#40: Reaching Puerto Rico with the Gospel

Kevin Smith:
We are blessed today to have Pastor Jorge Santiago with us from One Church Comerío. If you don’t recognize the name of that city, it is a city on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico.

Jorge Santiago:
Yes, sir.

Kevin Smith:
Home of sunshine and the beautiful ocean. And we are so happy to have him with us. If you are a Southern Baptist and you’re listening, Puerto Rico is one of our Send cities and one of our Send areas where we focus on church planting and church revitalization. Puerto Rico, and much of the Caribbean is part of the ministry assignment of our North American Mission Board (NAMB). And we are so, so thankful to have him here to be able to share with us. Pastor, how are you feeling today?

Jorge Santiago:
I’m feeling great. Fantastic. Thank you Kevin, for having me here.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. And for our listeners, he is right now on assignment and visiting some of the states in the U.S. And so, we’re talking to him from beautiful South Carolina and we count it a joy to have you on the podcast. One way we like to start, many of our podcasts is, peculiar people are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, who’ve been changed by him. So we’d like to ask brothers and sisters to tell us how you became a follower of Jesus Christ and briefly give us a little bit of your testimony.

Jorge Santiago:
Well, I have to say that we serve a great God that is full of mercy and kindness and grace. I remember me living a crazy life. I was a drug addict myself when I was living in Puerto Rico and I wasted all my teenage life, just doing drugs and doing wrong things. My family sent me to live with a cousin in Washington, D.C., and I kept doing the same thing. But, one day I got in big trouble. I got in really big trouble in the city of Washington, D.C. And the Lord gave me a new opportunity. He saved me in 2012. But not only that, but the Lord also gave me a beautiful wife and a beautiful family.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. From Washington D.C., how did you experience a call to ministry? And then, how did you get to Puerto Rico?

Jorge Santiago:
I’m originally from Comerío, Puerto Rico. I was born and raised there. I remember, I used to go to Puerto Rico to visit my family, but just to hang out, and spend some vacation time with the family. But then, when Jesus saved me, I started going back with my wife and I started seeing the people of my community differently from other times. I started noticing their real needs, a spiritual need of salvation for them. And thus, the Lord used that to start putting in my heart the desire to go back and to share the gospel with people because we believe, and I strongly believe, that the gospel is the only way of salvation. It’s the only solution for the entire world.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. Well, tell us about the ministry of the church there. How long have you served there? And give us a little background on the congregation.

Jorge Santiago:
Absolutely. The Lord called me in 2014. So, immediately I moved with a pastor from my home church in Groveton, Alexandria, Virginia. That is in Virginia, my home church. And we immediately moved to Puerto Rico. We did a mission trip in August 2014 and we came back. We went there for a week. We came back again and then we went back the same year, in October 2014. We were seeking God in Comerío, looking where God was at work. That was very important for us. So, we started working with the communities of Comerío and we have been working with them since 2014. Not until 2017 that the North American Mission Board came on board and help us through their support. So, we could move to Puerto Rico, Comerío, and start working in church planting. That happened in 2017.

Kevin Smith:
Wonderful. Comerío is in the middle of the island. If you are listening and have any familiarity with the island, many people know of San Juan. San Juan is in the northern part of the island. Comerío is in the middle of the island. And then, we have a good amount of Baptist churches also that we cooperate with that would be in the Southern part of the island. I was there and I was visiting with your state convention leader, Brother Félix Cubero, and also finding out about some of the things with the Send Relief Center during Christmas time in 2019. About a week or two after I left … now, mind you, the island has always been recovering from various hurricanes. But, about maybe a week after I left, there was a series of earthquakes. And so, I’m just wondering one, did any of those things affect you in the middle of the island? And two, if they were anchored or centered in the Southern part of the island, how are Christians and congregations down that way doing?

Jorge Santiago:
Just for your information, One Church Comerío, is the first Southern Baptist church ever in Comerío. And now, we are moving up in the mountains because we have other cities as well, like Naranjito, Barranquitas, and Corozal. We don’t have any Southern Baptist churches present in those cities. And we would love to start working with those cities and take the gospel, the real gospel, the only one, to those cities. And, as you were mentioning about the whole thing that we have been going through in Puerto Rico, I was sharing with some brothers and sisters on Sunday, and we call it … we say that we are doing a Netflix series. We started with Season One which was hurricane Irma. And then we moved to Season Two, hurricane Maria. And then, we moved to Season Three, the earthquakes. And then, we moved to Season Four, COVID-19 and we are in the expectation of what Season Five is going to bring.

