How TWR Equips U.S. Spanish-Language Churches

Jehiel Ortiz, development director for U.S. Spanish Ministry at TWR, addressed Spanish-language pastors and ministry leaders at TWR’s U.S. base of operations in Cary, North Carolina.

For Spanish-language churches in the United States, TWR has more to offer than radio.

“The Spanish churches need resources,” said Jehiel Ortiz, development director for U.S. Spanish Ministry at TWR, also known as Trans World Radio. “There are not abundant resources for Spanish speakers in their own language.”

TWR – or, in the Spanish-speaking world, RTM (Radio Trans Mundial) – has those resources, time-tested, faithful to Scripture and free. Getting those resources into the hands of churches and ministries that need them is the point of an initiative that Ortiz is leading.

Called “Sirviendo Juntos” – Spanish for “Serving Together” – the idea is to gather a group of Spanish-language pastors and ministry leaders so they can learn about what’s available to them.

“If you visit them one by one it’s going to be like a marathon,” Ortiz said. “So, let’s try a sprint.”

The first such event took place Aug. 7 at TWR’s U.S. base of operations in Cary, North Carolina. Seventeen Hispanic pastors who serve within commuting distance of Cary had been invited. Because almost all of the Hispanic pastors in the area are bivocational, the event took place in the evening.

Those who came were treated to a meal along with presentations from leaders of TWR’s Latin America, Caribbean and U.S. Spanish ministries. They had the chance to see the resources TWR makes available in Spanish.

Those include notes and outlines of each book of the Bible as well as booklets on living the Christian life from TWR partner Thru the Bible; a daily devotional; and RTM360, which offers a vast array of Scriptural resources online.

So far this year, TWR in the U.S. has given away close to 8,000 Spanish-language resources in the mail and has had more than 44,000 downloads of resources from its website, said Elisa Keefe, U.S. Spanish Ministry director.

“We had a gentleman contact us,” Keefe said. “He does ministry on the border because he goes to Tijuana. And he wanted 30 copies of a booklet. And can we do this? Yes, of course we can.”

Anyone wishing to learn more about TWR’s Spanish-language ministry in the U.S. and the resources that are available can contact Jehiel Ortiz at caryspanish@twr.org or call him at (919)460-3797. Those wishing to support the work financially can visit the Spanish ministry project page.