Three Languages, One Sanctuary in Coral Gables
Granada Presbyterian Church sits on a campus that wraps around the corner of University Drive and Bird Road, in the heart of Coral Gables. It is one of the more unusual congregations in the Miami area: a single church that has been conducting weekly worship in three languages at the same time for years. English services share the historic sanctuary with Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking gatherings, while programs for children, youth, college students, and adults run alongside a Christian preschool that opened the same year the church was chartered. The same address also serves as one of the most popular wedding venues in South Florida, with a sanctuary that holds 722 guests and a coordinating team that handles dozens of ceremonies a year.
Granada belongs to the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a denomination the church joined in the early 1970s. Senior Pastor D. Worth Carson has led the congregation since 1999 and preaches in a way that ties the church's Reformed theological heritage to everyday life in Greater Miami. Three associate and assistant pastors oversee the church's distinct ministries in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and a team of program staff keeps GranadaKids!, Granada Youth, VirtueCo (the young adult ministry), and Granada Day School running from the same address on University Drive.
Sunday Services in the Main Sanctuary
Sunday is the visible center of life at Granada, with two English services that frame the entire day. Both preach the same message, but they feel like two very different rooms.
The 9 am Heritage Service leans into the time-honored patterns of the Christian faith. The choir, organ, and piano lead the singing, with other instruments joining in from time to time. Liturgy, scripture reading, corporate prayer, the creeds, and moments of personal reflection sit at the heart of the gathering. The service ends where it began, with the public reading and preaching of God's word.
The 11 am Contemporary Service holds the same sermon but trades the formality for a band-led worship set. Modern worship songs and classic hymns share the hour, and the room is more casual in tone. After the music and the message, the congregation is invited to linger and meet other people. Many first-time visitors find this hour easier to slip into.
Both services are streamed live on YouTube at 9 and 11 am, and sermon recordings are available afterward. A daily Granada devotional and a Sermon Podcast also keep the Sunday rhythm accessible to people who travel, work weekends, or stay home for health reasons.
Iglesia Granada: The Hispanic Ministry
Granada's Hispanic ministry, branded as Iglesia Granada, began in 2001 and is treated as its own congregation within the larger church. Associate Pastor Jamid Jimenez, an ordained Reformed minister from Colombia and a PCA teaching elder since 2007, leads the work along with his wife, Maria del Pilar Robledo.
The Spanish-language worship gathering meets at 11 am on Sunday, the same hour as the contemporary English service. It draws Colombian, Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, and other Latino families from across the Miami area. Spanish-speaking children and youth have their own GranadaKids! and Granada Youth tracks alongside the adults, and the church offers Spanish Bible studies throughout the week: a Sunday morning study, a Monday prayer group, Wednesday women's and men's studies, and an online Wednesday Bible study. A Spanish-language gathering called Basic Christian Beliefs meets on Sunday mornings for new and exploring believers.
For pastoral contact, families can reach the Spanish ministry at 305-444-8435, extension 134, or jamid@granadachurch.com.
Igreja Granada: A New Portuguese Ministry
The newest of Granada's language ministries is Igreja Granada, the Portuguese-language church, which launched in 2022. It is the only PCA-style Portuguese ministry in the area, and it holds two services every Sunday: one at 11 am in the Loft and one at 7 pm in the Fellowship Hall.
Assistant Pastor Ezequias Abreu, originally from Brazil and an ordained PCA teaching elder since 2013, leads the Portuguese-speaking community along with his wife, Mara. The ministry runs a Wednesday evening Portuguese Bible study and has its own discipleship and fellowship rhythms. A men's group called The King's Men and a Hispanic Ladies group give the community extra layers of connection.
Portuguese-speaking visitors can contact the ministry at ezequias@granadachurch.com or call the main church line, 305-444-8435.
From a Stewart Living Room to the Bird Road Sanctuary
The story of Granada is the story of a small Bible study that grew into a Coral Gables institution.
The church traces its origin to the mid-1940s, when a group of believers began gathering in the home of Seldon and Brevard Stewart. On June 9, 1947, the group was formally chartered. In August 1948 the new congregation acquired property on Bird Road and was given permission to build its first sanctuary.
