Pastor from Puerto Rico has a love for West Virginia and the Lord
May 14—FAIRMONT — Despite continually running away from the role, Abner Rodriquez is a second-generation pastor.
Each time, he said, the Lord kept bringing him back to serve. His family came to the states from Puerto Rico when his father was appointed to serve as pastor of a Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
"Pretty much at an early age, I kind of felt the calling of the Lord. We were living in Grand Rapids, Michigan that's where I was pretty much raised," he said.
The itinerate nature of serving as a pastor has taken to Alabama, then to Texas, Virginia, now West Virginia.
Rodriquez was recently brought on board as pastor three churches, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Fairmont, one in Grafton and one in Bridgeport.
"It's important for me to grow a relationship with every church. Every weekend, every Saturday," Rodriguez said.
He said it's important to form those relationships because otherwise it disrupts family life. He said right now that is one of the most important things in his ministry.
"The Bible tells us if we don't take care of our first church, which is our home, how can we take care of his church?" he said.
Rodriquez said he "absolutely loves" West Virginia, especially the Fairmont area. He said when he first came to the state his only knowledge of West Virginia was that it was one of the 50 states.
"When we got to West Virginia, it was kind of discovering a brand new world. It was amazing," Rodriquez said.
He said the state is a wonderful place, and he has a wonderful congregation. It is a smaller congregation, but Rodriquez said there is so much love there.
"We literally see each other as family and we treat each other as family," Rodriquez said.
Rodriquez said he was in the medical field for 18 years before he became a pastor. He's been preaching for 12 years and has officially been a pastor for eight years.
"What I love about it is reaching people. It's one of those moments where I had a God moment is what I like to call it where God basically told me 'you've been doing very good everywhere you go,'" Rodriquez said.
He said God told him He didn't want Rodriquez healing people only physically but also spiritually.
"God showed me the potential that this human being has when I placed myself in His hands," Rodriquez said.
He said every person who has been called to be a Christian has a different testimony. His theological philosophy is that God does that because He wants people to have a personal relationship with Him.
Rodriquez said he had to surrender himself to God, to which he said surrendering is key.
"When you give up your will and you don't fight it anymore then you can see how wonderful that person is. That's the reason the Bible equates a relationship with God to a marriage between Christ and His church," Rodriquez said.
Being a pastor gave him an opportunity to share things from his own life with people. He said he knows where people are at and shares with them how God rescued him.
"I was taken out of that troubled water, that strong current I was in and set my feet on higher ground," Rodriquez said.
Rodriquez worked as an office manager for two doctor's offices where a previous office manager was embezzling. Unfortunately, the stress got so overwhelming that Rodriquez's blood pressure got too high and he experienced a cerebral aneurysm that ruptured.
"I almost lost my life and I've seen how God gave it back to me, and when I saw that God gave me back life, I understood what it meant to celebrate Easter weekend, the Passover, Resurrection Sunday — whatever people want to call it. It was an experience that I had with Him," Rodriquez said.
He said he's not supposed to be alive, nor was he supposed to be a pastor.
"When I decided that I would give God a try and I would really surrender completely to Him he started turning everything around," Rodriquez said.
The aneurysm resulted in a 23-day coma, and Rodriquez was partially paralyzed on his left side. Doctors told him he wouldn't comprehend anything past a second grade levelafter the trauma.
"Today, I feel like I am absolutely one of the luckiest men alive," Rodriquez said.
He said it's easy for people to follow what society dictates. When we ride society's wave that is not following God we can crash and die or we can rise above it — stop being petty — and learn to survive with Jesus, he said.
"No matter what it is you're going through today, there is a brighter tomorrow. There is a better way. You don't have to follow everything that society says," Rodriquez said.
Rodriquez quoted Solomon, a verse found in the book of Proverbs. He said his council today is to trust in the Lord with all your heart.
"The promise is in verse six is that He will continue to guide your steps. He's going to make a way for you to get to that goal, but sometimes we're so busy getting in the middle of that goal we don't see it," Rodriquez said.
On May 3, Rodriquez learned he will be making another trip for God. He will leave Fairmont and the churches in Grafton and Bridgeport to accept an appointment in Beckley and Valley View Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Bluefield.
Reach Sarah Marino at 304-367-2549
