We hear from Pastor David Rodriguez, the lead pastor of our Cornerstone Global Network (CGN) Church in Almeria, a seaside town tucked away on the southeastern corner of Spain, renowned for its gorgeous unspoiled beaches.
Formerly known as Iglesia Monte Sion Almeria (Spanish for Mount Zion Almeria), the church recently celebrated their 15th anniversary in conjunction with a monumental name change to Iglesia Cornerstone Almeria.
Looking back, Pastor David shares many milestones, testimonies, and stories of divine connections.
Spiritual Roots
Cornerstonians are no strangers to a famous axiom by our Senior Pastor Yang, “all churches have the same Heavenly Father but not the same spiritual roots.” For Pastor David, God divinely connected him with the late Dr. Brian Bailey, who was also Pastor Yang’s spiritual father, back in the year 2000.
Pastor David was leading worship at a service that Dr. Bailey was conducting, and under God’s prompting Dr. Bailey invited Pastor David to visit Zion Fellowship in New York. The trip became a milestone forPastor David as this was where he met his wife and his friends who are now co-labourers in the CGN.
Shortly after he returned, he spent the next seven years building a small home-based gathering after the closure of his former church, focused on pursuing God’s presence and building Him a dwelling place. Beginning with just five families meeting in his living room, the new church grew and came under the covering of Zion Fellowship in March 2009.
Vision for the Iglesia Cornerstone Almeria
“The most important vision for the church is to be a place where the Holy Spirit is,” Pastor David states, “Whoever comes through these doors needs to feel the Presence of God.”
And God has indeed been faithful. Recounting his testimony, Pastor David shares an incident where he had been praying for a lady who had been facing domestic problems with her husband.
During one eventful prayer meeting which the husband attended as usual, and Pastor David exhorted the members to expect an encounter with God. In response, the man knelt to pray with nothing out of the ordinary happening. The next day, however, the wife called to say that the husband had repented and asked for her forgiveness after he was touched by the Holy Spirit. He was convicted of his need to treat his wife in a Christ-like manner.
“If His Presence is not there, we are not doing anything,” Pastor David emphasises, and this is something that Cornerstone Community Church, Singapore believes in - the move of the Holy Spirit taking priority. Just as Moses told the Lord, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here,” we do not want to do anything without God going with us.
God Provides Supernaturally
Another belief that Pastor David holds to is trusting God’s provision and seeing Him receive the glory in all circumstances.
Pastor David recounts God’s faithfulness in providing for the church in their early days when they needed to purchase chairs, and the Lord showed up by providing them with a very good deal.
On another occasion, the church managed to host an event for 100 children with just 34 euros in the bank, because the Lord provided supernaturally.
In 2014, the church received an invitation from Christ for the Nations to host their mission team for an evangelistic campaign in Almeria, and this was in a similar circumstance requiring supernatural intervention. At that time, they were short of 700 euros for the campaign, on top of running costs for the main church.
Initially, Pastor David was hopeful because he had received a bonus of 800 euros from his day job, which he was more than willing to sow into the campaign. However, in a series of unfortunate events, his car broke down at the most inconvenient time and the money was gone. In desperation, Pastor David prayed and the Lord told him that “I would have the glory”.
True to His Word, God provided by moving the hearts of the people in church to give towards the campaign. In fact, Pastor David shared that the largest offering came from the person he least expected!
Suddenly, people started giving to cover the campaign and church operation costs and to his surprise, they had a surplus of 800 euros! It was then that the Lord reminded Pastor David of His Promise, that “I would have the glory”.
Spiritual Sonship Under the Family of Cornerstone
While the spiritual legacy and identity of the Vision of Zion and the Bible College of Wales is something that draws him to the family of Cornerstone, Pastor David is convinced that one of the greatest benefits of being connected to this House is coming under the mantle and impartation of Pastor Yang and Pastor Daphne.
Pastor David recognises in Pastor Yang, the consecration, the prophetic and apostolic anointing and the tenacious dedication to accomplish the vision. In Pastor Daphne, he sees the anointing and unction of the Holy Spirit, that is so evident whenever she preaches.
With heartfelt emotion, Pastor David recounted that even at his first meeting with Pastor Yang and Pastor Daphne in 2018, he had not come for resources or money but for a household. Till today, he reiterates, “I want a household, I want a spiritual father and a spiritual mother… I do not want to be an Associate Pastor I want to be a son”.
Being a part of the CGN, he has truly found his spiritual family.
New Name for a New Season
In March 2024, Monte Sion Almeria adopted a new name - Iglesia Cornerstone Almeria (Spanish for Cornerstone Church Almeria) because Pastor David received a clear word from the Lord in a powerful encounter to “change the name now that they had come under a different umbrella”.
Pastor David recognises that after Dr. Bailey’s passing, he had since recognised Pastor Yang and Pastor Daphne as their church’s spiritual parents and covering. Sharing Cornerstone’s heart for missions, Pastor. David desires for Iglesia Cornerstone Almeria to be a church involved in missions locally and globally.
Carrying a heart for the next generation in the face of leftist progressive agenda and indoctrination, Pastor David wants to continue building a strong outreach to young children and youth, to raise godly children and disciples of Christ.
Part of the strategy is to start a day care centre, which will provide an environment for godly influence and development as an outreach to the locals. In addition, the church is planning to start a charity programme in their neighbourhood of 30,000 people to reach out to the homeless and needy in the community through food banks, donation drives, and giveaways.
Pastor David also shares a prophetic promise through Dr. Brian Bailey, that the Lord will open a door for them to start a work in Madrid, the country’s capital, to which the church eagerly looks forward to.
Globally, Pastor David recognises that the time has come for the church to be more involved with missions, in particular, America and Central America. These places are where the Spanish-speaking Latino population are, a people that they are poised to reach out to.
In addition, Pastor David senses that the church will be a bridge between Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the US – believing that the Lord has released an apostolic anointing to plant churches in places that the church might not expect.
Let’s continue to pray for our CGN church in Spain, believing that God will bring revival to the continent of Europe.
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