Dr. Bertram Maxwell Larson served as the first senior pastor, from 1947 to 1957. During those early years, in 1954, the church founded Granada Day School, a Christian preschool that continues to operate from the same campus today.
Growth came quickly. Dr. Frank Alfred Mathes led the church from 1958 to 1964 and presided over the completion of the Main Sanctuary in 1961, the same building that holds worship today and that visitors come to see at every Sunday service. The years between 1960 and 1974 were a period of explosive growth.
In 1972-73, the congregation joined the Presbyterian Church in America, a relatively new Reformed denomination at the time. By the mid-1990s, the church had reached another milestone: a second, contemporary English worship service was added in 1995 to make room for a new generation. The Hispanic ministry followed in 2001, and a community-group ministry for adults was launched in 2007. A Life-on-Life discipleship pathway began in 2016. The newest chapter, the Portuguese-speaking Igreja Granada, opened in 2022.
A succession of senior pastors shepherded the church through these decades, including Dr. Robert James Ostenson, Rev. Leonard Hope Bullock, Dr. James M. Baird Jr., Dr. Douglas J. Culver, and Rev. Jim L. Smith Jr. Dr. D. Worth Carson took the role in 1999 and remains the senior pastor, making his tenure the longest in the church's current era.
What the Church Teaches
Granada summarizes what it teaches in eight articles. The congregation believes in one God who lives in the community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that sin entered the world when the first human beings chose to go their own way; and that God, out of mercy, has freely chosen to redeem sinful human beings through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Grace, the church teaches, is received by faith, and even that faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Those redeemed by Christ can never lose their place in God's family. They are united to Christ, given his righteousness, and become a new creation. When they die, they will be with God forever; when Christ returns, he will bring to fullness the plan of God for all creation.
The church practices two ordinances, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as visible signs of the kingdom of God. Baptism shows what happens when the Spirit applies the grace of Jesus to a life; the Lord's Supper is a participation in Jesus himself. The congregation also believes that the message of grace in Jesus is to be shared with the whole world, and that evangelism is a defining mark of every believer.
These theological commitments shape four stated values: Everyone Belongs Here (an outward-facing welcome), Made to Worship (the basic purpose of life), Walk With Me (the importance of small groups and friendships), and Live Out Grace (service to the city and the world).
GranadaKids! for Infants Through Fifth Grade
Children's ministry at Granada, branded GranadaKids!, centers on a simple mission: We help children enjoy God. Programs are available from infancy through fifth grade, and the ministry has its own dedicated space on the Bird Road side of the campus.
Families can drop off children during the 9 am and 11 am English services. Check-in opens at 8:45 am for the early service and at 10:45 am for the later service. There is also a 10:00 am Fresh Air Fun hour on the playground for kids whose parents are attending an adult group between services, and a Wednesday Nite Kids Time at 6:30 pm during the youth gathering.
A Fast Pass RSVP system lets families pre-register their children so that a name tag is ready when they arrive. Each child is asked to bring a labeled personal water bottle.
Classrooms are organized by age: a nursery for infants, a preschool room, an Elementary Park for school-age children, and a Youth Loft for older students. The teaching year runs through a chronological Bible curriculum. Past curriculum units have walked through Genesis, the reign of Israel's first kings, the life and psalms of David, the building of the temple, the divided kingdom, the life of Jesus from his baptism to his miracles, and the early church from Pentecost through the missionary journeys of Paul. Two age tracks (Younger Kids and Older Kids) keep the teaching level appropriate, and printable lesson PDFs for parents are available online.
Families who want to support the work at home can subscribe to the D6 Family App, the Bible App for Kids, and Seeds Family Worship. Granada also hosts a GranadaKids! YouTube channel with stories and songs for the youngest members of the congregation.
Granada Youth: Sunday Mornings and Wednesday Nights
Granada Youth, the middle and high school ministry, is led by Director of Youth and Family Ministry Evelio Vilches, an ordained minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church who grew up in Miami and earned his Master of Divinity from Knox Theological Seminary. Vilches works closely with parents to build what the church calls Christ-centered homes.
