Dr. Andrew Melendez, a native of Puerto Rico, brought the Gospel to the Spanish speaking world through The Lutheran Hour. He was named Spanish Lutheran Hour speaker in 1941, and for the succeeding thirty-one years his voice was heard throughout Latin America, Spain, and cities in the United States with Spanish-language radio stations. Melendez was instrumental in launching the Spanish magazine Noticiero Luterano (Lutheran Witness), and was editor of Spanish literature for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Melendez' messages, delivered on the Spanish Lutheran Hour, urged its listeners to be sensitive to God's mission. Dr. Melendez spoke in a different language to people of a different culture, but the call of Christ remains the same.