HomeMy WebLinkAboutBiography of Rev. Obel GuzmanThe Rev. Obel Guzman was born in Cruces, Las Villas, Cuba on March 20, 1943. His mother always
instilled in him the love of God and grew up attending his hometown church called Emmanuel Baptist
Church.
At the age of 14 years he felt the calling to serve God in the ministry of preaching .Three years later at
the conclusion of its secondary education he was accepted as a student of the Theological Seminary of
western Cuba in the capital habanera to complete his ministerial studies. During his four years of being a
student he served as a seminarian pastor in different missionary fields on the island.
On June 1, 1964, at the age of 21 he received his diploma of graduation. Three weeks later he was
ordained to the holy ministry in his Church of Cruces.
He was married on July 27th of that same year with Celia Acosta, his wife and companion in the ministry
for 42 years and of his union. His three sons were born in Cuba: Misael, Otoniel and Joel. Together they
served the Lord in the pastorate of four churches in the Union de Reyes,Taguayabon, Sagua la Grande
and Guanbacoa.
September 4, 1969 his wife and his children left Cuba through the flights of freedom with destination to
the United States. He was not allowed to leave the country by having 26 years of age and be of military
age. He was sent out to work in the cane fields to pay for agricultural work and his right to an eventual
abandonment of the country. He was housed and conducting slave labor for a year and a half to achieve
the departure from Cuba to meet with his wife and children in this city of Miami.
In the month of January of the year 1971 he was sent by the Baptist Convention in Florida as
missionaries for the board of domestic missions to serve among Hispanics of south-west of Florida. He
was going to reside in Sarasota, where for eight years he will be dealing with the pastorate of the
mission Hispanic Baptist Bay haven to serve a wide circuit missionary among the migrant farmers of the
area of Sarasota and Bradenton. He was traveling every week responding to a Hispanic group area of
Port Charlotte and organizing a mission in the year 1976. During this stage the pastor Guzman he
achieved to start a weekly block of a Spanish Christian radio program for that area of Florida.
He moved to Miami to take over the pastorate of the church called Bautista Buenas Nuevas de Miami on
August 13, 1978, at the head of which have remained for the past 28 years, ministering by the grace of
God to four generations of families. He had the opportunity to pursue studies in higher education with
the Theological Seminary of New York to obtain his Master's degree in professional studies of the
Ministry. Under his pastorate God has bestowed on his beloved congregation the beautiful blessing from
owning his own building. He bought as a generous legacy of the church precursor Grapeland Heights
Baptist Church.