Three Questions is a semi-regular series introducing individuals across the NAB by asking them about their story, their ministry, and what they are learning. This week, we hear from Mario Rodriguez, the lead pastor at Tabernáculo Biblico Bautista Nueva Jerusalén in Kitchener, Ontario.
What’s your story?
I was born in El Salvador and immigrated with my family to Canada in 1994. I became a born again believer in 1995 when my sister invited me to church at Tabernáculo Biblico Bautista Nueva Jerusalén, which we call Taber Kitchener. I grew up learning from various mentors in the church who helped me mature in my relationship with Christ. It was Pastor Felipe, the former lead pastor, who encouraged me to go to Bible college.
After I earned my pastoral ministries degree (bachelor of theology) at Emmanuel Bible College in Kitchener, I became the youth pastor at Taber Kitchener, then a youth pastor at another church in Paris, Ontario. My wife and I returned to Taber Kitchener in 2017, where I served as a lay pastor. In 2019, I was ordained within the North American Baptist Conference through the Eastern Association. I became the lead pastor at Taber Kitchener in 2021 when Pastor Felipe retired. These past three years, we have grown together as a congregation and made many changes to better serve our church members, our friends, and the community. . . .
There is a kind of Gospel Language that is expressed when we follow Jesus’s instructions to love God and love others. Whether it is spoken through words or conveyed through actions, this Gospel Language can be heard and seen at churches all across the North American Baptist Conference. One of the ways it is expressed at McKernan Baptist Church in Edmonton, Alberta, is through MELL, their English-language learning ministry.
In some ways, MELL is an outgrowth of years of investment the church has made in connecting its pastors and leaders to the NAB’s missional and formational ministries such as Blue Ocean, where leaders from across the NAB are introduced, or reintroduced, to what it means to be a missional people who are being formed into the image of Christ and therefore seeking to draw others into that kind of life transformation. Would you consider giving to the Ministry Resource Fund, which helps, in part, make resources like Blue Ocean possible?
You can find ways to give through the link below. We have also created resources for you to use at your church, ministry group, or Bible study to invite other people to join in partnership to help support the ministry efforts covered by the Ministry Resource Fund.
Give in Support of the Fall Offering
Discover Fall Offering Resources
There is still time to register for Reframe, a four-week evangelistic training led by Merv Budd, equipping evangelist on the Missional Initiatives Team.
This training will take place over four weeks of 90-minute sessions beginning October 30 at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). It will provide an evaluative framework to help you assess your evangelistic equipping efforts and help you to recognize gaps you may need to fill and distortions you will want to correct, providing a clearer path forward toward helping your church become more evangelistically faithful.
The deadline to register is Monday, October 28. Training is free for NAB ministry leaders.