Jorge Santiago:
But I have to say something, Brother Kevin, and to all those that are listening to this podcast, that even in the midst of destruction, necessity, and difficulties, God moved in a mighty way. And we have experienced that through these difficult times also, God brings people to him and calls people’s attention to him. So for us, when we see times like this one, we just take advantage of that. And we go and share the gospel with people. We love the people and we help the people. But, we also go and share the gospel with them because, One Church Comerío was born out of necessity from hurricane Maria.

Jorge Santiago:
One Church Comerío, was in leading assist by hurricane Maria. But then, we just started loving the people, helping the people, sharing the gospel with people. And then everything was there. We saw how God had started raising up his church out of all these. That has been our experience. And we take every opportunity to share the gospel with people. When the earthquake happened in Puerto Rico, most of the entire island was without power and water and Seaford Church from Delaware donated a generator for our church, a year before that. And because of that, we were able to continue operating for an entire weekend. Out of all the struggles from the earthquake, we came up with a Vacation Bible School.

Jorge Santiago:
When everybody had no power and no water, One Church Comerío was open, serving the community. But not only serving the community, we were open, sharing the gospel with the kids and sharing the gospel with their parents. We had a lot of people coming into our church to shower because we built showers in our church, for that reason. So now, the people of Comerío, when something happens, they don’t need to ask and they don’t need to know because they know that One Church Comerío will be open to serve them. And for us, it’s a great opportunity to share the gospel with them.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. Is the Send Relief Center located in Comerío?

Jorge Santiago:
It’s not, it’s close by. It’s not located in Comerío. It’s close by. But we have worked with Send Relief several times, and we have done more than 50 houses in Comerío, putting new roofs on and also doing entire houses as well. And we are still working in recovery for Comerío, after hurricane Maria.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. If you’re listening and you are not Southern Baptist, Send Relief is a way that many Baptist churches cooperate together to do ‘love your neighbor’ type ministries and compassion and mercy ministries in areas of need. This also is our disaster relief where we seek to respond to things like natural disasters and refugee situations around the world. We use Send Relief nationally and internationally to partner together. And so, we are always thankful for the things that we’re able to do together. One of my good friends, brother Tom Stolle, our associate executive director, asked me to ask you about your feelings about cooperation. Brother Tom helps us promote the Cooperative Program. And he said, “Ask that brother about the Cooperative Program, and how cooperating together enhances our ability to do ministry together.”

Jorge Santiago:
Absolutely. Here’s what happens, for those that are listening to us right now, this is a life experience, what they’re going to hear now. Because of the Cooperative Program, we were able to dedicate full time to the ministry in Comerío. And also, we were able to have the resources and the things that we need to continue sharing the gospel to plant a church first and then continue sharing the gospel in Comerío. For those who give to the Cooperative Program, I just want to say, thank you from the bottom of my heart. My family, and our church, are very grateful and very thankful for the support through the Cooperative Program. And I have to say that, this really worked. When they are part of the Cooperative Program, they are not just part of something small, or just giving money.

Jorge Santiago:
They are coming alongside us, pastors like me, that don’t have the resources for us to continue sharing the gospel and expanding the kingdom of God here, in Puerto Rico, in the city that God calls us to do. We are so grateful. Our church believes so strongly in the Cooperative Program that we are now in 12% giving. And we are a small church. It’s not about how much money we give, but I think the intention behind it, and we have experienced that. And because we have experienced that, we have committed to raising 1% every year to the Cooperative Program. So, we started with 10% in that, and now we are going to 12% this year.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. As a pastor, I have found it very helpful to use percentage giving of our un-designated receipts as a missions giving in our cooperation together. It’s also has been helpful to move up year by year, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. My congregation, now we give 11%. And so, your 12% is very encouraging. And we thank God for that together. We certainly believe that locally, nationally, and globally, we can do much more together than any of us could do individually. Let me ask you another question. Some travelers are used to, and a little bit familiar with San Juan, but that’s a tourist place. Tell us a little bit about the people and the kind of things that are happening in Comerío and what the town or the city is like. Is it a town or city, or how do you refer to it?

