Our Call

I had the privilege of meeting Beryl Green for the first time, in 1998 when I preached at Takapuna Assembly of God, in New Zealand. I remember her coming up to me straight after the meeting and introducing herself. She looked frail and could hardly move as she pushed her walker towards me. However, she lacked no determination and inner strength as she passionately described the work of God in Panama. Taking a firm grip on my arm, she then told me how I absolutely needed to go and preach in Panama! That was my first encounter with Beryl Green.

In the years that preceded her promotion to glory, I had a few more opportunities to talk to her and pray with her. My last recollection of Beryl was when she asked me to pray for her – that the Lord would restore her health just enough to get back to Panama and die there. Up until the last moments of her life, Beryl’s heart was with her ‘boys’ (as she affectionately called her disciples) in Panama.

Shortly after Beryl Green’s passing away, I had the immense privilege of traveling for the first time to Panama and of meeting many of the great men of God she taught in the different provinces. While interviewing them about Hermana Cristina Green (as she is known in Panama) many could not contain their tears -among those, the current General secretary of the Assemblies of God, Pastor Julio Valdes.

In subsequent trips, Julio Valdes took me through many of the areas where she worked and I met many of the pastors and leaders she raised. As a result of her work, there are today hundreds of pastors and hundreds of churches throughout this Central American country. In a remote jungle area called Quebrada de Agua, some 5000 Ngöbe Bugle Indians come for an annual conference (this was also part of her work from the early days). She had a strong affection for the indigenous peoples of Panama, from the Embera tribesman near the border with Costa Rica to the Mogue in the jungles adjacent to Colombia.

The Bible schools she founded in different areas still graduate many each year. Beryl’s last dream was to start a Bible School in the province of Darien, in Meteti. When she passed away, Julio started construction and today, a Bible school, a primary school and a Church are there to serve that whole area from the banks of the Rio Iglesia (Church River!) to Yaviza, land of the Mogue Indians.

Her legacy lives on. To continue that legacy, the “Green Hope Foundation” (not the foundation with the same name in the USA) was started by Pastor Valdes. He was one of her closest associates and a real son in the faith. Julio picked up her mantle and the vision to minister to the indigenous people of Panama. The Foundation continues to feed and clothe the poor, build schools, providing health care, opening churches and supports local pastors. All this work happens in areas of difficult access, often villages tucked away in some corner of the jungle and most of the time in places that only boats reach.

Beryl Green was an amazing lady, strong and anointed of God for extraordinary exploits in Central America. Yet, she never boasted about the true dimension of her work. Most who knew her in New Zealand had no idea of how big her influence and ministry was among the Panamanians. She did not say much about her work at all – except that she loved ‘those little Indians’ as she so affectionately called them sometimes. I had to go there and see for myself the magnitude of her achievements in God. She was used of God in an extraordinary way! I feel tremendously inspired every time I visit that country and interact with the people whose lives were touched by Beryl Green.