Some Personal Thoughts on Christian Sarmiento Being Elected General Superintendent

By: Scott Armstrong

A little over one week ago, Dr. Christian Sarmiento was elected the 45^th general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene. Christian has served as the South America Regional Director since 2005. Prior to that, he was Regional Director for what is now known as the Mesoamerica Region.

I was surprised at how emotional I got when Dr. Sarmiento was elected to the denomination’s highest office eight days ago.

Christian was our first regional director. He and his wife Margit welcomed us to the airport in Guatemala City on the evening of January 2, 2004. We were a young, naïve couple. I still remember how long it took us to install the car seat for our seven-month-old baby in their vehicle. They were so patient with us: we realized in the coming months that car seats were a luxury many Guatemalan families could never dream of.

On that 20-minute ride to the Regional Office and the apartment where we would be staying, Christian told us that he wanted us in his office at 10am the next day. “Wow,” we thought, “we’re hitting the ground running!” There, he explained to us that we would be the coordinators of a new ministry now known as Missions Mobilization. God was calling people from all over the region – especially youth – to answer a call to cross-cultural service. We would be the ones to encourage and equip them to be sent to the world.

It is hard to underestimate how crazy this was. Emily and I were 26 years old. She was a nurse, and I had been a youth pastor. What did he see in us to be able to train missionaries, many times decades older than us? He named us regional coordinators, and we had a place at the table along with legends in missions like Dr. Helmer and Susy Juárez and Dr. Rubén and Monica Fernández. He saw in us what others didn’t. And his faith in us gave us the confidence to move forward into all God had for us. (Side note: Christian brought on David González from Mexico and Jimmy DeGouveia from Venezuela to also be regional coordinators. All of us were in our mid-20s at the time. Those other two have become quite the world changers in the decades since!)

Being with Christian those first few years, I realized I had to step up my game. I would present to him plans for our ministry that I thought were future-thinking. I was contemplating 2-3 years ahead (perhaps common for a pastor or youth pastor), but Christian was constantly thinking 20-30 years ahead – sometimes more! Now, I incessantly think of the ramifications that our current decisions in ministry will have on coming generations. I was not that way until having observed my first regional director for two years.

There is much more that I could say about Christian. He is a gifted preacher and educator. He is one of the best translators I have ever witnessed (and I have modeled many of my interpretation techniques off him). He has authored many books and articles in both English and Spanish. But if I had to identify the two characteristics that most impacted Emily and me in the short time we served under him, they would be his belief in young leaders and his visionary optimism.

Dr. Sarmiento will serve the Church well. Our denomination will be better for him being a general superintendent. Christian and Margit, we will be praying for you in this challenging new role. Thanks for loving God and his Church. And thanks for investing in Emily and me as missionaries and leaders.