Pastor R’s Journal of Cuba Trip January-February 2025

When we arrived at the Havana airport, we were met by Boris, the president of the Free Will Baptist Seminary in Pinar Del Rio and Rodie, our driver. We would come to love both of them. Pinar is the 10th largest city in Cuba, about 100 miles east of Havana, with a population of 170,000. 

Our first day in Cuba we went up to the mountains to a town called Versailles. It is where they grow what they believe to be the best tobacco in the world. Near where we stayed is a cigar factory where the dried leaves of tobacco are rolled into cigars. Pleasure seekers from all over will come to Pinar to drink their Havana Club rum and smoke their cigars. Though I did not partake, I did have the unfortunate experience of being places where the cigar smokers were puffing away and got some secondary smoke. They have not made Cuba a smoke free country.

Up in the mountains, they have a tree line, zip line. Debbie, who is sort of a thrill seeker, decided she would careen down the mountain. She harnessed up, she launched out and she enjoyed every moment of the ride down. Since she was the oldest of the zip liners and perhaps the most fun, one of the staff rode down with her in tandem. I waited at where the ride ended and all I could hear was Debbie’s delight with the ride. 

Afterward we explored a cave with narrow passageways that concluded with a boat ride to the exit.

From Tuesday through Thursday, I taught the Book of Romans (Romanos) at the Pinar Del Rio Seminario called the Cedar of Lebanon Seminario. The class began rather promptly at 9 am and finished at 4 pm. The students come to the Seminario on foot, by bicycle, motorcycle, 1955 Chevy for 2 week sessions. They are all church planters with as many as 3 or 4 missions. They receive this rather intensive experience and then return to their cities to implement what they have heard. My purpose was to give them time to hear each chapter of Romans spoken, to exegete and explain the salient teaching of the Book, to distill the principles of the chapter, to give them difficult questions from the chapter to wrestle through and to help them prepare messages. One of the skills we taught them was SOAPING,  which in their language is BOAS(ING). The president, Boris, and his Dean, Alex, were able to attend most of the sessions. So many students were so thankful that since so many have left Cuba (current estimate is 1 million have left in the last year due to the shortages), somebody was coming to share with them.

It was a pleasant experience with the students, except for the fact that I had to be seated to teach. I was dealing with searing pain in my sciatica when I stood. The students invented an improvised stool composed of 3 chairs stacked on one another. The truth is I couldn’t have done this without the help of the Lord, Debbie’s prayers and Enrique. 

Enrique comes from Mexico City from a very strong Christian family who were friends with Billy Graham and Luis Palau. He is a very gifted person who is able to take my teaching in English, translate into Spanish, testify to the truths of what I am teaching from his own experience with the Lord and engage with the students before, during and after the class. I would travel anywhere in the world with him.He has translated for me on four trips to Cuba. He is my dear spiritual friend who when I say something he agrees with says Yessss. He has strong convictions.

We transitioned to a Pastors Conference on Friday and Saturday. Debbie and I were given 5 sessions to teach our marriage seminar throughout the weekend. Again, Enrique was our translator. He by now was not feeling well and was exhausted. It is the hardest of all the jobs.The male students whose wives were with them were able to come. In addition pastors and their wives from the Free Will Baptist Association attended. There was much fruit from the sessions. Before and after the sessions, couples would ask to meet with us to discuss their particular situations and get counsel. It is not uncommon for pastors to get a salary of $20 per month and that is not enough to support a family. So a huge source of stress is financial. We were able to listen, empathize, encourage and impart wisdom. I so appreciate the devotion of these couples to the Lord and the hardships they endure in their work. Boris’s church alone has 14 mission points (church plants). To address the different needs of men and women, Debbie took the women and I, the men. We were able to address various issues and pray with our groups.

The women had a special “tea”, received gift bags filled with toiletries and love from the Prime Timers at Grace.

We went to one of the mission churches on Tuesday night. It was attended largely by grandmothers, mothers and children (about 50 in total). The evening opened with the reading of Scripture and delightful singing of the children. Cuban culture is very expressive and lively. The children are being grounded in the Word of God. The government schools here indoctrinate the students in the teachings of the revolution. They lie to the people about how well the revolution is going. The Cuban Christians know they must get to  their children first and teach them to question the truthfulness of what they are hearing in the classroom.

Once our teaching on the weekends was over, we went to a Cuban church on Sunday morning and evening. The first church was the dean of the Seminario’s church, Alex. The church was full to overflowing with every seat taken and people standing at the back. They sang many of the familiar American written praise songs in Spanish. We were able to sing  simultaneously in languages we both knew. The Cubans have experienced oppression for 66 years under the Communists so in their worship they are able to experience freedom. They invited our team to the platform to testify.

I spoke about hope. Many Cubans feel hopeless about their situation. Because of the many shortages (food, medicine, fuel, electricity), because the government stays in power by paying their military well, because so many of their family and leaders have migrated to other countries, they don’t believe it will get any better for them. I told them that my hope is not in the government or in the economy; my hope is in Jesus Christ. The hope we have in him will not disappoint us; whenever we focus on Him He renews our hope.

The plan of the Cedars of Lebanon seminary and church is to plant a church every two kilometers. The reason is that the government has made a law that the churches cannot be any closer than two kilometers to one another. Mostly people walk from their homes to church. They are doing what the early church set out to do: namely, even though the government tried to restrict them, they filled their city with their teaching.

