“Do you need to stop seminary? I understand—anyone would understand that.”
Adolfo was halfway through the Expository Preaching Program at Berea Seminary in Spain when Gustavo Pidal (Professor and Dean of Students) asked him that question.
A family man well-acquainted with hard work, Adolfo owned a business, lived on a farm that required his constant attention, and gave leadership to, not one, but five churches in southern Spain. Despite his many responsibilities, he’d decided to study at Berea because he wanted to rightly handle the Word of God, even recruiting several other local pastors to do the same. At Berea, his professors were impressed and encouraged by his deep thinking, spiritual maturity, and practical service.
But then his 22-year-old daughter passed away suddenly.
As he endured the loss of his daughter, it was God’s Word—that infallible source of divine truth and comfort—that sustained him, leaving him more convinced than ever of its power to minister to others.
Knowing the multitude of responsibilities that rested on Adolfo’s shoulders—and how much heavier they must feel under the weight of such grief—Professor Pidal remembers asking him that painful question: “Do you need to stop seminary?” And he certainly remembers the answer Adolfo gave, even as he mourned the loss of his daughter:
“You know what, my commitment is not just to Berea or to the local church. My commitment is to Christ. So my emotions are not going to rule how I’m going to react.”
Despite how overwhelmed he might feel, Adolfo was convinced that seminary training was a vital component of his faithfulness to Christ. And by God’s grace, Adolfo was determined that no trial or tragedy would derail his commitment to rightly handle the word of truth. As he endured the loss of his daughter, it was God’s Word—that infallible source of divine truth and comfort—that sustained him, leaving him more convinced than ever of its power to minister to others. Today, Adolfo is a graduate of Berea’s Expository Preaching Program—and even better equipped to faithfully execute his many responsibilities. But he hasn’t stopped there; he’s pursuing further education in the form of a Bible and Theology Diploma.
“Every time I think of faithfulness, I think of [Adolfo],” Professor Pidal says. “He is an example of a godly man… who loves Christ, who is shepherding the flock, who is very busy yet preaches every Sunday, preaches every Thursday. He’s an example of someone that I want to be like—and here I am, teaching him!”
Men like Adolfo are exactly what the apostle Paul had in mind when he exhorted Timothy to entrust what he’d received “to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
“This is where Berea Seminary comes in,” Professor Pidal explains. “We’re training these young men who are going to be the future elders and future pastors of the churches.… This is the future of Spain.”
According to Professor Pidal, there has been tremendous missionary effort to bring the gospel into Spain in the last hundred years. But even so, there’s an intense hunger today for in-depth pastoral training—and hardly anywhere to find it.
“This is where Berea Seminary comes in,” Professor Pidal explains. “We’re training these young men who are going to be the future elders and future pastors of the churches.… This is the future of Spain.”
If you’d like to help more pastors like Adolfo be equipped for faithful ministry, you can do so today by donating here. TMAI needs your help to support hundreds of new students who desire to start their training this fall. We also hope you’ll join us in praying for these men, rejoicing to be part of the Lord’s provision—not just for men like Adolfo—but for the church in Spain and around the world for generations to come.
