LABI Untold Stories

LABI: Benito R. Del Rio, 1945-2021

Benito R. Del Rio, a Latin American Bible Institute alumnus, died of COVID-19 complications on October 30, 2021, at 9:35 pm, surrounded by his loving family. Benito was 77 years old.

After graduating from high school in 1963, Benito chose to attend LABI, a Bible College in Ysleta, Texas. While at LABI, he served as the Official Artist for the school yearbook.

This is where I met Ben. While I worked on the editorial staff, Ben served in a very coveted position as the artist of the yearbook.

Before Ben was drafted into the United States Army in December of 1966, he married the love of his life, Jane Aguilar, on December 10, 1966, just a couple of weeks before having to report for duty.

Ben was an excellent artist. He loved to draw and the US Army recognized his gift. He served his country for 20 years as a graphic illustrator retiring in 1989.

He continued his career with the government serving another 25 years with the US Postal Service. He retired again in June 2020.

Ben and his wife, Jane, loved to travel with the family. Together, they visited nearly every state in our country. He was a servant of God who gave of his time to the Church and his local community.

He is survived by his wife Jane, children Terah (Justin) Foutz, Ben (Laura) Del Rio, Matt Del Rio, Leon (Karla) Del Rio; 9 grandchildren, Michaela, Celeste, Canyen, Jordyn, Dax, Trevor, Breckyn, Nate and Westin; brothers, Ruben and Ronnie (Norma) and sister, Gloria, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Margie and son-in-law Michael.

Funeral Services will be held Tuesday, November 9, at 11:00am at Life Church, 3818 West 4700 South, West Valley City, Utah, 84129.

A viewing will be held Monday, November 8, from 6:00-8:00 pm at Memorial Redwood Mortuary, 6500 S. Redwood Rd, Taylorsville, Utah 84123 and again from 10:00-11:00am prior to the service.

Interment will follow at Memorial Redwood Estates.

To view services remotely, please click the following link https://zoom.us/j/8015661249

Link to Obituary: https://memorialutah.com/obituaries/benito-r-del-rio/

Special Note of Appreciation. I wish to thank the numerous individuals who contributed to this story: Verna Gallegos Pace, Esther Brown Garcia, Rachel Ramos Dominguez, Gloria Villa, Jane Lopez, Chaplain Antonio Maldonado, Chaplain Izzy Vega, and Dr. Lazaro Gutierrez.

AUGUSTINE F. RUBIO (1948-2005): On a Mission to Teach and Preach the Word

Pastor Rubio’s story is unique. It is one of a man with an unquenchable thirst for God’s Word. He had an urgency to learn, teach, and preach. He attended LABI in El Paso, Texas in 1967, earned his Bachelor’s degree from Vanguard University, and the Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

An avid reader, he would read a Bible from cover to cover until it was worn and torn. It was not until then that he would buy a new one and repeat the process. After providing for the family, he used his spending money to buy more and more books.

He had all of R.C. Sproul’s collection, many of C.S. Lewis’s books, and other books on the cults. He loved to talk to members of the different cults and sought to bring them to the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ. His hunger for the Word was ferocious and inexhaustible. His wife, Mary Jane, became “so weary of this” that she placed a bench at the front door so that he could talk to the different people he invited to the house to share the Word of God. Come rain, sleet, or snow, Pastor Augustine F. Rubio was a never-ending witness to God’s presence in the world.

FROM A PROMINENT CATHOLIC FAMILY. Augustine was born in 1948 in Miami, Arizona, and died in Phoenix in 2005. Augustine was born into a prominent Catholic family in town that included a priest and altar boys. One day, his mother began to help an Assemblies of God (AG) missionary with clothing and food distribution to the poor. Shortly, she began to attend the Pentecostal Church Worship Services and would take Augustine to church against his will. Augustine would rather be with his friends playing rather than be in church with his mother.

YOUTH CAMP. When Youth Camp was announced one Sunday, his mother and the missionaries decided it was a good idea to send Augustine to camp against his will. The songs, the sermons, were new to him. He listened, he watched, and he observed. When the altar call was made, he made his way to the front of the church. He does not remember how he got to the altar but he vividly recalls being mesmerized with the love of Jesus. As he began to pray, he felt a warm heat start at his feet; it slowly moved to his tongue, and then he suddenly began to speak in other tongues. All this was new to Augustine but it was so wonderful. This was an unforgettable experience. It was here that he gave his life to the Lord.

