World Harvest Community Center was known for fifty years as the Pentecostal Christian Church. It had its inception on December 13, 1930, at 116 Sackett Street, Brooklyn, NY, and was incorporated on August 25, 1932. After seeking the presence of God, Mercedes Lopez (at that time a member of the 1st Methodist Church in downtown Brooklyn) experienced the reality of Acts 2:4 “that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues”. The church, not understanding this experience asked her to leave or conform to the traditions that characterized the Methodist Church at that time. After several months of prayer, they were led to secure a place and establish a ministry; a new church that preached the full gospel. After celebrating services in several locations, the need for adequate facilities inspired the leadership to purchase a building that would meet the needs of our growing congregation.
During this time, the property then owned by the Salvation Army, located at 90-92 Summit Street, Brooklyn, NY became available for purchase. On April 28th, 1947, they rededicated the property owned by the Salvation Army. From that day forward it became the foundation of what we know today to be the Bay Ridge Christian Center. For thirty years the property at 90-92 Summit Street, became the center of a far reaching ministry. The outstanding markers of the ministry were the development of leadership and the expansion of the work throughout the New England states, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Guatemala, and Ecuador. A fellowship of more than 35 churches, ministers, missionaries, and lay preachers was organized in 1958. The little church that was born in a Holy Spirit revival extended its influence beyond its borders and became the mother and headquarter church of an international ministry under the leadership of Reverend Heriberto Valle.
After 27 years of faithful and dedicated service, Reverend Heriberto Valle handed over the ministry to one of his sons in the gospel, Reverend Luciano Padilla, Jr. On July 11, 1970, the baton was passed to a new generation to take God’s people into new land. Under the leadership of Pastor Padilla, the church began to seek a deeper walk with God, a fresh anointing, and a vision from the Holy Spirit. As a direct result of seeking wisdom from the Lord, the church began to experience growth and the presence of God. The premises of 90-92 Summit Street became obsolete, and the church began to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit for new and larger facilities for worship and ministry. During this time, the Lord spoke prophetically and said: “I am going to provide a miracle temple”. What this meant we did not know. But one thing we did know, that miracles, are God’s specialty, not ours. After several years of prevailing prayer, God supernaturally provided our present facility that was built by Calvary Tabernacle and housed their ministry for eighteen years. On a beautiful Easter Sunday, April 19, 1981, we cut the ribbon and rededicated these facilities for the glory of God.
Over the years, the ministry has become a bilingual and multicultural ministry. During this time, we have seen the birth of our Christian Academy, grades K4-8th grade who this year celebrated 33 years of Christian education to our local body and community. The influence of our church in the community, missions and leadership development continues to grow and we are positioning ourselves to expand our present facilities in order to provide for the growing needs of the ministry. We are believing God for a brand new state of the art building to house the World Harvest Community Center that will bless our city and will impact the nations of the world.
As a step of Faith, believing the Word of the Lord that was spoken concerning our future and expanded facilities, we officially transitioned the name of the church on October 18th, 2016 from Bay Ridge Christian Center to World Harvest Community Center. Pastor Luciano Padilla, III believed it was an important step in walking in our new identity. A short 6 ½ months after the name change, the torch of Lead Pastor is being passed from Apostle Luciano Padilla, Jr. to his son, Luciano Padilla, III. Apostle Padilla’s leadership as Senior Pastor of BRCC for 47 years has taken this ministry to a level of excellence that his son has a heart to continue and take to the next level so that this legacy may continue to touch the lives of men, women and children all around the world.
To God be the glory to great things He has done!
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