Church Planter, Villa el Salvador, Peru

Juan is a church planter who is currently serving as the pastor of a Baptist church in an area of Lima called Villa el Salvador.

Testimony and Calling

I was born into a family of five children of which I am the third. At the age of 8 I began to go out to work in the streets with my brothers and sisters shining shoes. From a very young age we learned how hard life is. We also got involved in vices and I lived a very empty life, full of problems. At home, dad would get drunk on the weekends and beat mom and all of the rest of us.

In 1982, when I was in high school, my older brother died at the age of 15 of a sudden illness. This affected the whole family. In this same year a Christian friend from school gave me a Gideon's New Testament and every day as we were leaving school he would also talk with me about the Word of God. One day he asked me a question that made me think about the eternal fate of my brother who had died. He asked me where I thought that my brother's soul had gone. I told him that I did 't know. He then asked me where I would go if I were to die. I told him that I didn't know. From that day on he began sharing the gospel with me.

One day my friend invited me to attend a Baptist church close to my house. I listened as the Pastor shared the gospel. There was an internal struggle within me as I wrestled with repentance. My friend asked me if God had touched my heart. I told him that he had and that day I surrendered to Christ. Then I went to my house and I shared with my family how Christ had saved me. A year later I was baptized and I began to serve at the church.

From the time that I was converted I was extremely grateful to the Lord for my salvation. I began to serve in different areas in the church and I made myself available to help the pastor out in many ways; teaching children, going on mission trips, etc.

For financial reasons, partly related to the death of my father, I had to join the army during the period of terrorism and civil war in Peru. So, I began my military career. After I had been in the Army three years and had even become part of the special forces, God began to impress upon my heart a desire to serve him in ministry. It was like a a fire in my bones that would not leave me. So, in 1989 I quit the Army. I pursued my theological studies at night and I worked during the day.

While I was studying, my pastor left our church and he left me in charge. I pastored there until 2000. Since then I have been pastoring the Baptist church in Santa Isabel, Villa (a suburb of Lima).