THE BEGINNINGS OF HIS MINISTRY. Soon after his encounter with Jesus, Augustine began to clean the church on Saturdays and teach Sunday School. His older siblings mocked and belittled him for "turning coats". He remained steadfast. Since Augustine's father died when he was a young child, he looked up to his Pastor, the Reverend Alvin Booher, for guidance and leadership. He spent much time with his pastor. Pastor Booher was a great model for his newfound life.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY. Years later, a young lady by the name of Mary Jane, a graduate of LABI in La Puente, California, was sent to the same church, to assist the missionaries. Together, Augustine and Mary Jane taught Sunday School, conducted Vacation Bible School, and directed the church choirs. After six years of working together, Augustine and Mary Jane were married. Their daughter, Deborah, became the Librarian and Professor at the American Indian College, an AG Christian College serving primarily Native Americans. Deborah was married to the Reverend Matthew Ramm until 2001 when she went to be with the Lord.

A SUCCESSFUL PASTOR. Augustine pastored several Assembly of God Churches in California (including) Barstow, Upland, and Riverside. A great victory was the purchase of an AG church building in Upland, California located inside a mall. While serving churches in California, he taught at LABI in La Puente, California as an adjunct professor.

In 1984, Augustine and his family moved back to Arizona where he Pastored the Glendale AG Church. Around this time, he began to have serious eye problems, but God's grace was abounding! Even though he was suffering from vision loss, he established the LABI Phoenix Extension. He taught and coordinated this extension until he could no longer see well enough to read. He memorized much of his material, and his notes were written in large letters with a marker.

He restored churches in Avondale, Mesa, Coolidge, Flagstaff, and South Phoenix with the help of the Royal Rangers ministry. The young Royal Rangers cleaned and painted while the ministers helped with the repair and remodeling of the unfinished buildings. All this occurred while his eyesight was marginal. The last Church he founded was New Life Assembly of God in the main corridor in Phoenix. He refused to stop working. He went to be with the Lord in 2005, while still pastoring and preaching about his beloved Jesus. The Jesus that he met at Youth Camp at the age of twelve.

COMMUNITY LEADER. Pastor Rubio served as Presbyter for 15 years, traveling throughout the state on District business. He hosted the PTL Show, Channel 40, in Phoenix, weekly, for seven years. He taught at the Arizona State University (ASU) Institute for Hispanic Teachers. He taught Professional Ethics at ASU. His ultimate joy was organizing and conducting “Refregerios,” a week-long celebration of churches in the Phoenix area. This activity contributed to the excitement of church members and uplifted the morale of the pastors.

PRAYER, THE KEY TO HIS SUCCESS IN MINISTRY. Sixteen years after Pastor Rubio’s death, his wife writes, “Many pastors still remember how he uplifted their spirits when they were down and encouraged them to keep working for the Lord when they were discouraged”. His advice to young pastors was to spend time with the Lord in prayer. He said to them, “Prayer is the key to success in ministry”.

Such was the life and ministry of the Reverend Augustine F. Rubio, LABI – El Paso Alumni.

Submitted by: Juan Loya, PhD, LABI 1968
PS: I wish to thank Mary Jane, Augustine’s wife, for all the information that she provided to make this story possible. Tony Maldonado (LABI 1969) for the photos and Izzy Vega (LABI 1965) for proofreading the final manuscript.

https://youtu.be/xYONG0eSRns

IN MEMORIAM: Reverend Ethel Marjorie Gonzalez

On November 26, 2020, one of our great missionaries, Reverend Ethel Marjorie McClendon Gonzalez, went to be with the Lord. She died at the age of 95, two days shy of her 96th birthday. She was born in Utica, Kansas on August 28, 1925.

Ethel was a missionary with the Assemblies of God for more than 53 years serving in three different Latin American countries – Cuba, Spain, and the Dominican Republic.

