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By Jessica Berry
Throughout history, brave men and women of God have taken on important missions without even having the tools needed to accomplish them. On many occasions, those who answered the calling were the ones who had to create those tools and resources needed to finish the task.
That’s the story of evangelist Dr. Luis A. Díaz-Pabón who is celebrating 48 years in ministry and the recently released La Biblia del Pescador, Edición Liderazgo (The Fisherman’s Bible, Leadership Edition). On Thursday, March 3, at 7 p.m. (CST), Lifeway Equipa will host an exclusive interview with Díaz-Pabón and journalist Amarilis Rivera. They will be discussing the challenges of leading a church in today’s culture and how Dr. Díaz-Pabón has navigated ministry over the past four decades. Watch the interview at https://bit.ly/entrevistaexclusivadrpabon.
At the beginning of his ministry, Díaz-Pabón could not find a Bible in Spanish that had all the resources he needed for ministry. He was looking for a compact tool that would allow him to “fish for men” in a productive and effective way. He wanted to be able to answer a new believer’s questions right away without them needing to purchase a concordance or having to consult three other reference books to find the answers.
As an evangelist, he had traveled and witnessed a “world in crisis.” This moved him to constantly challenge the “church of our Lord to respond with urgency to this world in crisis, and to go and rescue it” with the message of salvation, as he explains in the introduction to the Fishermen’s Bible. He also recognized the need for a tool to accomplish God’s mandate in Matthew 4:19-20 “to follow Him,” to get to know Him and understand His Word.
The passion to see the body of Christ mature to the “fullness of Christ” has served as the fuel that allowed his boat to keep sailing for 48 years throughout storms and great waves of harvest. Twenty-seven of those years have also been spent navigating the waters of reading, studying, writing, editing and equipping others to help the local church fulfill God’s mandate.
In 2013, Díaz-Pabón saw the completion of a life-long dream when Lifeway Christian Resources published the first edition of the Biblia del Pescador (Fisherman’s Bible) in the King James 1960 Version. The net he was desperately looking for 27 years ago, was being formed right there in his boat.
Since then, millions of lives have been touched and strengthened by the Biblia del Pescador, along with numerous study resources and digital tools.
The Biblia del Pescador (Fisherman’s Bible) has been the recipient of multiple awards in the Christian publishing industry. The success that followed Díaz-Pabón’s obedience was unexpected. The multiplication of his dedication and efforts has been highly commendable.
Eight years later, after that first edition in 2013, Díaz-Pabón has continued the legacy of his life work, and the Biblia del Pescador has now being translated into Portuguese and published in three more versions (KJV 1960 in 2013 and 2021, NTV in 2015 and NIV in 2019).
This past November, Díaz-Pabón reached another milestone by creating a new leader edition of the Biblia del Pescador with the intention of equipping leaders and those who want to go deeper into God’s Word. The Biblia del Pescador, Edicion Liderazgo includes more resources, sermon outlines, study guides and informative sections, to bring a complete tool for the ever-growing believer and also for the mature leader who is passionate about equipping the next generation of ministers and servants of the body of Christ.
Díaz-Pabón is excited to share how la Biblia del Pescador, Edicion Liderazgo is going to help church leaders serve and lead others safely into the depth of the sea of God’s truth, with the right guidance and tools.
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Jessica Berry is a bilingual educator and a writer for the blog of Lifeway Recursos.
