Theological Education/Discipleship Ministry Lima, Peru

Junior is serving in two different capacities. He helps to teach hundreds of people from all over Latin America through the on-line discipleship class that is run by the brothers in Barranco. He also teaches discipleship classes at La Iglesia Bautista del Salvador in Barranco (Lima).

Testimony and Calling

First, I must make it clear that the one who has written this was not born holy, nor good, nor with any desire to seek God. The Bible itself explains how I was at that time: I was a child of wrath, just like the rest, lost corrupt, totally depraved, without any desire to do what is pleasing to God, dead, blind, lame, deaf, mute, and leprous. As I must say once again, the Bible talks clearly about the condition I was in when I was without God.

I wasn’t born into a family that could give me any Christian teaching or knowledge of the Word of God. My family was and still is one of those many families that are without God. From a very early age I grew up without any father figure so it was my mother who had to do the best she could to get her nine children ahead in life and provide everything they needed. She worked hard to make sure we had food and a warm place to live with a roof over our heads. By the time I was six years old I was always out with my friends in the street playing soccer and learning the rebellious and demeaning ways of street life. At a very early age I was one of those kids who seek after the happiness and pleasure that the things of this world offer. Although I wasn’t exactly a delinquent, I did have a habit of stealing from the stores near my home and I was always laughing at people and fighting with other kids. I also grew more and more prideful of being the best student at my school.

Soon my teenage years arrived and with them an open door to reckless worldliness and parties with beer and cigarettes. My family thought that I was a good kid in contrast with the rest of my friends because I was “more responsible” and I “didn’t drink and smoke” and all the rest. Reality is that the only reason I had gotten that hypocritical reputation was the fact that I continued to go to Catholic mass on Sundays. I calmed my conscience by going to mass, confessing my sins to the priest, taking communion, and participating in the religious processions because I knew I had sinned and done evil. I was a hypocritical young man who was a “saint” at home (although in reality I often disrespected my parents and fought with my sisters) but in the street all I cared about was finding satisfaction in the things that this world offers.

At that point something interesting happened. One night I was hanging out with my group of friends and all of the sudden a couple young men and a young woman came up to us and started talking to us about the Bible. Some of my friends started to laugh at them but I remember that held back, being in my opinion much more moral then the rest. All I remember is that they invited us to their congregation and made us pray a simple prayer which did us absolutely no good as you will see from the rest of my story.

A little later on something happened that really had an impact on my story. Even though in reality I was not a drug addict or the worst teenager in the world (clearly I mean this from a human perspective), I really did drink a lot of liquor. My father has been an alcoholic since before he met my mother and this made it so to me alcohol abuse didn’t have the same stigma as it would for some people. One time my conscience told me, “Junior, do you want to be like this? Take a look at yourself. You’re a young man with a big future ahead of you. Do you really want to really want to end up being an alcoholic like your dad who doesn't care about anybody or anything?” I told myself, “It’s true. I don’t want to like that. Drinking is only going to bring me more sadness and pain and family problems. I’m going to quit drinking.” That Sunday, after going to a Saturday night party, I decided to stop drinking. I was very determined and I managed to be successful at not drinking for two weeks but in reality I was really not successful at all because on the third Saturday a bunch of my buddies got together to drink to celebrate a friend’s birthday and I got extremely drunk. When I got home my brother was helping my drunken father through the doorway and I walked in as if I hadn’t done anything. I tried to lay down to rest but I couldn’t sleep and suddenly I felt a strong urge to vomit. I remember going into the bathroom and throwing up in the toilet and when I was done my brother was standing behind me saying, “You better get to bed.” I was just fifteen years old and already starting to live a life of parties with women, cigarettes, lies, hatred, bitterness, arrogance, pride, stealing, covetousness, envy, and many other sins.