It was very encouraging to spend 9 days in Pinar del Rio. Boris and his family have incarnated the gospel so beautifully. Please pray for Boris and his family as one of the horrible hurricanes had ripped the roof off of his house. They didn’t have the $10,000 to fix it. Boris makes about $40 a month as the president of the seminary. Somebody in the states got wind of his situation and sent the money. In addition, they built a gazebo-like structure outside of their house for us to have our breakfast and dinner. Their table was always set so beautifully and their meals were the best they had. Every dinner would have rice and beans with some protein like pork, chicken, beef or lobster. They would linger at the table and talk about any topic we wanted to discuss. Their dog, tooloose, would roam around looking for somebody to scratch his ears. On the grounds were other animals like chickens, mother and baby goats, horses and mules. They did everything to make us comfortable.

Boris is a doctoral student in the Baptist International program in Kansas City. He and his wife travelled with us to Havana to meet with the Consular and Ambassador at the United States Embassy hoping to get an R1 or J1 visa to finish his doctoral studies. This would allow him to travel for study to the states for 5 years. The staff was very courteous and professional. They told him he had to figure out which visa to apply for and then do it online.

While we were in Havana, we were able to meet with Ramon and our new friend Esteban. This is the fourth time I have spent extensive time with Ramon. He is the president of the Methodist Seminary in downtown Havana. The Methodists like the Baptists have grown from 506 to 556 churches this year. They have 34 extensions of the seminary; the students come to Havana for only two weeks of intensive work and then return to their cities and churches.

My friend Ramon designed effective evangelism; it was modeled after Evangelism Explosion. It was a plan to equip the Cuban church in evangelism. He had designed the infrastructure, he was willing to travel to the cities and churches; he believed that Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church would underwrite it. Just when he was to implement the program, Duane, the Missions Pastor at Coral Ridge, withdrew their support.

Ramon is planning to leave Cuba to go to another country, perhaps the U.S. or  Spain. This is not uncommon for the best of the best. It was said that the leading export of Cuba is their well trained doctors leaving their country and going to places like Spain. Ramon has a wife Kenya who is also a professor at the seminary and two children. Once he gets his visa from America or Spain, he will leave Cuba and start a new life there.

We learned of Esteban from Enrique’s brother, Daniel. We spent several hours with Daniel last year hearing about his ministry, the Spanish World Gospel Mission. They now have missionaries in 18 countries, including Cuba. They broadcast Christian programs on the radio and internet in North, Latin and South America. As impressive as that is, Daniel wanted to tell us about Pastor Esteban and the amazing story behind his church.

Esteban’s church is the First Baptist Church of Moa, closer to Guantanamo Bay. If Havana is on the west side of the island, Moa is on the east. It is a 14 hour ride from Havana to Moa. Esteban, even though he had a huge pastor’s conference and was preaching on Sunday, made the trip over to Havana to meet us on Thursday and Friday. Back in 1958, the church was in a wooden building that could hold maybe 50. Today the church has 2000 people, 93 small groups, a prison ministry, an orphanage ministry, a hospital ministry, a seminary and 21 church plants. How did it happen?

A group of Texans somehow got connected with the church. They supplied the money to hire an architect, obtain the materials to build with, and hire the workers to build it. They wanted it big like the state of Texas. In 1999, they started to build it. They were making good progress when the  local government made accusations against the church. They accused them of breaking the laws of Cuba, of using foreign money, of fraud and deception. The government wanted to take possession of the building.

What did the people do? They prayed around the clock, 24/7. For 70 days the people prayed. The pastor and elders said that the government’s hostile takeover would not play well with the national and international community. They stood up to the local government and the takeover did not happen.

Today the church in Moa is 5 stories high and is the largest building in all of the city. Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Esteban as a student used to walk beside the building under construction; now he is the pastor.

In talking with him, we asked him how we could help. The first thing he mentioned was Christian children’s and youth curriculum. They like to use Lifeway materials. In spite of the astronomical growth of the church, he estimates 40 to 45 percent of the key leaders have left. If you can imagine Erin being one day over youth and the next day she has left the country, that is what they face.

The second thing he mentioned was virtual books. They have a seminary where their church planters are being trained. They have a very poor internet system in Cuba. They would like to have theological and practical books to train their people with.

The third he spoke of was their marriage ministry. We believe that marriage is the foundation of all ministry. If the marriage is not strong, the ministry will suffer. In November 2025 a group will come from Winona Lake Grace to conduct a seminar on counseling and marriage. We have been invited to be part of this.

There seems to be opportunities all over the island to strengthen marriages and build up the church. We feel very privileged to be able to go and were deeply blessed by the sweet gentle people we spent time with. Thank you for believing in us enough to support and pray for us.

We believe the door is open right now in Cuba. However, our new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio’s family is from Cuba. He has written proclamations that the current government is illegitimate and illegal. The U.S. position on Cuba may well stiffen. It also should be noted that China is buying up properties in Cuba. Russia has subsidized Cuba since the Revolution in 1959. Not knowing how long the door will remain open, we will do what we can with the opportunities God gives. The people must be prepared for whatever is next.

We are glad to share our experience with you and are thankful for our partners in Cuba and in Greene Ministries who enable these connections to happen.

Yours and His,

Debbie and R Dallas Greene