Manrique and Rebekah serve the Lord in Berwyn, IL, a mostly Hispanic suburb of Chicago. In 2023, after sixteen years of serving together in Manrique’s native country, Costa Rica, their church plant (Familia de Fe) commissioned them to serve in Emmanuel Bible Church, a multi-ethnic, English-Spanish-speaking congregation. As lead pastor, Manrique is working to re-establish the health of this church through the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine, deep discipleship of its members, and the theological training of the elders. He believes the expositional teaching of God’s Word will equip the church to fulfill its mission to make disciples who make disciples. He and the elders share a vision of ongoing church planting in the surrounding areas, and the fervent desire to support God’s mission to the world. Rebekah began a bi-lingual women’s ministry in the church and is currently studying to become certified as an ACBC biblical counselor. She has a vision for equipping women to teach, mentor, and counsel other women using a Titus 2 model. 

During their years in Costa Rica, the Lord allowed them to plant two churches. Manrique also served as a homiletics professor at ESEPA seminary in San Jose where he held the Ramesh Richards Chair of Biblical Preaching from 2017 to 2022. He also served on the Board of Trustees of ESEPA seminary from 2016 to 2022. He traveled throughout Central America with IBAC (Bible Institutes of Central America), providing theological training to pastors who do not have access to traditional seminary training. Rebekah led the women’s ministry in their church plant, taught bible studies, spoke at multiple women’s conferences, and served as a biblical counselor. 

Manrique received his Civil Engineering degree from the University of Costa Rica. After becoming a believer at the age of 24, Manrique began to serve as a Bible teacher in his church and in a para-church ministry to Catholics. In 2006, he began his graduate studies in theology at Columbia International University, where he met Rebekah. In 2021 he received a Doctorate in Ministry from Phoenix Seminary. 

Rebekah was saved in her last year of high school and soon after felt convicted by the Lord to prepare for missions. She studied Bible at Columbia International University (CIU) and has her Masters in Intercultural Studies and TEFL. Prior to marrying, she worked as a TEFL teacher to immigrants and made two short-term trips to Central Asia where she served as an English teacher in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Rebekah immigrated to Costa Rica in 2007, a day after she and Manrique were married. 

Manrique and Rebekah are blessed to have three children: Gabriel, Isabel, and David.