Ridgell's Originals

Rigo was one of those guys you just hit it off with.  His English was not real good, tho better than my Spanish.  But we managed to communicate pretty well.  He was a preacher in Honduras and helped out with a number of our Herald of Truth Central America projects.  He was a graduate of Baxter Institute and his real passion was prison ministry.  There are five active congregations that meet in the national prison system of Honduras.  Rigo is the one God used to plant those churches.

Two of my most vivid spiritual memories happened when I was with Rigo.  One of them was preaching on Easter Sunday in the prisons.  Talking about Jesus, watching Rigo talking to his friends in the prison, seeing them baptized into Christ.

The other was in the Juvenile prison when we baptized almost 20 young men into Christ.  Watching Rigo act as a father figure, seeing his love for the Lord and for those kids, listening to him asking their story as he baptized them.

And he cared about them when they were released from prison.  Rigo worked with the Reinsertion church of Christ, made up mostly of ex-offenders and families of prisoners.  I've preached there several times also.  Many of the congregations in Honduras have preachers that were converted by Rigo while they were incarcerated.

Rigo and I loved a lot of the same things:  eating at Pizza Hut, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and dogs.

But we also shared a love of Jesus, a love of lost people, and a love for those trying to follow Jesus in hard circumstances.  We shared a passion for our world to know Jesus.

One of our favorite phrases was "work, work, work."  And he did for the Kingdom.  Every day.

He was sick most of last year.  Seriously ill.  But he was doing better we thought.  I was with him for a few days about a week before he died.  We talked about Jesus, we made plans for projects to reach them, we ate together, laughed together, prayed together.

And someday we will live together for ever.

See you then Rigo.  I'll keep work, work, working, for both of us.