he biblical story of Samuel tells the tale of a young boy who faithfully listened to God’s quiet commandment, later growing up to become an influential prophet. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, relates a story with striking parallels. As a 14-year-old boy with dreams of becoming an engineer, Rodriguez, now 39, had a “personal encounter with Christ” that drastically altered the course of his life.

“God speaks to us on different levels – wind, fire, tremors – but this was a still, silent whisper,” he says. “I knew I was being called for something greater than sitting behind a computer writing language for software programs. I was being called to write about the language of redemption.”

God sent Rodriguez a sign that his future ministry would bless multitudes. While a visiting pastor preached at his church, he stopped the praise and worship mid-song and asked if there was a young man named Samuel in the Allentown, Pa., church. Rodriguez, still 14, raised his hand, and the pastor told him he would be a “voice for our community” – the Hispanic community.

“It was quasi holy harassment,” he says. “It was like the Lord was telling me, ‘You’re not going to get away from this.’ I thought maybe I could do part-time ministry. But eventually I realized this God thing is 100 percent real and this same God really wants to do something with me.”

Rodriguez quickly discerned God had prodigious plans for him. He preached his first sermon at 14, and held his first leadership position in the Assemblies of God church by 16. At 18, the church appointed him to oversee Hispanic youth groups for 300 churches, and God had still only revealed a handful of those plans.

A firm foundation

Looking back, Rodriguez knows his budding ministry saw such success as a direct result of his wholesome, faith-filled upbringing. “I could sell a lot more books if I had a tragic story of a terrible childhood, but I had the best dad in the world,” he says of his father, Samuel Sr. “He is my best friend.”

Rodriguez also speaks highly of his godly mother, Elizabeth, and grandfather, Randolph, who he describes as the “spiritual genome ... a pioneer for Christ in his native country of Puerto Rico.”

As immigrants to America from Puerto Rico, Rodriguez’s parents worked long hours to provide for him in Bethlehem, Pa., not only emphasizing the importance of church, but also school. “I was the quintessential nerd, a book worm with the glasses and all, just without the tape around the frames.”

Rodriguez credits the support he received from his parents as a major reason he never turned his back on his ministry. “Through the moments of angst and struggles, I was surrounded by great parents who believed in the call. They always told me, ‘Make sure you do God’s will.’ I am here today because of their commitment to Christ and the family unit.”

Realizing the call

Rodriguez family. Front: Nathan; middle row: Lauren and Yvonne; top row: Samuel and wife Eva.

As Rodriguez earned degrees from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and Lehigh University; married his high-school sweetheart, Eva, who pastors a church in Sacramento, Calif.; and had three children, Yvonne, Nathan and Lauren, he continued to work with Hispanic churches.

Ultimately, Rodriguez sought to establish a national voice for Hispanic evangelical churches, and he saw his dream accomplished when he became the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in 2000. Suddenly, Rodriguez found himself the most prominent Hispanic evangelical in America, and he has reveled in the unique position to explain Hispanic evangelicalism to other groups.

“We believe the cross is both vertical and horizontal. The vertical consists of redemption and the concepts taught in John 3:16, Luke 4 and Matthew 25. The horizontal consists of more than just abortion and marriage, but also such matters as social justice and poverty.”

In addition to building on political issues of key importance to evangelicals, Rodriguez also seeks to bring unity to the evangelical church. “Hispanics are uniquely positioned to bring people together, to be the bridge of reconciliation to all races in the church,” he says, explaining that Hispanics are the fastest-growing evangelical group.

“We are not looking for subsidies. We are looking for a partnership. We are equals in the call to serve Christ,” he says. “I refute the idea of minority communities within the kingdom of God.”

For his kids

Rodriguez’s vision to see a unified evangelical church consumes his every waking moment. As he continues to spread his passion for social justice and love for the church, he also maintains the strong commitment to the family unit his own parents emphasized when he was just a bookworm wearing glasses.

“My kids are my motivation for everything I do. I want to leave my kids a better tomorrow, a better church, if not a better Earth,” he said. “I travel constantly, and I get on that red-eye flight every time so I can see my kids sooner.” He adds he has “the most wonderful wife on the planet.”

Rodriguez says, “At the end of my life I want my epitaph to read: ‘Here is a Pentecostal Hispanic preacher who loved God, his wife and children, and did everything in his power to follow God’s will.’”