Eric Varela, Associate Campus Pastor for Cuscatlán, Digital Campus Pastor

Eric Varela is a pastor, designer, and ministry leader whose life story reflects God’s grace through every season. Born on June 6, 1971, in San Salvador, he grew up in a nominally Catholic home and encountered the Gospel in the late 1970s through a brother‑in‑law who became a spiritual father to him. After that mentor was killed during the civil war in 1980, Eric—only nine years old—trusted Christ at Vacation Bible School and was baptized with his mother. Though he kept his faith quiet through his school years, the seeds of that early decision shaped his future.

After graduating high school in 1989, Eric studied Civil Engineering and entered the emerging field of digital graphic arts, where he built a successful career as a designer, creative director, strategist, and eventually COO. He married Kathia in 1997, completed his engineering degree in 1998, and together they came to Christ and began serving in marriage ministry—an area that remains central to their calling.

In 2006, Eric and Kathia joined Vida Nueva, growing through small groups, IDEM, and later launching their own couples’ group in 2013. Their faith deepened further in 2019 when their youngest daughter, Susi, survived a life‑threatening diabetic ketoacidosis crisis. God’s intervention during that season strengthened their trust in His sovereignty as they learned to walk with her through Type 1 diabetes.

Eric joined the Vida Nueva staff in 2022, serving in production, discipleship, and now as Pastor of the Digital Campus and Associate Campus Pastor for Cuscatlán. He and Kathia have three children—Pamela (married, born 2000), Sebastián (born 2002), and Susana (born 2009).

Eric’s vision is to build far more than livestream services. His passion is to cultivate a true digital community of discipleship, care, and spiritual growth—a ministry that reaches across countries and cultures, uniting people around their shared need for Jesus.