Louis Torres

Article issues
cleanup=September 2007
notability=September 2007
refimprove=July 2008Pastor Louis R. Torres is an internationally acclaimed Seventh-day Adventist speaker, author, trainer, and musician from Puerto Rico.

Early Life

Torres was born in Puerto Rico. His brothers and mother immigrated to New York City in the United States when he was five years old. Torres became involved in gymnastics when he was young. When the thrill of that wore off he looked for more and eventually formed a band, Donny and the Twilights, with some friends. [http://louistorres.org/about2.htm] Torres was the bass guitarist of the band. He did not initially know how to play the guitar and did not have the money for lessons. To learn how to play he acquired a guitar and would try to mimic the sounds that he heard listening to records. Donny and the Twilights was a success until the lead singer died of a drug overdose.

Rock and Roll Career

After the first band folded Torres joined another group called the Vampires. This band did relatively well in the New York City area. While a part of the Vampires Torres was noticed by Bill Haley, who was looking for a bass player for his band Bill Haley and the Comets. Torres joined the band in 1967. [http://www.rockabillyhall.com/Extra2.html] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2593742/Inside-Rock-Music]

Conversion to Christianity

The Comets were scheduled to do a European tour in 1968. Prior to the tour Torres went home to New York. While there Torres' brother witnessed to Torres about his new found faith as a Seventh-day Adventist. Realizing that his brother had something that he was missing Torres began to study the Bible and soon was baptized into Seventh-day Adventist Church. After his baptism, Torres quit the band. Shortly after his conversion he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as a medic. [http://www.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=173533]

Pastoral Career

After returning from Korea, Torres became a pastor in the Seventh-day Adventist church. He has served as a pastor across the United States and as a missionary pastor in Palau. He also served as an evangelist and church administrator. After serving as an administrator Torres joined the multimedia ministry Amazing Facts as Vice-President of Evangelism. During that time Torres and his wife Carol were able to fulfill a long time dream of starting an evangelism training school. In 1995 they moved to South Dakota to form Mission College of Evangelism. [http://www.gleaneronline.org/101/1/27615.html]

Mission College of Evangelism

Torres was the first to pioneer a three-and-a-half-month training program with the college, which has since been followed with evangelist training centers such as ARISE Academy by David Asscherick, and Amazing Facts Bible School by Pastor Doug Batchelor

This training institution was created to develop successful evangelists, lay evangelists, pastors and Bible workers.

As part of the Mission College program Torres also coordinated an evanglism summer camp for high school called Youth for Jesus. [http://www.adventistreview.org/2000-1551/story3.html] [http://www.adventistreview.org/2001-1537/news.html]

Pastor Louis Torres, through Mission College of Evangelism, has created other evangelism training schools in Germany and Switzerland, and travels all over the world preaching with several of his evangelists-in-training. [http://www.spectrummagazine.org/blog/2008/02/07/adventist_news_paulsen_bloomberg_tv]

Through the college thousands have been baptized as well.Fact|date=November 2007

References

External links

* [http://louistorres.org/ Louis Torres] (official website)
* [http://www.mission-college.org/ Mission College of Evangelism]
* [http://jewel.andrews.edu:82/search/aTorres+Louis Articles by Torres] as cataloged in the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index (SDAPI)