Faith Facts

• Venezuelan church planters Pedro and Luisa Andrade relocated to Spain after planting 13 congregations and baptizing 500 people in South America over four decades
• More than 4 million Latin American immigrants now live in Spain, with Venezuelans forming the second-largest group at nearly 600,000 people
• The couple is using Spain’s immigrant communities to reach Spanish-speaking souls for Christ in a new mission field shaped by centuries of reversed migration patterns

As the train was leaving the station in western Spain, Luisa Andrade saw a man in the aisle with a confused look. She stood up.

Using some kind of sixth cultural sense, she picked him out as a Venezuelan, like her. First, she showed the stranger his seat. Then she got acquainted — hopefully to invite him to worship.

She couldn’t help showing kindness or sharing her faith. Luisa, 73, and her husband Pedro, 72, planted churches for four decades in Venezuela. Now they’ve “crossed the pond,” as Spaniards say, to reach people for Christ on a new continent.

And they can spot fellow Latin American immigrants — more than 4 million people now in Spain were born in Latin America — a mile away.

The couple left South America late last year to take their church-planting skills to a new continent. Pedro counted up 500 people he had baptized as he thought back to the places he’d preached. The couple themselves planted 13 congregations in Venezuela and collaborated in other evangelistic efforts there and on the nearby island of Aruba.

Venezuela has experienced political and economic upheaval for more than two decades, including the forcible removal of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. in January 2026. Recently, the nation suffered two powerful earthquakes killing more than 5,500 people.

But the Andrades didn’t leave the South American nation just because of conditions at home, they said.

“When we came here, it was truly from a desire to establish a work,” Pedro explained.

The couple wrapped up their work in Falcón state on the northern coast of Venezuela and began searching for another place to spread the Gospel. The U.S. crossed their mind, or another Latin American nation, or even Mérida, Venezuela, where they had worked before. Then came the chance for a short vacation in Spain to visit relatives.

A Culture They Know

Luisa’s brother has lived about 25 years in Osebe, Galicia, near Santiago de Compostela, the endpoint of the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James, a popular pilgrimage route across northern Spain. Osebe is about 50 miles north of Vigo.

Before the trip, the Andrades learned from their younger son, Aaron — also a preacher in Venezuela — that Rut Morillo, a woman the couple brought to Christ years before in the Venezuelan city of Maracay, was living in Vigo. Pedro baptized her when she was 12.

Luisa messaged Morillo on Facebook. Morillo moved to Galicia 20 years ago and works as an importer of Venezuelan cacao. She had struggled to find a Church of Christ.

Reestablishing contact with Morillo struck an emotional chord with the Andrades. Pedro fell in love with Vigo.

“She was like the trigger for us to come to establish a work,” Pedro said.

The Andrades presented their vision for working in Galicia to the New Hope Church of Christ in Edmond, Oklahoma, which had long supported their work in Venezuela.

Paul Ferrell, the New Hope Mission Team’s liaison for the Andrades, said that the committee had been concerned about Pedro and Luisa.

“We were very behind them being somewhere besides Venezuela because of the hardships there,” Ferrell said.

“They really saw what could be,” said fellow missions team member Alan Phillips.

For Phillips, the Andrades’ longing to connect with Latin American immigrants in Spain made sense.

“It’s more natural, probably, for them to have outreach within the culture they know,” he said.

From Conquistadors to Immigrants

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spaniards crossed the ocean to conquer, extract resources and colonize. In the 19th century, many Spaniards once again left Europe, this time as immigrants in search of work in places such as Cuba and Argentina.

Later the pattern reversed again, with Latin American immigrants seeking economic opportunities in a now thriving Spain.

According to the Spanish government, Latin American immigrants represent 60 percent of the nation’s foreign-born population.

Venezuelans form the second largest group of Latin Americans in Spain, with Colombia providing the biggest population and Ecuador the third largest. Almost 600,000 Venezuelans called Spain home at the start of 2024.

Pedro’s own observations square with the statistics.

“Venezuelans live here, lots of them,” he said, adding Colombians, Peruvians, Guatemalans and others to the list of Latin Americans he’s encountered in Galicia.

Pedro has a plan, one that puts to use the Catholic Church’s parish system that divides the city into zones surrounding a parish church. A map in Pedro’s office highlights an urban core of 30 Vigo parishes.