It was at that time, when I was fifteen years old and still in my fourth year of middle school, that a friend of mine named Eder would always come up to me to share Scripture with me during PE at school. A girl named Tina had brought him to a congregation call Living Water (part of G12 – Cesar Castellanos’ Vision). Eder now tells me that in those first conversations I told him that I thought I was “good” because I went to mass every Sunday to pray and ask for my sins to be forgiven. Happily for me, this all happened at the very end of that school year but when we saw each other again the next year he kept talking to me about how I could be free from my problems, etc. Since I had been having such a hard time with alcohol as I already mentioned, I said, “OK, I think this can help me. I don’t want to go on drinking anymore so I’m going to change my style. I’ll quit going to parties on Saturday nights and go to Eder’s congregation on Saturday nights and see what I can find there.”

When it comes down to it, here’s what happened: I went one Saturday and there were a lot of young people there and they were playing really catchy music and jumping up and down, praising and exalting “God.” There was some very motivational preaching and naturally I felt like I had to go up front and repeat the sinner’s prayer. That day I actually repeated that prayer four different times. That’s how I started going there to that congregation. They got me to go to an “encounter” (a three-day retreat where they did a whole series of unbiblical and heretical things) from which I returned feeling “on fire” to preach to everybody and to win my family and friends over “to Christ.” I started to take discipleship classes and go to small groups and everything was getting “better” all the time. I went to my “re-encounter” where they reaffirmed the things that I did on my first “encounter.” I started getting more and more involved. My “leader” was Eder and I was also the “leader” of a small group of three young people where I “taught them the Bible” and made a lot of people repeat the famous “sinner’s prayer.” Time went on and I continued living hypocritically there as a part of that congregation. Often the only thing that kept me from falling into sin was the fact that my “leader” was always asking me how I was doing and whether or not I was reading the Bible, etc.

I went to that congregation for about two and a half years until, one day, things started to change. Eder started talking to a man who lives in front of his house named Augusto (who we call Tito). Tito started sharing the gospel with him but Eder didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Eder himself said, “What’s he going to teach me? I’m a leader and I’m already about to graduate from the ‘leader school.’” But Tito kept on talking with Eder and one day he offered to play a video for Eder and he happily agreed to watch it (Eder can tell you exactly what happened in his testimony). After he had watched it he told me that I really needed to watch that video and that if I did a lot of things were going to change for me.  Out of curiosity I decided to watch it. I’ll be honest, the first time I watched the video it really didn’t do anything for me. In other words, I was completely blind. The second time that I watched it I did start to notice that there were some things that the preacher was saying that seemed very different from what I was used to and that started to catch my attention (it was the 2002 “Narrow Road” video). I was a bit slow about accepting the truths that it presented and often obstinate, not really wanting to know anything. Nevertheless, little by little, as Eder taught me, my mind was more and more captivated by the Scriptures. This happened even more when we started to listen to Spurgeon’s sermons and most of all when we started studying the Scriptures themselves with brother Tito. I will never forget those words that he said one time: “I have to tell you that what you are learning is very serious and you must be willing to spread this truth. It will be very difficult and you may have to suffer because you teach it.” I said I was willing with much fear but I had a real desire to learn more. This is how the Lord started working in my life, although I’m not sure at what moment He started His work. I started listening to a series of sermons that Paul Washer had preached at a conference here in Lima. By far the message that the Lord used to show me His truth and impact my life in the greatest way was the one about Ezekiel 36. I will never forget how in that passage all the glory is clearly given to God for the salvation of sinners. He doesn’t do it for anyone but rather solely out of love for his Holy Name, out of love for Himself. That sermon has impacted my life and continues to do so as each time that I watch it I am reminded that all the glory of our salvation is given to God alone.

Even after I had started listening to sermons from Paul Washer and Charles Spurgeon I continued attending “Living Water” but Eder and I started to notice a lot of inconsistencies in the sermons and verses taken out of context as well as a lot of blatantly wrong practices. I remember weeping and crying out to God for mercy during my last few days in that place. It was full of lights and smoke and frenzied people jumping up and down and making a show. My whole being ached because of what was happening there; it was all so despicable and I couldn’t put up with it. One other time during a prayer meeting I felt deep anguish when I heard men “speaking in tongues,” praising a god that was not the God of Scripture, and preaching things that were totally incorrect.