The youth meet twice a week in the Loft. On Sunday mornings from 10:00 to 10:45, the students gather for a teaching hour that follows the same churchwide curriculum as the adults. On Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30, they meet for food, games, and a small-group Bible study. Doors open at 6:30, and pickup runs from 8:35 to 8:45. Wednesdays are the easiest night to bring a friend who has never been. The year follows a familiar rhythm of teaching weeks, Flex Nights for games or a movie, a Thanksgiving gratitude study and potluck, and an Advent series leading to a Christmas dinner and gift exchange.
Parents get regular resources to continue the conversation at home, including downloadable family handouts for each Wednesday lesson. Two weeks each fall address purity and faithfulness in relationships; the staff flag these in advance so parents can prepare.
VirtueCo: Pickleball, Bowling, and a Young-Adult Community
VirtueCo is Granada's ministry for college students and young adults, organized and led by Katy and Isaac Velez and Executive Pastor Jeff Sullivan. The two met in Granada's youth group in 2009, when Isaac's father joined the staff, and they have been serving on worship teams and in children's and women's ministry ever since.
The group meets weekly on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm at the Velez home in southwest Miami. Beyond the study, VirtueCo is known for its social calendar: pickleball tournaments at the church, bowling nights, Topgolf outings, themed worship nights in the Loft, and a regular Sunday morning pickleball-plus-bagels hangout before the contemporary service. Communication runs through the @virtuecomiami accounts on Instagram and Facebook, and updates are pushed out on the church app.
Worship nights bring young adults together for teaching, prayer, and a full band set. They are led by Max Milian, Granada's Director of Contemporary Worship, who grew up in the church and returns to invest in this generation.
The ministry sits within a broader Long Term Groups lineup that includes the youth group, the Monday Night Bible Study, the choir, the Tuesday morning men's study, the Women's Friday Breakfast, and a couples group.
Ten-Week Churchwide Studies
A central rhythm at Granada is the churchwide study, in which the entire congregation works through one book of the Bible or one theological theme for ten weeks at a stretch. Each Sunday message that week is part of the larger arc, and a printed member guide for small-group discussion accompanies the series. Daily devotionals extend the reading through the week, and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms support the church's commitment to Reformed catechesis.
The teaching pastors - Worth Carson, David McCloud, and Jeff Sullivan - take turns across the ten weeks. Each Sunday message covers one or two of the topics in the series and ties them to Christ. Recent themes have ranged from relational foundations early in a series to the deeper reaches of human failure and grace at the end. The same material runs in every Community Group that meets during the period, so the Sunday sermon and the small-group conversation stay in step. Children and youth follow age-appropriate tracks of the same theme on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.
Group Pathways at Granada
Granada organizes its adult small groups into four categories, depending on how much time and intimacy each setting allows.
Life on Life groups are the most intimate: a year-long commitment to a very small number of people, by invitation only. GranadaU and Granada Life follow a lecture-style class format that everyone can join, with GranadaLife being the membership class required for anyone who wants to call Granada their church.
Long-term groups are open and ongoing. They include VirtueCo (young adults), the youth group, the Monday Night Bible Study, the choir, the Tuesday morning men's Bible study, the Women's Friday Breakfast, and a couples group. These groups have rotation schedules that allow people to join whenever they are ready.
Short-term groups have specific start and end dates. The Community Groups, the centerpiece of the church's small-group ministry, follow the churchwide studies for ten weeks at a time. GriefShare, a thirteen-week support program for people grieving the loss of someone close, runs on Thursdays.
There are also topical and demographic studies spread across the week: a Spanish Bible study on Sundays, Monday men's and women's groups online, a Tuesday men's study, multiple Wednesday Bible studies (English, Spanish, Portuguese, women's, online), the Daughters of the King group for women, a monthly Vanguards group, and Spanish-language gatherings for mothers and for Hispanic ladies. A Ligonier Discussion group meets on Sunday evenings to work through Ligonier Ministries teaching materials.
Missions: Local and Global
Serving the wider community is built into Granada's identity. The church lists more than fifteen local partners and a comparable number of missionaries and global ministries that it supports financially and in prayer.
