Calvary Chapel Team Serves at Venezuela’s Ground Zero

Photos courtesy of Calvary Chapel Trujillo, Peru

Twin earthquakes on June 24 in Venezuela left a graphic trail of destruction. Government-built housing was torn apart, leaving thousands of families homeless. Evacuated high-rise buildings became uninhabitable. Families risked their lives to retrieve what they could from the rubble.

Please pray for a team of four out of Calvary Chapel Trujillo, Peru, as they are ministering to victims of the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela on June 24. Two earthquakes hit back-to-back, a 7.2 and a 7.5, 39 seconds apart. Sources report that as of July 6, the death toll has risen to more than 3,300 people, with more than 16,000 people injured. Possibly 41,000 are missing.

Cory Kilgus, senior pastor of CC Trujillo and founder of Calvary Bible Institute Peru, shared an update Sunday at CC Shreveport, LA. “Our ministry is intimately intertwined with the Venezuelan people,” he emphasized. Learning of the disaster, his team left to assist as soon as possible—it wasn’t an easy journey.

“They bused and they flew and they taxied and they bused and they got stopped by the cops seven times on the way, and they got harassed. But they’re there. They’ve been in Ground Zero, in the most dangerous [area]—La Guaira. On Friday alone, they helped dig out seven dead bodies. So it’s been this brutal, brutal thing,” Cory confirmed.

Calvary Chapel Trujillo, Peru, and Calvary Bible Institute (CBI) Peru rapidly sent a team to offer relief in La Guaira, one of the areas hardest hit by the earthquakes. Here, the team of servants arrives at their camp to provide medical assistance and prayer for those who lost their homes. Since then, a growing group of pastors, Christians, and doctors on the ground have been helping them.

Pastor Angel Yamarte (left) of Calvary Chapel Buenos Aires, Peru, and CBI Peru student Eduardo “Dudu” Domingos (right) say goodbye to refugees after a day of work.

Cory described speaking to his staff late last week from the U.S., reminding them: “We’re there. … We’re not leaving, we’re going to have a presence in Venezuela. … We’ve been praying for six years, minimum, to go to Venezuela, and now God has opened the door for us to be there and to minister to these people who are there suffering. If we say we can’t go because it’s inconvenient or difficult or uncomfortable, then God’s going to find somebody else.”

He continued, “As tragic as it is, … we believe it’s the beginning of a move of God’s Spirit, that it’s going to lead to the Gospel being preached, and to the Word of God being taught, and churches being planted, and to many people being reached for Christ.”

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; … to comfort all who mourn; to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3

The journey was challenging for the team, including waiting three hours at the Venezuelan border for entrance approval. Unlike others who want to come to help, they were able to enter the country because of their nationalities—two are Venezuelans, one is Brazilian, one is Colombian.

Pray for perseverance and strength for the small team—two men and two women—as they sacrificially serve a heartbroken, suffering people. Pray that survivors may still be discovered and for comfort for the families who lost loved ones. And finally, pray that doors will be fully opened for the Gospel in Venezuela.

Pastor Angel (left) ministers to an elderly woman who received medical assistance.

Brother Lino, assisting the Peru team, has helped pack the truck at 4:30 a.m., and waits to head down to La Guaira.

Angel comforts a man who lost everything, giving him a new Bible.

Team member Sara Torres cleans up little Reina, gently removing lice from her head. Reina is one of many children living in the camp while waiting for the government to relocate their families. Sara is one of two women on the Peru team, both from CC Trujillo; the other is Raquel Sanchez.

To learn more about the team’s work in Venezuela, watch the YouTube video below. Cory’s teaching begins shortly after the worship session.

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