He asked me to share it with him and then he said , “ We ’ re having Communion this morning . I want you to teach it to the church .” That was the start .
[ WM ] Yet despite your prolific impact upon worship , you pursued academia and serving in the public school system for many years . In a church culture that often esteems ministry positions above temporal jobs , why did you choose the route that you took ? Do you consider your educational career as an act of worship ?
[ Eddie ] Most definitely . First of all , I had some opportunities to travel and go on the road with different bands and later as a worship “ artist ”, but I never felt comfortable with the idea of being away from my family for long . As a young man , I read a book by Juan Carlos Ortiz , an Argentine Pastor , titled Teacher Called Disciple . In his book , I learned the Ephesians model that God had given the five ministries to “ equip the saints , for the work of ministry ”. It was in 1975 that I first heard the concept . In it he related a story about a man in his church who wanted to be in full time ministry , but he worked for General Motors . He was so wanting to leave his job so that he could become a minister . Juan Carlos explained to him that God had placed him at General Motors to meet his expenses in order to be a full-time minister at General Motors and everywhere else . It changed my life along with the fact that the pastor that led me to the Lord was a bi-vocational pastor who worked hard all week as a mechanic for a local milk dairy and delivery business . He kept all of the trucks running and would come home to lead services in the county jail , the youth group , the prayer meetings , Bible study and Sunday Services . He modeled Paul ’ s tentmaking to support himself in the ministry . Except for the twelve years that I was on staff at the Vineyard Anaheim , I always was bi-vocational . In fact , I was asked to join the staff at the church , but I delayed it for two years because being in education , I had summers off , two weeks at Christmas , a week at Easter and other holidays off and I didn ’ t need to be a financial burden on the church . The freedom that I feel now is that I don ’ t have to worry whether or
not someone is going to hand me an envelope with a check after a time of ministry or teaching that I ’ ve done . It helps to keep my heart focused .
[ WM ] Eddie , your work as a counselor , teacher , and administrator in the school system has afforded you daily access in speaking in both English and Spanish . You ’ ve carried this over into your worship writing and leading through bilingual services . I see this as a great gifting from God . What can you tell us about your fluency in two languages and the opportunities that being bi-lingual opens up for you ?
[ Eddie ] I ’ m blessed that my parents were both from Mexico but migrated to Los Angeles shortly after World War II . I was born in East L . A . and only spoke Spanish at home and in the neighborhood . Before going to Kindergarten , my English teachers were Elvis , the Everly Brothers , Bugs Bunny , Capt . Kangaroo , Ricky Ricardo and Popeye ! I didn ’ t speak very much because I was so self-conscious of my accent at first . By second grade , I started getting teachers commenting on my report cards that I “ talked too much ”. I guess I was making up for lost time . My Dad was very strict about us continuing to speak Spanish at home so that we wouldn ’ t lose the ability to speak with our grandparents and family in Mexico when we ’ d visit during our vacations . The church I went to as a young convert was a Spanish speaking congregation and I was heavily involved in Mexico ministry trips as a teen . In fact , the first ever worship song that I wrote was “ Con Mis Labios ”, which became one of the coritos ( little choruses ) that are often sung in medley worship times in the seventies . It has always been easier for me to express the deeper emotions in Spanish . It ’ s funny that a couple of my Vineyard songs were actually written first in Spanish and I translated them into English . Being bilingual has opened up lots of doors for ministry , primarily to help build bridges between cultures . I really believe that some of God ’ s purpose for me being so involved with different English-speaking churches and ministries , was to break stereotypes of what a Latino is . I ’ ve also seen , heard and experienced some of the insensitivity that some in the church have toward the Latino . It breaks my heart at times , and I ’ m sure that it breaks the heart of God . Mexican Americans are a lot like what the Apostle Paul says about being all things to all people . You ’ re not fully accepted by either culture , either because you don ’ t have the ‘ perfect ’ accent or because of negative stereotypes of either group .
Ministry opportunities are endless living in