Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I want to thank you for taking the time to browse through our web site. I am glad to be the pastor of a church that has such a deep desire to reach people for Christ. The people here have a strong sense of commitment to reach out to those here in our area as well as those around the world. It is indeed an honor and a pleasure to share my ministry with you. You are a very important person to God and a very important person to us. We appreciate you and pray for many blessings upon you and your family. Let me share with you my ministry: I was born in March 9, 1937 in Weslaco Texas. My parents had one child already when they accepted Christ. After that, seven more children were born “in the church” where I was one of the youngest ones (six boys, two girls). My father was Conrado Anaya, originally from Mexico, and he was a very hard working minister and was always working with the souls. He was young when he married Herminia Hernandez in 1925. In 1933 was when my parents came to the Lord. At this time we lived in Texas, and my mother started getting sick, and the brethren at our local church prayed for her and the Lord healed her instantly and when she saw this miracle, she was so touched and so grateful to our Lord, that she asked to be baptized, and my father also asked to be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the year 1944, we moved to Michigan. As my father was a minister at this time, we always had our services in the different homes where we were invited. We had a large family, so our father always kept us busy. We lived in a ranch so there was plenty of work to do. Some of the jobs that my father had us children do was plant seeds, irrigate the fields, milk the cows, cut the wood, there was so much to do. I remember we always had visitors from the brethren from the local area and also from other places, so every time they would visit us, we would hold services at our home. I feel that my childhood was a joyful time for me, because I loved to be mischievous. Many times, my parents had to reprimand and correct me and would tug at my ears. Even at an early age, as a child, I felt the Lord’s calling in my heart to preach and teach his word and to die for his cause. I was a young lad of 14 years of age and with the Juniors when I asked to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Bro. Ernesto Cantu baptized me. In 1956, I went to Texas to attend a convention and that’s when I saw Sis. Ofelia for the very first time. The next year, her family came to Michigan for a visit and again I saw her and we started dating for a short time, when on October 4, 1957 we were united in holy matrimony! My father was our pastor then and we saw all the blessings that God provided for us. The Lord helped us to build and bring up a church and gave us many souls that were converted. My father was an Elder, so he passed on the responsibility as Pastor to me in 1962. The Lord blessed us tremendously and we could see the glory of God in that little church. Many brethren from other churches would visit us from Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana, and from the different cities in Michigan. We would get visits from our Apostolic Assembly’s then president, Bro. Antonio Nava, and other great ministers like Benjamin Cantu and Filimon Zaragoza and we would enjoy their company and would have services until the late hours of the night. In the summertime, the youth from the Apostolic College from California would pay us a visit, and how we enjoyed their company. Since we were isolated, their joy and enthusiasm was contagious, so that joy would linger with us after they left. Another great visitor that we enjoyed from California was Bro. Muñoz. Our summers were filled with lots of activities like family church camps, youth camps, ministerial conferences, and women’s camp, taking advantage of our summers and trying to fit in a lot of activities before winter set in. The Lord allowed us to pastor in Orangeville for fifteen years and that’s where six of my children were born. We lived very close to the church, and since the population was small there wasn’t too many Mexicans or Hispanics, and those that were there, had already been baptized! You could see the blessings that our Lord poured among these immigrants from Texas, as they bought land and started building their homes. In 1969, the Lord granted us to make a larger church in five acres and was finished by 1970. This was an important church as it was a Head church where many ministers and pastors were transferred out to minister other churches in Michigan and Ohio. In this same place, a pastoral house was built, where later on was sold to finish paying off the church. I had my own home, so a pastoral house was not needed. Our lives in that time was a joyful time as we felt it was a camping site where my children played among the pines. In 1973 my father passed away and my desire was to turn over the responsibility of the church to my brother, Israel Anaya. I then went to Lansing, the capital of Michigan, a much bigger place where I knew were more Hispanics to minister. In Lansing, my twins were born, Damaris and Priscilla and my other children were older by this time. There was a very small church and a pastoral house that needed a lot of repairs, but at last we made it our home. The Lord blessed us with many souls and the church filled up very quickly. It was then in 1973, that by the grace of God, I was named Bishop of that part of the country that covered the surrounding states and even New York and Washington, D.C. My responsibility as Bishop, had me visiting those churches frequently. In Lansing, our church was growing, so my desire was to build a bigger church. The Lord opened the doors and we were able to again buy five acres to build our dream church. We already had the building plans for the church and pastoral house to be built and the land was already paid, but the Lord had other plans for us. Our children were older now and needed a physical change and a climate change, and our plan was to move to Texas, but before moving there, we visited my brother in Madera, CA. While we were visiting there, we started working with the brethren there helping to their needs. We liked the area so much that we stayed there until 1984, then we moved to San Luis Obispo and we helped the brethren from the local churches of Oceano, Ripomo, and Santa Maria by preaching and socializing with the brothers and sisters of that area. It was at this timeframe that the Lord spoke to me in a dream. The Lord showed me a very old man with a torch in his hand and said, “Brother Anaya, it’s not here, but further down” as if I was lost. At this time, I was no longer employed, and my son, Benjamin was with the Marines, and living in the San Diego area and invited us to go visit him in San Diego. We looked around the San Diego area, and my wife liked the San Marcos church to congregate there as she was looking after our children and what was the best for them. We moved to Escondido in May 1986 and attended the San Marcos Church and we would visit Escondido frequently. One day, my pastor, Bro. Isaac Lopez, invited me for a flight ride on his private plane and we were flying over Escondido and I saw the Escondido Apostolic church from the air and I asked the Lord to give it to me to Pastor it. The next year, the pastor of Escondido, Bro. Mena, transferred the pastorship of the church to me on June 10, 1988. It was here where the Lord wanted me to stay. The dream that I had of that old man years before, with the torch on his hand was indicating that it was the Lord’s will for me to be here. We moved from Michigan without knowing where we would eventually be living, but the Lord was showing me all along, just like Abraham, without knowing where he was going, leaving his relatives and his lands. The same way, we left our parents and brothers and sisters and relatives in Michigan to an unknown land that only our Lord was leading us to. To us it’s a beautiful land with the most beautiful weather. I give all the glory to God for his many blessings that we have received here. What we have suffered does not compare to all his great, rich, and wonderful blessings. When we came from Michigan, we came with eight children and now only my wife Ofelia and I live alone. My children live close in this area, so our house is hardly ever lonely as my children have given us nineteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The Lord is good! Thank you and God bless you. I remain your faithful servant in Jesus Christ, Pastor Philimon Anaya