We wanted to leave that congregation but we didn’t know where to go or what place would take us in. Eder happened to notice that the place where Paul had done the conference that we had listened to so many times was only about a block from his house so Eder ended up being the first one to go to the Church of the Savior to talk with Pastor Martin. It was during that week that Eder finally stopped resisting and felt compelled to leave Living Water after having had an argument with the supposed “pastor” there.

That Sunday, after going to a “leader school” put on by Living Water, I stopped by Eder’s house but he was still at his new congregation so I decided to go down there. When I got there I was surprised to see that Eder was chatting with Pastor Martin and brother Tito. It was the first time I had ever shaken hands with a pastor or had any kind of direct contact with one. I was even more surprised to see a pastor eating nonchalantly with everyone else. We talked about a lot of things having to do with the gospel and how God had been working in our lives.

It was then that the moment arrived when I needed to make the decision to leave Living Water. My soul simply could not put up with being there in the midst of all of their wrong practices.  One Saturday there was an evangelistic crusade at the National Stadium of Lima. This kind of event was usually called a “fishing trip” and everyone had to bring new folks there in order to reach a target number of “converts” that they had set. I went to the event in order to talk to the “leader” above Eder and tell him that I would no longer be attending Living Water. While I was there I was falsely accused of offending Eder’s leader’s wife and they threw me out like a delinquent. I was escorted out without being allowed talk to anyone.

So my leaving Living Water behind wasn’t very complicated. I was both sad because of all the people that were still there and overjoyed at the fact that I was in the Truth. So I went to Eder’s house and told him everything that happened and then he and I and the rest of the guys that were at his house went to the youth group meeting that was about to start at the Church of the Savior. Once again Pastor Martin made himself available for us to come up to him and talk and he didn’t try to force us to attend his congregation but rather just made us feel like the doors were open if we wanted to come. It wasn’t hard for us to figure out that that’s where we were going to stay.

The grace of the Lord kept manifesting itself in our lives and teaching us more about His path through sermons like Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God that helped me to see where God had rescued me from. The Lord showed his goodness unto me, making me grow in holiness and keeping me from temptations that I had never previously been able to overcome. We could finally grow now that we were in the midst of a congregation that loved the glory of God and did everything for His glory.

Nevertheless I didn’t stop having problems and difficulties to get through in my life. I had to decide if I really wanted to study the Word of God or just make money at my job. I had to decide if I was going to just try to please my family and ignore their sins or make them see that they are totally fallen and condemned and in need of the grace of God. Thanks be to God that I was able to get through those difficulties in such a way that He was glorified, even as I had to leave behind friendships that hindered me in my spiritual growth.

Throughout all of this I have been able to see the sovereignty of God in everything that has happened. I can see it in my being in the midst of an unbelieving family and still somehow being able to show them love even if I don’t approve with what they do. I can also see His sovereignty in my struggle to not worry about money, knowing that I should be happy just to have my daily food and shelter. (Of course a person who hasn’t experienced this would only be interested in material things and wouldn’t understand.) It’s also a constant struggle to not get prideful as I learn more and more.

The Lord has also showed me His favor in letting me go to a foreign country with Eder to study His Scriptures and to learn more about His Person. At times the possibility of being able to study in the Dominican Republic seemed so far off, especially when we were trying to get our visas, etc. There were even moments when we really didn’t think it would be possible to go and that perhaps it would glorify God more for us to just stay in Peru. The Lord glorified Himself through enabling us to see that many of the things that we had been doing were rooted in self-dependence were therefore not in accord with His command that we do everything for His glory.

