Series on Mexican Pastors and Seminary Students: Pastor Esequiel Sánchez

Welcome to the third installment of our series covering Mexican pastors and seminary students. This week we’re featuring Pastor Esequiel Sánchez (pictured above with his wife Mary and their three daughters), a strong leader in the Mexican Lutheran Church.

Early Start
Pastor Sánchez grew up in the small town of Acuña, just across the border from Del Rio, Texas. “While there, I met a pastor from the Missouri Synod (LCMS) that had a Hispanic congregation,” Pastor Sánchez recalls. He was a teenager at the time and started taking confirmation classes with the pastor. “In two and a half months, I was confirmed,” he says.

Shortly after getting confirmed, the pastor of the congregation went on vacation. “He asked me to cover while he was gone. I read sermons on Sundays, and that’s when the idea of being a pastor first sparked an interest in me.”

Pastor Sanchez became active in the congregation, and as a young adult he went to study to be a pastor in the Missouri Synod. His studies led him first to Austin, TX, and then on to St. Louis, MO. In 1991, he graduated from the seminary and began serving in the United States.

After some time, Pastor Sanchez headed back to Mexico, this time to serve in mountain villages outside of the city of Monterrey. While working in the area, he met a WELS missionary, Ernest Zimdars (now serving in California). Missionary Zimdars was serving the congregation La Santa Cruz (Holy Cross) at the time. He offered to share Lutheran magazines with Pastor Sánchez .

“One day I went in to the city of Monterrey with my wife – we were headed to the doctor and I stopped by the church (La Santa Cruz) to pick up some magazines. There were two pastors there, waiting for me. One of them was Pastor Larry Schlomer. They interviewed me on the spot.”

Both Pastor Sánchez and the other pastors were surprised to find each other – Lutherans are a rarity in Mexico! After talking to them, Pastor Sánchez made the decision to study under Missionary Schlomer and join the IELC, which is the name for the synod body of the Mexican Lutheran Church here (more on the IELC here). He studied for two years with Missionary Schlomer and graduated in 1999.

“When it comes to theology, in Austin and St. Louis I got my training wheels,” says Pastor Sanchez. “But with Pastor Schlomer, I learned how to ride a two-wheeler on my own.”

While studying , Pastor Sánchez served as a student pastor at the congregation in Monterrey. When he graduated, he was called to serve the congregation in Puebla. Then in 2000, he was called to serve El Redentor (Redeemer) in Torreon, Coahuila. He remains there today.


Recruiter and Visionary
“By God’s grace, I’ve met men with great gifts to serve in the ministry,” says Pastor Sánchez. Indeed, Pastor Sánchez is the Mexican Lutheran Church’s leading recruiter. He has the ability to not only spot young men with gifts to be a pastor, but also talk to them, encourage them, and lead them to make the right decision regarding the ministry (as I mentioned last week, Pastor Cajas decided to be a pastor after talking to Pastor Sanchez, and you’ll meet others that were brought in through him in the coming weeks!).

Pastor Sánchez is also a visionary leader for the church body in Mexico. He has the gifts to see opportunities that the Lord grants the church, grasp them, and by God’s grace, carry out projects that make a difference. In the coming years, as the history books are being written about the Mexican Lutheran Church (who knows, perhaps I’ll pen one!), Pastor Sánchez will be listed as a founding father of today’s church here.

Many thanks for your recruiting efforts, leadership skills, and evangelism-minded spirit, Pastor Sánchez. We look forward to seeing what God has in store both for you and for the Mexican Lutheran Church in the years to come.

Join us next week as we cover another pastor in this 12-part series.