On the local side, Granada partners with Miami Rescue Mission, Genesis Hopeful Haven, Glory House, Bridge Ministries, Saint's House, Alive Again (a recovery community led by Michael Woodham), Care Elementary (a Christian school in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami), CITA, 4Kids Foster Care, First Priority, InterVarsity at the University of Miami and Florida International University (through Gary and Marlene Cameron and Cristina Espinosa), Young Life (Madison Lopez), Youth for Christ Miami/Broward (April Lovins), and a prison ministry led by Chris Coppolo. The GranadaKids! team also runs a prayer ministry that pairs Granada families with specific fourth graders at Care Elementary, walking alongside them from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Internationally, the church sends support to missionaries and ministries in Brazil (Ezequias and Mara Abreu with Eternity and Grace, the Smoldering Wick Foundation of Calvin and Lorena Hamstra), Indonesia (Wycliffe's Rosemary Bolton), Peru (the Lifted Church of Jamil and Elzeli Ribeiro, the SamAir aviation ministry of Craig and Heather Gahagan, and Scalpel at the Cross orthopedic missions in Pucallpa), Israel (Love Israel), Pakistan (Ash and Erma Gil), and the Middle East (Interserve). It also funds Reformed University Fellowship on college campuses through Mitch Cloutier, the missionary care work of Pioneers, and the media ministry of Rusty Wright.
Members can give to general church operations, to the Legacy Fund for campus improvements, and to missions through three separate online giving channels.
Weddings at Granada
The wedding ministry at Granada is one of the most developed wedding venues in the Miami area. Couples from across South Florida, the country, and the world hold their ceremonies in the church's historic sanctuary, and a dedicated staff coordinates the entire day.
The sanctuary holds up to 722 guests and has been featured in The New York Times, Southern Weddings, and on TLC's Four Weddings. Its classic architecture makes it equally suited to small family ceremonies and to large gatherings with full choirs, string trios, or a soloist. The Fellowship Hall next door seats 290 for a stand-up reception or 100 for a seated dinner. A bride's room with adjoining restroom is reserved for the bride and her attendants; a family room, with a restroom downstairs in the Choir Room, is reserved for the groom and his groomsmen.
The current wedding coordinator is Adriana Brito, who is included as part of the wedding fee. The coordinator gives the couple a personalized tour, answers the request within a week, organizes a meeting with the minister, directs the rehearsal and the wedding, oversees setup and takedown, and serves as the liaison with the musician, photographer, florist, caterer, and any outside planners. Couples can hold the rehearsal, ceremony, and reception all on site.
The officiant is the couple's choice. Couples can hire their own ordained minister, or use one of the pastors at Granada for an additional fee that includes premarital counseling. All couples are required to go through premarital counseling before the wedding. Live streaming of the ceremony is available so family members who cannot attend in person can still be present.
The church keeps a list of preferred local vendors for catering (Bill Hansen), dance lessons (Arthur Murray), florals (Hirnis Florist), invitations (Innovative Invitations), limousines (Aralimo), musicians (Max and Kyra Milian, Miami Virtuosi), photo booths (Lens and Light), photographers (Bells and Whistles Studio, Hazel Photographers, Nat and Bryan Rodriguez), live painting (Canvas and Confetti), and videographers (Motive Cinemas, Santiago Guy Films). For premarital and ongoing marriage support, the church recommends Wellspring Counseling (a Christian nonprofit in Miami) and Basic Principles of Marriage with Pastor Joey and Zuleika Torres.
There are practical policies couples should know: no alcohol on the property at any time, no smoking, only candles supplied by the church (with a personal unity candle as an exception), no nails or screws in the sanctuary, and silk petals only for flower girls. The two-hour time slot for the ceremony breaks down into one hour before, a thirty-minute ceremony, and thirty minutes afterward; receptions in the Fellowship Hall get a four-hour time slot plus a one-hour cleanup window.
Couples can begin the process by submitting the online request form and scheduling a brief interview with a pastor. A refundable $500 security deposit is due at the time of booking. Adriana Brito can be reached at weddings@granadachurch.com or 347-466-3024, Tuesday through Friday from 4:30 to 7 pm, and by appointment Saturday and Sunday.
