“We are victorious believers,
We have to live with victory in mind,
My life has been that way.”
-Pastor Helmer
Pastor Helmer is a Pastor in Caja Marca with 8 churches and he additionally manages a clinic and a school. He is one of 9 siblings in his family and got saved at the age of 12. His story wasn’t always this successful. He left the church and home at the age of 14 to move with his uncle in the city of Lima; 2 years after his mom passed away from leukemia. While talking with him his eyes filled up with tears as he remembered the pain he went through.
He remembers a Christmas when they had nothing to eat after his mother had passed away. As neighbors passed by with the groceries they had for dinner that night; he just stared. Pastor told me how they weren’t always poor, his dad was well off, but they had to sell everything except their house during the time his mom was ill. She had leukemia for 5 years and went from having dialysis once a month to everyday. The medicine and blood transfusions were expensive and there was no cure for leukemia back then. His dad was a pastor during this time and kept up his faith. When she passed away she left 6 children with one of them being under a year old.
Pastor Helmer said he came back home and into the church setting at age 18. He came back with a prodigal mindset of “what am I doing?”. During that time-frame he was getting into many fights in Lima and his uncles’ neighbors were scared of him. With a cigarette in his hand and an epiphany in the other he decided to move back home. Little did he know what would he be receiving the day he arrived.
His dad was still a pastor and invited him to church, stating his brothers would really like it; he was the second oldest and all of his family went to church. That night the youth group was voting for a new president to represent the entire group. They voted for him, to his surprise, and he accepted the position. He loved the idea of being a leader; popping his collar and laughing as he told me his story. However, soon God would show him how hard it is to lead people and it led him to his knees in prayer to ask God for guidance. He ended up being Youth pastor for about 4 years.
He says there were several times he felt the calling to be a Pastor. The first instance that comes to mind was when his cousin was trapped by drugs; the fight in him raged for his cousin’s salvation. It was during this time that he declared war with the devil and said out loud, “I will defeat you”, but he didn’t know how. He went to his dad for advice and asked what could he do to serve God? His dad said he could do ministry or he could go to seminary school. He decided to go to seminary to be better equipped. However, that wasn’t the first time he felt the calling. He was church planting before that. While being a church member he was the worship leader, missions’ director and a church builder for some time now. More about that later.
He went to seminary for 4 years and again confirmed his calling then. After graduating around 1994 from the seminary school in Trujillo; his home town, he knew this was just the beginning of his work for the Lord. At age 29, he married the love of his life, after dating for 6 years. He met her at the church he attended and she went to seminary for two years as well.
His first church as a pastor was located in Chimbote; he led there for 3 years. After seminary he was chosen to lead the church of Cajamarca. It was started by doing street services then they moved the services to homes. He was there for a while, but the church members were tough on him so he decided to leave the church and become a taxi driver in Trujillo. Pastor Helmer leftministry for about year and half. He felt God tugging at his heart;he was sad during this time and felt without purpose. The bible verse that came to mind for him at the time was in Jeremiah 20:7-9 “O LORD, thou hast seduced me, and I was seduced; thou wert stronger than I and hast overcome me; I am in derision daily; every one mocks me.For since I spoke out, I raised my voice crying, Violence and destruction; because the word of the LORD has been a reproach unto me and a derision, daily.And I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But he was in my heart as a burning fire and within my bones; I tried to forbear, and I could not.” There was a fire back inside of him and he decided to go back into ministry. He became the pastor of Matara and moved there with his family. He had no sewage, no electricity and the church was able to donate a home with a bed in it. While sharing this with me he laughed at the bed hurt his back so much but he says it was the most beautiful time of his life. He was able to open up 2 churches: one in Jocos and one in Churgap. He says the simple life is the best life if you are living it with God.
One day as he was getting ready to go to Jocos for ministry he saw a cloud of rain that was coming. He knew from growing up that he wouldn’t be able to make it to Jocos without getting wet. At this time, he was to make a decision: to go home or to go to ministry but arrive wet. He said God were asked by Joshua to stop the sun and at time I want to ask you to stop the rain (Read more about it in Joshua 10). The walk from Jocos was an hour long. He kept seeing the cloud at the distance but when he put inside the house he was to lead ministry in that day; the rain poured out. His eyes lit up as he told me the story. “I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, I can’t explain it to the magnitude that happened that day, but it was a miracle”. He said it rained and thunder outside within seconds of him stepping into the house. It was after this time; he was invited to become the pastor again of Monte Sion; the church in Cajamarca. The church was built at this time, but he added the school.
