It’s an undeniable experience. With its beautiful weather, natural resources, its many outdoor recreational opportunities and an A+ rated school system, Palm Bay, often referred to as Florida’s best kept secret, is a virtual paradise in Central Florida.
What is not a secret is the First Pentecostal Church in Palm Bay. With a rich heritage, dating back to the late sixties, a small group of believers laid a solid foundation that enabled them to reach for the future. Today, with over one thousand members, First Pentecostal Church of Palm Bay, with an anointed, energetic worship team, is an undeniable experience. “The passionate worship from our worship team spills over into our congregation and without fail, as we begin to worship God, His spirit fills the sanctuary,” says Pastor David Myers.
He is the senior pastor of the First Pentecostal Church in Palm Bay and a former Constitutional Law advocate defending churches and ministries whose religious liberties are being challenged. David and his wife, Aimee, are blessed with identical twin sons, Gregory and Luke, and a beautiful daughter, Sophia. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Systematic Theology from Southeastern University in 1994 and then graduated cum laude with a Juris Doctorate degree from Barry University School of Law in 2000.
In 1997, he studied at Oxford University in Oxford, England. In 1998, he studied at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland under U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and in 1999, at McGill College in Montreal, Canada under U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
In 2001, Bro. Myers went to work for Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit educational and legal defense group working to preserve religious freedom, the sanctity of life and traditional marriage in America. He co-hosted Law and Justice and Faith and Freedom, national media programs, with Mat Staver, and he was involved at the U.S. Supreme Court in defending the Ten Commandments. In 2011, Bro. Myers authored and released a bestselling book, The Supremacy Clause: The Laws of Man that Reveal the Love of God.
In the past, Bro. Myers served as Youth Secretary and President of Florida and Southeastern Bible Quiz Coordinator. He presently serves on the Lighthouse Ranch for Boys Board, the UPCI Foundation Board, and the Men’s Ministry team of Florida.
As senior pastor of First Pentecostal Church, Bro. Myers has seen the church flourish with accelerated revival and numerical growth, including four satellite campuses. He travels extensively, having visited and ministered in over 100 countries. His passion includes reaching third world countries with humanitarian relief, construction projects and spiritual renewal.
Principles of Growth and Revival
As pastor of a growing church, Bro. Myers believes that balance is a key concept in maintaining and achieving future growth. “Church growth is what we are all striving for and while it may be slightly different based on region or circumstances, there are principles that apply to everyone,” he said. “A church is built on an incline, and it is either moving forward or backward, but it never stands still. A church must focus on spiritual health rather than growth. Growth will come as a natural by-product of health. A church is healthy if it is balanced, and it must be balanced in five areas of emphasis: salvation, discipleship, fellowship, ministry and worship.”
First Pentecostal has implemented a variety of ministries and programs designed to reach their community, increase church attendance, as well as promote spiritual growth to their congregation. “In the early years my father taught Bible studies on a regular basis,” explains Bro. Myers. “We then began to train others to teach them, and this is what really grew the church. Today we continue that process coupled with prayer and fasting, consistent outreach, crusades, connecting events such as dramas and concerts, meticulous follow up, and continuous self examination of the visitor experience.” The process has worked, according to Bro. Myers. “On a regular basis, people are being filled with the Holy Ghost and being baptized in Jesus name. We receive daily reports of answers to prayer, and we have seen deaf ears open and people get out of wheelchairs that had not walked for 12 years.”
Personal Ministry
Enjoy the journey and love people. That is the key to ministry, according to Bro. Myers. “It is easy to get burned out in ministry so you have to keep a balanced life in order to keep the proper perspective,” he said. “You should focus on doing what only you can do. Only the pastor can provide vision, inspiration and direction. A church is never as strong as when the pastor is in the pulpit.”
Bro. Myers enjoys relational preaching and loves to focus on young couples and families as well as people who are open, analytical, educated and searching. “I like to break down spiritual concepts into simple instructions that can be easily and effectively communicated,” he said. “I enjoy using humor as a tool to reach the audience. I enjoy mentoring men and developing leaders, and I love imparting to the next generation Biblical truths.”
Bro. Myers enjoys traveling and missions work, having been to over 100 countries. He also recently released a book called “Heaven, we have a Problem:” 13 miracles from the Apollo 13 mission that will rocket your faith. The premise of the book is that every Apollo mission, from Apollo 11 forward, had the purpose of getting men to the moon with the exception of Apollo 13. After Apollo 13 had an unexpected explosion in space, the focus was to get the astronauts back home safely. When we have had an unexpected explosion in our life, how do we get back safely? Thirteen miracles from that mission illustrate 13 spiritual principles on how to return home.
ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT
With a host of departments and ministries in the church, there is a place for everyone to get involved in the church and in the work of God. “We encourage people to sign up in their area of giftedness,” said Bro. Myers. “We also stage our involvement emphasis into four levels of commitment. This is so everyone can get involved in some area right away and still grow spiritually for greater commitment.”
First Pentecostal Church has 80 percent of its members involved in some form of ministry and 75 percent are involved in evangelism. “We encourage lifestyle evangelism where we can live with sustained outreach emphasis,” says Bro. Myers. “To promote and encourage involvement once a year, we have a ministry fair. We set up the Life Center with multiple booths displaying all of the departments, and we provide treats and gifts to those that attend.”
CHURCH HISTORY
First Pentecostal’s first sanctuary was an old Baptist church that had four little classrooms and seated about 60 people. “My father had been pastor since 1971 and had completed four building programs while growing the church from five families to 250 people,” explains Bro. Myers. “I had worked for many years with my father, and we always had enjoyed such a great relationship. He was always anxious to turn more and more over to me, but I was reluctant while I was traveling and going to school. In 1998, the church decided to make me senior pastor and my father bishop, shortly before my father had triple bypass heart surgery. “In 1998, when I became senior pastor, we moved to the new location and built the new facility.”
CURRENT FACILITY
First Pentecostal’s current facility was an act of faith. The old church was landlocked in a dying part of town, but they were able to buy seven acres near the interstate and build a $2 million building without selling their present church until the new one was completed. “The Lord gave us favor with the bank, and they provided unbelievable terms and opportunity while our constituency averaged around 250 people and had limited assets,” said Bro. Myers. “In addition, we closed on the sale of our old church within 24 hours of our first service in the new church. We came in under budget and under time while winning a national design award on our church facility. It was a total God thing.”
The first sanctuary of 26,000 square feet was built in 2000. It was built to where it was self contained but could be expanded to add 400 seats in the auditorium. In 2008, the auditorium was expanded to seat 1,000 people, and they added a 20,000 sq. ft. Family Life Center with gymnasium, commercial kitchen, youth center, Sunday school rooms, administrative offices, production studio and evangelist quarters. “We are debt free on our auditorium and will be paying off our Family Life Center this year,” said Bro. Myers. “This will allow us to develop the four additional acres that we have recently purchased across the street from our main campus as well as continue to grow and develop the facilities of our satellite campuses. We also have plans to expand our parking and to add new facilities for a school.”
Conclusion
Pastor Myers is very excited about the future. His vision is to see multiple services and multiple campuses complemented with multiple training and educational venues.
The combination of God’s blessings, faithful members and Godly leadership has propelled First Pentecostal of Palm Bay to a place of end time revival.
Transcribed by: Gregg Stone