Gospel Partnership in Costa Rica
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, anyone who's been following along the podcast knows a couple of weeks ago you talked about in an update about global, some wonderful global updates that in Costa Rica are there were men who were going to be ordained. You actually had the privilege of going to Costa Rica recently for a historic occasion and reason for celebration in our family of churches. Talk to us about that.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, thank you. I was in Costa Rica for a couple of days last week and was invited by them and had the joy of participating in the ordination of our first Sovereign Grace ordained elders in that nation. It was just a wonderful trip. A part of what made it special was Carlos Contreras and his wife Kena. They happened to be in Costa Rica because he was speaking at a conference that same week and he was able to join me in terms of participating in the ordination service. If you don't know Carlos Contreras, he is the lead pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Juarez, Mexico and also our national director there in Mexico. And then there was also Roberto Estupian, Choby, is what we call him from Guadalajara, lead pastor of Gracia Soberana in Guadalajara. He was there and so he got to participate in the ordination as well. So it was just a joy to go.
We ordained three pastors, Juan Ho Solano, it's Juan Jose Solano, we call him Juan Ho Juanjo Solano, Andres Aguero and Daniel Rivera, who are all three pastors at a church by the name of Iglesia La Gracia in San Jose. And it was just a wonderful evening. We sang, of course, and these brothers and sisters at La Gracia, they are passionate singers for Jesus. It was just great. Even the worship leader after the ordination service said like everybody was singing loud tonight. Wonderful. They were just excited about the ordination. I had the joy of preaching from 1 Peter 5 verses one through five, just about an exhortation to elders and charging Juan Ho and Andres and Daniel with what we're called to do in those verses. And then I had Carlos Contreras lead through the ordination vows with their candidates, those three men and then congregational vows. He was able to do that in Spanish, which is obviously much more meaningful than me doing it in English being translated. And then I had Choby join Carlos and me as we lay hands on them and prayed for them. And it was a historic night for La Gracia and for Sovereign Grace, but it was a real happy night. as we celebrated the grace of God on these men's lives.
Benjamin Kreps:
I bet.
Mark Prater:
And I was able to spend time with them. And I just came away just so impressed. First of all, they obviously have good theological minds because they did a great job going through the ordination process that any Sovereign Grace elder goes through. But what struck me, you can have theological knowledge but not theological discernment. And these men clearly have theological discernment because we dropped into, for example, we dropped into this conversation over lunch about how they are seeing the therapeutic creep into the church a bit along with language being used. But like here in the states, people are coming to La Gracia and saying, I don't need a pastor, I need a therapist. And they're making a very courageous stand on God's word for biblical counseling. And in doing so, they've lost some members over it, but they just know that is the right way to build the church. So that's just an example of their theological discernment. So a happy night for La Gracia and for Juan Ho and Andres and Daniel and their wives, and just a joy to participate.
By the way, when I was there, I also got to spend time with Rodrigo, who's the lead pastor of Casa 2:42. That's a candidate church. We have four candidate churches in Costa Rica. Actually now we have three candidate churches and one full partner church, La Gracia. But Casa 2:42 is a candidate church. They have an elder there that only needs to take his oral exam and if he passes that then they would become a full partner church. But Rodrigo is the lead pastor, someone I've known for several years, and he arranged for me to meet with his entire staff and just do some things that I taught and we discussed. And so that made the time even more strategic and even more happy in that regard. So wonderful trip to Costa Rica.
Benjamin Kreps:
Sounds like it. Well done to those brothers who passed their ordination exams and who now have been officially installed and ordained as pastors in Sovereign Grace. Man, it is wonderful to see our global partnerships and our family of churches growing in Central America and Costa Rica. That's exciting to hear about. So it's significant for us in Sovereign Grace as our partnership grows, our family of churches grows, but also specifically meaningful and historic moment in the life of that church. You talked to Juan Ho, who you mentioned earlier, the senior pastor there, and he explained to you what this ordination, these ordinations represent for that church.
Mark Prater:
Yeah. I asked Juan Ho, I said, what does this ordination mean to you personally and to the church? And he said, Mark, it is so meaningful and here's why. He said, when I came to La Gracia, I think that was probably a decade ago or something like that, it was an independent church and he was a solo pastor and he said, that's really hard to be on your own as a pastor and to be independent without any family of churches around you. He said, so tonight is a wonderful moment for us because it's a bit of a relief for me. I've got a plurality of elders obviously now being ordained together, which made that night even more special for those three pastors and their wives. But he said, we're just not alone anymore. And to find a family of churches that is theologically compatible with La Gracia and that builds so relationally like you do in Sovereign Grace, he said that was just very much an answer to prayer. So as we look to the future, we know that our partnership with Sovereign Grace will strengthen us as a church. And I was quick to say, well, I know La Gracia is going to strengthen Sovereign Grace as well because this is a solid church and these are dear brothers that we can learn from.
Benjamin Kreps:
That is wonderful. It is meaningful, clearly not only for us but for that church. And of course now they get to experience what we enjoy in our family of churches that we've enjoyed over decades. So welcome to the family and how grateful we are for partnership with this, with La Gracia. You talked about, you've been talking about Juan Ho and his perspective on things, the senior pastor there, but also before we end, do you want to share with us a truly remarkable story about some changes that are actually happening when it comes to Juan's role in leading that church? Talk to us about that.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, in talking with Juan Ho and his wife Lada, they have had a dream. They've been praying for 10 years now about moving to Lebanon with their two kids to reach out to Muslims. And that is now going to happen. He said he couldn't do it before, even though they've carried this together on their heart, both of them, for years. They wanted to make sure the church was strengthened and there was a quality of elders and there was partnership established because they just didn't want to go alone. And he said, I think now the church is at a place where we can go and the church actually knows and is very supportive of what they're going to do. So in about a month, La Gracia is going to send out Juan Ho and his wife Lada and the kids to Lebanon. Their heart is to reach Muslims there with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And his prayer is that he can establish a Sovereign Grace Church in Lebanon.
And his prayer is that he would see Lebanese pastors ordained in Sovereign Grace and indigenous leaders like them leading that church. That's his desire. If that happens with one church, he'll move and do that somewhere else in Lebanon to see another Sovereign Grace church in Lebanon. And in interacting with him, he has the kind of theological understanding and the kind of maturity I thought, I think you could probably, if I've never met anyone who could do this, I think it's probably you, and Loud is right there with them. And it's something that they just carried on their heart in particular. And so be praying for them. The mission agency that they are raising money through, if you're interested in giving, is Action International. I'll put a link in the transcript for the podcast if you're interested. And he said he chose Action International because of their robust ecclesiology, which told me another thing about Juan Ho. Okay, you're discerning correctly how missiology works in the Bible, but certainly in Sovereign Grace; that you don't separate missiology and ecclesiology. And that's why he chose Action International. And they know his plan to plant the Sovereign Grace church there with Lebanese pastors at some point, and they're all for that. So kind of an amazing story. It really is. And a development that is new to us, but not new to Juan Ho and his wife. So please be praying for them.
Benjamin Kreps:
Will do. And Juan, we just couldn't respect you more. I mean laboring for many years independently, and then leading your church into Sovereign Grace, raising up plurality, and then leaving behind that wonderful church to sacrifice for the sake of making Christ known among the Muslim people, wow, just couldn't respect you more. So grateful for La Gracia and the pastors there, and as they send Juan; what he and his family will be doing in the days ahead. So we'll be praying and looking forward to updates about that work in Lebanon.
And thank you, Mark, for the updates about your trip and what you got to experience there. So thanks all for watching or checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.