Good Things Take Time
by Carla Flores, Children’s Ministry Director
Just outside the Mission Adelante buildings, a few fruit trees stand quietly, unassuming but powerful in what they represent. If you pass by, you might see peaches or plums beginning to ripen on their branches. They’re still young, only planted about a year ago, but they’ve already begun to produce fruit.
These trees are a living reminder of a lesson that’s easy to forget in our fast-paced world: good things take time.
Jarrett Meek, our founder, planted those trees last year. He placed them in the soil with the same kind of intentionality and vision that led him to plant Mission Adelante twenty years ago. He knew then, as he knows now, that fruit doesn’t come overnight. Growth takes time. It requires patient tending, consistent presence, and faith in what you can’t yet see.
Twenty years ago, Mission Adelante began not with a program or a building, but with people. With neighbors. With shared meals and long conversations. With the deep conviction that immigrants and refugees were not just to be served but to be loved, empowered, and invited into leadership. In those early years, the work was often slow and invisible, like roots stretching underground, preparing for something greater.
But slowly, things began to grow.
Kids began coming to programs week after week. Over time, those kids grew up and they came back. As volunteers. As mentors. As leaders. And eventually, some of them brought their own kids to Mission Adelante, passing down the experience of community, faith, and belonging to the next generation.
What was once a small seed of an idea grew into a thriving community, one that reflects the beauty of God’s kingdom in all its diversity and dignity.
Now, two decades later, the fruit is everywhere.
It’s in the young adults who once sat in our classrooms as kids and now lead in our programs. It’s in the immigrant families who have found not just services, but true community and purpose. It’s in the friendships formed across cultures, the prayers lifted up in multiple languages, and the steady beat of a community that believes transformation happens together.
Just like those trees, Mission Adelante has weathered seasons, storms of change and moments when the growth wasn’t easy to see. But with deep roots and God’s faithful presence, the harvest has come. And what a sweet harvest it has been.
As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re not just celebrating milestones, we’re honoring the slow, steady, faithful work that has brought us here. We’re remembering that, in God’s orchard, no season is wasted when it’s spent growing in love. And we’re trusting that just like the fruit trees around our campus, there’s even more growth and fruit to come.
Because when something is planted with vision, nurtured with love, and surrendered to God, it will bear fruit. In its season. In its time.
We’d love for you to join us in celebrating this incredible journey and to be part of what’s next. You’re invited to our first-ever Shine Gala on Thursday, September 18 at 6:00pm as we honor 20 years of bearing fruit together and look ahead to the future God is growing. Let’s celebrate the fruit and plant seeds for the future!
Key Dates in 2025
Trimester 3
Volunteer Orientation: September 6th - 9am-12:30pm
Come and See nights: November 10-13 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm