From the beginning….

Bethel Church was formed in 1994, when a group of brothers moved from Portland OR to the Nashville area. In the beginning the first group of brothers gathered together in the “Hendersonville Church of God” gymnasium. The brothers testify that that they were very wormly welcomed by our American brothers who were very hospitable and generous.

After a short time brother Vasile Truta was ordained as a deacon and became the leader of the church. In 1996 God blessed the church by sending brother Florin Cimpean to be the first official pastor of the Romanian Church of God in the Nashville area. After brother Cimpean arived in Nashville the congregation purchased a property in Goodlettsville TN which became the “Goodletsville Church of God”. In the period following the church grew to a number of about 100 members.

In 2001 brother Cimpean moved to Chicago. Following this move the church body elected Marinel Mesaros to serve as senior pastor. Throught the following period the Romanian church continued to grow numerically. With the move of a great number of brothers and sister from the State of California, the local church found that the place of worship had become inadequate and a desire for a new larger place of worship arose in the hearts of the members. Also during this period the name of the congregation was changed to “Bethel Romanian Church of God”.

Construction on the new building began in the year 2004 with the inauguration and dedication of the church building taking place in 2006, in the city of Gallatin, Tennessee. The following year pastor Marinel Mesaros relocated to Phoenix, Arizona and two brothers were elected to serve as deacons while the church body looked for a replacement pastor. The two brothers were Ioan Retegan and Aurel Antimie, who still serves as a deacon in the local church today. In the month of October of 2007 the church body elected Iulian Costea as the new senior pastor. Iulian is still currently the active senior pastor.