Pastor - Church Planter, Sullana, Peru

Angel is the pastor of a church in Sullana. He has personally planted more than 120 churches in his life, which have in turn multiplied to more than 600 churches in the northern mountains of Peru. He continues to have a great influence in the community of churches that the Lord has established in those mountains.

Testimony and Calling

My name is Angel and it is my privilege to share my testimony with you all.  When I was a child my father would tell me stories from the Bible.  When I was a young adolescent my father found a New Testament and Psalms in the garbage and gave it to me.  In one year I read it through several times and it helped me begin to understand the things of God.  After about a year of reading on my own, I found a Baptist Church.  The pastor told me about Jesus and I became a Christian.  I was amazed when the preacher told me that God so loved Angel that He gave His only begotten Son, so that if Angel believed in Him, he would be saved.  The night of my conversion, the pastor gave me a box of Gospel tracts and I gave them all away in the street before I reached my house.  He also gave me the Gospel message on a record that I played over and over on the record player in my house.  When people came to my house I would have them sit down and listen to the Good New of Jesus Christ on the record player.  I even made the Jehovah Witnesses listen to the record whenever they came to our house.

In time I knew that God was calling me to prepare myself to serve Him. I did not know where to go or what to do, but I knew that God was calling me to serve Him in preaching His Word, the Holy Gospel.  To me it was a message so great and sweet and powerful, that I thought that the whole world should know.  I thought to myself, “How could it be possible that there are people who do not know this message that is so beautiful, and that there is no one who wants to preach to them.”  I thought to myself, “I will do all that is possible to preach this message to them.”

I found a Bible institute in the city of Iquitos on the Amazon River and I went there to study and prepare myself to be a good disciple of Jesus and to prepare for the Lord’s service. After the institute, I returned to my town of Sullana on the northern coast of Peru, and worked in the Church.  I visited houses door to door, and distributed Bibles and tracts to all who would take them.  Finally, the Church asked me to help them in the work of the Lord.  They had no one else and so I became their pastor.

At the beginning of my ministry, I decided that I was responsible for the entire region of Piura. With the brothers that were in the Church, I prayed for all the towns and villages on the coast and in the mountains of Piura where there were no Churches and where there was no knowledge of the Gospel.

We began to go out and preach in the villages, but the work advanced very slowly. I began to pray that the Lord would send us workers.  I prayed, “Lord sent laborers to your harvest.  We must evangelize the entire region of Piura!”  I believe that God gave us this great vision for his own glory, so that we might serve him in his work.  We continued going out further and further preaching the Gospel.  We started with those villages closest to the Church and each time went further out.

The turning point in the work of the Lord in Piura happened when a great drought struck the small villages in the mountains and many of the mountain people were forced to come to our town to survive. We preached to them the Gospel and discipled them in the Scripture.  When the drought was over, they returned to their villages carrying the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They began to invite us to their villages and we began to visit them and preach the Gospel with them.  They would also accompany us to other villages where we would preach the Gospel.  It was very difficult work, many times I was lost in the mountains, other times the thieves tried to rob me, many people threatened my life.  Sometimes when I came into the villages, the men who opposed us would come out with their machetes and sharpen them in front of me as I preached or walked down the road.  Many times I was hungry, lost and very afraid, but God kept me safe that I might carry out the work that He had given me.

By God’s power and grace the work began to expand like a miracle. On our first missionary journey into the mountains there were 10 Christians who met with us.  Three months later, on the second journey, we discovered that the 10 believers had multiplied into 50.  In almost every place that we visited, there was a great movement of the Spirit.  One after another, Churches were planted and God began to raise up workers from each village.  The new Christians began to go out into the villages where the Gospel had not been preached and the Gospel extended into all the regions of Piura.

Now there are hundreds of churches, but this is not enough. We have a goal of planting a Church in every city, town, and village.  We want to conquer each stronghold of Satan and raise up the Flag of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are not content, but we are always praying that God will give us more laborers.  There are towns all over Piura where the man from Macedonia stands and cries out, “Come here and preach the Gospel to us!  Why don’t you come and tell us about Jesus!”

This is our life dear brothers, this is all we are and all we do. Many of our brothers have immigrated to other parts of the mountains and the jungles.  And where they go they preach the Gospel of Christ and plant Churches.  We go with them and visit them, because they need our help.  We ask you to pray for our pastors and missionaries.

Again we ask for your prayers.  And we thank you for your support through HeartCry.  Thank you and may God bless you.  Amen.