Two Children and a Radio Signal

This is the story of how God used an errant radio signal to reach a fatherless 12-year-old boy in a war-torn country and raise that child up in His love. It is the story of how God used that same radio signal to draw a little girl into His arms and raise her up to marry the boy. It is a story of heartbreak and hope, of dedication and determination, of reliance and revival.

Jhony Montáno was born on December 24, 1977, a night when the Afro-Colombian families of Guapi, Colombia, would have celebrated their Catholic tradition by floating “basladas”—colorfully decorated two-tiered canoe-sized boats—on the Guapi River on Christmas Eve to honor the Virgin Mary, the town’s patron saint.

He was born at a time when armed guerilla movements were active and drug lords ruled in the volatile southern portion of the Department of Cauca, Colombia, where Guapi is located.

Heartbreak and Hope

Jhony grew up in poverty—materially, psychologically, and spiritually.

“I was a child of divorce,” he said, speaking at a recent staff meeting at Love Worth Finding. “My father took my two older brothers to be with him, but he did not take me.”

On the inside, Jhony had only heartbreak: “I had a deep pain in my heart for the loss of my father.” On the outside, he would have had the attractive but empty traditions of his culture and the prospect of acceptance—at the price of his humanity—with the violent elements around him.

But God had plans to protect Jhony Montáno and to make him rich in spirit.

Like Samuel hearing God’s voice in the still of the night, Jhony’s young ears picked up a voice that came from HCJB, a high-powered shortwave radio station in Central Ecuador. The late Pastor Lenin De Janon—who for years preached the translated sermons of Pastor Adrian Rogers—represented Love Worth Finding on HCJB. Through Pastor Lenin, Pastor Rogers became for Jhony the voice of hope.

“This station was not aimed at Guapi. God made His own channel. Saturdays, when my companions were going to parties, I had an appointment with Pastor Adrian Rogers. I learned what it means for a young man to commit his heart to the Lord. This kept me from immorality, from drugs and alcohol.”

Most importantly, Jhony said, “I learned that God is my Father. He healed my heart.”

Dedication and Determination

Little did Jhony know, God had also reached his future wife, Mabely Micolta, through that same errant radio signal. “Always on December 31, my father would listen to Pastor Adrian Rogers on the radio,” Mabely said. “He was not a believer, but he insisted we listen. It was on HCJB, the ‘Voice of the Andes.’ We were listening to Pastor Adrian Rogers on the same station,” Mabely said of Jhony and herself, “but we did not know each other.”

Jhony and Mabely met in 1997 in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Guapi. They quickly discovered they had at least three things in common—salvation in Jesus Christ, a love for God’s Word, and a spiritual history that included Adrian Rogers.

“When I listened to the radio, I always said, ‘One day I want to preach the Gospel like Adrian Rogers.’” Jhony said.

“I loved listening to Adrian Rogers,” Mabely said. “It was not so much a specific message or phrase but his persistence in guiding people to study Scripture.”

Jhony and Mabely married in 1999. They both dedicated themselves to serious biblical education—Jhony studying theology and Mabely studying psychology through the Christian Alliance and both completing theology studies at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Colombia. Both are ordained pastors through the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Together, in 2002, they dedicated themselves to a small church in Popayan, the Capital of the Department of Cauca—Pastor Jhony Montáno as the teaching pastor, and Pastora Mabely Micolta as pastor to women. (NOTE: Women do not take their husbands’ last names in Colombia.)

Reliance and Revival

The enemy must have feared God’s plans for the couple because instant resistance followed.

The Iglesia Presbiteriana Cumberland Jesucristo es la Solución church had a scant 35 members when the two young pastors arrived. Immediately, half of the members left—likely, Jhony and Mabely speculated because the couple was young and darker skinned than the people around them in this northern part of Cauca.

Whatever the reason, Jhony and Mabely set their hearts on God, relying on His Word and His presence through the love of Christ to attract people to the church. Over time, that reliance resulted not only in church growth but also in revival in the Popayan community.

“We have seen God working through a process of the growth of Christianity in Colombia and the presence of migration,” Mabely said. While the city has an official population of 350,000, the recent migration of people from Venezuela brings the population closer to 45,000. “Many are looking for Jesus,” Mabely said.

Today the church that began with just a few members is the largest in the city, with more than 1,400 members and two church plants. The church focuses on Scripture, prayer, discipleship, and evangelism, with a strong emphasis on home groups. In the first quarter of this year, 500 members completed a discipleship program.

“In Popayan, there are strict class distinctions, but those distinctions don’t exist in our church,” Mabely said. “We have people in very humble positions sitting next to top officials.”

“God has given us grace,” Jhony said. “We have reached many people for the Lord.”

God also gave Jhony and Mabely the joy of helping to reach the next generation through their daughter, 16-year-old Ana Isabel Montáno, who is deeply committed to Christ and serving with the church’s youth ministry.

“By God’s grace, I am saved, I have a family, and I am working as an ordained minister,” Jhony said. “He took me from nothing and showed me He is my Father. He used a radio signal and the teaching of Adrian Rogers to guide me to the Love worth finding, Jesus Christ.”