What can a 10 year old boy do? Not much! Right? Wrong! Ask Fabio Betancourth.
It all started with a cheap guitar—-a gift from a Christian lady ( and a lover of music) to a ten year old boy living in Choluteca, Honduras. The lad, Fabio Betancourth, was enamored with the stringed instrument. He plucked and plinked by the hour until he could sing simple gospel tunes and accompany himself with melodious guitar chords. When a local radio station owner heard Fabio sing, he was invited to sing every Sunday morning on a live two-hour radio program. Within weeks, Fabio had not only charmed the locals with his songs but had learned to run the station as well.

Disaster struck when, at age twelve, the once Christian family fell apart. His parents divorced, his mother moved out, and soon his father departed leaving Fabio and his sister aged, sixteen, to fend for themselves. When his sister left, Fabio continued on alone. He went to school, he sang in a band, and he played at parties. In other words—he survived.

Sixteen was the turning point in Fabio’s life. A friend invited Fabio back to church. When Fabio decided to surrender his empty life to Christ, the hidden anger and bitterness disappeared. Serving Christ became Fabio’s passion. Before high school ended, Fabio interned at the largest shrimp company in Honduras. His excellent spirit, impressive work ethic, skills and dependability landed Fabio a high-paying accounting job which filled his physical needs, but the desire to minister consumed him.

At age 20, Fabio began a weekly live youth broadcast on Jesus is My Friend Radio. (His future wife’s brother accepted Christ after listening to the teen program.) He sang in churches and was often invited to sing in Christian concerts with Ricardo Rodriguez, Rene Gonzalez and Karl Behar—until he became uncomfortable with some of the music choices. When Missionary Antonio Inestroza invited Fabio to sing in evangelistic crusades, he agreed. They started having nightly services for three weeks at a time.

At age 22, Fabio made his final break with the music industry. After he won a regional Christian singers’ competition (think “America’s Got Talent “) and produced an album of his own songs, opportunities with Univision and Enlace TV enticed him.

“God made his will very plain,” Fabio revealed. “God told me, “I don’t want a singer who preachers; I want a preacher who sings!”

In the last two decades, Fabio graduated from Landmark Baptist College in Haines City, Florida, pastored the Spanish church at Bible Baptist Church in Bradenton, Florida, planted a church in California, and returned three years ago to pastor the Bradenton congregation again.

Considering all of his life experiences, Fabio Betancourth is uniquely qualified to be the director of CRI’s Spanish Division of Ministry, specifically the master Spanish station, Radio La Luz Latina, ( The Latin Light), where his wife, Claudia, and three daughters are also involved in singing, producing, and “running the boards”.

And to think—it started with a child-sized guitar.