Moving Towards the Lost in Lebanon
Juan, his wife Lau and their two kids at Cedar of Gods in Lebanon.
An update from Juan, a dear brother SG ordained & commissioned to Lebanon…
In 2011, the Lord gave me the privilege of meeting Lau; she is the greatest gift that God has given me in life, after the benefits of redemption, and she was the one who exposed me to the reality that our God is not being worshiped in many places around this world. God blessed me with the opportunity to marry her in 2015, both of us having the conviction to plant churches in the Middle East. Our church, Iglesia La Gracia, located in San José, Costa Rica, shared the conviction to send missionaries to unreached places and supported us from the very moment we shared our willingness to be sent. A few years ago, we had the opportunity to be in a closed country to the gospel in this region, that we cannot name for the safety of the people with whom we still have a relationship, but the Lord, through different means, prevented us from moving there permanently.
The conviction of our family and the church did not change and we continued to pray for God to guide us to a place that would please Him. And without a doubt, that waiting time was the best thing that could have happened to us because the Lord was doing two things simultaneously.
Juan with Pastor Elie and his wife Nadine, at Nations Desire Church, Beyrut.
The first was to strengthen a friendship with a Lebanese pastor I had met in an expository preaching course at the Dallas Theological Seminary in 2015. This pastor encouraged me to consider being sent by our church to his country since there are less than one percent of Protestants, and possibly no reformed theology churches. After a prudent amount of evaluation, fasting, and prayer, our church made the decision to send us to this place.
The second was to establish a relationship of friendship and companionship with Joselo Mercado, through whom the Lord brought us as a church closer to Gracia Soberana. A desire began to grow in the three pastors of our church to be part of this beautiful family of Sovereign Grace Churches. By God's grace, after passing all the evaluations, the three pastors were able to be ordained in March of this year. Being part of Gracia Soberana has reaffirmed our conviction that missiology goes hand in hand with ecclesiology and has strengthened our desire to plant churches in the Middle East.
Juan preaching Psalm 103 at Nations Desire Church, Beyrut.
Just a month after our ordination, the church sent us to Lebanon. We have been here for a few weeks, and by God's grace, we already have residency for a year. For some, it is interesting that a family from Costa Rica, which is considered a paradise country and has no army, has the determination to travel to a country that has experienced decades of armed conflict. The reality is that if we looked with human eyes, there would not be a single reason to be in this place. But when we look with spiritual eyes, we have all the reasons to be here and to yield our lives so that our God receives the glory He deserves in this country and that His children come to faith through the preaching of the gospel. Amy Carmichael once said: 'When I consider the cross of Christ, how could anything I do be considered a sacrifice?’ Our conviction is that His glory has an infinitely greater value than our own lives, such that being here is not a sacrifice but an unmerited privilege.
Please pray that we can learn the language easily, for the adaptation of our children, and that the Lord opens doors for us to preach the gospel and articulate it with faithfulness, clarity and precision. Also, to establish Sovereign Grace Churches in this country and in this region, with indigenous pastors who will continue the work for generations. Moreover, for a future Pastors College of Sovereign Grace in Arabic. Some of these things may seem like a dream, but as my dear Joselo says: 'I believe the Bible.'
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3.20-21)
Juan and his family depart San Jose, Costa Rica, heading for Lebanon.