May 2, 2025 • 7 mins
Carlos Sarti was born and raised in Guatemala and he has served in ministry across cultures—including several years as a missionary in Uruguay, where he deepened his passion for reaching people with the gospel. Easter weekend, Carlos helped launch Silverdale Gracia—a vibrant and growing church community dedicated to serving Hispanic families with faith, grace, and authenticity. His greatest calling is helping people find new life in Jesus and walk in their God-given purpose. CLICK HERE for more information
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:03):
This is mornings with Tom and Toby and Toby. You know,
I was shopping the other day, and I was realizing
just how many people here in the Tennessee Valley speak Spanish. Now,
you said that the the, um, the geography, I guess,
or is changing or demography really is changing just a
little bit in different areas. But, um, there are a
lot of native Mexican speakers, Hispanic speakers, Latin. I don't
(00:27):
know what the term is. Spanish speakers, people speak Spanish.
S2 (00:31):
Lots of them are from Guatemala.
S1 (00:32):
Guatemala.
S2 (00:33):
Okay. Yes.
S1 (00:34):
Okay. So good. So thank you for helping me out
with that. But thankfully I'm not in charge of a
church that is trying to reach that community. We need
somebody who's a professional who could probably do that better
than me.
S2 (00:44):
Let's rush him in. Carlos. Pastor Carlos Sarti, uh, Bienvenidos.
And thank you so much for being with us this morning.
S3 (00:54):
Muchas gracias. I'm excited to be here and be able
to share a couple of minutes with you guys today.
S2 (00:59):
As you can see, we need help, but we want
to know really your background? How did you grow up?
That makes you, I think, a perfect fit for a
Spanish speaking ministry here in the US.
S3 (01:12):
Yes. Of course. So my parents actually are both from
Guatemala and they met here in the US. And early
on in their marriage, they decided to move back to
Guatemala and become missionaries to their own country. So I
had kind of a unique start in ministry. My whole life,
just following my parents in in our home country of Guatemala,
where we, you know, did a lot of outreach to, uh,
(01:35):
secluded communities or areas where there's disasters that needed help and, um,
as well as training people in the Bible. My dad
was a Bible school teacher, as well as a missionary
director for the entire organization, where he served for 17 years.
So that's a little bit of of their story. And
I got to see that firsthand, living in Guatemala and
(01:58):
being able to accompany them with all these different opportunities
that we had to minister on a weekly basis all across, um,
you know, Guatemala and even Central America. So that's a
little bit of of where my ministry background comes from
early on.
S2 (02:13):
And then you also, because I think this is so important. Language.
Your parents taught you to speak Spanish and English from childhood.
S3 (02:23):
Yes. Yes. They made that their mission. And I always
tell them and tell everyone. It's been the greatest gift
that anybody could have given us was to be able
to speak two languages, to have the capacity to to
communicate with more people. But just the doors that this
has opened for me and my sisters, who are also bilingual,
(02:44):
has been amazing.
S1 (02:46):
Carlos is our guest. He's the campus pastor of Silverdale.
Gracia is the Spanish speaking campus of Silverdale Baptist Church. And.
And so you guys just launched like on Easter weekend.
Tell us a little bit about that.
S3 (03:00):
Yes of course. So Easter Saturday is when we had
our very first service at Silverdale Gracia. It was a
really awesome weekend. And um, just one of the things
that we've noticed over the last couple years in this
area is the need for outreach that's directed to, um,
you know, people who speak Spanish. I don't want to
(03:21):
say necessarily Hispanic people, because one of the things we've
come across, believe it or not, is a lot of
folks that are from the US that speak Spanish, that
really enjoy worshiping in Spanish. So when we started to
notice that the opportunity there and you start looking at
the numbers and the amount of people that are here
from different places, mainly from Guatemala, but you also have
(03:44):
people from Honduras, from Colombia, from El Salvador, that that
reside in this area. Uh, there's just a huge need
for ministry. And, uh, launching a campus that was solely
Spanish speaking was something that, you know, made sense for
our pastor, Pastor Tony. And, uh, just seeing his heart behind, uh,
(04:06):
that was really amazing. And we just knew this was
the right time.
S1 (04:13):
Carlos Sarti is the campus pastor of Silverdale. Gracia, just
talking a little bit about what it's like to get
a church off the ground here. Um, that is completely
designed to reach out to the Spanish speaking community in
the Tennessee Valley.
S2 (04:28):
I think it's awesome. And we just thank you so much, uh,
Pastor Carlos, for joining us today to talk to us
about this new ministry. Silverdale has done so many things, um,
in our community and even around the world. So no
surprise that it's coming out of Silverdale Baptist. But I
wanted to ask you, with the current situation in our
culture of maybe increased deportations, has that affected your ministry
(04:54):
or the people that you are ministering to? Can you
say a little bit about that?
