Recently, Jorge Gomez Varela, SENDAS alumnus, was elected as President of the Costa Rican Federation Evangelical Alliance (FAEC). The vision of FAEC is to be “the entity that strengthens the unity of the evangelical church as it seeks to promote its protection, spiritual development, administration, social, family, ethics and ministry so as to impact the nation with the proclamation of the good news of Christ.”

Jorge Gomez Varela began his postgraduate work with SENDAS in 1991. He graduated in 1993 with the Master’s of Religion with concentration in Biblical Theology. Part of the research that he completed for his Master’s thesis later became part of his writing, “Growth and Desertion in the Evangelical Costa Rican Church” pubished by IINDEF in 1996.

Dr. Gomez directs the International Institute for Evangelism (IINDEF), an institution that gives opportunities for scholarships for students, including SENDAS students. Dr. Gomez has been a strong supporter of the seminary and its ministry.
When he was 22 year old, Dr. Gomez affiliated with the FAEC, being the youngest person to be a member at that moment. Except for a few years when he was studying outside of Costa Rica, he has remained a leader in various offices within the organization until his recent election as President.

Dr. Gomez expresses his goals for this new challenging position:
“We want to see the Alliance have a clear presence among the members so they feel encouraged by the well-established structure formed by a series of service ministries so that if someone arrives to our institution requiring legal assistance, we can help, but also help with social projects, advice concerning acoustics during worship services, guidance to start a child feeding center, training for working with children, youth and older adults, women, evangelism, small groups, growth models and many other aspects” (Interview taken from Maranata magazine online: http://periodicomaranata.com/jorge_gomez.html).

At SENDAS, we are proud to be part of the education of this faithful servant, and we pray that each step he takes will be guided by the hand of the Lord. We hope the best for Dr. Jorge Gomez in this new stage of his life.