Jorge Santiago:
It’s okay, “town” or “city” works for me. Comerío itself, it’s a small town and we have … The population of Comerío is 20,000 people, approximately. The people in Comerío are very warm and very welcoming people. Comerío is located right in the center of the island of Puerto Rico surrounded by mountains and the streets and roads are very curvey. But it’s a lot of green and a lot of vegetation around us. The church, One Church Comerío, we are a baby church. We just celebrated our third-anniversary last week. So, we are grateful and we see the great things that God is doing in our church, and also in us and through our church as well. Right now, I’m working on membership classes for the church and teaching other things as well.

Jorge Santiago:
And we have a church now, I feel that is starting to get committed to the church, and to the community. We see how they are growing spiritually. We see God doing a great transformation in their lives, and we see the gospel making its way into their hearts. And it’s just beautiful for us to experience that and to see that people are not just coming to Jesus, but see the change of the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit working in their lives. It’s just really amazing.

Kevin Smith:
Yes. Wonderful. We were in San Juan, my daughter, and brother, and some of them actually went up into the mountains to visit one of those rope course places near one of the rain forests or something. And you can do the zip lines and all the courses. But, they just spoke about number one, how beautiful it was. They also spoke about how winding the road was to get up to where they were attempting to go. So, wonderful. Well, would you share a story of … three years is a wonderful time. I loved planting a church and I loved seeing new believers in baptisms. Would you share one story of someone that the Lord has used your congregation to reach? Would you share one testimony with us?

Jorge Santiago:
Absolutely. Here is the thing. There is a young guy. His name is Gabrielle. And I remember about three years ago, he came to the church. He was having a really rough time with his partner and he was seeking help. And he was seeking counsel as well. And I remember sitting with him and talking to him and I was listening to all the things that he was doing. But the only thing that I was able to identify all the time was the need for Jesus in his life. I was all the time, every time that he was giving me a fact from his life, the Holy Spirit was pointing me to say, “He needs Jesus, he needs Jesus, he needs Jesus. Jesus is the answer.” And I remember I opened the Scripture and I went through John 3:16 and I gave the Bible to him, to Gabrielle, and I said, “Read it.” He read it.

Jorge Santiago:
Then I started asking questions. I said, “What do you think now about your problem, your issue, and how that relates to what you just read in the Scripture?” He started crying and he said, “I need salvation. I need forgiveness.” That day he was saved and I was there guiding him. He started coming to church and then he brought his partner with him and she was saved too. She brought her two kids. And then, she brought her mom as well. And her mom brought her daughter and her other daughter.

Jorge Santiago:
For me to see all these is just amazing. And not only that, they bring in people and share their faith with others, but Gabrielle and Maria, they were living together and not married. I started working in their life and I remember one day they came to me and they say, “Pastor, we want to face our life. We need to marry because the way we’re living now is not right before God.” That was the first wedding that I did. It’s just amazing to see what the gospel can do and the word of God can do when we are obedient to the Lord. And we decide to go, to give, and to share the gospel with others as well.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. What a beautiful testimony. Well, Puerto Rico is certainly part of the United States, but out of our Send cities and out of all the places we minister, there are particular challenges and particular contexts. So, I was wondering as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, spiritually, what are some of the particular challenges that you find in the area in which you are ministering?

Kevin Smith:
For example, where I am in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States, there’s certainly skepticism. There’s outright atheism. And then, there’re also people who are skeptical about Christianity, not because of necessarily the claims of the gospel, but what they’ve seen among Christians. Romans 2:24 says that sometimes the name of God can be blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the inconsistency and the hypocrisy of God’s people. So, our Christian image in parts of the country, and also some of the things I mentioned earlier, some of those are challenges we have. And certainly, the exclusivity of the gospel, the exclusivity of Christ is always a challenge. What are some of the spiritual challenges that you encounter as you seek to minister in your particular context?

Jorge Santiago:
Puerto Rico in fact, it’s a very Catholic traditional island and most of the people that you talk to and you ask them if they believe in Jesus and they will tell you, yes. And, if you start digging into more information about their relationship with Jesus, you will start noticing that they don’t know the Lord yet. That is a big, big problem for us because they are living in a lie. They are living in a lie that they think that there is a God, loving and graceful God up there. But, they don’t see God as a judge. They all believe that they will go to heaven. That’s what has been one of our biggest challenges, bringing people from their own mentality, from their own tradition, and their own godly way to see things around them, into their reality.

