Mi Historia (My Story)

By Lázaro Riesgo

I grew up in a house divided. My father left home when I was three. My mother is a Christian and a member of First Free Will Baptist Church in Pinar del Río City, Cuba, since 1979.

During my childhood, my mother was faithful to educate me in the Lord, and I accepted Christ at the age of nine during an evangelistic campaign. As a 17-year-old, I rededicated my life to Him and was baptized at First FWB Church in 1995. At that time, I began systematic Bible study and started to preach in several home churches.

In 1996, I met Ariadna Iglesias. She grew up in a non-Christian home. Her father was a volleyball trainer and her mother a medical doctor. Both showed Ariadna a good family model, but not faith in Christ. She accepted Jesus as Savior at 15. Three years later, at age 18, Dr. David Arteaga, her mother’s colleague, began pastoring a new home church in her neighborhood. He invited Ariadna to visit the church (today Second FWB Church in Pinar del Río City) and start a personal relationship with Christ. In that church, she found the way to get involved in serving others and helping in many ways.

We felt a mutual attraction and, at the same time, we shared a deep passion for Christ. We decided to spend the rest of our lives serving God together. We married in January 1998.

Ariadna continued her medical studies, and in September of that year, I decided to go to Los Cedros del Líbano FWB Seminary in Pinar del Río. I made this decision under the call of the Holy Spirit and the influence of several men and women who were models for my life. Those influences fit in three categories:

1. Family: Obdulia Pena, my mother’s aunt, attended First FWB Church in Hialeah, Florida. She shared the Good News with my mother and then put the desire into my heart to read the Bible, pray, and be a minister.

2. Cuban pastors: Ramón and Erundina Giniebra; Antonio and Minerva Hechevarría; Zacarías Hernandez, who prayed for me since I was a child; Israel and Barbara Suárez; and, finally, Rolando and Keila Delgado who introduced me to the seminary and motivated me to attend.

3. Missionaries from International Missions: Steve and Judy Lytle; Stan and Brenda Bunch, who invested in teaching youth through the summer camps; and Ronald and Linda Callaway who taught when I was a student at the seminary. Ariadna and I received from all these families the first model for the Missio Dei (mission of God).

As a couple, we faced many challenges. One was attending seminary with limited economic resources. We spent almost five years under difficult conditions from Monday to Friday. During the weekends, I went to several places for ministry with Ariadna. She served as a medical doctor in the community while we shared the gospel together.

After finishing my theological studies (2003), another challenge was to preach and teach the gospel in a relevant and creative way. Most of the time, we taught biblical principles in houses, garages, and other facilities. We moved ten times in a period of seven years (2003 to 2010), serving at La Conchita Church and working as national youth directors for the Cuban FWB Convention.

In 2007, Steve Lytle and Stan Bunch visited Cuba and motivated the Cuban church to be part of God’s work around the world. Ariadna and I started to pray more often for God’s will for our lives. In 2008, we decided to go to another country to serve Him. Finally, God allowed us to go to Panama in June 2011.

In partnership with International Missions and the Free Will Baptist Panamanian Association, we were to work with the Lytles and help train students at the Chame Bible Institute through biblical teaching and a Christian lifestyle. Quickly, Ariadna and I became involved, and have continued until the present both in teaching and the development of a Christian educational vision for the process of institute transition to national workers.

Jesus is the reason for what we do. We have a commitment to Him to extend the Kingdom, not only in Cuba and Panama, but also in the world. Our passion is to share all that we received from others in fulfillment of the Word of God: “And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Educational Specialist for Hispanic Ministries

During the April 2014 board meeting, the International Missions Board approved the Educational Specialist for Hispanic Ministries position to meet the growing need for training Hispanics for ministry, particularly where International Missions no longer has resident missionaries.

During the same meeting, Lázaro and Ariadna were approved as short-term interns, serving in the new position.Goals for the couple’s ministry are to:

— Contribute to leadership training programs in each Spanish-speaking country, where feasible.

— Initiate a specialized program in the area of cross-cultural missions.

— Establish an online Spanish training program.

— Provide training workshops and courses in Spanish where needed.

— Involve Spanish-speaking churches in the U.S. in global outreach.

— Secure funding for partnership in Panama, Cuba, and Côte d’Ivoire.

— Coordinate the Spanish language division of Global Training Resources.