Juan & Silvia Aristizabal
Learn About Our Church
About Us
God has blessed me with a wonderful family, including a wife who loves the Lord above all else . We are from Colombia, and my children were born in the U.S.—we were married on March 10, 2018—and with whom I have three beautiful children: Grace, 5, Isabella, 3, and Santiago, 2.
Our Call to Plant
During one opportunity with the homeless ministry, one of the homeless began to recite Romans by heart, and there I understood that only with the teaching of the Bible institute of the church was not enough. So we prayed and understood that the Lord wanted us to prepare and serve Him full time.
The problem was that we were very comfortable in Colombia, and we didn’t want to leave our comfort. But one day doing our devotional we read about of The Rich Ruler that we found in Mark 10 and reading the question that Peter asked in verse 28 where Peter asks Jesus:
What about those who have left everything?…
We realized that we didn’t want to be like The Rich Ruler and that we really wanted to obey Him and follow Him. So we left everything and went to study in the seminary. During these 4 years the Lord has worked in our hearts and given us the opportunity to form us, to train us not only in the seminary but in different courses and discipleships about church planting and in the same way God has allowed us to Serve and learn in different church plants ministries.
The only thing I can tell you is that there is no human merit in everything that has happened to us. The Lord has put both in us, to will and to work.
Today we are here obeying the call that the Lord has given us, and we want with all our hearts to glorify Him, to teach His precious gospel and to reach the Hispanic community in Alabaster for Christ
About Our Church Plant
I have the privilege of serving as the church planter for Westwood en Español, and with God’s help, we hope to continue planting churches. At this time, the plan is—if the Lord permits—to equip and train a church planter who will plant a new church in 2027. Please pray with us that this may happen. Our vision is the same as that which all churches should have (Matt. 28:16-20). Our mission to fulfill that vision is:
We invest in people who transform their world for Christ. Planting churches for the expansion of God’s Kingdom.
At this moment, our mission field is undergoing various changes and facing difficulties due to the immigration crisis. But that does not stop us, nor does it change God’s perfect plans. For we have seen how the Lord uses this entire difficult and terrible situation to glorify Himself. Thanks to this, we have already sent a man to Mexico whom we were discipling in expository preaching, and he is now preaching the Word of God in his city.
How to pray for us
- For the new church plant.
- The immigration situation.
- That the Lord would raise up a youth leader who speaks English fluently and understands Spanish.