Celebrating 25 Years of Ministry

When I first married Rodrigo he was a classical concert artist. We lived in California where he continued with his musical career and growing in his faith with the Lord at Calvary Chapel with Pastor Chuck Smith. I was a worship leader there and also an outside sales consultant for a haircare company.

One day it all changed when I was out on my route and stopped for lunch. I saw Pastor Rick Warren there and invited him to one of Rodrigo’s concerts. He sent his Worship Pastor, Rick Muchow to hear Rodrigo.

After the concert Rick Muchow invited Rodrigo to play at Saddleback Church. Rodrigo said he would love to but didn’t know any Christian music. Rick insisted, so Rodrigo arranged his first two songs; “Shout to the Lord” and “Great is thy Faithfulness”.

This started the wheels turning in Ministry as Rodrigo was ask to play at many Purpose Driven Conferences where thousands of Pastors and Worship Leaders attended.

Around this same time someone had passed Rodrigo’s music to the Crystal Cathedral where he was also invited. They had a nation wide live program at that time.

We look back and think how surprising that the very first two churches he ever played at was Saddleback and the Crystal Cathedral when he wasn’t even considering ministry yet.

Over time, it kept happening again and again that churches all over were inviting him to come. This weighted very heavy on Rodrigo’s heart, was it really the Lord calling him into full time ministry? At that time he had only been a believer for around 5 years, and he wanted to make sure it was the Lord leading and just not his idea.

The true confirmation happened when we moved to Florida and I sent his music to the director of the Florida Baptist Convention named Bob Burroughs. He immediately let the Worship Pastors know about Rodrigo and invited him to play at the Florida Baptist Convention which led to the National Baptist Convention.

This is also the time I was able to be a stay at home Mom to our beautiful daughter Raquel. I became Rodrigo’s agent and worked out all the logistics of travel and concerts.

I do remember a turning point that transformed Rodrigo’s calling to also become an evangelist too.

We had been to the Czech-Republic where he had privilege to record with the City of Prague Philharmonic for one of his projects. There we also met with the Czech Baptist Union and was invited to come back for a 10 city tour for the following year.

Up to that time at all the concerts Rodrigo would always do the music portion and we would invite a Pastor to give the message wherever we went. In fact, among one of the first evangelical concerts he did was when Pastor Chuck Smith had sent us back to his hometown of Quito Ecuador, where we rented a Bull Fighters Ring. Around 15,000 people attended and Rodrigo got see his own Mother and other family come forward at the end to give their lives to the Lord.

So, returning again to this Czech-Republic invitation, we were just about to leave and were informed that speaking Pastor could not make it. It was a panic time where Rodrigo was wondering to cancel the whole trip. I just knew in my heart we were suppose to go and told him that he needed to start giving the message at the end.

An Evangelist was born and to this day has never stopped!

Rodrigo has been to 28 Countries:
Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Costa Rico, England, Ireland, Scotland, Czech-Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Russia, Albania, Romania, Spain, Singapore, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Kenya.

I have been with him for 11 of them, sharing my testimony wherever the Lord opens the door for a Ladies meeting as part of the program.

I believe he has played in thousands of churches, has given interviews on T.V., Podcast, radio and magazines. We have seen first hand the effect of sharing the gospel and the freedom it has given to countless people. Only heaven knows the true fruit of our ministry. We only know it’s a joy and a privilege to be part of the Kingdom call. We always have our bags packed and ready to go where ever the Lord opens the door. He knows where to send us and the right timing.

In fact speaking of timing, this year Rodrigo went to Venezuela and by some miracle got to play on their Government Television station that reaches 10 million people, as soon as he came back Venezuela was put on the danger list for travel.

And again, a month ago Rodrigo went to Russia for a 9 concert tour and was invited to two Government Music Conservatories. The news today also warns about travel there.

We firmly believe from the very beginning the main pillar of our ministry is Prayer, followed by Prayer and then some more Prayer!

Thank you for taking the time to read our story, and we want to thank from the bottom of our hearts our financial and prayer partners that makes it possible for us to go around the world and share the great Commission!

Romans 10:14-15

Many Blessings,
Mary & Rodrigo Rodriguez