to know Christ and decided to go to seminary, which is where he decided to become a church planter. He knew he needed to “do something to honor God,” and church planting was on his heart. He connected with Acts 29 through a fellow pastor friend, and after meeting other Acts 29 pastors in his area, he knew he wanted to be part of the network because of their “shared love of theology and brotherhood among pastors.”
Currently, Esperanza Church has around 400 attendees each Sunday—just three years after planting! What an incredible gift of growth, to see many Brazilians in Orlando hear the gospel and seek discipleship. Samuel said they are currently discipling around 30 families who are experiencing freedom from religious cults, which are common in Brazil. “The weight of religion is gone, and they are experiencing to beauty of fellowship,” said Samuel.
The growth Esperanza has experienced is fantastic and worthy of praise, but it has presented unique challenges. They did not anticipate growing this quickly, as they are already set to outpace their current meeting space by the end of 2024. People are coming from all over the area—some even driving three hours to get to church. The need for more churches is great. Samuel is in the process of planting three more churches from Esperanza Church in Tampa, Jacksonville, and Fort Myers. People are driving from these cities to be at Esperanza each Sunday, so it only made sense to pursue planting there. Acts 29 has supported Esperanza every step of the way, offering encouragement and help in navigating their growth and multiplication.
Samuel longed to plant a church to remedy a need for gospel truth among Brazilian immigrants in Orlando. Little did he know, God would provide above and beyond his expectations.
