March 3, 2009 – Guatemala City, Guatemala…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
Seventh-day Adventists are mourning the loss of one of their pastors after he was tragically killed while traveling on the road in Guatemala's southern region last Thursday.
Pastor Erick Cerritos, age 33, a native of Guatemala, was traveling in his car with his family when he was intercepted by an automobile and shot several times.
Cerritos, who had more than a decade serving as a minister in the neighboring country of Honduras, becomes the latest tragedy that the church in Guatemala has seen due to the escalating violence in the country.
“This is a terrible tragedy brought out by the unstoppable violence here in Guatemala hitting our Adventist family these last few months,” said Juan Lopez, communication director for the Central Guatemala Conference in Guatemala City. It's a concern that church leaders nation-wide have for their church members.
Official investigators believe that it may have been a case of mistaken identity, said Lopez.
So far, Lopez said that more than 122 Seventh-day Adventists have been affected by violence since 2008.
“There have been 12 church members murdered, 100 extortions and 10 kidnappings by gang members and drug traffickers all throughout the country,” he added.
Lopez explained that because the government in Mexico has recently intensified its fight against drug trafficking, many cross the border into Guatemala and bring their operations and violence to the country.
Church leaders and members gathered for a special memorial service in Guatemala City, the day after the murder. Cerritos's body was later transported to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where hundreds gathered on Saturday, Feb. 28, for a special service.
“We are still in shock in Honduras,” said Pastor Walter Ciguenza, communication director for the church in the Mid-Central American Union headquartered in Honduras.
“This has hit our church very hard,” said Ciguenza, who explained that in the more than 10 years has he has been serving in Honduras nothing like this has ever hit the church so hard.
More than 800 people crowded the Comayaguela Adventist Church in Tegucigalpa during a Sabbath morning memorial service for the late pastor. More people followed the radio broadcast of the program. Cerritos was remembered for his dedicated pastoral leadership in the districts of Rio Grande, La Hacienda and La Era, in Honduras.
Pastor Winston Simpson, Ministerial Association secretary for the church in Mid-Central American Union, spoke of the great loss in his pastoral team and offered words of hope to those mourning.
“We are saddened for losing Pastor Cerritos,” said Simpson. “No one knows God's plans. We must continue in faith in finishing the work God has called us to do.”
Cerritos pursued his theology degree from the Adventist University in Costa Rica and obtained a master's degree in Pastoral Ministry from the Inter-American Theological Seminary in 2007. He is survived by his wife and three-year-old daughter.
Meanwhile, leaders in Guatemala continue to be concerned with the safety of their members. Just a day after the memorial, a pastor who had finished preaching was violently assaulted and treated for a cut to his head requiring later 10 stitches.
Lopez said that churches in Guatemala are planning to organize a nationwide march against violence in the coming weeks.
–Juan Lopez also contributed to this article.
