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Editor’s note: During Hispanic Heritage Month, the IMB is highlighting the contribution of Hispanics to global missions and celebrating the growing number of Hispanic churches committed to reaching the nations. Resources about Hispanic church missions efforts are available through the IMB.
“We did not go to work. We went to see God at work, and praise God that He used us beyond what we could do for His glory,” Annel Robayna said.
Robayna, who serves as IMB’s Hispanic church mobilization strategist, recently traveled with church leaders and members of Hispanic churches in the U.S. to serve alongside Hispanic missionaries Adam and Janene Rios. The Rioses serve with the IMB in Southeast Asia.
During their two-week trip, 130 people heard the gospel, and 57 decided to follow Jesus.
In the Hispanic community, most people won’t sign up for a volunteer trip simply because they see it listed on a website, Robayna said. Personal connection is what motivates people to serve.
Robayna connected over a phone call with one of the volunteers on the trip to Southeast Asia. He met two other volunteers at an event in Texas and already had a relationship with another.
The perspective Robayna seeks to instill in churches and church members is a mindset of “What can I do?” “What can I bring to the table?”
He tells leaders and church members they can bring their “yes” to the table and then “be ready to see God at work.”
Stories that change lives
“Let me tell you about a story that changed my life, and it’s changing other people’s lives too.”
The Rioses, national pastors and other Spanish-speaking missionaries began conversations with this invitation, and the volunteers followed suit. After hearing the story, listeners were given the chance to respond.
In addition to national believers who translated, several missionaries from Spanish-speaking countries translated directly from Spanish to the local language for the volunteers who only spoke Spanish.
An older Muslim man with a military background was one of the 57 people who made decisions of faith.
He had trouble understanding God’s forgiveness because of his military background. He killed people under the orders of his superiors. Robayna shared about the forgiveness Jesus gives, no matter someone’s history.
After Robayna finished sharing, the older man rose from his chair and, with some effort, walked across the room and grabbed Robayna’s hand in a posture of respect. As tears flowed, Robayna and Southeast Asian believers prayed for him. His daughter-in-law also decided to commit her life to Christ.
The trip to Southeast Asia was the first mission trip where Andrea, from Louisiana, didn’t know the language and where she shared the gospel with mainly adults, many much older.
At one point on the trip, a flood of anxiety and fear poured over her, and negative thoughts swarmed in her mind. “Why would older and wiser people struggling with difficult things want to listen to me share the gospel?”
As she pondered that thought, Andrea prayed for the Lord to use her according to His will. She soon realized God can use even the smallest things in life for His plan. It didn’t matter how old she was to tell people what God did in her life and how He changed her.
“There’s no age limit to go out and share the gospel,” Andrea said. “All those people needed was for someone to come and plant a mustard seed, and God will handle the rest.”
God used her testimony to lead someone to place their hope in Christ. Andrea said the Lord empowered her to share the gospel in ways she never could have without Him.
From relationships to partnerships
Every time Robayna takes a volunteer team to places where IMB missionaries are working, the hope is for the volunteers to discover the needs, explore opportunities for partnership, learn about the IMB team’s strategy and return to mobilize their churches to take trips individually.
The next step is partnerships. Robayna is there to help, but the idea is for them to work directly with the IMB missionaries once the churches have a connection. A relationship with a missionary overseas has the potential to improve the partnership. Robayna explained if there isn’t a relationship, they will look elsewhere.
One woman on the trip had no previous connection to the IMB. She’d been praying about how to get involved in missions. After the trip, the Lord confirmed He wanted her to return to Southeast Asia to serve. She’s making plans to return to serve with the Rios family.
Carlos, a pastor and leader among Louisiana Baptists, said he’s been on trips to the country before, but this trip was the most productive, largely because of the missionary presence. His church had been searching for missionaries to partner with, and after meeting Adam and Janene, they decided this was the partnership they’d been waiting for.
A leader from Texas was discipled by the Rioses and will return this fall on a volunteer trip.
Robayna said, in general, ethnic churches focus on ministering to their ethnic groups. His prayer is for more churches to catch the vision for international missions, go beyond cultural preferences, and be open to taking the gospel to places where they don’t speak the language or know the culture.
Some names have been changed for security.