• Two weeks after her birth, Ethel’s mother took her to church, and ever since then she has been a faithful follower of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (See attached video).
• In 1943, at the age of 18, Ethel attended the AG Southwestern Bible Institute in Waxahachie Texas.
• In 1948, she went to Cuba as a missionary without knowing the Spanish language.
• However, within one year, Ethel became fluent in the language and began to teach Bible study classes throughout Havana, the capital of Cuba.
• On May 24, 1951, she was officially assigned by the Assemblies of God as a missionary to Cuba.
• Then she was ordained to the ministry on November 11, 1954, through the Kansas District.
• Ethel was first recognized as a missionary and three years later was granted ordination into the ministry.
• After a large crusade in Victoria de las Tunas, a church was born and she took the pastoral leadership role of that church.
• Soon a young man by the name of Kerry Gonzalez arrived to help her with this new church development.
• This young man became her husband and together they conceived two children, Mark and Miriam.
• On March 17, 1963, Ethel and her husband were forced to leave Cuba due to Fidel Castro’s communist government.
• However, before leaving their beloved Cuba, Ethel and Kerry, husband, established 13 churches, 40 Sunday Schools, and 27 preaching points (Notes from Samuel Gonzalez).
• After coming to the USA, Ethel and Kerry served as professors at LABI in El Paso, Texas for a brief period and then returned to the mission field serving in Spain and the Dominican Republic.
• Both retired from the ministry in 1993.
• On March 17, 2010, exactly 47 years after they were expelled from Cuba, Ethel and Kerry, returned to the place where God called them to preach the Good News before it fell into the hands of a communist government.

In the words of the Reverend Sam Matta, Pastor at First Assembly of God Church in San Antonio wrote, “Our beloved gramática teacher at LABI, Ethel Gonzalez went to be with our Lord on Thursday, the 26th of November 2020”. Kerry, her faithful husband and missionary companion of 53 years died in 2008.

A service celebrating Ethel's life and legacy was held on Sunday, November 29, 2020, at Puerta de Restauración Church in San Antonio, Texas. She and interred at Mission Park North.

We thank God for people like Ethel and Kerry who left us such wonderful and inspiring legacies of service to God. May their lives inspire us to do the same.

Submitted by:
Juan Loya, PhD
VP, CMC/LABI Alumni Association

*LABI Untold Stories is grateful to the Reverend Samuel Matta and his wife, Esther, for the photos and video they provided on the life of Ethel Gonzalez. We are also grateful for the information that Reverend Joe Rodriguez, LABI Graduate 1969, and Samuel Gonzales for providing additional biographical information on the life of Ethel and Kerry Gonzalez.

THE RUBEN ROBLES STORY: In His Father’s Footsteps

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49, ESV)

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 6.38, NKJV)

It is my honor to write Reverend Ruben Robles’ story. I met Ruben at LABI in 1968, the year that I graduated from this distinguished and honorable institution. We both have a love for music and we both were members of the LABI Band. In addition to our love for music, we both had a calling from God to study his Word and preach the Good News.

LABI GRADUATE. Ruben graduated from LABI in 1970. He heard God’s call to be a pastor while still in his teenage years. His father, Samuel Robles, graduated from LABI in 1928. He was among the first nine graduates that made history as the very first graduating class from LABI.

HIS FATHER'S INFLUENCE. Needless to say, it was his father’s testimony that influenced him to attend LABI and pursue a calling that developed pastoral skills to grow the Kingdom of God on earth. His father, Samuel, was a gifted musician. He was one of the original members of La Banda Evangélica that was formed in 1924. In addition to the trumpet, his father also played the saxophone and guitar. Ruben’s life was deeply touched by his father’s ministry. His father modeled for him what it meant to follow in the footsteps of the Master. Through his father’s ministry, Ruben heard “the inner voice of the Lord calling him to preach His Word”.

FROM JESÚS TO SAMUEL. An interesting sidenote about his father’s name. His father’s birth name was Jesús, not Samuel. When I was gathering information about his ministry, Ruben casually mentioned that his father remained curious throughout his life as to why the Reverend H.C. Ball changed his name from Jesús to Samuel when he was a student at LABI.

In the Bible, Samuel is a male name and in Hebrew, the name means “name of God” or “God heard”. Samuel was the last ruling judge in the Old Testament. He anointed Saul to be the first King of Israel and later anointed David.

In the Mexican culture, Jesús is a common name for boys but not so in the American culture. We could speculate as to why Bro. H.C. Ball changed his name from Jesús to Samuel, but we are not. Neither Jesús nor H.C. Ball are with us today to give us an answer. We simply do not know. However, we do know that Jesús accepted the name change, and following in the footsteps of Judge Samuel in the Old Testament, he blessed his son’s calling into the ministry.

TRAINING FOR THE MINISTRY. As a teenager, Ruben had a sense of urgency to preach and teach. After graduating from high school in 1967, he knew what school to attend to prepare him for the holy ministry. He enrolled at the Latin American Bible Institute in El Paso, Texas. Forty-two years after his father graduated from LABI, Ruben also graduated from his father’s Alma Mater in 1970. He followed in his father’s footsteps. After LABI, Ruben went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree in ministry from Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) in 1972.

