I was born in El Salvador in 1970 and lived there until I was almost 11 years old. My mom and three of my sisters made our trek to the United States in 1981 and reunited with three of my sisters who already lived here. After living in Los Angeles for a year, my mom, two younger sisters and two adult sisters went to live in Orange County California. It was there where one of my older sisters met my friend Jimmy. He invited her to church and so my mom and my younger sister joined her. This was the first time I attended a Christian church. It was here where I would come to know Jesus and start my journey with him.[1] This church was just beginning when I joined it. It was led by a pastor Ray Zuercher. This is what the post is about. My hope is to bring honor to him and to the many pastors who have served the Lord faithfully.
Ray and his wife Carol Zuercher were appointed missionaries in 1948 by the Gospel Missionary Union based in Kansas. According to this newspaper article they had a special presentation as candidates in a church in Amarillo Texas. Not long after he and his wife went to Colombia. In Colombia he became director of the Missionary Union’s Bible Institute (it continues to this day and it is known as Ilumec), and it is my understanding he also helped to plant new churches. They were featured in a magazine called “The King’s Business” and were also featured in a rare short video by BIOLA in May 1951. BIOLA was then a small institute and was led by Dr. Louis T. Talbot and pastor Ray Zuercher was a graduate from it (1946). Missionary work was hard in Colombia during this time due to the persecution of Protestants by the Catholic Church. An old book (1956) documents the growth of Christianity from the late 1800’s. The Gospel Missionary Union had its first missionaries there in 1896. It is in this country that Ray and Carol would spend over 30 years. The missionary endeavors in Colombia have continued to happen to this day but much has changed. There are missionaries not only from the US but from other countries like Mexico. Much has been made possible by missionaries like the Zuerchers who were pioneers there.
It is my understanding, all their girls, except one were born there. I met them all at various times, but Mariann and husband Mark became close to me when pastor Ray Zuercher planted a church in Santa Ana California after coming back from Colombia. I met them there. Mark as a youth leader became my mentor. I didn’t have a lot of interactions with thin but there is one that I have never forgotten. On one occasion, pastor Zuercher visited me at home as a young 13- or 14-year-old. Even though I had recently started attending church, I started to miss. To my surprise he came to our home. I took to heart his visit and never wavered in my church attendance. In 1984, he baptized me. I didn’t get to know him personally and what I know is mostly through what I heard him preach or from his daughter Mariann and her husband Mark. He started to give my wife and I premarital counseling in 1990 even though he was already sick with cancer. He went home to Jesus in 1992. People from our church came to see him at his memorial one last time. I remember one lady saying out loud as she approached his body, “you were our father”. His wife Carol outlived him about ten years.
His impact in my life and in others from our church was evident. Even though our church no longer exists as it did, it gave birth to a new church and led many young people seeking ministry, many of them became pastors. All of this was directly related to my first pastor, Ray Zuercher.
[1] I’ve written a few posts about my journey of faith here, here, and here .