Why did communist guerillas in El Salvador put Daniel Caceres so high on their murder “hit list” in 1980?
Was it because his brother was a top officer in El Salvador’s army battling the guerillas? Was it because Caceres had been a successful businessman or because he was an evangelical Christian leader in the civil war-torn nation?
Now, 27 years later, Caceres (pronounced “Ka-sé-res”) said he doesn’t care or want to know why. “Back then, the communists were killing pastors and priests all the time,” he recalled. “A lot of people died in El Salvador, close to 100,000 people, especially the clergy, lawyers and businessmen.”
Caceres, 58, was born in El Salvador, as were his wife, Marta, and their two sons. Educated as an accountant who also achieved national soccer star status, he fled the country when war erupted.
Raised by a mother who was a “great lady of faith,” Caceres had already rejected two “calls” from God to become a full-time pastor by the time the civil war broke out.
“God called me three times,” said Caceres. “The first time, I didn’t hear His voice very clearly. The second time, I heard His voice but I didn’t answer.”
The third time — with civil war and certain death hanging over him — Caceres answered God’s call. “I said, ‘Lord, it’s OK. Now I surrender my life full time to you,’ and I started preaching the gospel.”
So Caceres left his beloved but bloody El Salvador for the last time in 1980. He lost his heavy-equipment business, his house, his cars and the church he loved so much.
“I came to America only with my two kids, my wife and my Jesus Christ,” he says with a face that breaks into a warm smile when he mentions the name of “his” Jesus.
Working in His typical mysterious way, God used three communist guerillas — all stalking Caceres to kill him with their machine guns — to make him realize he needed to totally surrender his life to God.
“I now recommend to people who receive a call from God to be obedient the first time. Don’t wait for those guerillas to come and get you,” he joked, now able to laugh about it.
Daniel and Marta Caceres are two of more than 5,000 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
For the last five years, Caceres has served as state Hispanic church-planting strategist in Oklahoma City, jointly supported by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO). He’s worked as a NAMB missionary since 1988.
When he first came to Oklahoma in 1981, the state had a relatively small Hispanic population and only a half-dozen Hispanic congregations. The 2000 census reported 179,000 Hispanics in the state. But today 300,000 Hispanics call the Sooner State home, and there are more than 100 Hispanic churches.
A vast population
According to Caceres, 80 percent of Oklahoma’s 300,000 Hispanics are from Mexico. The remainder comes from Spain, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and other Central and South American nations.
“The problem for us is that from Mexico, only the poor people are coming — from the mountains and the rural areas. The people who live in Mexico City, Monterrey and the other big cities are staying. But the poor people from the rural areas of Mexico are coming here to survive,” he said.
Caceres said Oklahoma City and its six surrounding counties are the Hispanic hot spots in Oklahoma, with about 200,000 living and working there. Tulsa has another 45,000 Hispanics.
“They are people who are coming here to survive,” said Caceres. “We have the privilege that God is sending these people to Oklahoma so we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
“My main role in Oklahoma is starting churches around the state. I’m coordinating the strategy and the plan to reach out to Hispanics for Jesus Christ,” he said.
What’s a typical week like for a church-planting strategist in Oklahoma?
“First, we are always looking at the cities with the greatest Hispanic populations in the state. And then we are looking for sponsoring churches, partnering churches and primary churches to provide us with their facilities to start new churches in their towns.”
Caceres asks Southern Baptists to pray that God will provide the additional church planters and workers he needs because in 2008, his goal is to start 30 new Hispanic churches.
“Through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, we receive a lot of resources and support,” he said. “We now have more than 100 Hispanic churches, 10 Korean churches, a few Chinese churches, and some Russian and Japanese churches. We’re doing our job in Oklahoma.” (NAMB)
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