Granada Day School
Granada Day School has been on the same campus since 1954, making it one of the oldest continuous Christian preschools in Coral Gables. The school serves families with children from three months old through kindergarten. Located at 900 University Drive, next door to the church building, the school operates independently from the Sunday children's ministry but shares staff and a common board of directors. The school describes itself as the most loving Christian preschool in Miami, with a focus on early education and family support.
The day school accepts tours and inquiries at 305-444-2028 and info@granadadayschool.com. Members of Granada Church are eligible for tuition support in some cases, with the level of aid tied to the family's involvement in the church.
Building for the Future
Granada is in the middle of a long-term campus improvement plan. The immediate project is a transition from a septic system to a municipal sewer connection, an infrastructure change required by Miami-Dade County. After a long permitting process, the sewer main has been connected, and crews are working to abandon the old septic tanks and activate the new pump system.
The longer-term vision calls for a new elevator tower and a grand entrance off the Bird Road parking lot, with the goal of making the campus easier to navigate for the church, the day school, and outside guests, and to connect the church's two-story buildings into a single, more accessible complex. Updates are shared as the work advances, and a Legacy Fund gives members a way to support the project.
Pastors and Staff
Granada is led by a team of teaching pastors (called ministers of the Word in PCA practice) and a session of ruling elders elected by the congregation.
The seven teaching elders are Senior Pastor Dr. D. Worth Carson, Executive Pastor Jeff Sullivan, Associate Pastor David McCloud, Associate Pastor Jamid Jimenez (Spanish ministry), Assistant Pastor Ezequias Abreu (Portuguese ministry), Assistant Pastor Phil Binnie (member care), and Director of Youth and Family Ministry Evelio Vilches. Max Milian, the Director of Contemporary Worship, leads the young-adult worship nights.
The session of ruling elders includes Nathan Adler, Luis Pablo Alcala Carrillo, Juan Bolet, Chris Correa, Micah Dawson, Jose Franco, Bruce Gago, Allan Gubbins, Greg Kaplan, Woody Lippincott, Eron Martins, Jorge Milian, Doug Morse, Guillermo Rojas, Carlos Ruiz, Rey Sanchez, Joseph Stewart, and Juan Tejeda.
The board of deacons handles mercy and benevolence ministries in the church. Active deacons include Fausto Azevedo, Alan Bair, John Barrios, Ed Bello, Tirso Ferrer, Erik Hofmeyer, Carlos Houstoun, Napalys Juodzevicius, Greg Knowles, Andrew Lindberg, Tim Lokash, Stephan Meyer, Carlos Ramirez, Ruben Reyes, Benjamin Ruetenik, Nick Sharp, Walter Shikany III, Chris Tunez, Ricky Velez, and Tom Warfel.
Program staff include Tatiana Cardona (Director of GranadaKids!), Peggy Gasior (Director of Heritage Worship), Alfredo Lopez (Spiritual Journey Director), Rachel Currea (Culture and Ministry Effectiveness), Immanuel Ramirez (Technical Director), Juan Tejeda (GranadaKids! Creative Director), and Sabrina Torres (Finance Clerk). The communications work is led by Gaby Viggiani.
First-Time Visitors
Granada welcomes first-time visitors without requiring anything in advance. The address is 950 University Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33134. The office number is 305-444-8435 and the general email is hello@granadachurch.com. Office hours run Monday through Friday from 9 am to 6 pm.
Parking is plentiful. There is a dedicated lot on Bird Road, two additional lots across Bird Road, and grass parking along University Drive and Toledo Street. Reserved VIP parking spots and a personal guide are available for anyone who fills out the visitor form in advance.
What to wear: anything comfortable. About half the congregation dresses in business casual; the other half wears T-shirts and jeans. Children are welcome from infancy, with a nursery, a preschool room, an elementary area, and a youth loft on the Bird Road side of the building. Kids can be pre-registered online for a faster drop-off.
The church is present through the Granada Church app (Apple and Android), email newsletters, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify (where the sermons and a daily devotional are both published), and SoundCloud. Giving can be done online, with separate designations for general giving, the Legacy Fund, and missions.