Bio

Martín and Linda Valcarcel joyfully served the Master for 38 years in Spain. 

Martín was born into a strong Roman Catholic home in southern Spain. When he was 17, Martín’s father died, leaving him to provide for the family. He became a waiter on a cruise ship where he met a couple from Decatur, Alabama. The couple was very kind. Martín reminded the couple of their own son, who had just passed away. After the week of serving them on the ship, the couple asked whether he would like to come to Alabama and live with them. Martín happily accepted. Through reading the Bible in Spanish while he was there and attending a Bible church, he trusted Christ. From the moment he was saved, Martín knew that the Lord wanted him to return to Spain and tell “his people” of God’s marvelous grace. He attended Grand Rapids Bible College to prepare for the ministry. While he was studying, he met Linda, and they were married shortly thereafter.

The Valcarcels arrived in Barcelona, Spain, in 1974. They immediately began the work of evangelizing those around them and founded Hebron Valley Bible church. Martín also played an important role in starting two other daughter churches in the Barcelona area and a youth camp—Camp Ebenezer. 

In 2012, God burdened Martín and Linda to leave their ministry in Spain, to begin a ministry to Hispanics in Decatur, Alabama—where Martín himself had been saved many years earlier as a Spanish-speaking immigrant. In addition to the Hispanic ministry, Martín has a weekly Bible study at a local jail, and Linda leads ladies’ Bible studies. They also maintain active relationships with church members back in Spain, where the work of spreading the Gospel continues under their son’s leadership.