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Oscar
Chapo is the pastor of Mt. Zion Evangelical Baptist Church in
Quitilipi, Chaco.
He was a young man working as an electrician when he made the decision to follow
Christ. He was doing some electrical work for one of the Baptist churches in
town and made the acquaintance of the pastor there. Through that relationship,
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 Three
years ago, church members Andrés and Patricia Ocampo brought their burden for
the people of the San Martín neighborhood to the pastor’s attention. Oscar
agreed to mentor Andrés and, working with his wife, they formed a team of
believers and began a ministry to the children of that neighborhood by serving
them homemade bread and warm mate cocido – a green tea served boiled in milk and
sugar – this is, for many of the children there, all they’ll eat in a day. After
6 months, they began Backyard Bible Club type lessons for the children. Today,
the daily snack is still being served, and Sunday mornings Bible lessons for the
kids and worship services for the adults are also being led.
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Last year, college student Patricia Figurero sensed a burden for the
neighborhood of Boca (mouth), which is the part of town infamous for witch
doctors, drug abuse and thieves. After time spent in prayer, she approached
Pastor Chapo and asked his approval to begin ministering there. He gave approval
and placed Patricia in charge of the work there. She works with a team and leads
weekly Backyard Bible School type lessons each Saturday afternoon and
administrates the visitation teams who visit the adults during the week for
evangelism and encouragement.
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Oscar Chapo is one of those men of God who exudes passion and that peace that
passes understanding. In May, the leaders of the Argentine Baptist Association
of Chaco met with Oscar and offered to ordain him. This has been a dream of
his, one which he didn’t believe would be realized due to his lack of formal
seminary training. God is using him mightily not only in the city of Quitilipi,
but as a positive influence among the Baptist pastors in Chaco. Please be in
prayer for him as he prepares for his ordination interview with the pastors of
the association in July. The Chapo family is also praying that God will make
it possible for them to buy a lot and build a home of their own in Quitilipi.
Oscar feels that it is probably a good thing that God doesn’t show us His
entire plan for our lives from the beginning. He says there is no way that the
young, single electrician would have ever believed that he would one day be
pastor of a missions minded church! |
he
recognized his need for Jesus and God’s great love for him and gave his life to
Jesus and asked Him to enter his life as Savior and Lord. His beginnings in
ministry came not long after when he learned that a team from the church wanted
to travel to a small village outside of town to start a church but had no
transportation to get them there. Oscar volunteered to drive the team in his
truck. That decision gave him his first taste of ministry, and also gave him
closer contact to Graciela, who is now his wife of 22 years! He continued
driving the church planting team, and eventually took on teaching
responsibilities in the young church. A few years later, he learned that the
mother church was interested in reviving the Baptist work in Quitilipi, some 26
kilometers from Sáenz Peña. After praying together and with trusted mentors in
the faith, Oscar and Graciela agreed to serve as missionaries from Sáenz Peña to
Quitilipi. The church agreed to fund them as they traveled several times a week
to the neighboring city.
After
2 years of bi-vocational ministry including bi-weekly services and daily visits
with the believers in Quitilipi, Oscar felt led to give up his electrician
business and move his young family of 6 from Sáenz Peña to the three-room
parsonage behind the church in Quitilipi. The church there banded together and
added two more rooms to the parsonage and the change was made. Unfortunately,
the pastor at the church in Sáenz Peña did not support this move. At the
fellowship following the first service Pastor Chapo led as pastor rather than
missionary of the Mt. Zion Evangelical Baptist Church, a deacon from the
sponsoring church in Sáenz Peña gave him a letter saying that all funding was
cut off, effective immediately. This marked a true test of faith for the young
family. God, once again, proved Himself faithful and the Chapo family, along
with Mt. Zion church has flourished.
Now,
eight years later, there are three more evangelical preaching points in
Quitilipi. Four years ago, through church members, Oscar learned that the
settlement of