In the end I was able to go there and learn from my God. This was the desire that He gave me and He himself made it come true and because of this experience I was able to meet many very beloved brothers. It was often challenging to live with brothers from so many other countries and it wasn’t easy to leave my family for the first time. Always knowing that I was depending absolutely on my brothers’ offerings back home and knowing that at any moment my financial support could end and force me return home early taught me to live with more complete trust in divine sovereign provision.

Coming back home and not having a job was extremely difficult for me. Because neither of my parents can work my second to youngest sister had to provide for the whole family. The Lord humbled me a lot by making me see the He is the One who gives and takes away and that I must always wait on Him. It was also hard to come back home to find my father as alcoholic and closed to God as ever. At that time God actually restrained his evil somewhat by permitting my father to have a brain hemorrhage that almost killed him. Having my half-recovered father in the house, still experiencing the consequences of his sin, has shown me clearly how merciful God is even with sinners in that He restrains their evil. Something else that shows me that God is glorious, merciful, good, and faithful is that I had a niece who was born with an underdeveloped esophagus and who was operated on ten days after having her operation scheduled but has now recovered well. I know that even if the whole world were to rise up against us God will stand firm and He is able to protect His people. He draws us to Him with afflictions, both internal and external. There are a lot of things that make His Sovereignty and Grace most precious to me and among these are the fact that I still have a disease that I reaped from my sin, the fact that He humbles and gives grace to the meek, and the gracious way he draws His people to Himself even though not one of us is necessary.

The blessing of having a lot of different struggles enables me to see clearly that God will never leave me nor forsake me because He has promised to guard my deposit until the day of His glory. Seeing the passing earthly things that are vague, empty, and foolish enable me to see that there is a glorious God who is waiting for me that I might delight in Him and in the pleasures at His right hand. Thinking about eternal glory makes everything that this world can offer seem so ephemeral. Nothing can compare to the wonder of contemplating my Savior who gave Himself for a young man corrupt in understanding, works, and emotions, and who poured out His blood and gave His body over to death, having paid for the punishment and condemnation that I never would have been able to pay, and who also rose again to make it known that His sacrifice made for me was accepted by the Father.

I know there’s a lot I still have to tell you and it’s difficult to put it all out in order but I have written at least a little for now. Every time that I stop and meditate on the place that God freed me from and I think about how what He did was out of Pure Grace, my heart is filled with great joy and gratitude to God, that He would want to crush His Beloved Son for a person like me who hated Him with a everything I was. I will always I can sing of the God’s Grace and Mercy unto this cursed sinner.

I identify myself with that song that John Newton composed about that Amazing Grace that took a hold of an unhappy man who was blind and lost. That Grace will make this man persevere, it will take away my doubts, and it is that same Grace that has transformed me. I know that despite all the dangers and afflictions that may come, His Grace will always free me and I also know that one day, with all the saints, I will sing for all eternity of that Glorious God who saved me.
To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood -- and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father --  to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.    (Revelation1:5b-6)

Personally, since the Lord started working in my life, I have always had a desire to serve Him and to leave everything behind to do His work (specifically mission work). In a way I believe that it is a desire that everyone has when God saves them. This is especially true for people like me who are saved at a young age.  I recognize that many times this desire has been driven by my immaturity.  I have sometimes said things like, “I want to go to such and such a place even though I don’t know what I’m going to live on and I’ll even die if necessary,” among other things that I may have said in the moment but then later realized that I was not really taking things as seriously as they should. I thank God that He has been teaching me some things about this. God has shown me that I still lack a lot of maturity since I am only 20 years old and I have a lot to learn from more experienced faithful servants.

Thanks be to God that at this point I have been able to take on a few responsibilities that my congregation has entrusted to me such as discipleship teaching for the congregation and online discipleship in addition to the personal responsibilities that every believer has such as preaching the gospel and helping out with the music services. All of this I do with fear, knowing that the Lord entrusts things to the members of His Body but that in the same way He will also demand more from them. My reverent fear of God grows ever deeper as the Lord adds more responsibilities to my life which I assume with joy and trembling because I know everything must be done for His glory.