Sharing God at Star City Boxing

Written by Laurie Grobman

Spoken by Luis Cintron

It was 2003 when Luis Orlando Cintron returned to Reading after almost a decade. But all that he’d accomplished in those years— a career in the Marine Corps, good jobs as an electronics technician, and a brief stint in acting – were not enough to keep him away from the streets of Reading.  

“I came back home with the idea of making money and going back to New York, but I ended up falling back into selling drugs and a lot of illegal activity. For about a year, it was pretty bad back here in Reading. I had 12 guys outside of my apartment trying to stick me up and altercations. I was being watched. I knew I was being watched.” 

Then he got a call from his uncle, Luis Enrique Cintron, that his cousin, Emanuel Cintron, drowned in an accident while in the Army, one week before he was leaving for Iraq. It was 2004. Luis left his home in Reading to help his uncle and aunt in New Jersey. Their English wasn’t great, and Luis wanted to help them navigate the Army as they tried to retrieve their son’s body and learn more about his death. There, Luis met Pastor Tony Cuellar at the Emanuel Bible Church, learned about Jesus, and began the path that would completely change his life. Luis wants others to be saved, and that’s a big reason Luis is one of the main supporters of Star City Boxing. 

Pastor Cuellar was helping the family to plan Emanuel’s funeral. One day, he asked Luis a question: “Luis, if you were to die today, where do you think you'd go?” 

Luis replied: “I would go to hell because I'm a pretty bad guy.”  

Pastor Cuellar then exposed Luis to Jesus and his teachings. Luis learned that he was not alone in his sins, since the Bible says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and we're all in need of a savior. As Luis explains, “Pastor Cuellar told me who Christ was and that he died for my sins and that if I believed in him, I could have everlasting life and that God would forgive me my sins.” Luis was not yet convinced. He asked the pastor many questions, such as why, when there are so many religions, “what makes you right?” Pastor Cuellar “just kept going to God’s word, kept opening up the Bible and saying, ‘Well, this is what the Bible says.’” 

As he lay awake later that night, Luis “just rolled over in my bed and it was like God was just telling me, you can go back to Reading and I can take your life. I could kill you. You could die on the streets. You could go to jail for a long time, you know, for the stuff I was involved in. Or you can live for me.” 

Knowing that “there was nothing else to live for,” Luis called Pastor Cuellar at 1:00 am to tell him “I’m ready” and asking what he needed to do. The pastor met Luis in the church five minutes later and opened the Bible and asked Luis to confess his sins. Luis says he didn’t know what to say or how to talk to God. That pastor told him to just talk, for God is listening. And this man who had not cried for years, despite losing everything, “I just started bawling and sobbing like a baby. Sobbing and sobbing and sobbing. And at the end I thought the pastor was going to tell me, to say like, ‘Jesus saves, buddy, but you're too far gone.’” But the pastor said the opposite, telling him that if he gives his life to Jesus, “God won’t see you as that cruel evil criminal. He sees his son, Jesus.” 

Luis walked away “a changed man” and returned to Reading. His lifelong friend, Alex Betances, let Luis stay in one of his apartments in exchange for maintenance. A month later, Luis told Alex he needed to leave Reading to become a part of the Emanuel Bible Church, where Pastor Cuellar had told him there would be a place for him.  

Luis spent his time studying with Pastor Cuellar, and then left for Lancaster Bible College to study pastoral ministry. Here Luis met Esther, the woman he would marry in 2008; he obtained his degree, and after his fiancé earned her master's degree, they returned to Emanuel Bible Church in NJ. Now, Luis was a co-pastor with Roberto Gualan, who remains a close friend. Pastor Cuellar had moved to another church, and they also have remained friends. Esther, by then his fiancée, lived in the church parsonage while Luis lived with his uncle for several months, and then they married and moved into the parsonage, remaining for another four and a half years. 

Until Luis was called by God to return to Reading.  

