El Minuto De Dios

One of the more unusual ministries that First Baptist was involved in was the ministry at El Minuto De Dios in Bogota Columbia. This was a community in Bogota ministered to by Father Garcia-Herreros. Sam Ballesteros and his wife Elizabeth along with their sons Sam and Matthew were sent as missionaries to this community and recognized as such by the American Baptist Churches. Financial and spiritual support came mostly from FBCCV. Sam and Elizabeth had been members of the church for some time. I believe that Elizabeth actually grew up in the church -- and she has been a part of the church well after the 70's. In fact she was my secretary through much of the 80's. I first met Sam at a youth directors conference at 1000 Pines (an ABC camp in the San Bernardino Mountains) in 1959. I was working with youth of Bellflower First Baptist and Sam was youth pastor of FBCCV. Sam's father had been the long time pastor of the First Baptist Church of Tijuana. Sam's son, Samuel, was a member of FBCCV until the early 2000's when he and his wife moved to Texas.

As the ministry progressed, the church also sent Sally Trejo and John Gudino. Dale and Beverly Hunter were also a part of this ministry. Of course what made it so unusual was that these were American Baptists ministering in a Catholic parish in South America. Father Garcia-Herreros was a leading figure in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in South America. So, Sam and his team were also active in helping to facilitate the leadership within this renewal movement. This was another aspect of the world-wide reach of FBCCV during these exciting days of renewal.