March 13, 2025

Being a pastor is not an easy job.

CEO, CFO, Administrator, Facilities Manager, Supervisor, Visionary, Teacher, Counselor, Confident, and Cleanup Crew are all roles that a pastor finds himself wearing. And he is expected to prepare a good sermon, no, a great sermon every week. Week after week after week.

By definition, those who come to a church are often looking for comfort. Jesus said: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Mathew 11:28) Many people who have looked for love in all the wrong places finally decide to try church. They arrive broken, ashamed, disillusioned, depressed, scared and angry and in some cases see the pastor as their last resort at finding peace. As someone who has spent much of my career in the trenches of providing mental health care, I know personally the toll that responsibility takes.

Although a pastor represents the teachings of God, he is not God. He is a man who has a wife, children, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins all who demand his time. This is in addition to the weddings, funerals, baptisms he officiates the graduations he attends and the hospital/home visits he must make to care for the sick and elderly. And, of course, there is the congregation who is not often respectful of a pastor’s schedule demanding that he be available 24 hours a day. Isn’t this in fact the role of “a man of God” to serve everyone, everywhere all the time!

This is a job I could not do.

I respect and admire those who do.

Today I spent the day with two men who do it extremely well.

Marcos is the Vice President and Marcelo is the Latin America Faith and Works Manager of The Grace Institute. The Grace Institute exists to train, equip, prepare and provide resources to church leaders for Christian ministry. How these two pastors have exercised their skills to harness their resources have transformed communities throughout Latin and South America. Look at this amazing data:

Ecuador One Hundred Eighty pastors, leaders and teachers trained. Ongoing Biblical Education for over three years.

Argentina Pastors, leaders and Sunday School teachers training over One Hundred students.

Peru Forty three pastors and seventeen leaders serving in the communities of Lima, Cusco, Trujillo, Pucallpa and Huancayo.

Uruguay Thirty Five students involved in Biblical Education. Training program entering its fourth year.

The reason that the work of The Grace Institute is so important is that it reaches under resourced communities with a sustainable ministry model. These are communities with no financial resources and limited access to the outside world. There are churches started without pastors and pastors desiring to serve churches and The Grace Institute coordinates solutions to establish cooperative relationships. As an example, Salta is one of the most difficult towns to reach in Argentina. It is about a 28-hour car ride from Buenos Aires, plus an additional 7 to 10 hours to reach the Wichi aboriginal communities. Yet, there are now seventeen leaders who are trained in that area providing much needed education and translation.

It is not only the rural areas of South America that are being served. The Grace Institute has initiated a new project serving the homeless in the poorest areas of Buenos Aires. Twenty trained leaders are already spearheading this most worthy project. In addition, The Grace Institute now has programs on the continent of Africa where Biblical Education is in great demand. When you look at their website you will be amazed at all that they have accomplished in Africa a testimony to the sustainability of their ministry.

An integral component of The Grace Institutes success has been their utilization of Thirdmill training materials. Marco and Marcello were graduate students at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Ms., when they met Dr. Richard Pratt the founder of Thirdmill. In additional to creating original study courses, they use 13 Thirdmill training programs as part of their Biblical Education curriculum.

As I continue this journey, I am becoming more intimate with the ministry efforts of Thirdmill. In Arica, Chile Chongae and I spent the day with Lorito Delgado, a young woman who was becoming the first Thirdmill student in that area of Chile. Now in Buenos Aires I saw how the same material was being used to impact the lives of thousands.

When I left private practice and became the CEO of a health care company, I had to develop all the protocols for the doctors to use in treating patients. It was a difficult and tedious process. To write material that has utilization for a broad audience is not an easy task. From my observation Thirdmill has been able to accomplish that task and I am certain Pastors Marcos and Marcelo are pleased they did.

I could not begin to do justice to all the work that The Grace Institute is doing in this simple introduction. Please visit the link below which will lead you to their website thegraceinstituteintl.com

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