Pastor, Church Planter, Lima, Peru

Carlos is pastoring a church plant called "Christ is the Rock" in Villa El Salvador, which is one of the poorer suburbs of Lima. This church plant is sponsored by "Christ is the Way" Baptist Church where HeartCry Missionary Juan O. is the pastor.

Testimony and Calling

God extended his saving grace to me when the man who is now my pastor shared the Gospel with me. I remember the days leading up to that special moment when I was confused and I even despised and ridiculed the love of God. During that time I had been unwilling to hear the blessed message of God. But now, in light of his word, I can understand that he was working to save me even when I was in my rebellion. He led me to have the encounter with the man who was to become my pastor and he is the one who gave me the desire to listen to this blessed message. It was then that I understood my condition, my need for salvation, and that this salvation was found in the blessed person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I understood that this salvation was possible through the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. I can say with certainty that from that moment God did a work in me, creating in me new desires and a new desire for him. With regard to the world I could see that the worldly, self sufficient life that I was living was despicable and that there was no longer anything attractive about it to me.

After about three years of growing in the local church and of being instructed in his Word, God began to show me his will with regard to my calling to the ministry through the brothers of my church. They affirmed my calling to ministry and they sent me out to do missionary work in the town of Mala (south of Lima, approximately 50 miles away). Before going any farther I should clarify that my call to the ministry began during a missions conference at my church in Villa El Salvador in February of 2001. After that I prayed that God would confirm this call. It was during December of this same year that our church commissioned us and sent us out as missionaries to Mala. We served there for five years in church planting; preaching the Gospel and teaching those believers that the Lord saved for his glory.

After our return to Villa El Salvador in 2007, we again became very involved in our church; this time helping out with one of the church plants that our church had started in Villa El Salvador. The church plant is called Hebron Baptist Mission. At the same time I was working as a moto-taxi driver in order to meet the needs of my family.

Currently I am serving along side Pastor Juan Pablo O. at the "Christ is the Way" Baptist Church in Santa Isabel (a district of Chorillos). This church actually has a church plant "Vista Alegre" in the same district. That work is called "Christ is the Rock" Baptist Mission.