The Andrades are focusing on the central part of that core. They dream of a congregation in the heart of the city that will serve as a beachhead from which to fan out.

The couple arrived in Vigo in January. The first real estate office they visited showed them a nearby apartment that had just entered the market. It’s tiny, about 215 square feet, but close to the train and bus stations. The Andrades saw the quick, centrally located and newly available rental as providential.

After housing, the Andrades found a space in a commercial building to hold services.

“On Saturday afternoon, nobody’s there. On Sundays, it’s ours alone,” Pedro said.

It was affordable, near the heart of the city, but unfurnished. Pedro saw God at work again.

First Steps … and Seats

The budget was tight.

“We have to buy something, but … we can’t buy anything new,” Pedro told Luisa.

They prayed, then set off on foot for a resale shop run by an evangelical Christian organization. The missionaries bargained for a desk and four unmatched chairs, all the store had that day.

When the delivery truck arrived, the Andrades met another employee, one who had been in Venezuela. They got acquainted. He was able to offer 14 chairs. They were set for worship.

“Why doubt it?” Pedro said. “This is from God.”

Morillo, the woman who decades after Pedro baptized her would lure the couple to Spain, spoke of the influence the Andrades had on her life.

Now living in Redondela, Galicia, about 10 miles northeast of Vigo, Morillo imports Venezuelan cacao. She recalled a request a few years back to use her cacao containers for a smuggling operation.

“I was alone with my daughter at that time,” Morillo said, adding that the payback would have been “very big.”

Her decision about that deal reflected a different one she made long ago.

“The truth is, I didn’t stress out about saying no,” Morillo explained.

Becoming a Christian at an early age, she said, “has saved me from many things … in my process of immigrating.”

“I’ve had a very clean path,” Morillo added. “Not that I don’t make mistakes. I make a lot, a whole lot.”

In Vigo, the Andrades made contact with another Latin American immigrant, Mariano García, a psychoanalyst from Argentina.

García had heard of Churches of Christ back in South America from his uncle, a member. The psychoanalyst went to Catholic schools but never firmly embraced the Christian faith.

During a particularly hard time after moving to Spain, his doubts grew.

“What good is it doing me to believe in God?” he asked himself. “It doesn’t matter — it’s just a lie so I don’t feel alone.”

García started looking for a Church of Christ. The closest was in A Coruña, a city about 100 miles north of Vigo. The preacher told him about the Andrades.

“When I found out that they were here, it was an enormous joy,” García said. “For me it was a gift, a gift from heaven, because literally what I most needed was to meet with Christians.”

After Pedro and García began studying the Bible, García visited his uncle, now living in Alicante, a city all the way across Spain on the Mediterranean coast.

“I got baptized on the beach,” García said.

Convinced that Christians need community, García hopes that Churches of Christ flourish in Galicia.

“Maturity in the faith to me goes hand in hand with a personal relationship, one on one, with God, but that doesn’t exist if it’s not supported by study … with other Christians, by the companionship of other Christians, by sharing the Lord’s Supper with other Christians,” García said. “Your walk is your walk, but on that walk, you can’t do it alone.”

He dreams that the new Vigo church “will not be just any congregation, that it will be a congregation that motivates, pushes, that grows and that makes other congregations grow. And that we’ll know how to use the people God sends us.”

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Faith Facts

• India’s Parliament is advancing a bill that would severely restrict foreign funding for Christian ministries, including hospitals, schools, and churches
• The proposed law targets faith-based organizations providing food, medical care, and education to impoverished communities across India
• Religious freedom advocates are urging lawmakers to reject the legislation amid mounting concerns about persecution of Christians

A sweeping new bill moving through India’s Parliament threatens to shut down thousands of Christian ministries serving the nation’s most vulnerable populations. The legislation would impose severe restrictions on foreign funding for faith-based organizations operating throughout the country.

The proposed law targets a wide range of Christian charitable work, including media outlets, food ministries, schools, clinics, hospitals and churches that serve Christian communities. These organizations have long provided critical services to impoverished Indians who often have nowhere else to turn for help.

Religious freedom advocates are sounding the alarm about the legislation’s potential impact. They are calling on Indian lawmakers to reject the bill, warning that it would devastate humanitarian efforts across the country.

Christian ministries in India have historically relied on support from believers around the world to fund their operations. The new restrictions would cut off this lifeline, forcing many organizations to close their doors. Schools educating children in poverty, clinics treating the sick, and food programs feeding hungry families would all face elimination.

