Testimony of Conversion

I was born in 1964 in San José, Costa Rica. I have attended several Evangelical Churches since I was a child, mainly Pentecostal. My involvement in the church was not “average”—I always tried to participate in all church activities and know a lot about the Bible. Unfortunately, my family became part of a heretical movement with disastrous consequences. The suffering was great, and it could be said that I was a candidate for atheism. I was close to repudiating all religions for having suffered many related abuses.

At university, the world caught up with me. Although I had always been very fond of religion, I had never been born again or experienced true conversion. I lived an immoral lifestyle from the age of 19 to 35. I am a computer engineer by profession and have worked in Transnational Companies (Hewlett Packard, AT&T, DXC Tech)

God used a time of great crisis to awaken my conscience, and I started visiting a Baptist church with my mother and went back to reading the Bible and praying. Since I didn’t know what a Baptist church was, I started reading, and very soon, I came across the historical confessions and the sermons of Charles Spurgeon. Very soon, I realized that something did not coincide between what I read and what I saw in the Church, although it was a conservative church. 

In this church, I was soon given the youth leader position and allowed to preach. I tried to reform the church for ten years, but there was no success.

In that church, I got married when I was 38 years old, and my daughter was born when I was 42 years old. God only gave me one daughter.

In the Peniel Baptist Church, to which I belonged for ten years, I became very involved in the service. They allowed me to preach, and I was a worship director and leader of the youth group. A very old brother in this church, when he heard one of my first sermons, approached me and made a very encouraging comment. With that comment, he made me think that it could be that God was calling me to ministry. However, I put that off for many years. Another elderly sister in the Church commented that I considered confirmation from the Lord regarding my service to the Lord.

In the year 2000, I had been looking for a place to study, and at that time, the only seminary of Reformed conviction was that of the Presbyterian brothers. I concluded the Bachelor of Theological Studies program with them in 2003.

There was an American pastor at the seminary who came because he had also awakened to the doctrines of Grace. He and I were the only Baptists there. This was the pastor who started the Reformation in the Baptist Church in Los Lagos de Heredia, his name was Steve Hennings. He died in 2009 at the age of 45. He and I were the same age, making me reflect a lot.

Very soon, God acted to move me from where I was to the Church of Los Lagos, and there we began to work for the advancement of the Reformation. We knew many things, but much remained to be applied to the life of the Church and of families. God granted us the humility to ask for help. With the guidance of pastors from two churches, one from Puerto Rico and the other from the Dominican Republic, we carried out the entire process for the nomination of Elders and Deacons. The Church nominated me for the office of Elder, and after due process, two other brothers and I were ordained in 2011. 

I sincerely desire to spend whatever years the Lord gives me in the service of Christ and his Kingdom. 

Since 2009 and under pastoral supervision, I have directed a ministry called “Releasing the Captives,” which consists of an online Bible course to help people trapped in sexual vices. Eventually, the Editorial CLIR helped us to print this material in the book Battle for Sexual Purity.

I have also trained others who have learned to live in purity. Our ministry consists of mentors for men and women trapped in sexual vices.

In 2012 we started a church plant in the Central Pacific region and then collaborated with them to plant another church in 2018.

God wanted to bless the Church of Los Lagos, and people came from distant areas. Some people had to take up to 2 buses to get to the Church. This burdened our hearts and the desire to plant a church in San José, the capital of our country because it is the most accessible site—although also the most expensive for rentals. But as a result of the Pandemic, it was possible to rent a good space. Eventually, it was decided to form a church with 25 members who left Los Lagos in peace to form the new Church. 

Our way of working has been that we carry out all the work between the 4 of us to supply the shepherding of the new church. But in February 2021, the request was received for me to be appointed as dedicated pastor to this church in San José. After several weeks of prayer and fasting, I accepted the call, and the process was carried out for my peaceful departure from Los Lagos. I was ordained as a pastor at San José Church on April 10th.

Call to Ministry

Since January, when I started as a temporary Pastor, we started an evangelism program on the Boulevard of Central Avenue in our capital where we distribute tracts and preach brief evangelistic messages. They can be seen here:

We have started two Bible Studies in opposite regions of the Capital, in San Ana and Zapote. This happened providentially because we met Mr. Eric Chung, who was from the old Chinese Baptist Church in our country. He has provided us with the facilities of that church at no cost, and he had this house in Santa Ana that is vacant and in sale, but for now, he has provided it for the Bible Study.

I am working on the preparation and examination of a brother who has been nominated for the office of Elder and two brothers for the office of Deacon, hoping that they can be ordained in the coming months.

Last May 30th, I was notified that my position in the DXC Technology company had been eliminated and June 10th was my last day in the company. This job was very favorable for me because of the flexibility of the schedule and never having to work weekends. My sincere desire is to be able to dedicate myself entirely to the work of the ministry, and we are praying that the Lord will provide it.