Rain or Shine: An Update on Pastor Pedro

Yesterday, Pastor Pedro missed class. He had been out visiting, doing what he has done for years, when he fell and may have broken his foot. Walter went to see him, bringing borrowed crutches and a book so he could keep studying even from his bed.

Pedro’s community can be a little hard to find, so Walter brought along a former student, now in his thirties, who knew the way. As they sat there, with Pedro’s foot in pain, the conversation naturally turned to ministry, and neither Walter nor the student left unchanged by what they heard.

Pedro told them about the years he spent walking two and a half hours into the mountains, rain or shine, to reach a church he had planted there. He did it faithfully for years, until the church he pastors now grew to the point that it took all his time, and he handed that mountain church over to someone else to lead.

That is who Pedro is. A man who walks toward people, even when it costs him hours, even when it costs him his own comfort, and now, even when it costs him a broken foot.

His current church reflects that same heart. Members come from all the surrounding communities, drawn in over the years by a pastor who kept showing up. And his ministry has reached even farther. Pedro now leads an online church for people from his communities who have emigrated to the United States, many of whom find themselves isolated there, cut off by language and far from home.

He has gained members not because he built something flashy, but because he kept caring for people who needed to be cared for.

Right now, a new church building is going up, a big, beautiful space that is the result of years of faithfulness. The student who guided Walter that day was struck by it too, especially when he learned that the members themselves had built it, with no outside help.

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Pedro says simply that he has seen God’s faithfulness in his life again and again.

You can read the rest of Pedro’s story, from Catholic catechist to church planter, in the post I wrote last month: [here].

Would you pray with us for Pedro’s foot to heal? He’s a man who has spent his life walking to reach people. We’re asking God to get him back on his feet, literally, soon.