Pastor John’s Fall Update & Gospel Progress in Colombia
“You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:1-2, LSB
Next to preaching and teaching the Word of God, my life has been focused on being strong in the truth and entrusting it to faithful and able men who will carry it into the next generation. From my earliest years of ministry, this duty and privilege has been my passion and still is. The church is only as strong as its pastors, and for over half a century the Lord has graciously fulfilled that desire to prepare men for ministry in overwhelming abundance!
The family of ministries supported by The MacArthur Trust is the result of our commitment to build strong and faithful men who are able to live and preach the Scripture powerfully for the building of Christ’s church for His glory.
Our ministries cover the world with thousands of these trained men, who go on to train more faithful leaders. As our global reach continues to grow, so does the number of international students associated with our ministries.
Here is the story of one such student, Esteban Gaviria, who is at TMS only because so many have given generously.
For His Glory,
JOHN MACARTHUR
How the Lord Saved Esteban Gaviria and Is Building the Church in His Home Country.
In January of 2013, Esteban Gaviria was dying on the side of a road in his hometown of Pereira, Colombia. On his way home, a man walked up to him and pulled out a gun. Esteban turned to run but before he could get away, the man shot him at close range in the back, puncturing a lung, missing his heart by centimeters. Esteban will never forget looking down and seeing blood pouring from his chest. He cried out for help, both from someone nearby and from the Lord.
Lord, if you save me from this, I will serve you with my life. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Esteban prayed as he stumbled through the streets of Pereira. Esteban thought of himself as a Christian. He attended a charismatic church, virtually the only vein of Protestantism with a foothold in Colombia, a predominantly Catholic country. But he didn’t yet take his faith seriously. He liked the church’s music. He liked the friends. He thought the messages were interesting and wanted to learn more about the Bible, but he didn’t truly understand what it meant to submit to Jesus as Lord and follow Him. So as the life ebbed from him, Esteban knew his relationship with the Lord was not what it should be. He cared far more about soccer, and his dream of one day playing professionally, than his faith. So he prayed, asking for the Lord to grant him another opportunity to give his life—all of it—to the King. The Lord answered Esteban’s prayers. Someone, Esteban doesn’t know who, took him in a taxicab to the hospital. He lost consciousness on the way.
When Esteban woke up, he was in the hospital, recovering from surgery. Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive. The bullet that went right through him had missed his heart by 3 centimeters. Esteban nodded, grateful for what they’d done. But he knew he wasn’t lucky. He knew God had spared him. And he vowed to fulfill his vow and serve God for the rest of his life.
What’s followed over the past 10 years is a providence that, in many ways, is more remarkable than the path of that bullet. The first divine appointments came a couple weeks after Esteban’s brush with death when a friend gave him a MacArthur Study Bible. With plenty of time to read and pray while healing, Esteban devoured this gift.
Who is this MacArthur guy? he thought as he read, astounded by the sheer size and insight of the study notes. He must be with the Lord already. A Google search showed that John MacArthur was, in fact, very much alive. When Esteban realized that MacArthur was a pastor and the president of a university and seminary, he knew he wanted to one day train for ministry at these schools.
By the time Esteban was entering college a couple years later, he had listened to dozens, maybe hundreds, of MacArthur sermons and was ready to apply to The Master’s University. There was just one problem. He had no money. “In Colombia, there are a few very rich people, there are some middle-class, and there are a lot of poor people,” Esteban said. “My family was far closer to the poorer class than the wealthy. So as an international student, I simply couldn’t afford an education at The Master’s University. It was too expensive for me or my family.”
Still convinced the Lord had called him to ministry and in need of training, Esteban attended a Baptist seminary in Colombia. Even if it wasn’t a TMU education, it was somewhere he was sure he’d learn about the Bible. That didn’t happen. “My first semester, I realized the professors do not believe the Bible is God’s Word,” Esteban said. “Maybe parts of it came from God, but not all of it. They also didn’t believe in Satan’s existence, or that the atonement saves people.”
Despite the education not being what he’d hoped, Esteban still decided to continue the degree. But he knew that if he wanted to be fully equipped for ministry, he’d need more training. He had no idea where that would come from until 2018 when he attended an evangelical conference in Medellin, Colombia. There he met two admissions counselors from the Spanish department at The Master’s Seminary. When they found out Esteban wanted to attend TMS, they encouraged him to apply not just for admission, but also for the MacArthur Trust Scholarship, a full tuition scholarship designed for men studying in person at TMS.
“THERE’S NO WAY I COULD COME TO TMS WITHOUT THAT SCHOLARSHIP,” Esteban said. “ZERO CHANCE .”
Five years later, Esteban will graduate in May 2024 from The Master’s Seminary, fully trained for pastoral ministry. He met his wife at Grace Church, and he has watched with joy as expository teaching and sound doctrine have exploded in his home country. Since he’s come to the States, several TMS alumni have planted churches throughout Colombia. TMS alumnus Fernando Jaimes is pastoring a church in Bogota. It’s grown from a couple dozen people to more than 400. In Cali, the nation’s third largest city, two more alumni, Santiago Armel and Michael Dennis, lead a thriving church. And in Esteban’s hometown of Pereira, TMS alum Ricardo Morales has planted a church. “For Colombia and the rest of South America, the big need is biblical churches with qualified leaders,” Esteban said. “The work being done right now in Colombia needs to be multiplied.”
To expand the ministry, train more men, and multiply biblical churches throughout Colombia, the leaders of those churches in Bogota, Cali, and Pereira recently co-sponsored the brand-new Expository Institute, a school to train the country’s next generation of pastors and expositors. It’s the kind of education that wasn’t available a decade ago when God spared Esteban’s life and called him to the ministry. And it’s the kind of education that, Esteban believes, can transform his home country. Esteban also believes that if Colombia becomes a hub of church growth and gospel progress, that impact will be felt all across South America. “I’m probably biased because I’m Colombian, but generally speaking, I believe my home country is a major part of the South American culture,” Esteban said. “It connects the continent to Central America, its airport is one of the busiest in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is the gateway to the north and south for so many. So if the gospel takes hold there, it will have a ripple effect throughout South America.”
Seemingly every week, there’s fresh news of how the gospel is in fact taking hold across Colombia. The first cohort of students at the Expositors Institute was much larger than expected. And people are driving for hours to attend church with sound doctrine. “If you want to change the country, you need to change the cities,” Esteban said. “If you want to change cities, you need to change families, and if you want to change families, you need to change hearts. Of course the only way to change hearts is through the gospel.”
To learn more about how the MacArthur Trust is providing vital scholarship aid for seminary students at TMS and bringing that education to the nations, view our annual report.
