Kentucky Baptists have taken another step in sharing the gospel in Chile, this time involving Baptist Campus Ministry students from Morehead State University and Northern Kentucky University in a weeklong mission effort in a city described as “forgotten and depressed.”
Looking back, Job Juarez, a mission strategist with the Missions Mobilization team of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, remains amazed at how God orchestrated every detail.
As part of the ongoing partnership to reach Chile that began in 2024, Juarez said the trip to Arica with pastors, college students and ministry leaders came about simply by “listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit.”
‘Macedonian Call’
“I got the Macedonian Call the last time I was on a mission trip in Chile,” he said. “I was by myself and got a call from an AMS (associational mission strategist) there who said, ‘Brother, hello. I do not know who you are, but I know some people with the IMB and heard great things about this partnership (with Chile). Please consider the possibility of coming and spending a couple of weeks with me.’”
Juarez told him his schedule was already full, but he would pray about the request. While in Santiago, Chile, he set aside a day and a half to travel north and spend time in Arica, an impoverished city of about 200,000 people. Located just 11 miles south of the Peruvian border, Arica is Chile’s northernmost city and serves as an important port for a large inland region of South America. The city operates as a free port for Bolivia and handles a significant portion of that country’s trade.
“No one goes to Arica,” Juarez said. “The churches feel abandoned. There are five (Baptist) churches and four churches are dying. Only one of the five is thriving. The AMS said, ‘Please consider partnering with us.’”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mark Maynard and originally published by Kentucky Today.
