April 24, 2024
HINESVILLE, Ga. – Pastor Luis Trejo of Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana of Hinesville, Ga., has reached a ministerial milestone – 50 years of service.
Trejo’s half-century in the pulpit was celebrated last month at the church where he serves as full-time senior pastor.
“The greatest thing in my career,” he says, “has been to know Christ. Everything else flows from there.”
Family, friends, church members, and fellow pastors gathered to mark Trejo’s anniversary. Keynote speaker Samuel Rodríguez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana of Savannah, thanked Trejo for his faithfulness through the years.
In 1972, Trejo, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, heard the gospel from his uncle, Luís Barba. Trejo, then 20 years old, was a rebellious young man by his own admission. His father had abandoned him and his mother, and he had been forced to work from an early age to help support his family. Without a father figure in his life, Trejo said he became involved in gangs and was living a life of sin.
His uncle’s witness led Trejo to visit Bethany Baptist Church in Monterrey, where he gave his life to Christ. That very same year Trejo enrolled at Dr. G.H. Lacy Theological Seminary in Oaxaca, Mexico, and simultaneously began working in local missions.
Trejo initially became disillusioned at the seminary, unable to find peace and joy in his studies. He said his expectation of being surrounded by holy, perfect brothers collided with the reality of fallible, imperfect teachers and fellow students.
Trejo says that is when a mentor at the school shared with him the first and greatest lesson – love is at the heart of ministry.
“When I learned to love those around me,” he recalls, “and love them as they were, I was able to appreciate the calling God had placed upon my life.”
He received a degree in theology in 1976 and returned to his hometown. There he met a young Christian woman named Belia Josefina Sáenz. They married in 1977 and have three children and six grandchildren.
After serving in various churches in Mexico and one in Texas, Trejo moved to Georgia in 1997 where he pastored Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana in Warner Robins. In addition to his current role in Hinesville, Trejo is also the part-time senior pastor at Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana of Brunswick.
Trejo says he has learned the secret to a successful ministry is drawing close to God.
“My ministry does not depend on me,” he says, “but on my day-to-day obedience to the Lord.”
