Gustavo’s Musings - #1 of 10

July 2001

“Should I stay or should I go?”

During the Summer of 2001, my family and I traveled to Costa Rica for a six-week internship with
ESEPA Seminary in San Jose. Prior to this time, I had been studying at Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary for two years but I did not have a clear idea of what I would be doing upon graduation in
2003.
Our trip to San Jose was a kind of testing the waters to see if the Lord was calling us to pursue a
ministry of theological education within the Latin American continent.
Our son Emilio was three years old during this trip, our daughter Caroline was 1 ½ and my wife
was 5 months pregnant with Natalie.

(Written after our short-term missions trip to Costa Rica.)

The seminary’s mission statement was simple. The large, Spanish-lettered sign was notably
displayed at the entrance, “…Preparing leaders after God’s own heart.”
Seminario ESEPA (School of Pastoral Studies), located in San Jose, Costa Rica, was a prominent
evangelical seminary in Central America. The student body hailed from eleven different countries. They
felt called to fill a leadership gap, resulting from the historic growth of the Latin American Church.
Preparing leaders was indeed urgent and ESEPA seemed poised for the challenge.
The seminary also maintained six satellites in remote parts of the country. In places like Rio
Naranjo, with its red clay roads and towering green hills, a rural pastor could pursue theological studies.
In places like La Fortuna, with its bustling soccer field and rumbling volcano in the distance, rural
leaders could mine the depths of the New Testament to strengthen their ministries. In places like these,
our family served this summer.
I had increasingly sensed God’s prodding toward a teaching ministry after graduation…in
theological education…in a Latin American Context. As a visiting professor to ESEPA, I was to prepare
and deliver two intensive survey courses through their extension program. And so we came to Costa
Rica to minister, almost as a trial run, with the intensity of a reconnaissance mission, seeking God’s
direction for our future.
In those six weeks we witnessed the vibrancy of the evangelical churches in Costa Rica, the
desperate need for resources and leadership development, the monumental vision of one tiny seminary
to train pastors, leaders and missionaries to minister in places like Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia
and Costa Rica. Through teaching, we witnessed the transformation of individual minds, for the
strengthening of entire congregations, through sound doctrine and deeper biblical instruction.
God did not confirm our future as much as expand it. Life was not easy in these remote areas, yet
the Church was overcoming, discipling and growing the kingdom. In a place of such great need, one
small seminary, one devoted professor, one committed disciple could have a profound influence. Indeed,
where faithful ministry met such desperate need, there you would find men and women after God’s own
heart. That was a call that could be understood in any language.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gustavo Karakey was born in Durango, Mexico and grew up in Southern California. Currently,
he lives in Boston with his wife and three children.
From 2004-2008, he served as a missionary to Paraguay, South America teaching at the
Methodist Bible Institute just outside of Asunción.
In 2011, Gustavo and his family will be moving to Medellín, Colombia, where Gustavo will
serve as a professor of New Testament at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia (www.fusbc.edu.co).
Gustavo’s passion is to help develop pastors and leaders for the church in Colombia and Latin
America as well as to prepare missionaries from Colombia for the unfinished task of global missions.

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To learn more about this exciting ministry in Colombia visit: http://www.karakey.com
To sample or purchase a copy of Gustavo’s book “ Making Sense of the Bible” which provides a step-by-
step method to better understand the Scriptures visit: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22475