Photos by Alassandra Gutierrez

The Lord is continuing to do many new spiritual works in Peru and in South America—in people and in Calvary Chapel fellowships.

Trujillo—Peru’s third-largest metropolitan city and known as the “City of Everlasting Spring”—served as the backdrop for the Calvary Chapel Association (CCA) South America Missions Conference. The event was hosted by CC Trujillo and Calvary Bible Institute (CBI) Peru, filled with solid biblical teaching, refreshing times of worship, and encouraging fellowship. Dozens of pastors and leaders gathered from all over the South, Central, and North Americas, commissioned to carry on their work and missions and returning home renewed and excited about the Lord’s work.

The Work in Guatemala

Pastor Luis Sanchez from CC Antigua, Guatemala, attended the conference with his wife Karol. For Luis, being at this conference was a big deal. He wouldn’t have missed it for anything, but the truth is, he almost did.

Ten years ago, Luis and Karol made the transition with their boys from a comfortable home in Colombia to the new and unfamiliar world of Antigua. “It’s a touristy kind of place with cobbled stone streets with rich history and lots of color everywhere,” described Luis. “And as nice as it is, we didn’t know anybody.” They did know one thing, though—God had called them to start a Bible college in Antigua, and they were ready to go to work.

Their new church ministry began in 2013, and as the Bible college (in conjunction with Calvary Chapel Bible College (CCBC) at the time) opened its doors, the fruits of their work were showing early signs of good growth. “We started a Bible study and even hosted classes at night for students who had to work during the day,” Luis added. Families were attending worship services and students were enrolling in the Bible college.

However, less than one year into their ministry, Luis began to get heavily criticized from a pastor in a neighboring city. The pastor’s words hurt, yes, but what hurt more was how he lost several students from the young college. The loss was painful. “The attacks were frustrating,” he admitted. “By the end of the first year, we lost about four or five of our students.” The Sanchez family questioned if God really wanted them in Antigua. Luis confessed, “We were about to close the Bible Institute thinking, Maybe this wasn’t of you, Lord.”

Only one year into the ministry, Luis and Karol found themselves on their knees, questioning God’s plan for Antigua, God’s plan for the school, and God’s plan for them: Did we make the right choice? Should we have come at all?

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My [Jesus’] sake.” Matthew 5:11

They chose to trust God, who answered their prayers. The pastor causing confusion and bitterness no longer ministers in Guatemala; the Lord restored those students who left the Bible college (now CBI Antigua). The work of planting churches will continue because of the Lord’s faithfulness to the Sanchez family. Now, 10 years later, the couple worshiped alongside other South American pastors at the Trujillo conference.

Tenured Pastor Remains Faithful

“Pastor Chuck Smith [CC founder] used to say healthy sheep reproduce,” shared Pastor Lucho Garcia from Calvary Chapel Lima, Peru, as he reflected on the conference. Lucho has served as a CC pastor for 30 years. In 1993, however, Lucho’s ministry almost ended before it even began.

He was already a follower of Jesus and serving as a schoolteacher in 1991 when a Calvary Chapel team from Arizona visited Lima to do construction in a poor village on the outskirts of Lima. “What is Calvary Chapel?” he asked the pastor leading the workers. Lucho would eventually find that he agreed with every Calvary Chapel Distinctive and even visited the U.S. where he would be invited to apply to CC Bible College in Twin Peaks, CA. The Arizona church that befriended Lucho had promised to pay for all his tuition. That was all Lucho needed to hear.

“I was in Lima in 1993, [had] resigned from my job, sold my car, and used the money to buy the plane ticket to Arizona,” Lucho recalled. When he arrived in Arizona, however, he received some discouraging news: The money the church was going to use to fund Lucho’s tuition was gone—they could not support him.

“There I was. I had nothing, no car, no job. And I didn’t know what to do.” Discouragement set in, and it seemed Lucho wasn’t going to Bible college—or enter ministry at all.

“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:26

Two weeks later, the pastor from Arizona was able to attend a pastors’ conference at Costa Mesa, CA, where he was able to meet and share Lucho's story with Pastor Chuck Smith. After hearing his story, the Lord answered Lucho’s prayers through Chuck, who told Lucho he would have a full scholarship and a job. He graduated from CCBC in just two years, got connected with [CC Golden Springs, CA] Pastor Raul Ries, and began working as a pastor in South America.

Fast forwarding from 1995 to 2023, Lucho joyfully reported, “In the conference last year, we brought four or five of us to Trujillo, but this year there were about 25.” At least one of CC Lima’s members attends CBI Peru, and Lucho is excited to see what will happen in coming years.

A New Work Begins

Leaders from long-established and younger churches attended the 2023 conference, including Pastor Andrew Weakland of CC Moyobamba (CCM)—Peru’s newest church plant. Andrew visited Peru on a mission trip in 2019 and decided to stay. To the surprise of his church and family back home, Andrew’s two-week visit turned into four and a half years. Later, he was part of the very first class at CBI Peru where he grew in many ways and would eventually go on trips to minister to the people of Moyobamba and surrounding areas.

“Cory [Kilgus, who leads CBI Peru] asked me to pray about planting a church,” Andrew shared. “I didn’t really want to plant a church there at first,” he confessed. Andrew’s initial thoughts were that the Lord would place him in the Middle East to plant a church, but as he put it, “God made it very clear through the Word that He wanted to reach the people of Moyobamba.”

CC Moyobamba held its first church service October 15, 2023. “We want to make sure that everyone who comes is received with love and hears good Bible teaching,” Andrew emphasized. “Now that the church has been continuing, the people that attend seem more like family."

The greatest opposition Andrew and CCM face in their ministry comes from the area’s cultural Christianity where there is a lot of judgment and legalism. “In the U.S., you struggle to hear people talk about repentance, but here people are very quick to point the finger.” Andrew shared that their focus is emphasizing the grace and forgiveness found in the Gospel.

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I [Jesus] did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Matthew 9:13

Reflecting on the conference, Andrew said he was encouraged by the support he received from all the pastors—not just from Peru, but from all over South America and even the world. He serves with three other graduates from CBI Peru and is excited to see how the Lord will work in Moyobamba.

This year’s South America Missions Conference is scheduled for September 19-21, 2024.

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