Pastor Javier Gil, lead pastor of Betania, is spreading the gospel amongst the people of Cali, Colombia, known best as a major drug distribution point to the United States. Pastor Javier is Spanish River’s key movement leader in that part of South America and he and his wife Gloria have been a part of the Spanish River church planting family since 2007.

What are some of the ways that you’ve seen God change you through the gospel, and what are some areas that you sense him working on you now?

God gave me a new life in Christ and took me out of darkness into the light. He has granted me the immense honor of serving him and I know that it is only by his grace that I am what I am. If God can change someone as wretched as I, he can change anyone in his mercy. For this reason, I preach and announce the good news and the bad news with joy. I long to see in many more people this work of mercy which God did for me – either here in Cali or in the place where God may wish us to be as a family. God continues working faithfully in my life. Thanks to him, honest and sincere brothers have been given to me who help me fight my sins and weaknesses – above all with my beautiful wife. Though I fail greatly to reflect my Savior as I ought, but I know that each day I am less Javier and more like my precious Savior. Often this process is painful but it is worth the pain; for God loves me!

What were your initial thoughts about cultivating healthy relationships with your wife and kids before planting, and how has planting a church impacted or changed those thoughts?

I was married while planting a church. A year later, my son Tomás arrived, who is now 13 months old. I cannot deny that it has been very difficult to go from being 100% dedicated to the work to see now that God has given me a new priority, the responsibility of being husband and father. But being in the will of God brings blessings. My family is my principal ministry, although often it hasn’t been this way. Responsibilities regarding the work are growing and thanks to the Lord each day I learn more how to discipline my time and share more of it with my family. By God’s mercy, my wife has begun to support me in the work more and more and that has made the ministry God has given us more effective and efficient.

What is the most impactful thing you’ve learned in the process of planting this church, and how has that changed you?

What has impacted me most in planting our church and now other churches in our area of the Valle de Cauca is to see how the Lord is taking what is mean and despised and using it for his glory in ways that only God could do. Cali is known as the drug capital of the world and the great majority of its inhabitants in the past have had some connection with the mafia. But now it is precious to see the grace of God in action in whole families; in formerly false pastors and teachers who have now repented and are preaching sound doctrine in their churches; in people who are looking to be taught since many are saturated with the heresy of the false “prosperity” gospel. We are now in the process of planting three new