Lester Argueta is a 33-year-old pastor who serves in a small community in Retalhuleu, Guatemala. When his pastor and mentor died suddenly 7 years ago, Lester knew God was calling him to step up and serve as a pastor—even though he had never had any theological training. He was a new Christian at the time, but he was the only one with some sort of education (high school) and nobody else was stepping up to lead.
Lester has been pastoring this small congregation ever since. His dream has been to go to seminary so that he can feel equipped to lead the congregation God has entrusted to him. Global Action represents the opportunity for him to finally receive the training he has been longing for!
In fact, Lester is so determined to study the Word of God that he travels over 200 miles on a small motorcycle to get to his monthly training with us! He couldn’t wait for our training to be offered closer to his home, because he knows how important this is for the health and growth of his church.
There are hundreds of other pastors and ministry leaders just like Lester in our program around the world. They are hungry to learn and willing to face great obstacles so that they might pour into others for the sake of Christ!
In Latin America, we are currently training over 639 pastors and leaders across 6 countries! In Cuba alone, we plan to have 17 different classes meeting regularly by the end of the year. We recently relaunched our program in Nicaragua, where leaders are so eager for biblical training that we already have 85 students in just one class! We have also successfully launched Zoom classes for the first time in Panama and Honduras, where ongoing COVID restrictions have limited our ability to gather in groups. Additionally, yesterday we held our first class in Costa Rica! In Guatemala, we are planning to have 5 different training locations across the country, many of which are taking place in very remote locations for indigenous Mayan pastors and leaders. Global Action is on the move in Latin America!
Thank you to all those who partner with us to make life-changing biblical training available to pastors in hard places. You have made Lester’s dream a reality, along with the dreams of hundreds of other pastors and leaders. Thank you!