The bill represents the latest challenge facing India’s Christian minority, which comprises approximately 2.3% of the nation’s 1.4 billion people. Faith-based organizations have expressed deep concern about their ability to continue serving communities if the legislation becomes law.

Critics argue the measure unfairly targets religious organizations while allowing secular groups to operate with fewer restrictions. They contend the bill violates fundamental principles of religious freedom and charitable work.

India’s Christian community has long contributed to the nation’s social fabric through extensive humanitarian efforts. The threatened shutdown of these ministries would leave a massive gap in services for millions of Indians who depend on faith-based assistance.

As the bill advances through the legislative process, international observers are watching closely. The outcome will have significant implications for religious liberty and humanitarian work throughout one of the world’s most populous nations.

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Faith Facts

• Oklahoma Christian University President Ken Jones and leadership expert Matt Paden have released a new faith-based leadership book centered on biblical principles from the story of Esther and Mordecai
• “The Core: 8 Principles for Building Strong, Authentic Leadership” focuses on internal character and personal practices rather than external management techniques as the foundation of effective leadership
• The book uniquely combines a leadership fable with practical narrative chapters, offering Christian leaders in both church and marketplace settings a Scripture-based approach to everyday leadership challenges

True leadership isn’t just about managing people or running effective meetings. The most important leadership skills often have nothing to do with our outward interactions with others.

A groundbreaking new book is challenging conventional leadership wisdom by returning to timeless biblical principles. “The Core: 8 Principles for Building Strong, Authentic Leadership” by Matt Paden and Ken Jones offers a distinctly faith-centered approach to a topic that secular culture has tried to divorce from its spiritual roots.

Jones serves as president of Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City. Paden is president of Great Days Leadership and formerly served as vice president at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Together, they’ve crafted a leadership resource that speaks directly to Christians seeking to lead with authenticity and biblical integrity.

The book opens with a compelling leadership fable featuring Clint, a college student interning at a local hospital, and Dr. Bill Jackson, the hospital’s longtime CEO. This narrative approach allows readers to experience leadership lessons through Clint’s eyes, making the principles both relatable and memorable.

The storytelling strategy proves particularly effective as readers witness how Jackson’s leadership directly impacts Clint as both a recipient of that leadership and a student learning to lead himself. This dual perspective reinforces how Christian leadership should simultaneously serve and teach those under our care.

Following the fable, Paden and Jones transition to detailed explanations of their eight Core principles. These aren’t just management tips—they’re foundational truths rooted in Scripture, specifically drawing from the biblical account of Esther and Mordecai.

The authors make a crucial distinction that many secular leadership books miss entirely: they focus on the “Leadership Core,” a set of internal ideas and personal practices that serve as the ultimate driver of a leader’s success or failure. Character comes before competence.

One chapter in particular stands out for its practical wisdom: “Leading with Your Ears.” This powerful reflection on the importance of listening in leadership reminds us that our greatest impact often comes not from what we say, but from the space we create for others to feel genuinely heard and valued.

The authors challenge readers to recognize that a failure to listen isn’t an ear issue—it’s a heart issue. This kind of honest, biblical assessment cuts through the superficial advice found in most secular leadership literature.

While some readers might wish for a mnemonic device or more structured progression to help memorize the Core principles, and perhaps more frequent connections between the fable and the teaching sections, these minor suggestions don’t diminish the book’s overall value.

What makes “The Core” particularly valuable isn’t necessarily that every idea is revolutionary or unprecedented. Rather, it’s the fresh presentation and creative packaging of timeless truths, enhanced by the authors’ compelling storytelling and refreshing vulnerability about their own leadership journeys.

This book is highly recommended for any Christian leader—whether serving in ministry or the marketplace—who wants to view everyday leadership through the lens of faith and Scripture. It’s especially valuable for those who share Paden and Jones’ foundational belief that leadership is fundamentally about “speaking up for others and working for the good of the people.”

In a culture that increasingly demands leaders compromise their values or separate their faith from their professional lives, “The Core” offers a much-needed alternative. It demonstrates that the most effective leadership flows from biblical principles that have guided God’s people for millennia.

“The Core: 8 Principles for Building Strong, Authentic Leadership” by Matt Paden and Ken Jones is published by Forefront Books, 240 pages, $28.

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