Leonardo Simbaqueva, Hispanic Church Planter In Leavenworth, Kansas
By Eva Wilson
On this humid Sunday morning, steam appears to be rising from the parking lot at Legends, the upscale outdoor shopping mall at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. Stores still haven’t opened for the day, and only a few people roam the well-landscaped walkways. But inside the Legends 14 Theatres, an upbeat worship service is underway.
Leonardo “Leo” Simbaqueva and his wife, Michelle, take their places in the crowd of worshippers at Westside Family Church’s Speedway campus.
For Leo and Michelle, the service here is an opportunity to worship together at the beginning of a busy day of ministry. When the service ends, they make a quick exit and head up the road to Leavenworth Baptist Church, where Leo leads the Hispanic congregation.
Since the Hispanic service begins at 1:45 p.m., Leo and the musicians have the opportunity to rehearse before the service begins. Michelle takes her place in the sound/technical booth, where she will stay during the service.
Leo and Michelle came from two entirely different backgrounds. But God brought them together, and now they serve Him as a dynamic team.
A native of Colombia, Leo came to the United States about five-and-a-half years ago to study at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City and get involved in ministry. He earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering in Colombia.
David Lopez, who formerly led Hispanic work in the Kansas City area, helped Leo find a place to serve. (David and Patty Lopez are now serving with the International Mission Board in Brazil.)
Meanwhile, Michelle was actively pursuing God’s will for her life. She grew up in the Kansas City area with a unique heritage of a Chinese father from the Philippines and an American mother. She learned to speak Spanish while serving in Panama with the Peace Corps from Sept. 10, 2001, to late December 2003.
Upon returning home to Kansas City, “I was looking for a Spanish-speaking church,” Michelle recalls.
Leo was leading worship for the Emmanuel Hispanic congregation, where Michelle found a church home.
Although the two soon became interested in each other, they were still determined to seek God first.
In fact, Michelle headed for Dallas in the summer of 2005 to study linguistics with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
She told Leo, “Long-distance relationships don’t work.”
But he said, “Let’s see.”
While Michelle was in Dallas, she was wrestling with her call to international missions and her blossoming relationship with Leo. “I didn’t see our lives coming together. I was wrestling with `How can this be’?”
However, a friend helped Michelle see that she could be involved in international missions at home in the Kansas City area. And the rest, as they say, is history. Leo and Michelle were married in August 2006.