Pastor Helmer currently has a staff of 19 teachers and 5 assistants. His school has ages 4-18 year olds; which brings the total number of 400 students. Not all his teachers are Christians, but they teach by his principles of a Christian. He started off with 2 teachers and 25 students. He felt led to build the school after a random American stopped by his church to knock on his door. The American told him the church doors should never be closed. He went in prayer to ask God what should he do about this. The thought of building a school came to mind. He found professors that were currently working at other schools and asked for advice. They helped him and guided him through the process. It was hard to get permission to build a new school but after a few hurdles he was able to get it approved. He called neighbor churches to find teachers that would be employed by him. Just like that Monte Sion, the school, was up and running. Since then he added the additional churches and clinic.
On our way to Yanacancha, one of his churches that we dubbed Camp Yanacancha, he told us about how he first begun a church there. It was due to a missionary he worked with named Larson Johnson. Larson ran over someone in an accident at Cajamarca during his time of missions. He, called Larry by our Pastor Eloi from Yanacancha, felt led to personally take the body of the deceased to his hometown for burial and to honor the family. It was by this act that they found the neighboring city of Yanacancha; 3 hours away from Cajamarca. They arrived and there was no road to get into the town so they carried the casket down to the bottom of the hill. When Larry arrived the people wanted to hurt him for killing their loved one. He decided to fundraise and was able to get the proper roads build for the people of Yanacancha.
When I asked him what kind of Pastor he wants to be known as he answered “We are supposed to be a church full of power, triumph, miracles and should always be encouraged.” He believes his childhood was preparing him to do what he is currently doing. Pastor Helmer doesn’t take vacations; he considers his vacations are when he goes to a visit another one of his ministries, a neighboring church. He might go out with his family for 2 days or so then feels the need to hurry back to church because there is so much work to be done. He loves when his church members hug him and show him how he’s important to them. The church is meant to have dreams, vision on their life and needs; but that shouldn’t stop them from having hope when it gets tough. He believes to live in a constant mindset of victory and triumph, so his churches can stay encouraged. Pastor Helmer believes anyone can get out of whatever situation they are in because he looks back and can see his life is a miracle. The fact that he is still here today is proof that we can do anything through Christ because he transformed him. When I asked him what kind of pastor does he want to be remembered as after he dies, he answered, a pastor that gives, a pastor that was strong, full of life and one that gave hope. Some may think that he doesn’t have problems because of the joy he carries, but he made sure to make it know that isn’t true. He said it’s all about his perspective.
I asked him how his perspective has changed on when he gets challenged by a church member. He said he remembers the story of Absalom chasing David. When David was running away from his son trying to kill him, a man came out and cursed David; he accused him of having this as punishment from God. At this point David had no shoes and was in a miserable state. When David responded he said that it was okay for his soldiers not to kill this man. Gracefully David responded to he hoped God would hear what this man was saying about him and have mercy on him (Read more about it on 2 Samuel 16:5-11). This is the Pastor’s mentality; he doesn’t respond or fight anymore. If he is actually doing something wrong, then he hopes God will have mercy on him and if he is not doing anything wrong then he knows God will take care of him. Pastor Helmer said, “If what they say is truth then God may have sent them to wake me up and correct me. If they’re wrong, then I bless them and go on my way. It’s better to be quiet.”
The biggest blessing, he has received is having a Christian family: all his siblings have given their life’s to Christ, all his brother-in-laws and his step mom. They all lead in church and two of his brothers are currently Pastors.
Remember when I said more of that later? Well we are here. His first church that he built was 6 kilometers away from his home. The town and even the construction of this building were all humble. He said one day as he was building the church with a friend and time flew by. It was 8 p.m. so it became very late for them to walk back home and they decide to spend the night inside the church. They dug a hole and covered themselves with dirt as a blanket. At this time, he felt this was God showing him his passion for building and leading churches. The church only had 15 members but it was after this church that he was called to lead Chimbote.
This is my question to you church, family and friends…what would you be willing to dig a hole for? What sets your heart on fire? Go and do that! Do it for God’s honor and glory. See how he blesses it and you. Lots of love and hugs your ways.
