The man who wouldn’t quit
by Thomas Ray
In 1934, a 32-year-old Jewish woman discovered she was pregnant — her 10th pregnancy. Her plan was to obtain an abortion, just as she had with her nine previous pregnancies. But, fortunately for her unborn child, she was unable to acquire the $25 required for an abortion. On December 4, she gave birth to a baby boy she named Don Jose Espinosa.
Don’s childhood was filled with painful experiences. His father abandoned the family when Don was three, but the most painful experience of his childhood would occur when his mother would become angry and remind him that if she had been able to borrow $25, she would have aborted him. Subjected to this environment, Don became a professing atheist.
Don, sensing a lack of personal fulfillment, attempted to fill that void through alcohol and a love of gambling. However, he soon learned that the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification could not fill the emptiness in his life. In 1961, Don’s life was impacted and changed by a young Christian couple he met in a bowling league. His new friends became concerned about Don’s spiritual condition and convinced him to allow their pastor, Jeff Meek, to visit him.
Pastor Meek found Don angry and argumentative. After three hours of responding to Don’s arguments, he asked Don if he would like to pray and receive Christ as his Savior. Don received Christ into his life that day!
Not long after his conversion, Don felt called to preach the gospel. He enrolled in Baptist Bible College in 1963. There he met Cherie Loless, who would become his faithful companion and untiring co-laborer. Upon graduation in 1966, Don hoped to obtain a position on a church staff in order to gain additional experience that would equip him for the pastorate. However, he did not receive an offer. In fact, not even one pastor interviewed him.
Disappointed but not deterred, Don gathered his family and returned to Long Beach, California, and founded the Bible Baptist Church where he would minister for six and a half years.
In 1972, in response to what he believed was God’s call to the mission field, he resigned his church and he and Cherie were approved as Baptist Bible Fellowship missionaries to Argentina. After 14 months of deputation, the Espinosas had raised their support and were ready to enroll in language school. To everyone’s surprise, and especially Don’s, learning Spanish would be the biggest and most discouraging problem of his ministry. After seven months with little or no progress, he decided they would proceed to the field where Don could devote himself to learning Spanish.
Settling in Mendoza, Argentina, he hired a private tutor, but after two years of intensive study, he could barely make himself understood. This was probably the low point in Don’s ministry. He began to wonder if he had made a mistake in going to a Spanish speaking country and considered whether it would be wiser to transfer to an English speaking field. But he was determined to complete the final two years of his first term.
In 1977, he made a decision that would transform his ministry. He decided to move to San Rafael and start a church. In their home, the Espinosas founded the Temple Baptist Church. Even though Don’s Spanish was limited, he persevered and depended upon the Lord to produce results.
And God did bless. People began to commit their lives to Christ and, miraculously, Don’s ability to communicate in Spanish began to improve. However, September 26, 1981, was to be a major turning point in Don’s ministry.
The Espinosas were driving a group of young people to a church activity when a tire blew and their truck rolled over three or four times. No one was killed, but Don’s neck was broken and he was totally paralyzed. The doctor fused Don’s spine and informed him he would never walk again. But feeling began to return to his legs, and after a year of rehabilitation he returned to the field. Don believed God had spared his life for a purpose and that each day was a precious gift.
For the next 15 years, he labored relentlessly. He raised the money to build a church building, improved and expanded the Bible institute, and devoted himself to building a strong mother church in San Rafael. God blessed his efforts with thousands of conversions. Approximately 35 young men were called into the ministry. Thriving and vibrant churches were established. The church in San Rafael had a high attendance of over 1,100. An annual international youth conference was established in San Rafael that impacted thousands of young lives. Don’s work is even more remarkable when you realize there was seldom a day when he was free from pain.
In 1996, he had spinal cord surgery to relieve his suffering. In 1997, he was subjected to brain surgery, and in 1998, he was forced to undergo another spinal cord surgery. Don was now in his 60s and no one would have criticized him if he had taken a medical retirement. But he refused to quit. He returned to the field after each surgery even though he had to learn to walk again after each operation. In spite of his doctor’s efforts, his physical health continued to deteriorate, and from 1998 to 2001 he was forced to preach from his wheel chair.
In May 2001, he suffered a massive stroke which left him completely paralyzed on his right side. Don subjected himself to extensive and painful therapy with the intention of returning to Argentina. But in March 2004, he finally accepted the reality that he could not return to his beloved people. Don’s health did not stop his ministry — it only changed it. The final blow came in 2008 when Don’s doctor informed him that he had terminal bladder cancer. Although he would experience unbearable pain, his thoughts were on the people of Argentina. One of his last efforts was to raise building funds for a congregation that had outgrown their facilities.
Don left this earth November 23, 2009, but the life and ministry of Don Jose Espinosa continues through the people he won to Christ and trained.