MISSIONARY SPOTLIGHT: GREG TORRES
Greg Torres
1060 Palisado Ave.
Windsor, CT 06095-1434
gtorres@bcne.net
 Greg Torres was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York in his late teens. At the age of 18, he moved to Hartford, Conn., and began working for a heating and air conditioning company. Working his way up through the company, he became a manager overseeing a million dollar budget.
Greg’s success as an employee spilled over into his ownership of a nightclub. Success had its price, though. Working both his day job and at the nightclub, he neglected his wife, Angie, and their three sons. In 1985, Angie left him and planned to file for divorce.
Such was the catalyst for Greg to consider the true value of success. “It made me think of my own parents’ divorce and how bitter I was from that experience,” said Greg. “I talked to my mother. She had become a Christian a few years before and had been praying for my family. I told her I needed help, and she asked her pastor to come visit me. I didn’t know anything about God. I didn’t attend church, but I agreed to have him visit.”
While that visit with the pastor did not lead to Greg making a decision for Christ, it did plant a seed in his heart. A month later, while listening to a missionary evangelist speak on television, Greg said the prayer to invite Jesus into his life. He remembers still the peace that filled him at that moment.
“I called Angie and told her about the decision and that I was going to go to church,” said Greg. “She was skeptical, but I began going to church and getting involved. I began to pray that God would restore my marriage. I sold the nightclub and people began to see the change in me. A few months later, Angie called and said she was coming home!”
Though she did not immediately attend church with Greg, Angie did see him go every Sunday. Soon she started visiting the worship service and finally attended Sunday School. At one service, she accepted Christ. Greg was thrilled.
“We became active in the church, and I felt God telling me to go to seminary extension classes. When the pastor left the church a few years later, the church asked me to become interim. I told them I didn’t have a theology background, but they told me I had something special in my life. Eighteen months later, the pastor search committee came to me and asked me to submit my resume for consideration as pastor. I had been working at the heating and air conditioning company for more than 20 years, with great benefits and an excellent salary. Yet, Angie and I knew we had to pray for God’s will and direction. Afterwards, I submitted my resume to the church, and they called me to be pastor.
“When I gave my company notice, my boss was sad. He told me, ‘If God is calling you, we cannot stop you.’” Still, they asked Greg to keep the key and come back if he ever wanted to.
Becoming pastor of Primera Eglesia Bautista was a blessing for Greg and the congregation. After embarking on a property purchase and extensive renovation that took more than five years, Greg felt God’s leadership to move on to another ministry. When he was approached by the Baptist Convention of New England to consider becoming a church planter missionary, Greg and Angie prayed and felt God’s leadership to seek appointment. Today, as a missionary, Greg works with four associations in New England helping start churches among a variety of ethnic groups.
“Right now we are celebrating a Brazilian church that started a year ago in Connecticut. We are connecting with a Hispanic work in Danbury and starting a new Spanish-speaking church in Waterbury.”
As many church planters do, Greg is active in prayerwalking and seeking where God is working and finding “persons of peace” who are willing to host and start Bible studies in the community. As new churches are started, Greg’s role is as an encourager to them and a mentor to their pastors. He is also always looking for new church planters.
One example of finding new church planters is Charlie Faria. Greg met Charlie, then a lay leader, in New Hampshire. Charlie was a Brazilian and felt God wanting him to be a church planter. “I was able to help Charlie in the process of discovering if he indeed would be an effective planter,” Greg said. “We then explored the possibility of a new Brazilian congregation in Hartford. Charlie became the pastor of that new work. With more than 45 people attending the church now, it’s encouraging to see the growth and community outreach.”
Angie is supportive and involved in Greg’s work. “She has been my right hand,” said Greg. “Her love for ministry even led her to take seminary classes so she could be a more effective worship leader in the church. Her health challenges, which includes diabetes, has slowed her down, but her love and commitment to ministry is strong.”
Pray for Angie’s healing and strength. Pray for Greg as he suffered a heart attack in 1996 and had to have a bypass. “I am traveling 2,000 miles a month,” Greg said. “I need strength and I want to remain submissive to God and be faithful to His calling on my life.”
MISSIONARY SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVE | 
