Biography

Music did not come easily at first for Lisbeth Melgar. "When I was in High School, the other girls used to berate me whenever I tried singing in front of an audience," she recalled. But her weaknesses only made her more determined to improve. As a little girl she had enjoyed dancing while her father earned his living singing and playing the guitar at parties. Yet when this humble family in Morazán, El Salvador discovered the message of salvation through faith in Christ, Lisbeth gave up secular ballads to sing Christian hymns with her dad. She was only nine years old when she decided that she wanted to be baptized.

After her High School graduation Lisbeth joined a quartet, but some felt that she still lacked the talent to sing solo. In 1996 she released her first album, titled Cuan Grande es El (How Great Thou Art). That same year she was given the honor to sing for the President of El Salvador. It was during this event that Lisbeth caught the eye of a high ranking general in El Salvador's army. He recognized her potential and offered to sponsor her music career, but she declined because she knew God did not want her to sing secular music.

After much prayer she found a vocal coach, and slowly she began building her voice to do God's work. The following year she enrolled in Central American Adventist University (UNADECA) located in Costa Rica. Her dream had always been to have a Christian education, and through the help of a generous donor in the U.S., that dream was becoming a reality. While studying World History at UNADECA, she continued to witness to others through her songs. "My music professor, Professor Andrean, really inspired me to sing. He saw how desperately I wanted to enter the music ministry, and he gave me opportunities to sing when others might have given up on me." Lisbeth recorded her second album, Mi Salvador (My Savior), in 1998.

Lisbeth graduated with a Bachelor's in Education, and during her senior year she met an American missionary. They fell in love, and two years later they were married and settled in the U.S. She picked up English quickly and began working as a Spanish tutor for a nearby college. Since then she has had the opportunity to work as a translator for missionaries in Peru, El Salvador, and Ecuador. Whenever she wasn't busy translating for the Maranatha volunteers, Lisbeth sang and worshipped with the many congregations she encountered. "I was particularly touched by those people who told me that my songs inspired them to be baptized. I really think that the Holy Spirit was working on those people's hearts through my music."

In 2007 Lisbeth was invited to sing for a Spanish evangelism series hosted by Pastor Robert Costa of It is Written. The following year she was interviewed on the Christian channel, 3ABN Latino--her first appearance in an international broadcast--and then invited to sing in Fresno, California for Ten Commandments Weekend. She and her husband currently reside in the U.S. in Nashville, Tennessee.