Gonzalo Rodriquez was working in a New Orleans store in 1980 when he felt the call of God to enter the gospel ministry.
Note: Leading up to the annual Week of Prayer for State Missions and
the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering (September 18-25), the
Baptist Message will present reports on ongoing missions work across
Louisiana. Information and photographs for the articles have been
provided by the Louisiana Baptist Women’s Missions and Ministry
Division.
Gonzalo Rodriquez was working in a New Orleans store
in 1980 when he felt the call of God to enter the gospel ministry.
The Honduras native did not hesitate, immediately launching a small Bible study group of five people.
“It was exciting because I don’t have any experience
in the ministry,” recalls Rodriquez, who accepted Christ as an
18-year-old studying years earlier in Mexico. “But I said, ‘God if you
call me, I’m ready to work.’
“The God who called me I knew was the God who was
going to be able to help me in this ministry,” he adds. “And I love the
people. That’s the most important thing. I love the people, and I’m so
happy when I see people who really change their lives through Jesus
Christ.”
Since that time, the obedient response of Rodriquez
has made an impact for Christ in the hispanic community in New Orleans
– and beyond.
Indeed, Rodriquez now is pastor of the 450-member
Good Shepherd Hispanic Baptist Church in Metairie. And as the Louisiana
Baptist congregation prepares to celebrate its 25th year this fall, it
already has sent out seven pastors to work throughout Louisiana.
“My dream is to help those pastors and not just
those pastors but all the pastors we can help in the ministry,”
Rodriquez says. “Because if you help one pastor, you help a whole
congregation.”
In a very real sense, helping others across
Louisiana is an important form of payback for Rodriquez and Good
Shepherd Hispanic members.
Early on, the church had outgrown its facilities and were looking for a building.
Rodriquez found one in Metairie. The location and
facility were just right, but the price was too high – $180,000.
Rodriquez began to pray – and then, he called the
Louisiana Baptist Convention offices. A team of leaders visited the
Metairie site and quickly announced they would help Good Shepherd
Hispanic acquire it.
Thus, with a grant from the Georgia Barnette State
Missions Offering – used to fund a host of missions endeavors across
the state each year – Rodriquez and fellow church members had a new
facility.
“God has been helping us through this building
because so many people are coming in,” the Louisiana Baptist pastor
notes. “We paid the whole building the first time and we (built)
another building.
“Thanks to the Georgia Barnette offering, this
church is growing. And the most important thing about Georgia Barnette
is that when they help this church, you don’t have any idea how many
other churches they will be helping.”
The gift also has proven valuable to Good Shepherd
Hispanic as it reaches out to others in the New Orleans area as well,
Rodriquez says.
He especially talks about how the church is making
inroads at helping persons in troubled, sometimes bankrupt marriages.
Men will come to Rodriquez seeking help, he notes. “And I say (to
them): ‘Well, what you need is Jesus. Let me witness. Let me help you.
Jesus is the one who can save your life and make a difference in your
marriage.’”
The husbands come as macho men from Central America,
but soon, they are in tears and confessing their need of Christ,
Rodriquez says.
“When you see that man transformed by the blood of
Jesus and you see that man go back to his wife, asking forgiveness, you
say, what – it’s a miracle,” Rodriquez says. “And then, you see the
couple coming to the church, both accepting the Lord and being
baptized.
“Wow, that’s a miracle. …
(And) I’m excited, because when you see a life
transformed, you say, Jesus is the same as before and today and
forever. He’s the same.
“He’s (still) changing lives today.”
All in all, God has been faithful to the Hispanic congregation through the years, Rodriquez says.
“He is at work in saving lives and reaching the
Hispanic people that come here from their countries, looking for a
better life,” he says. “(And) We know that life is only obtainable with
God in their hearts.”
Currently, Good Shepherd Hispanic has grown to the
point that it holds two morning worship services each Sunday. Now,
Rodriquez and the church are praying about where God wants them to go
from there.
But then, they already are going as well – to
Honduras and Guatelmala and elsewhere. The church also has a member in
Bolivia, working in the country because she says she feels called to
reach out to Hispanics there.
That sort of missions work is payback as well for
Rodriquez, who relates how God has impressed him with a biblical truth.
“God really spoke to me through the Word – (that) if
God blesses your ministry, it’s for one reason. You’re going to be a
blessing to other people, …” he says.
“And that’s the thing – when you bless other people, God’s going to bless you more.
“That’s what I really learned, and I made a
commitment to work to start missions, to open more missions. … We
need to invest in missions, not just in Louisiana but around the world.”
Good Shepherd Hispanic Baptist Church currently has
plans for missions efforts in a number of Central American countries,
Rodriquez says.
“We are looking not just in the United States but
around the world, because we see so many needs around the world,” he
says.
“We need to be a part of what God is doing and we want to be a part of that ministry of what God is doing.”