S3 (04:58):
Of course. I think it's a it's a it's a
valid topic to, to address. And it's something that a
lot of people, you know, may be asking themselves. And
that's something that, you know, when, when we were talking
about this was on the forefront of every conversation. But honestly,
to my surprise, we have not seen any changes, uh,
in the way that we're able to reach out to
(05:20):
the community or them coming out and being a part
of the service and attending. Well, I think that Chattanooga
sits in a unique scenario for that. I believe that
our city is very welcoming to the Hispanic community. As
you know, most of them are Guatemalans, and I get
to serve them outside, not just in the church world,
(05:40):
but in my 9 to 5, uh, as part of
efforts of creating opportunities for families to, um, get into homes.
So I've noticed that I think our preconceived ideas of
what would have happened have not actually been the case.
And there's been a lot of other opportunities that we've
been hearing about with, uh, certain lawyers and stuff in
(06:01):
our community that are actually opening up an opportunity for
people to have their pathway, uh, to either residency or citizenship.
So we we feel like this is also one of
those aha moments where this was the perfect timing for
for the launch of a Spanish speaking campus and to
navigate the different needs that each person in our community has.
S1 (06:24):
Yeah. Wonderful. You're hearing the voice of Carlos Sati. He's
the campus pastor of Silverdale Baptist Church in Silverdale, Gracia.
And so tell us a little bit about that. Somebody
maybe hearing this, and they're interested to be a part
of a fellowship like that. Uh, when do you meet? Time. location.
Share that kind of information with us, Carlos.
S3 (06:43):
Of course. So currently we're meeting Saturday nights at 7 p.m.
and we meet at the Student Ministry building, which is
located at the Bonny Oaks location. You can write that down,
which is 7218 Bonny Oaks Drive. It's a big red building.
You'll be able to see it. And, uh, it's exciting.
We get to have time to fellowship with everyone after service. Uh,
(07:04):
we have an hour long service. And then after service,
people want to stay an hour long drinking coffee, talking
and getting to know each other, which we find something beautiful.
We feel like that is one of the most important
aspects of what we do is getting to know everyone.
And if you have anybody that you know that is seeking, uh,
to attend a Spanish service, or you have a friend
or a coworker or somebody that works for you that
(07:26):
would like to be have an opportunity here. The most important,
important message of Jesus that they'll ever hear in their
life send them our way. We'd love to host them
and have them with us and serve them in their family.
This is mornings with Tom and Toby and Toby. You know,
I was shopping the other day, and I was realizing
just how many people here in the Tennessee Valley speak Spanish. Now,
you said that the the, um, the geography, I guess,
or is changing or demography really is changing just a
little bit in different areas. But, um, there are a
lot of native Mexican speakers, Hispanic speakers, Latin. I don't
(00:27):
know what the term is. Spanish speakers, people speak Spanish.
S2 (00:31):
Lots of them are from Guatemala.
S1 (00:32):
Guatemala.
S2 (00:33):
Okay. Yes.
S1 (00:34):
Okay. So good. So thank you for helping me out
with that. But thankfully I'm not in charge of a
church that is trying to reach that community. We need
somebody who's a professional who could probably do that better
than me.
S2 (00:44):
Let's rush him in. Carlos. Pastor Carlos Sarti, uh, Bienvenidos.
And thank you so much for being with us this morning.
S3 (00:54):
Muchas gracias. I'm excited to be here and be able
to share a couple of minutes with you guys today.
S2 (00:59):
As you can see, we need help, but we want
to know really your background? How did you grow up?
That makes you, I think, a perfect fit for a
Spanish speaking ministry here in the US.
S3 (01:12):
Yes. Of course. So my parents actually are both from
Guatemala and they met here in the US. And early
on in their marriage, they decided to move back to
Guatemala and become missionaries to their own country. So I
had kind of a unique start in ministry. My whole life,
just following my parents in in our home country of Guatemala,
where we, you know, did a lot of outreach to, uh,
(01:35):
secluded communities or areas where there's disasters that needed help and, um,
as well as training people in the Bible. My dad
was a Bible school teacher, as well as a missionary
director for the entire organization, where he served for 17 years.
So that's a little bit of of their story. And
I got to see that firsthand, living in Guatemala and
(01:58):
being able to accompany them with all these different opportunities
that we had to minister on a weekly basis all across, um,
you know, Guatemala and even Central America. So that's a
little bit of of where my ministry background comes from
early on.
S2 (02:13):
And then you also, because I think this is so important. Language.
