Alexis Oliva is a graduate of The Seminary for Expository Preaching (SEPE) who teaches Spanish Grammar and Expository Preaching at the seminary and serves on the pastoral staff of Iglesia Bautista Koinonia in Tegucigalpa, HN. Although he has been in ministry for 20 years, recently his efforts have also been focused on planting a church in Tatumbla, a municipality about 40 minutes from the capital. His story is the first in a series highlighting God’s work around Honduras through biblically equipped pastors.
In his early years, Alexis lived outside of the capital, in an area where there was no church. He had heard the gospel over the radio, and yet again when a missionary presented it to him more clearly. At 12 years old, the Lord graciously saved him, at which point he was able to serve Him from an early age.
In 2011, he enrolled in SEPE with a friend who had grown up with him in the church, eager to prepare himself for the preaching of God’s Word. He graduated in 2014.
Over the years, he has been greatly involved in shepherding Iglesia Bautista Koinonia in Tegucigalpa – biblically preaching, discipling, and counseling – but in 2019, the idea was formed to plant Iglesia Bíblica Ebenezer in Tatumbla.
“The idea was to start in March 2020 through the efforts of the brothers in Iglesia Koinonia,” Alexis says. “But the pandemic came, and we had to delay the project. During all that time, we were waiting for the Lord’s will.”
The answer to their prayers was made clear upon meeting David Mejía, who offered to host the church services on the premises of the Christian bilingual school where he is currently proprietor.
“I think that one of the greatest blessings is knowing that not only was God working within our hearts, bringing us to this place, but also that God was working through other people,” Alexis says.
The name of the school is also Ebenezer.
“It seems like a coincidence, right?” Alexis queries. “But God…has been sovereignly moving in all these areas to bring us together in what is the expansion of the gospel, and I believe it’s a wonderful thing that the Lord has done.”
Iglesia Bíblica Ebenezer now holds worship services in Ebenezer Christian School, where four to six families regularly meet. Meanwhile, the church planting team is dedicating this first year to evangelism, a critical first stage of church planting.
When asked what the most satisfying thing about his ministry is, Alexis says,
We believe that we are unworthy to have been called to this ministry, which is by the pure grace of the Lord, and to be able to serve others. I think that God has granted for me to be able to have the satisfaction of doing what I do. But then, among all these activities – between training men, teaching the Word of the Lord, preaching the gospel, counseling – I think there’s a general satisfaction in saying, “This is the ministry of the Lord,” and serving the Lord has been one of the greatest blessings.
HOW YOU CAN PRAY
- Pray that the Lord grants that the church planting team in Tatumbla continue preaching God’s Word in Iglesia Bíblica Ebenezer.
- Pray that the doors would be opened for them to go to the homes of those in the community, and that they would have the privilege of guiding the lost towards Christ.
- Pray that the Lord would continue working in people’s hearts and that many would be converted.
- Pray for the Lord to grant the brothers involved in this effort unity in preaching the gospel together.
