Antonio Castañeda Nava
Bishop President – (1929-1950) (1963-1966)
A Vision in the Night
Antonio Castañeda Nava (1892 – 1999) born October 4, 1892, in Durango’s desert in Nazas, was the third Bishop President of the Apostolic Assembly. He has the distinction of being the longest-serving Bishop President. Distinguished hymn writer Marcial de la Cruz, evangelized brother Nava and was his spiritual mentor. While looking for work one day in San Bernardino along with Pioneer de la Cruz, brother Nava was filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized on November 23, 1916. Soon after he set himself to preaching and planting churches. The Lord gave him a vision one night in 1925 that the new Apostolic Hispanic churches should organize; as such he planned the first General Convention in 1925. Bishop Nava married his wife Dolores Ochoa in 1933. His ministry crossed borders; he was instrumental in organizing the “Iglesia Apostólica” in Mexico by providing orientation to their first Bishop President, Pioneer Felipe Rivas, and credentials to Mexican ministers.
Laying the Foundations
The Ministerial Body gave its overwhelming support and vote of confidence to pioneer Nava in 1929 upon his return from México and in the wake of the Great Depression. The Lord was with Bishop Nava, his ministry had many miracles and healings. He presided over the Apostolic Assembly in the decades when the Church faced forced repatriation, terrible poverty, and the Second World War. His achievements include incorporating the Apostolic Assembly in 1930, the first Constitution, the first Hymnal, the celebration of the Apostolic Assembly’s 50th Anniversary, the International Apostolic Bible College, the auxiliaries, and the publishing of the Apostolic Herald. Pioneer Nava was also a hymn writer; he composed “El Nombre del Mesias” which is the Apostolic Assembly’s anthem. He rested in the Lord full of days at the age of 106 on August 10, 1999.
Quick Links
In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.