But Luis was hesitant. He had left and returned to Reading many years earlier, and it had not gone well. As a teen, Luis became embittered by his experiences with bullying in one of the local suburban school districts. When his parents divorced and moved back to Reading, he found the streets attractive. “You see other people. Street life can be alluring. Women, fast cars, money, respect.” In fact, he was in Berks County Prison at age 18 when he decided to join the Marines. Luis talks about his parents as good, hard-working people. Yet he couldn’t resist street life.  

Luis loved being in the Marine Corps: “It was great. At that point I felt like that was my salvation, in the sense they'd saved me from the streets, they'd saved me from going to jail. It taught me that I could do anything I put my mind to. Left with a feeling of invincibility because you do so much that normal people don't do. But it also gave me pride in my country, my service. I loved it. I try to always really guide young children to the military. I think it's a really good help for them. In four or five years they can learn a lot more than they would in college. Five years, active duty.” 

But after five years in the Marines and five years working as an electronics technician, Luis went back to Reading. And despite all that he’d accomplished, he went back to the streets. Until his cousin died. 

So, the decision to return to Reading again, despite that he had changed his life completely, was not easy. He was afraid until he realized he was a new creation of God with a new heart. Yet Luis says that each day he must take steps toward God and to think about how he lives every aspect of his life. Luis and Esther prayed about moving to Reading, talked about it, and got counsel from a lot of people. They understood that God was calling him back here to be part of the good that there is in the city and to bring Christ to the community.  

“I love the city, and I think there's just a lot of amazing people and children and amazing stories. And there's also a lot of people that are lost and a lot of people that are looking in all the wrong places for affirmation and love and acceptance. I know that answer is through God and through Jesus Christ and what he gave and what he sacrificed on the cross for all of us.” 

Luis and Esther made the decision that Luis would no longer pastor. Instead, his full-time vocation became construction, which gave him more time to minister to more people, friends, family, and the church. He and Esther do not care about money; they care about serving God.  

Luis and Esther live with their three young children in the south part of Reading, a neighborhood that needed them. At present, after nine years, they have rehabilitated a few properties and attracted families there. They attend Christ Community Church in Reading. They do a summer program at Neversink playground and try to really be a part of people's lives.  

Luis and Esther run a ministry at 16th and Haak Elementary School. In this free, after school Bible program every Wednesday, children learn about Jesus Christ and the Bible through music, song, dance, and more. They play games, eat snacks, and smile a lot. And they receive love, attention, and stability. Luis also hopes that the children’s parents will become involved in church.  

And that is also why Luis is involved with Star City Boxing. Founder Alex Betances is like a brother to Luis, and Luis is so proud of the work Alex and his family do with Star City. Luis knows how important it is for the kids and adults to have Star City. The kids learn discipline, get mentoring, and work out. They get off the streets. Luis and Esther provide support in whatever ways they can, often through both financial support and labor, given their construction business. They helped renovate the building when Alex first opened the gym. He helps pay for the young boxers to attend tournaments and to buy equipment. “Wherever there's a need, we try to be there as much as we can.” He wants to see others “understand the good things that are happening here” and get involved with whatever gifts they have to share. 

Luis also recognizes that boxing is a productive activity for children and adults. When he talks about his past, he states, “I was a fighter. I was mean.” But “every time I fought, it was just street fighting. Never boxing.” Boxing is different. He believes in the kids and young men and women at Star City. “I'm so proud of them. Guys like Steven and the younger ones as well. They just work really, really hard. It takes a lot to go into the ring. It takes a lot of sacrifice for them.” Luis also counsels the boxers to love their opponents, despite what happens in the ring. 

He also prays for the boxers’ safety, their hearts, and their training. The very real hardships they face in their lives can affect their mindset. Luis “prays for the turmoil they may be in and what they're going through, so that they can, when they're there, they can fight their best and be in sound mind.” 

Luis’s main role at Star City Boxing and in all aspects of his life is to tell others about God. He says, “God is why I live and breathe. I have to share it.” Luis takes every opportunity he can to counsel members of the gym about God. Luis will counsel kids that God says we are to honor and love our parents, and Luis counsels parents that God tells them they must be responsible for their children. Luis sees himself as proof that God can save anyone and everyone, and that is the most important message he shares.