Our biography
My name is Esteban Rodriguez, I was born on October 29, 1986 in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
For most of my life I have lived in Eagle Pass, Texas and am a United States Resident. I am the youngest of four siblings.
God gave me the blessing of growing up in a Christian family. My parents are pastors and they gave each of us solid Biblical teaching according the Word of God. Growing up in a Christian environment and under the guidance of my parents, I’ve learned how wonderful it is to serve God and live a life according to His will.
Music has been an important part of my life. I remember the first musical instrument that I started to play was an old drum set that my grandfather had given me. I didn’t have a musical teacher that showed me how to play the drums but somehow, God gave me the ability to play. Through my worship through music I have been able to establish a strong relationship with Christ.
At age 10, I started to play the drums in the church worship team. Every opportunity to rehearse and play was a joy because it was a time of praise and worship to our creator. Wanting to discover more about music, I took guitar and bass lessons in a music school.
This helped to prepare me for the plan that God has for my life. One weekend our church worship leader had to go out of state for a family emergency. He asked me to lead the praise and worship on the following Sunday service. Even though I had never done this before I was eager to say “yes”. When the Sunday service started and I saw the people being blessed while worshiping, my life was completely changed. I knew then that this was His plan for my life.
One day as I was having my quiet time with the Lord, he made me understand that praise and worship is not only singing about Jesus Christ, but it is the tool He has given us to inspire people to seek intimacy and a better relationship with Him.
During my Jr. High years many of my school friends encouraged me to play sports in school. Instead, my passion for leading worship caused me to want to say “no” to all other opportunities. God created us to make a difference with other that don’t know Him. And so, instead of being involved in school sports and extra curricular activities I felt led to begin a Christian band. While many of my friends where on sport trips I was sharing the gospel with this band from place to place.
Upon graduation from High School I had to decide what I would do with the rest of my life. There were several things that I was interested in such as graphic designing, and recording studio engineering. After much prayer I felt God calling me to become a Music Pastor. I then enrolled at Mid America Christian University (a Church of God Bible College) and began my degree program. I completed 2 years as a music major at MACU. Due to some medical issues with my arm I had to undergo surgery. The surgery and recovery caused me to delay my studies and I had to miss a year of school. During that year I was given the opportunity to become the worship leader at two congregations. As I worked with these congregations (Eagle Pass, TX and Piedras Negras, Mexico) I felt great joy. I was putting everything that I’d learned at MACU into practice in both congregations.
When it was time for a new semester of school to begin I didn’t want to leave these ministries. I found a local Christian Bible university where I finished my degree while still leading worship at the Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras churches.
The Piedras Negras Church was well known in focusing in community outreach. They had many events. During one of these outreach events for young people I met a beautiful young lady who attended this concert. Her name was Debhora Lugo. We became friend that soon developed into a serious relationship. She became my wife a year later.
Debhora is 23 years old and she was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
She’s the second of a family of 3 brothers and grew up in a Christian family where her parents guided her to love and serve God. From her early years she has had the passion to serve in children’s ministries. This calling and commitment lead her to become the director of the Children’s ministry in her local church. As a director of the children’s department she had the opportunity to take different courses in drama, choreography, arts, and Bible teaching classes . These experiences increased her knowledge and capacity to work with children.
It was important to her to study to refine her skills. Her formal education, Business Administration, has also enhanced her abilities to organize ministries.
One of the highlights of our lives together was when I was invited to the Church of God International Youth Convention 2008 to lead worship with my worship group, The Kadosh Band. We had never imagined that this event would open wonderful opportunities of ministry to us. A couple of weeks later I received an unexpected call from Pastor Hector Gonzalez from Glendale, Arizona offering me the opportunity to become their full time music pastor.
On December 31, 2008 we arrived to Glendale AZ, with great expectations and fully committed to God willing to serve our best in his ministry knowing that this was something that God wanted for us to do there. We knew that we were not alone. God is in control of our lives.
We desire to always be open to serve the Lord wherever he leads us. We know that when we serve Him He rewards us with better opportunities. Our goal in life is to go where He sends us and do what He calls us to do.