LEADING HIS FATHER'S FLOCK. Following graduation from SAGU, Ruben had the honor of pastoring Templo Aposento Alto in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the church that his father founded as an outreach ministry to Hispanics in Fort Wayne.

While serving as the pastor of this church, Ruben was elected District Sunday School Director for the Midwest Latin American District 1975-76. In his leadership position, Ruben traveled with his father to more than 11 states promoting the outreach ministries of Sunday School and religious through seminars that focused on training local church leaders.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH MINISTRIES. In 1974, Following in his father’s footsteps, Ruben extended his ministry beyond the four walls of the local church. As the Religious Coordinator for the Northeastern Indiana Migrant Center and as a staff employee of the Fort Wayne Urban League, he reached out to Mexican Migrants and African Americans living in the poverty sectors of the city. He conducted worship services and Bible studies and helped them find employment, housing, food, and paved the road for other kinds of social empowerment. Ruben says that it was a blessing to be used by God to minister to Hispanics as well as African Americans through religious services and social outreach programs. This was a special time in his life.

MORE LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES. After his father died in 1977, Ruben and his family left Indiana and moved to Dallas. Here God opened more doors for ministry and leadership opportunities. The Reverend Manuel De Leon, the Senior Pastor of La Primera Asamblea de Dios, invited Ruben to become his Associate Pastor. His responsibilities included Youth Ministries, Director of Music Ministries, Church Choir, Radio Ministry, and Bus Ministry. He also served as the Administrator of the Alpha Bible Institute, an educational institution dedicated to the training of ministers among Hispanics. While at Pastor DeLeon's church, Ruben was elected Youth Ministries Sectional Representative.

MARRIAGE, CHILDREN'S MINISTRY, AND FAMILY. In 1984, Ruben met the love of his life and got married to the beautiful Miss Donna Ortega. Together they launched a Children’s Evangelism Ministry conducting Kids Crusades in several Latin American Districts to include the Gulf, Central, and Pacific Districts. He and his wife Donna brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to hundreds of children throughout the states of Texas, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and California.

Through this ministry, Ruben and Donna saw the hand of the Lord upon them. God not only blessed them but he also touched the lives of the countless children they ministered to. The Lord has blessed them with three wonderful adult children and four grandchildren. Both are very proud of their accomplishments and commitment to their religious values.

IGLESIA NUEVA ESPERANZA. Just like his father pioneered El Templo Aposento Alto, Ruben heard God’s call to establish the Iglesia Nueva Esperanza in Mission, Texas. In 1985, Ruben and his wife, Donna, rented a hotel room, walked the streets of the city, introduced themselves to the residents, and invited them to their new church. Later, they moved to a building on Mission’s busiest street, and soon more and more people began to attend their worship services.

In 1987, the Reverend Ron Bowen offered them the opportunity to purchase the First Assembly of God Church property. Through faith, the newly-formed congregation bought the church property and moved its ministry to a wonderful and beautiful sanctuary.

In a brief seven years, from 1985 to 1992, the church grew from a roster of zero to 150 church members. An outstanding blessing from the Lord.

OTHER MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS. After pioneering their first church, Ruben and Donna served as pastors at Templo Cristiano in Uvalde, Texas, from 1992-1993 and First Assembly of God in Pharr, Texas, from 1995-1998. Then they pioneered their second church, Calvary Worship Center in Mission, Texas from 1998 to 2000. From 2009-2015, served as Hispanic Pastors for First Assembly of God Church in McAllen, Texas.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIS HEAVENLY FATHER. Just like his father, Ruben is a gifted pastor, teacher, and church planter. Together, Ruben and Donna have a wide range of spiritual gifts that God has used for His honor and glory. They have proven themselves to be an invaluable asset to the Assemblies of God Church. From church planting to pastoral counseling, from children’s evangelism to adult ministries, from youth activities to praise and worship, Ruben and Donna have been a blessing to thousands of believers and non-believers alike.

While in a state of transition, Ruben and Donna are faithfully waiting to hear from their Heavenly Father on what to do next. They have submitted their will to the Father’s will for their life. They are excited about what the Lord has in store for them.

Submitted by
Juan Loya, PhD
LABI Graduate, 1968

Contributing Editor
Samuel Loya, D.D.
LABI Graduate, 1970