A Different Kind of Church – synopsis
This enticing 68 minute documentary film revolves around an extraordinary individual named Vito Bitetto, uncovering his supernatural transformation and the ministry he founded and now leads. Growing up in the rat race streets of Brooklyn New York, the cards were stacked against Vito from day one. He chose to surround himself with those who thought that stealing, drug use, fast cars and fine clothes were paramount: Hence, he conformed to the same mindset of the individuals he surrounded himself with.
This inevitably landed him into numerous notorious prisons. Places like New York State Penitentiary, Clinton Dannemora, and Rikers Island became his new home. Vito now found himself sharing prison cells with the most insidious men to ever walk the planet Earth. The extreme darkness and despair he experienced became absolutely unbearable, forcing him to turn to God. He cried out to the lord, asking Him to please help and he’d promise to change.
After Vito’s release, he went right back to his old ways. It was only after his move to Florida where he began holding bible study meetings once a week that he slowly but surely left the criminal lifestyle. Vito began to volunteer at the local jail, preaching in the spiritual dorm. It was there that an inmate asked him if he had a shelter or program for released convicts, and he answered no. Vito asked God if he should get a home and start a program, and God answered him in an audible clear voice stating,” Yes, get a house”.
That night, God woke Vito at four in the morning and lead him to the bible and the book of Isaiah. It explained that it’s mankind’s duty to help the widow and orphan. Vito knew unequivocally that the Lord was speaking to him, and he learned that anyone who walks away from God falls into the category of a widow or an orphan. Through a supernatural vision, Vito was shown that through a simple thrift store a flourishing ministry would emerge.
Amazingly, all this came to be within a three year period of time, selling donated items from the thrift store to raise money to feed the poor, rent homes for shelter and pay bills associated with the ministry. Moreover, a church service takes place every night. Some of the congregation attend simply because they want to and love the ministry, but others only because the court ordered them as a stipulation of probation. Vito states, “These are the ones who resist and the enemy uses to divide and cause chaos. Like many churches, the persecution comes from the inside and out. It’s not easy to head a ministry and sometimes I don’t even want to show up, but I can’t do that. The lord renews my strength every day and I have to be there every night”.
Today, Good Samaritan Ministry has about one hundred members, feeds over two hundred families a week and eight homes that shelter men, women and children. Vito proclaims, “It’s not me that’s doing this, it’s God. I’ve seen remarkable transformations in people. Men and women who were once atheist are now believers, and drug addicts who are now clean and sober. That’s the pay and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The ministry has become like a family to me, and I am honored to be a tool to lead lost souls from the darkness into the light.