Héctor Rodríguez, Honduran pastor, reaches out to gang members
In a neighborhood controlled by gangs, Rodríguez ministers to their families—and sometimes the men themselves.
Héctor Mauricio Rodríguez Lainez. Photo courtesy of United Methodist News Service.
Héctor Mauricio Rodríguez Lainez, pastor at Aposento Alto United Methodist Church in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, often goes walking around his neighborhood. If he sees young girls and boys, he stops and prays with them.
Prayers are especially needed in Fuerzas Unidas, an 11-block neighborhood controlled by gangs, called maras, who target children for sex and to sell drugs.
“If someone refuses to join the maras, they are given 48 hours to get out of the country or they will be killed,” Rodríguez said. “But really, they usually don’t get 48 hours.”
