By God’s grace, I have completed my second year of seminary, so I would like to personally thank you for partnering with Bethlehem College & Seminary to invest in my training. Without your support and generosity, this would not be possible; thank you for your sacrificial giving for the sake of Christ’s name. Let me encourage you with the words of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil. 1:3–5 ESV). Your generosity has supplied for my theological training at Bethlehem College & Seminary and also produced much joy in my and my family’s hearts in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This summer I had the opportunity to visit my country, El Salvador, and lead a short-term ministry trip with some Bethlehem College & Seminary students and Bethlehem Baptist Church members. During this time, we visited rural church plants and had the opportunity to train rural pastors. As God gave us the opportunity to serve them, we were exposed first-hand to the profound need for theological training and gospel clarity among them. These are pastors who shepherd congregations who face poverty and death every day, and I believe they desperately need the truth of the Gospel to provide true and everlasting hope to their people.
I firmly believe that the church in El Salvador, and the rest of Central America, desperately needs to return to the Scriptures and a Biblical understanding of a Christ-centered gospel. This can only happen by God´s intervention to bring people to repentance, awake his church to prayer, and establish solid theological training for pastors. It is my prayer that God will allow me to go back to my country and invest my life toward this end.
Coming from a country where more than 85% of the pastors lack formal theological training, I can only thank God for the excellent education that I received at Bethlehem College & Seminary during the last year. I thank God for the opportunity to learn the Biblical Greek and Hebrew, being able to read the New Testament and Old Testament in the original languages, and thus have better tools to interpret and teach the Bible more faithfully. I also thank God for my professors and their passion for Christ inside and outside the classroom and their example of Christian life and love for their families. I am constantly challenged by their love for God’s Word and their passion for his glory.
Finally, I want to encourage you to continue to invest in Bethlehem College & Seminary and to partner in the spreading of a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.
In Christ,
Rene González
3rd Year Seminarian