Pastor Jose
A Testimony of Pastor Jose De Anda
Founding & Senior Pastor
Los Ninos Del Parque Church
Jose De Anda is one of 8 children born in Mexico City, that that was raised by this single parent mother. The family was raised Catholic and attended church regularly.
To help support the family, Jose went to work at the age of 7 at Florsheim Shoes selling gum and newspapers on the street and to riders of local buses. After work in the morning, Jose then went to school in the afternoon.
In high school [College in Mexico} Jose started to play football and it was one of his friends Palomo that invited him to come to his church. Jose was 17 years old when he heard the word of God for the first time in his life. He didn’t fully understand what the pastor said, but he felt good. As he heard the word of God, his faith grew and he knew that the seeds of God’s word were being planted in his heart.
A couple of years later Jose gave up a government job in Mexico to come to the United States with his family. At the time he didn’t understand why they left when they did but he saw God’s purpose for the change more clearly.
Jose enrolled in high school for his age group and it was during this time that he received the Lord into his heart in 1974. Immediately he started to preach in the streets.
During this era Fred Jordan was the president of Rescue Mission and two of his missionaries anointed Jose and a pastor’s council approved and ordained him for ministry.
Jose preached at the L.A. Rescue Mission, but his passion was to preach and teach in the streets. During this time, Jose was the only Hispanic pastor working in Skid Row. He began ministering to around 25 to 30 kids.
Later his son Joe joined him as a guitarist leading worship. They played at Clifton Café, Newberry Stores and the Central Market. Skid Row was a very dangerous place. The families came with a lot of problems, especially the kids.
During these years the Lord showed Jose a vision of how this ministry would be the beginning of what would also be in his future.
The Lord revealed in a vision a hug place with 5 floors. Later Jose determined the place was a building in the LA County Prison system.
While working in Skid row, Jose started his ministry in the L.A. County prison system. There were over 6,000 men in maximum security in the prison system. Jose started working with Christian jail workers as a chaplain and began the first Hispanic ministry in L.A. County Prison System. That was 1978 and God blessed him and his ministry until 1995.
In 1995, Jose moved his family to Rancho Cucamonga. He was pastoring several churches in L.A., Culver City, and Southgate to name a few. Then the Lord showed him the vision again.
During this era of pasturing, Pastor Jose made frequent trips to Tijuana with food and clothes for the poor, especially those living in the rehabilitation homes. Alejandro Quintero was the director at one of the Rehabilitation homes that Pastor Jose would visit.
One day he asked Pastor Jose why he wasn’t ministering in Tijuana at the same time Pastor Jose was asking the Lord for direction for the ministry. Pastor Jose’s prayer for direction was answered and revealed through these men. As a result he started the ministry in Tijuana and named it Los Ninos Del Parque. 
Today our Church and congregation are active in the community reaching out to the poor and lost.
The transforming word of God is preached along with demonstrating God’s love by providing for the needs of the poor and the lost.
About 3 years ago the Lord led us to establish a Rehabilitation home for men because many of the men coming to the church each week were living on the streets of Tijuana and were addicted to drugs and or alcohol. The local government approved the church plan and the church’s property was divided up to create a rehabilitation home.
Today, the home provides a safe haven and environment rich with the Lord’s anointing and healing hand that is raising up men for service in the Kingdom of God. Today the Rehabilitation home provides for 17 men living on site at the church 7 x 24 hours a day.
At the home men live together in a bunk house where they study and perform the word of God while assisting Pastor Jose with the work of the ministry.
Saddleback Church Celebrate Recovery and Purpose Driven Life Small Group curriculum was incorporated into the program and church. As a result, new home small group bible studies were established in the congregation.
The Lord has raised up new servant leaders like Alex [below] who now leads the Children’s ministry.
About 2 years ago, the Lord led us to establish the breakfast club. This ministry was established to feed hungry children from the community that were going to school each day without having breakfast. This ministry is led by Gustavo and provides nourishment and encouragement from God’s word to 35-40 children every day.
