People/Rev. Harold Caballeros

A Faith-Born Dream Surely Comes True

Rev. Harold Caballeros
Senior Pastor of El Shaddai Church
Guatemala City, Guatemala

With year-round warm weather, Guatemala is called ‘a country of spring’. It is located south of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula. At one time it was the center of Mayan civilization. Since its independence from Spain in 1821, Guatemala has suffered economically from civil war and a military coup with the transition of democracy in 1981.

For this reason, most of the Guatemalans have tried to find peace of mind through religion. People in the city as well as aborigines on the outskirts of the city have begun to trust in Jesus Christ to get out of despair and suffering. As a result, Christianity in Guatemala started growing in the 1990s.

In the midst of these national circumstances, there is one pastor with a new vision who has been following the passionate Pentecostal faith and cell system of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea. He is Rev. Harold Caballeros, senior pastor of El Shaddai Church. In late 1970, his wife led him to Christ, and he obeyed God’s call and began praying about building a church. In 1988, he pioneered his church starting with eight members: his wife, his mother-in-law, and a few others, and now it has grown to be a healthy church that is leading the spiritual revival in Guatemala.

In 1992, Rev. Caballeros hosted the National Prayer Day of Guatemala with Dr. Cho, and he invited Dr. Cho to Guatemala City to hold the 2004 Kingdom Business Forum and the 2004 Church Growth International Conference in October.

Rev. Caballeros ministers with a vision to evangelize the whole country of Guatemala by equipping the lay members of El Shaddai Church as strong disciples of Jesus. He is now working on the project ‘2020 Vision’ to accomplish his goal of evangelizing his country. The ‘2020 Vision’ is a plan to increase the present 40% who are evangelized to 100% of the country by the year 2020.

The ‘2020 Vision’ set by Rev. Caballeros is well underway mainly through media ministry. Presently his sermon is broadcast across the country on 25 radio channels. Through television channel 21, which was jointly purchased by El Shaddai Church with four other churches, they are now sharing the Good News about the living God.

Rev. Caballeros said, “Media ministry is the most effective way to evangelize mountainous Guatemala, and about two million people, 20% of the population, listen to the radio.”

With the beginning of the media ministry, El Shaddai Church grew rapidly. The church has planted 100 branch churches in Central and South America as well as in Canada.

Rev. Caballeros has steadily endeavored to include educational ministry in his church, realizing that the gospel of Jesus Christ needs to be preached in all aspects of society, education, and culture, and he has put a lot of effort into his cultural mission. His Bible college teaches curricula on theology, missions, and the Bible, to help Guatemalan youth rise up as leaders in the church and business for the next generation. This is the reason why Rev. Caballeros has established eight Bible colleges in Guatemala and has concentrated all his energies on discipleship training. Starting with the opening of three Bible colleges in Guatemala City, the Bible College construction has gradually expanded to five more Bible colleges in local districts. Leadership training has become more visible through Christian education. The dream of Rev. Caballeros to evangelize Guatemala 100% through his ‘2020 Vision’ is coming true little by little.

Rev. Caballeros confesses that his ministry has been greatly influenced by Dr. Cho of Yoido Full Gospel Church. He said, “Dr. Cho is my mentor, and I received a new vision and dream in Christ through Dr. Cho.
I first heard about him through Rev. John Huston. Then I met Dr. Cho for the first time in Korea in 1988, and I invited him to Guatemala to evangelize Central and South America in 1992. At that time, I had been praying to build a church. Dr. Cho admonished and encouraged me saying, “To break Satan’s stronghold, you must pray and be awake in the Spirit all the time. Expect great and amazing blessings from God for Guatemala. Have hope and go forward.”

After this I prayed all day and night and led many souls to the Lord. God gave me a new revelation through Dr. Cho. The vision is that I must minister with visions and dreams in Christ, and never give up my ministry. The reason why I embraced the vision to evangelize Guatemala is because Dr. Cho’s books have influenced me. To evangelize Guatemala 100%, prayer must be accompanied with evangelism, so I printed 70,000 copies of Dr. Cho’s book, Prayer, Key to Revival, and distributed it to all the pastors and church leaders in Guatemala free of charge. Through the book, many prayer warriors were raised up in Guatemala, and many servants of God became inspired to pray fervently for the nation and its people.

About the future mission of El Shaddai Church, Rev. Caballeros remarked, “The Church is the body of Christ. Jesus Christ sacrificed His body and His blood on the cross to save us. The El Shaddai Church will try to help people meet their needs. The church is especially interested in helping youth and children grow healthy in spirit so that they can lead the next generation.

At present, Guatemala is facing hardship economically. However, Rev. Caballeros says, “I will do my best to constantly raise and equip leaders for the future of Guatemala.”