Roni Zelaya is a fourth-year student from the department of Olancho. His father was the pastor of the charismatic church in which he grew up, but he can no longer serve there due to doctrinal differences. He has started a business to support himself while studying at SEPE, selling Olancho’s renowned dairy products in Siguatepeque. His plan is to continue serving here after graduating in December of this year. In this account, he shares more about his salvation testimony and the unique circumstances through which the Lord brought him to SEPE Honduras.
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The Conviction
I grew up attending a charismatic church. I was very involved, but deep down I was never sure if my faith was genuine. That’s how it was for many years.
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment of true repentance for me. I don’t remember. But what I can say is that about five years ago, I was exposed to sound doctrine. At my university, I met a friend who, although new to the Gospel, was already well versed in her doctrine. Every time we talked, I felt like I didn’t know anything.
This sparked a curiosity in me — a curiosity accompanied by unease. I had supposedly been a “believer” for many years, but at that point I realized that I didn’t even know the most basic things about the Gospel. This awakened my desire to study the Word, honestly reevaluating my life to see if it was in accord with the Scriptures.
These convictions strengthened over time, especially throughout 2020. The pandemic gave me a lot of time to read written works from the Protestant Reformation and listen to YouTube sermons from John MacArthur, Paul Washer, and others. God used those men to work in my life. He opened my eyes! This biblical preaching helped to dispel my erroneous ideas and stir up new convictions inside me.
I started asking myself, What place does God’s Word occupy in my life? I began to understand how the Scriptures were deeply connected to every aspect of my life. I had so many questions.
My story gets even crazier still. When I finished at the university, I didn’t want to work in the field that I had studied for. I only wanted to go into ministry. This had always been my deep desire – to pursue ministry full-time. I wanted to find a place where I could prepare for this, but now that I was aware of so much false doctrine out there, my highest priority was to find an institution with sound doctrine.
The Journey
In 2018, some friends invited me to a conference at a seminary in another part of Honduras. That caught my attention, and I wanted to find out more information about this place. It took six to seven hours by bus to get there, so it would have been difficult for me to come permanently as a student. But it was the only seminary that I had visited.
While I was there, someone at the conference told me, “I think that SEPE might be a better place for you.” I assumed that it was a program at the same seminary, so I got in contact with SEPE, talked with their secretary, Esther, filled out the applications, and everything.
This whole time, I didn’t know what SEPE was, or where it was, but as I was looking at the website, I was captivated by the curriculum that had been laid out. So I completed the application, and they accepted me.
The day that I was supposed to start at MEDA, I went to that other seminary where I thought SEPE was located. But the place was closed, still not operating because of the pandemic.
There’s no one here. I called Esther. “I’m here, outside, but I don’t see anyone.”
Esther asked me, “Where are you? Are you in front of the seminary that’s close to the Maxi Despensa?”
I tried to describe my location.
“No hermano, it’s not there. You’re in the wrong place.”
My heart dropped. A deep fear crept in. What did I actually sign up for?
Esther gave me the correct directions, so I set out towards MEDA. I had never heard of Siguatepeque before. As I traveled, I was praying, “Lord, where am I going? I don’t know. I don’t know this place.”
When I arrived, the classes had already started. I dropped my luggage in between the classrooms. I sat down restless and apprehensive.
But it only took 20 minutes in the classroom for me to realize that I had come to the right place.
The Lord had arranged everything in this way. I did not know where I was going, but He knew. There was no other way that I could have arrived at SEPE except for this turn of events, because I did not have any previous connection to MEDA or Siguatepeque. I had come on my own, or rather, the Lord had brought me there.
THE outcome
That’s how I started at SEPE in January of 2021. Since then, the change in my life has been very marked. I was already aware that nearly everything I had learned and heard before MEDA was wrong, so I came in with the intention of starting over, desiring to improve my knowledge and learn everything I could. Everything was new for me.
The Lord has been working in my heart and helping me to respond correctly to this new teaching, a teaching centered on His Word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been a remarkable experience – a huge blessing for me. Many of my convictions have been strengthened, and new convictions have emerged in me. Now I have a stronger longing for the ministry than I had when I arrived – a greater desire to serve the Lord faithfully.
These two years have been the best two years of my whole life.
At MEDA, the relationship between professors and students is nothing like what you get at a secular university. Here, the teachers – apart from teaching us, giving us their knowledge, and sharing with us everything they have learned and studied – develop a friendship with every student, and above all, they take upon themselves the charge of pastoring us personally. I remember telling my classmates, “Now I have experienced what it means to be pastored.”
To have someone shepherding me, invested in my spiritual situation, my life, and spiritual growth — this is a tremendous blessing. I admire all of them very much. It has been a wonderful experience to see their ministries, their lives, their families, the way they model the Gospel in their homes, how they preach in their churches, and how they are glorifying Christ in everything. These are examples that have truly shaped my life.
From what I’ve experienced so far, the methodology at SEPE has been more than adequate to prepare any man who wants to prepare himself for the ministry. I believe that this is the best place to be trained well, because it does not only focus on academics, but also on the spiritual growth that is unfolding in every heart of every student. It is almost impossible for someone to come here without being confronted in areas of his life and being molded towards greater maturity. It’s clear that all of this is preparing me for the service of the Lord.
One of the motives that brought me here, apart from wanting to study in the seminary classes, was the desire to be involved in a church where I can receive hands-on training for the ministry. After finishing at SEPE, or even while I’m still taking classes, if God allows me, I want to be actively serving in a church and learning from other pastors.
I would like to be a pastor someday – that’s why I am here to study at SEPE. That’s why I am here in this city. My prayer is that the Lord would define what exactly that looks like, but that is my desire: service and ministry.
The Lord is currently fulfilling the desire of Roni’s heart through the influence of Emmanuel Baptist Church. Roni serves at this local church and partner of MEDA International Missions, while being mentored by Pastor Melvin Romero and experiencing the grace of fellowship with likeminded believers.