Week Six

Light for the darkness

"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life'" (John 8:12, NASB).

Abel Hernández will never forget the day he came home to find a crowd in the street near his home in Havana, Cuba. Soon he learned what all the commotion was about. Pablito, a young man in the neighborhood, had committed suicide after struggling with a drug addiction.

God used that tragedy to call Abel to minister to Cuban youth hooked on drugs and alcohol. Now a pastor, Abel has a vision to reach these young people and others struggling to survive on the streets.

"When we began acting on the vision, we understood that a young person who comes from the streets needs to return to the streets. He comes hurt and returns transformed to a new life by the Holy Spirit," Abel says.

Several nights a week Abel opens a small garage and invites people from the streets to come in for worship. Concerned about taking the Gospel to the streets, Christian young people from local churches also join the group. Together the group forms the link joining the church with the streets, Abel says.

The garage soon becomes standing room only as more young people gather to worship before going out to witness to street people. Sharing Abel's vision, these young people learn to love the outcasts of their city. "Once they have the vision, they go out on the street and also begin winning others to Christ-others who are suffering or have no purpose in life. That's how we do it," Abel explains.

After worship, Abel and his group hit the streets around midnight and stay out until about 4 a.m., sharing Christ with street people in downtown Havana and in city parks.

"We say here that the cockroaches and rats come out at night. Since that's the kind of person we're looking for, we only go out at the time they're emerging," Abel says.

As they go out to shine Christ's light into the darkness, these young believers depend upon prayer. "We're praying because we know there are people suffering in all our cities-drug addicts and prostitutes. So we're preparing ourselves to go out," says Abel.

Abel knows firsthand why that preparation is critical. Earlier in his life, "I, too, was involved in drugs and delinquency," he says. "The Lord took me out of that and called me to reach others. God is looking for others who want to honor Him."
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Sunday, April 27 - Day 36

Pray for Cuban Baptist Abel Hernández (see week 6 story) and Cuban believers who share Christ with people in the streets of Havana. Pray lost people will see there is something different about these believers. Ask the Holy Spirit to draw these street people to Christ. Ask the Lord to transform their lives and use them to bring many others to the Savior.