Dynamic duo brings hope to Hispanics
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, December 2, 2003
SAN MATEO, Calif. – In 1965, a 13-year-old Colombian boy who spoke no English arrived in San Francisco. Caught in a crossfire between rebel soldiers, government troops, paramilitary units and drug lords, John Bueno had seen blood in the streets since he was old enough to remember. Etched in his memory were images of his mother stealing from a dog’s dish to feed her children.
John Bueno, left, translates for Adolfo Moreno. Benefactors paid Bueno’s passage because they believed he was worth saving. But he wasn’t so sure about that. Struggling with a new language, he fell hopelessly behind in school and dropped out. He bounced from job to job until he was old enough to drive a truck for hire. But paychecks failed to meet his need. Driven by years of resentment, he drifted through truck-stop altercations, alcohol, wrecked relationships, accelerating anger and, finally, unemployment.
Then he met Jesus.
At First Presbyterian Church in San Mateo, Calif., the feisty refugee was given shelter, food, tough love and opportunities to grow, until the seed that had been planted in his life began to blossom. He landed a good job, paid his debts, launched what became known as the Mid-Peninsula Hispanic Ministry, and began to save money for a future that he believed the Lord would some day reveal.
Back to the future
Bueno discovered his future in the very place that he had left behind. “God told me to provide a refuge, a place to train Christian leaders in Colombia,” he said. So he cashed in his retirement plan, sold his car and purchased several acres in a rural area outside Bogota.
With the help of the Rev. Robert Pitman and Knox Fellowship, a California-based Presbyterian ministry that trains churches in evangelism, Bueno poured his life savings and sweat equity into “The Prayer Center.” He dug a lake and stocked it with fish, thatched roofs for Bible study pavilions, and built dormitories to shelter visiting pastors and lay leaders. “I wanted this to be a peaceful place where Colombian Christians can pray, study God’s word, and learn how to plant new churches” he said.
Peace does not come easily in Colombia. While Bueno was preaching in a nearby village, rebel soldiers swarmed into The Prayer Center. They took his wife Gina hostage and told him that if he didn’t come up with $5,000, they would kill her.
Shortly thereafter, paramilitary troops overran the encampment, flushing out the rebels and slaughtering them in the streets. Gina’s captor forced the Buenos to drive him through the paramilitary blockade. When they came to a bridge over a deep ravine, the rebel leaped from their car and disappeared into the abyss below.
“Violence is a way of life here,” Bueno says. “One day, rebels or the drug lords with whom they are often associated take over the village. Another day, government troops or the paramilitary come. Then the rebels return. Each invasion brings death to our people.”
“Only the gospel will save us,” Bueno says. “Jesus gives us peace in our hearts. We’re training leaders to share good news,” says this man who has learned to treasure the meaning of his name. “Bueno” in Spanish means good, a word that hardly appeared in his vocabulary before Christ entered his life.
Matching ministries
Back in the states, San Mateo Presbyterians were taking note of their area’s burgeoning Spanish-speaking population. The Mid Peninsula Hispanic Ministry that Bueno had founded was flourishing even in his absence, and it caught the eye of a visitor named Adolfo Moreno.
Moreno, a fiery preacher from Bogota who had been visiting family and friends in the Bay area, heard of the Mid-Peninsula Hispanic Ministry and decided to check it out. There, he met the Buenos, who had returned from Colombia badly shaken by their experience with the rebels.
Moreno was fascinated upon learning of The Prayer Center ministry. In Bogota, he had introduced hundreds of Colombians to Jesus Christ. He started a church, guided its growth to 500 members, passed it on to lay leaders, and then started another that now claims 150 members, while establishing a Christian school in his home in the meantime. The ministries that he launched were booming, but he could not manage them by himself. He needed trained leaders to keep them going.
Moreno saw in the Buenos’ Colombian Prayer Center a ready solution to his problem. Here, Christian converts could be trained to lead fledgling congregations while Moreno, the evangelist, moved on to establish new churches. It was a partnership made in heaven.
The duo shared its vision with the leaders of Knox Fellowship, from whom they received encouragement, prayer and financial support. They returned to Colombia, bolstered by teams of Knox volunteers, to establish preaching missions, evangelistic rallies and leadership training. Hundreds of Colombians responded, and the good news spread from village to village.
Death threats
But Christians were not the only Colombians to notice this flurry of evangelistic activity. Rebel leaders watched as Bueno and Moreno moved from village to village. Rumors were spread that they might be spies from the CIA. Death threats surfaced. Moreno received a note warning him that if he did not leave the county, he and his family would be killed. Bueno sent Gina back to the states while he organized local Christians to keep The Prayer Center going in his absence.
Back in San Mateo, the two Colombians huddled in prayer, inviting their friend and mentor Bob Pitman to complete the circle. They cried out to God, asking how the ministry to which they had been called might continue, and the word they received was “keep moving.”
Bueno digs lake at The Prayer Center.“We felt that we would be [relatively] safe if we don’t stay in one village more than two or three weeks,” Moreno says. That might seem like a short time, but Colombians are so hungry for the gospel that it takes root very quickly. Village house churches spring to life wherever the two evangelists appear. Their ministry looks a lot like the Book of Acts, when Paul and the apostles traveled from place to place, leaving new churches in their path.
Christians who were trained at The Prayer Center teach new converts about leadership. Bueno believes that by making several visits each year, he can equip these leaders with the support they need to continue their ministry.
Spotlighting Hispanic ministries
Meanwhile, in the United States, the potential for Hispanic ministries is booming. Latino populations are burgeoning in North America, and many Presbyterian churches are strategically located to serve them. Bueno believes his success in developing San Mateo’s Hispanic ministry shows that, with a little help from those who understand the culture, Presbyterian congregations can effectively minister to this cross-cultural population.
Presbyterians in the United States are quickly learning of Bueno and Moreno’s gifts. Bueno has spoken twice at the popular Mount Herman Conference Center in California and, together, they enthralled a Presbyterian Coalition audience in Portland this October. Shared ministries and Colombian close calls have bonded them like brothers. That became obvious at the Portland gathering when Moreno preached in Spanish and Bueno interpreted not only Moreno’s words, but even his most intricate gestures almost spontaneously. The two became one, centered in the Word of God, which they proclaimed with passion.
The Knox Fellowship is making Bueno and Moreno available to Presbyterian churches as consultants in developing Hispanic ministries. Their plan is to assist Presbyterian Church (USA) churches and presbyteries in designing ministries that are appropriate to their communities, and to channel any contributions that they receive from those whom they have helped back into their evangelism/training ministry in Colombia. It’s a great two-for-one deal, Bueno says. “Presbyterians in this country can learn how to meet a need on their own doorstep while helping to spread the gospel in Colombia as well.”
Presbyterian Church (USA) presbyteries and churches can make contact with the Hispanic duo through Knox Fellowship, 800 Airport Blvd., Suite 304, Burlingame, Calif., 94010 (e-mail address: 6248/knoxfellow@aol.com).