Reverend Martin L. Espinosa was born and raised on the Caribbean twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago where he received his early education in the Catholic school system.  Reverend Espinosa accepted Christ as his personal Savior at the age of thirteen, during a summer Inter-School Christian Fellowship Bible Camp.  He currently lives in Nashville, TN where he shares his life and his love with Rev. Dr. Renita J. Weems.  They have an adult daughter, Savannah Nia.
 

Raised in a home environment that valued academic preparation for one’s life work, Rev. Espinosa came to the U.S. at 20 years old to study Bible and Theology at American Baptist College in Nashville, TN where he graduated summa cum laude.  He continued his studies by earning his Masters of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University Divinity School where he focused on Homiletics (Preaching) and later did further work on a M.A./Ph.D. in Homiletics and Ethics.

Though raised when he was a young boy in the Catholic Church, Rev. Espinosa joined the Baptist Church when he was a teenager and was later baptized at Mt. Pleasant Independent Baptist Church in Trinidad.  According to him, he left the church of his youth for the Baptist Church because he was drawn to the church’s vibrant worship and emphasis on deliverance.  In 1984 he accepted God’s call upon his life to become a minister and would go on to be ordained by the Bethel Baptist Church in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

​Reverend Martin L. Espinosa is Senior Pastor of the Ray Of Hope Community Church in Nashville, TN, which he co-founded in 1997 with his wife Rev. Dr. Weems.  They co-pastor the church together in Nashville.  Ray Of Hope’s commitment is to be a community church with a global outreach that invests its time, talent, and treasure in kingdom building everywhere.  Reverend Espinosa’s particular ministry interest lies in the area of preaching healing and deliverance to people who have been hurt, hindered or left without hope in this rapidly changing world.  His passion to see God’s people delivered from personal demons and larger systems of evil that oppress God’s people has made him a highly sought-after preacher and teacher both in and outside the U.S.  Reverend Espinosa speaks widely on issues related to family relationships, fatherhood, male sexuality, male-female relationships, childhood sexual abuse, and the relationship between male spirituality and sexuality.  He has gained national recognition for his insightful preaching and unambiguous teaching of the gospel.

Reverend Martin L. Espinosa is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., Mu Gamma Chapter and holds a 5th degree black belt in hapkido.​

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