by Rich Stratton, Assistant Director of Public Relations
According to Christianity Today, evangelical Christian churches send and sponsor more than 450,000 missionaries globally. Not surprisingly, over 25% of these workers are from the United States.
But the U.S. is a large recipient of Christian missionaries as well, sometimes from unlikely places.
David and Pablo Molina, two first-year students at Cedarville University, moved from Cienfuegos, Cuba, to Columbus, Ohio, where they are helping reach Spanish-speaking people with the gospel. They are the first Cuban students to attend Cedarville, and it is fitting that they are doing so while serving as missionaries.
The Molina brothers grew up in a Christian home under Cuba’s communist regime. Their parents, who came to faith through reading the Bible, were discipled by an American missionary in the 1990s before he was deported for promoting Christianity. Before his departure, the missionary influenced the Molinas to start an illegal house church in their city.
For years, the Molina family was threatened by police for their Christian activity. “The government wants to avoid planting new churches because when Christianity is growing, you cannot stop it,” said David. “God protected our family’s effort, and the church grew to more than 100 members, prompting the government to stop all persecution to avoid a potential uprising.”
As Cuba struggled economically in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Christian churches, like the one started by the Molinas, grew exponentially.
“God used this opportunity to open the hearts and minds of people to look for hope, and many found it in the church,” said David. “It also allowed the American missionary who had discipled my father to return for the first time in almost 20 years.”
In 2022, the Molina family felt called to reach Spanish-speaking people beyond Cuba’s borders. Through their missionary friend, they learned there was a great need for Spanish-speaking churches in southwest Ohio.
Obtaining visas that would allow the family to live and work in the U.S was a long and complicated process.
“God had a plan, but there were many moments when it was hard to see it and hear His voice,” said David. “But He has been faithful and has shown His glory.”
After arriving in Ohio, David and Pablo began helping their parents establish and grow the new church, but they also took advantage of God’s additional blessing — pursuing a college education in the United States. They enrolled at Cedarville University, where they could study any subject from a Christian perspective.
“In Cuba, teachers present everything from an atheist’s point of view, and they are instructed by the government to make it difficult for students to know God,” said David, who is studying molecular biology. “At Cedarville, I am able to study science from a Christian worldview as I prepare for career in medical missions.”
Cedarville University, a Baptist institution in southwest Ohio, offers undergraduate and graduate residential and online programs across arts, sciences, and professional fields. With 6,384 students, it ranks among Ohio's largest private universities and is recognized by the Wall Street Journal as being among the nation’s top three evangelical universities. Cedarville is also known for its vibrant Christian community, challenging academics, and high graduation and retention rates. Learn more at cedarville.edu.