Your parents taught you to speak Spanish and English from childhood.
S3 (02:23):
Yes. Yes. They made that their mission. And I always
tell them and tell everyone. It's been the greatest gift
that anybody could have given us was to be able
to speak two languages, to have the capacity to to
communicate with more people. But just the doors that this
has opened for me and my sisters, who are also bilingual,
(02:44):
has been amazing.
S1 (02:46):
Carlos is our guest. He's the campus pastor of Silverdale.
Gracia is the Spanish speaking campus of Silverdale Baptist Church. And.
And so you guys just launched like on Easter weekend.
Tell us a little bit about that.
S3 (03:00):
Yes of course. So Easter Saturday is when we had
our very first service at Silverdale Gracia. It was a
really awesome weekend. And um, just one of the things
that we've noticed over the last couple years in this
area is the need for outreach that's directed to, um,
you know, people who speak Spanish. I don't want to
(03:21):
say necessarily Hispanic people, because one of the things we've
come across, believe it or not, is a lot of
folks that are from the US that speak Spanish, that
really enjoy worshiping in Spanish. So when we started to
notice that the opportunity there and you start looking at
the numbers and the amount of people that are here
from different places, mainly from Guatemala, but you also have
(03:44):
people from Honduras, from Colombia, from El Salvador, that that
reside in this area. Uh, there's just a huge need
for ministry. And, uh, launching a campus that was solely
Spanish speaking was something that, you know, made sense for
our pastor, Pastor Tony. And, uh, just seeing his heart behind, uh,
(04:06):
that was really amazing. And we just knew this was
the right time.
S1 (04:13):
Carlos Sarti is the campus pastor of Silverdale. Gracia, just
talking a little bit about what it's like to get
a church off the ground here. Um, that is completely
designed to reach out to the Spanish speaking community in
the Tennessee Valley.
S2 (04:28):
I think it's awesome. And we just thank you so much, uh,
Pastor Carlos, for joining us today to talk to us
about this new ministry. Silverdale has done so many things, um,
in our community and even around the world. So no
surprise that it's coming out of Silverdale Baptist. But I
wanted to ask you, with the current situation in our
culture of maybe increased deportations, has that affected your ministry
(04:54):
or the people that you are ministering to? Can you
say a little bit about that?
S3 (04:58):
Of course. I think it's a it's a it's a
valid topic to, to address. And it's something that a
lot of people, you know, may be asking themselves. And
that's something that, you know, when, when we were talking
about this was on the forefront of every conversation. But honestly,
to my surprise, we have not seen any changes, uh,
in the way that we're able to reach out to
(05:20):
the community or them coming out and being a part
of the service and attending. Well, I think that Chattanooga
sits in a unique scenario for that. I believe that
our city is very welcoming to the Hispanic community. As
you know, most of them are Guatemalans, and I get
to serve them outside, not just in the church world,
(05:40):
but in my 9 to 5, uh, as part of
efforts of creating opportunities for families to, um, get into homes.
So I've noticed that I think our preconceived ideas of
what would have happened have not actually been the case.
And there's been a lot of other opportunities that we've
been hearing about with, uh, certain lawyers and stuff in
(06:01):
our community that are actually opening up an opportunity for
people to have their pathway, uh, to either residency or citizenship.
So we we feel like this is also one of
those aha moments where this was the perfect timing for
for the launch of a Spanish speaking campus and to
navigate the different needs that each person in our community has.
S1 (06:24):
Yeah. Wonderful. You're hearing the voice of Carlos Sati. He's
the campus pastor of Silverdale Baptist Church in Silverdale, Gracia.
And so tell us a little bit about that. Somebody
maybe hearing this, and they're interested to be a part
of a fellowship like that. Uh, when do you meet? Time. location.
Share that kind of information with us, Carlos.
S3 (06:43):
Of course. So currently we're meeting Saturday nights at 7 p.m.
and we meet at the Student Ministry building, which is
located at the Bonny Oaks location. You can write that down,
which is 7218 Bonny Oaks Drive. It's a big red building.
You'll be able to see it. And, uh, it's exciting.
We get to have time to fellowship with everyone after service. Uh,
(07:04):
we have an hour long service. And then after service,
people want to stay an hour long drinking coffee, talking
and getting to know each other, which we find something beautiful.
We feel like that is one of the most important
aspects of what we do is getting to know everyone.
And if you have anybody that you know that is seeking, uh,
to attend a Spanish service, or you have a friend
or a coworker or somebody that works for you that
(07:26):
would like to be have an opportunity here. The most important,
important message of Jesus that they'll ever hear in their
life send them our way. We'd love to host them
and have them with us and serve them in their family.
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