Nelson Guerra trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior in 1973 while completing his second year of college in Honduras. From that moment, Nelson became a follower of Christ wanting to learn more about God's plan for his life. He immediately started to witness to others in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, his hometown. As a result, he started and led a weekly Bible study.
In 1975 Nelson moved to the United States to study at Florida Bible College. Daniel Sierra, missionary and FBC graduate, was instrumental in Nelson attending FBC. There he met and later married Lucy Davila, who had come from Wally and Jane Morillo's ministry in Pharr, Texas. Upon graduation he was ordained as pastor in the Hispanic Christian Church of Miami.
In 1980 Nelson and Lucy went back to Honduras. They joined the team he had left in Tegucigalpa. The challenging thoughts of reaching the world with the gospel revolutionized the small church. Soon the vision expanded to plant churches throughout Honduras. Missionary teams were sent to plant churches in two neighboring countries in Central America. Dreaming larger dreams, the vision expanded to reach all of Latin America.
As the churches multiplied, and under Nelson's leadership, Great Commission Latin America (GCLA) was born. Today 25 churches have been planted in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and in three Hispanic-populated cities in the U.S.
During his ministry in Honduras, Nelson served as Pastor of Great Commission Churches in the cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. He also was President of the Honduran National Association of Churches, Chairman of the Franklin Graham's Evangelistic Association Crusade in Honduras, Board member of the Great Commission Association of Churches and World Vision Honduras.
In 2002, GCLA's headquarters moved to the "capital city of Latin America": Miami, FL. Here Nelson serves as GCLA's director and as Pastor of the Great Commission Church of Miami.
God has used GCLA to help rebuild communities that have been affected by hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. In 1999 and in partnership with Samaritan's Purse, more than 5,400 houses were built in Honduras and El Salvador to benefit the families whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch.
Today GCLA has many community outreach programs throughout Latin America: medical clinics that serve thousands of people a year, nutrition clinics, orphanages, Christian daycare centers and a support center to minister to HIV/AIDS infected families. Different projects have been created to help poor families be self sustained: a bakery, a tortilla factory, a tilapia farm, and others.
More than 500 short term missionaries from US churches are mobilized each year to minister in different GCLA churches in Latin America.
From two small Bible study groups in the 70s, GCLA has developed into more than 6,500 people attending weekend services, 3,000 committed members, 645 small group leaders and 34 ordained pastors. The GCLA pastors are all committed to the vision of having a "growing church in every important city of Latin America."
Nelson and Lucy reside in Miami. They have six children, Karisa Rivera (27), married to Abelardo Rivera, Irene (25), Susan (23), Marcos (21), Karen (19) and Nelson Andres (15). They have one granddaughter, Madison (2). All their children share their parent's vision to make disciples in every nation as Jesus Christ commanded in Matthew 28.
Great Commission Latin America, Inc
12905 SW 132nd Street, Suite 2A
Miami, FL 33186
Tel: 305.252.1223 - Fax: 305.252.4042
Website: www.reachinglatinos.com
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