October 2, 2026
When the members of the Georgia Baptist Jubal Ministries arrive in Cuba on Thursday, Oct. 16, they will be building on a spiritual legacy nearly a century and a half in the making. The 219-member team from Jubal Ministries, joined by eight additional participants from Global Missions Project, Inc. of Germantown, Tennessee, will partner with the Western Baptist Association of Cuba to share the gospel through music, training, and humanitarian ministry.
The mission will include at least 11 concerts, a Pastors and Wives Conference, and music instruction for church musicians, along with several service projects. Jubal Ministries President Rick Cook emphasized the importance of flexibility, noting that smaller ensembles may perform additional concerts as opportunities arise.
This trip marks the first international mission for Jubal Ministries since celebrating its 70th anniversary last year, and it carries special significance. Two of the participants, Rick Cook and Paul McCommon, also took part in the first international mission trip in 1969 to Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. Both were 15 years old at the time and played trumpet in the orchestra. Paul is the son of the founding director of the Sons of Jubal, Paul McCommon Sr.
Yet this mission represents more than a musical exchange—it continues the work begun by Alberto José Díaz (1852–1916), credited with founding the first Baptist church in Cuba. Born near Havana, Díaz was a soldier, medical doctor, and the founding pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Havana. His story reads like a page from the book of Acts.
As a soldier, he escaped death at the hands of the Spanish army in the 1870s when the Cubans rebelled against them. He escaped by clinging to a log which carried him out to sea, and drifted in the Atlantic Ocean for days. A companion with him died, and Díaz was unconscious when picked up by a fishing boat and later placed on a freighter bound for New York City. Spending some time in the city, he escaped death again after contracting pneumonia. Following his illness, he was gifted a copy of the New Testament in Spanish, which led to his conversion.
After several years of spending time in both Cuba and the United States, continuing his medical education, he returned as a missionary colporteur and eventually established Calvary Baptist Church. As chronicled in The Gospel in Cuba: The Story of Díaz, A Marvel of Modern Missions, he was arrested and imprisoned on several occasions for his efforts at preaching the gospel.
As chronicled in The Gospel in Cuba: The Story of Díaz, A Marvel of Modern Missions (G.W. Lasher, D.D., George E. Stevens Publisher, Cincinnati, 1893), Díaz’s ministry inspired early support from Georgia Baptists. The biography itself is dedicated to William J. Northern, former governor of Georgia and president of both the Georgia and Southern Baptist Conventions, who traveled to Cuba to support the fledgling Baptist work there.
The Jubal team will be working with the Western Baptist Association of Cuba. The Florida Baptist Convention, which also has a longstanding relationship with the association, reported in May 2022 that the Western Baptist Association is composed of 565 churches, 570 missions, 1,907 house churches, and operates a seminary located in Havana. The churches have a membership of about 28,000.
For the missions team, simply getting to the Atlanta airport will present its own set of logistical challenges. For example, many from the Athens area will be leaving Mars Hill Baptist Church at 4 a.m. to arrive at the airport by 5:30 a.m. for an 8:45 a.m. flight to Miami. After a layover, there will be four separate flights to Havana. It will be a long day of traveling before arriving in Cuba followed by a three-and-a-half-hour bus ride to their hotel.
In addition to their luggage, team members will be transporting keyboards and instruments for the orchestra as well as other support equipment. Tropical heat will be their constant companion, so they have been instructed to “hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!” A medical team will accompany the musicians. They prepared to do concerts a cappella in the event of power failures, such as the ones experienced in Cuba last October following major storms.
When Cook was asked how to pray for the team his response was; “Travel safety; to keep hurricanes out of the area; for stamina and boldness as we proclaim God’s word; for God’s provision; for opportunities to encourage those who need it, to share the gospel, and that the harvest will be plenteous—that God will use new churches just as He has used others to reach people with the message of salvation."
A celebration is already planned for the mission team's return. A Jubal Ministries Homecoming Concert is scheduled for Nov. 6 at the First Baptist Church of Newnan, Ga.
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