Genis Mansilla, once worked in coca fields and had little interest in religion. However, after meeting his future wife and studying the Bible with her Adventist family, his life started to change.
What does an Adventist church planter and cocaine have in common? Usually nothing, but a church leader in Colombia has a different story. Genis Mansilla is a Global Mission pioneer in Buenaventura, Colombia. For many years, he was not interested in learning about God.
“I did not grow up in the Adventist Church. I went maybe twice to a pentecostal church that a friend invited me to.”
He spent the next years of his life without attending church until he met his future wife. Her family was Adventist and convinced him to study the Bible with them.
“I liked it a lot because I went with them on Saturdays when they went to worship. I was especially fascinated by the review of the lesson. They gave me this Bible and from there I began to study very often.”
As Genis was learning about Jesus, he was still working in coca fields just to make enough money to survive. But even there he had opportunities to talk about Jesus.
“Because there was nowhere else to work, I had to work in illegal crops, in cocaine, working with coca. I was working one day with another man and we started talking about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
After finding his new passion for Jesus, Genis replaced the coca field for the mission field. He wanted to start a group of believers in the small town of Buenaventura, but struggled to find a place to meet. After much difficulty, he found a place to rent. Soon his small group started to grow as they worshiped each week and ministered to the surrounding community through outreach activities.
“It is this house where we are, It was rented to us. The landlord told me we could rent for four years because he is going to retire and wants to start a business. We are almost four years old now so we have to look for another place to go soon.”
Even through difficulties, Genis knows that God has been leading their congregation in Colombia. Please pray that Genis and this group of believers can find a new place to worship soon.
Thank you for your support of Global Mission which helps support the hundreds of Global Mission pioneers like Genis, working across the globe in unreached areas.