Jorge Santiago:
But, we have people in our church that they’ve been in different backgrounds like Catholicism. I baptized one lady. She came to witness Gabrielle’s … Okay, here is the thing. I’m talking about Gabrielle’s sister. She came to witness his baptism and from that day the gospel touched her heart and she started coming to our church. A year after she was baptized by me, she is a member of our church as well. But in Puerto Rico, the people seem to be … in Comerío, the people seem to be very religious. And you say, “God bless you.” And they will tell you, “Amen.” And also, people living a different life. As you were sharing about the scripture in Romans, that’s one of the things that we also see. It’s really sad to see people claiming to be Christian and then living a crazy life. It just undermines the gospel and it creates a problem among the others that are unbelievers.

Kevin Smith:
Yeah. Actually, one of the things, I moved from the South having pastored in Tennessee and Kentucky to the mid-Atlantic, the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. And when you leave the south, there’s not the veneer of a nominal or cultural Christianity. One of the things about nominal Christianity, as you mentioned is, sometimes it is really challenging to get to the core of the gospel. Because people have these superficial understandings of a relationship with God. As a matter of fact, I was just reading in Hosea eight and Hosea five, God is chastising the ten Northern tribes for their idolatry and their unfaithfulness. And they’re saying back to Hosea, “We know the Lord. We know the Lord.” And God is saying, “No, you don’t know me. No, you don’t know me. That’s why I’m sending this prophet.” You, you are worshiping idols and pretending that you have a relationship with the Lord.

Kevin Smith:
And so, it’s interesting to find that some of the same challenges to the gospel are the same wherever you are, whether you’re in a mainland context or Caribbean context, whether you’re in an English context or a Spanish context. Is all your ministry there in Spanish?

Jorge Santiago:
Yes. I found something very peculiar in all these situations, Kevin. And it’s that, as people we are … I would not speak for everybody, but from my experience, we are living in a time when the people are not reading the Bible. They are not spending time with the Lord. They are not studying the Bible. They don’t want to read the Bible and that’s when we get all these issues and all these wrongs from Christianity. It’s because people are not reading the Bible. It is very sad. That is the reality. So, we emphasize a lot on Bible reading and Bible studying, and reading all the books in our church. Actually, about two years ago, a lady told me that she was going to leave One Church Comerío, because we study the Bible a lot.

Jorge Santiago:
So, I took that as a compliment. It was really sad because she was not getting the gospel in there and she was not getting the reality of what it means to have a relationship with the Lord. And she was like, “Well, I don’t feel nothing here. I don’t see nothing happening. So, the Holy Spirit must not be in this church.” She was leaving us because we were reading a lot and studying the Bible a lot.

Jorge Santiago:
That’s the common theme that I see in Puerto Rico. People have the wrong mentality about Jesus, about God and about hell and about all these spiritual reality and it’s because churches are not teaching the Bible. Churches are not teaching the Bible. And I think, it’s so simple. We all need to go back and train the church and start teaching the Bible because this is the only thing that will save them from hell. And I also found that even inside Christian churches, there are many people that are not saved. That’s even dangerous because they’re living in a lie. They’re living in a lie and they don’t believe. They don’t know the truth. So, we have to go back and start teaching the Bible again.

Kevin Smith:
Amen. Well, Pastor Jorge Santiago, One Church Comerío, thank you so much for being on ‘Peculiar People.’ I want to end on that word you shared. We are peculiar people because we have been called from darkness into the marvelous light and the Psalm writer in Psalm 119 verse 106, said, “Your word is a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my path.” And as you said, sadly, many people who would call themselves Christians are not spending sufficient time in the word of God and having their thoughts and their words, and their actions shaped by scripture. And so, God bless you as you are a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ there on the island, the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. And also, God bless you as you shepherd and love and disciple your people. God bless you as you love your family and provide leadership in your home.

Kevin Smith:
And God bless you as you partner and cooperate with other brothers and sisters all over the island, as you all lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, I pray that God would bless you as you reach out into some of those areas you mentioned regarding church planting. We will be praying that God will raise up brothers in your congregation to be sent out as church planters, raise up Timothy’s and Tituses to be sent out in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for coming on today, brother. And God bless you.

Jorge Santiago:
Thank you for the opportunity, Kevin. God bless you.

Kevin Smith:
Have a good afternoon my brother and enjoy South Carolina.