Same Ministry, Different City…

Introduction

It was 1999 when I took my first seminary course. Church History I with Dr. Garth Rosell.

I was only 34 (yikes!), married with one child. Our son Emilio had been born the year before and Rochelle was pregnant with our second child, Caroline. I was also living in Boston and working as a manager of a technical support division for a niche software company.

Little did I know where that first class would take me and our family. Since then, we’ve had the adventure of living in Costa Rica, Paraguay and Colombia. I’ve also had the privilege of starting a PhD program.

Ministry Overseas

Teaching in Lima, Peru
Teaching in Lima, Peru

As a professor, I’ve taught rural pastors in Paraguay and prepared undergraduate students for ministry in Colombia. As a guest lecturer for Gordon Conwell’s Hispanic Ministries division, I’ve taught national leaders from every Spanish-speaking country from Mexico to Argentina.

In Paraguay, I was blessed to serve as a pastor for a small rural church, something I repeated for a church on our seminary campus here in Medellín. To this day, these remain highlights of my missionary career.

Teaching is My Passion

 I began with this rather long introduction as a way of saying that teaching and mentoring leaders is my contribution to the kingdom. I’m not a great evangelist and I’m a so-so pastor (although my parishioners loved me because I always kept my sermons to 20 minutes! J)

But teaching? That’s my life. That’s my vocation. It is what I do to help the church fulfill its mission to this world.

Bible Institute
Bible Institute

Recently, I ran into one of my former students Argemiro Diaz. He wasn’t the most academically prepared student when he came to the Biblical Seminary of Colombia (BSC). But you talk about grabbing a bull by the horns. He was tops in his class by the time he graduated.

Argemiro is now a director of a Bible Institute in his hometown. He is now preparing leaders for his churches and his region. How awesome is that?

Ministry in Boston

In a week or so, our family will be returning to Boston. But my work as a professor at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia will continue. My full-time responsibilities from Boston will include:

  1. Teaching virtual courses for the BSC
  2. Teaching for Gordon Conwell’s Hispanic Ministries Division
  3. Visiting Medellín twice per year to teach intensive residential courses
  4. Supervising student theses for graduating seniors
  5. Translating an online software to teach Biblical Greek
  6. Developing courses for our upcoming Masters program
  7. Fastracking my PhD thesis now that I have access to libraries

Returning to Boston will not be the end of my cross-cultural or teaching career at the BSC. Furthermore, I will maintain my status as a full-time missionary with the United World Mission.

For these reasons, I am asking that you continue to support this work with your generous donations to UWM. There is much left to do. The job of preparing leaders, pastors and missionaries for the global church will continue, even from Boston.

As I stated earlier: same ministry, different city.