John Jairo Leal and Susana Castro are ordained pastors in the Colombia Missionary District and have served as pastors and church planters in Medellin. John is currently director of Community Church Planting with Impact Latin America. Susana is coordinator of the Healthy Leaders Development pillar in Latin America. She mentors the mission district leaders in Costa Rica, 360 Mission District and Honduras, and serves as a mentor for pastors of the Camino de Vida IML churches in Colombia. John Jairo and Susana’s passion is to develop leaders who spread the gospel with words and deeds of love.
Children: Isabella, Valentina, Alejandro (nephew)
Pray For
- the whole family to maintain healthy rhythms amid multiple tasks
- their children to know God more fully and love Him with all their being
- much fruit in the development of healthy leaders at the local, district and area levels
- leaders to experience deep connections with God and one another through pastoral care groups
- the expansion of the Community Church Planting movement as God opens doors and prepares hearts
Recent Heartbeat Articles
Connection: Bible Memorization and Restoration
One simple interaction in Paraguay and an offering collected at the National Bible Quiz Finals in the USA are reaping great rewards in Colombia. It all started when missionary and the mission district leader of Colombia, Thad Roller, sat next to Gerry Coates, the...
It Works!
What did a pharmacist really need of faith? Especially one who was raised in a good Catholic home? For 34 years, Iván didn’t think much about faith until his wife became an evangelical Christian. He turned down her invitation to go to church, but over time, as he...
Redeemed Life—Redeeming Work
Drugs, violence, crime and participation in the occult were all part of Pastor Efraín Cabrera’s life before God rescued him and radically changed his life! He knows firsthand the vulnerabilities of the youth and adolescents in Paraguay. He also knows the rejection...
Crossing the Globe – Spreading the Gospel
Nearly a century ago, in 1928, Massayoshi “Daniel” Nishizumi, a Free Methodist pastor from Japan, embarked on a remarkable mission. He moved to the other side of the world as a missionary to Brazil, preaching to Japanese people who had immigrated to Brazil. But he was...