VIDA NUEVA DIGITAL CAMPUS DIRECTOR: ERIC VARELA

The goal of the Vida Nueva Digital Campus is that it be an experience much greater than digital transmissions of messages. It is designed to be a church experience, a community where people can grow and be cared for, a place where new believers can be discipled. A place where a church community can be international, multicultural, but one in Jesus.

Do you have friends or family members who speak Spanish, live outside of El Salvador, and don’t have a home church community but are looking for one? Do you have friends or family members who might like to be a part of our Vida Nueva Digital Campus? Tell them that they can have a real church experience, grow in their Christian Faith, and be cared for just as if they were in person in a real church. Invite them to fill out our online Google Form and submit it today. That form can be found at the following link: https://forms.gle/GJZGeV2bUtxTbxPK8

We can’t wait to hear from them! We will do all we can to get them connected! Thank you for giving them that extra push to reach out to us! May the Lord bless you always!

 Eric’s Story:

Eric was born on June 6, 1971, in San Salvador, the fourth of five siblings, in a nominally Catholic family. In the late 1970s his family encountered the gospel through a brother‑in‑law, a Baptist deacon who became like a second father to him. His death during the civil war in 1980 deeply marked Eric’s childhood. Only a couple of months later, at age nine, he accepted Christ during Vacation Bible School and was baptized alongside his mother. However, growing up in a Catholic school and facing social pressure, Eric kept his faith hidden and lived much of his youth in a quiet, in‑between spiritual state.

After graduating high school in 1989, he began studying Civil Engineering and entered the world of digital graphic arts, a field so new that it opened many professional doors. There he met Kathia, who later became his wife. He married in the Catholic church in 1997, completed his engineering degree in 1998, and built a successful career in advertising as a designer, creative director, strategist, and eventually COO. In 1998–1999, Kathia received Christ, and Eric reconciled his life with the Lord. Together they began serving in marriage ministry, a calling that has remained central to their lives.

In 2006, God led them to Vida Nueva, where they grew through small groups, IDEM, and eventually launched their own couples’ group in 2013. They served in marriage camps and continued deepening their ministry involvement. A defining moment came in 2019 when their youngest daughter, Susi, faced a life‑threatening diabetic ketoacidosis crisis. God intervened powerfully, and she recovered far sooner than expected. Since then, Eric and his family have walked faithfully through her Type 1 diabetes with gratitude and trust in God’s sovereignty.

In 2022 Eric joined the Vida Nueva Staff. He has served in production and discipleship but his main title is Pastor of the Digital Campus. Eric and Kathia have 3 children, Pamela who is married, born in 2000, Sebastian, born in 2002, and Susana, born in 2009. Eric’s vision is to build more than livestream church services—his dream is to build an authentic community of discipleship, care, and growth across countries and cultures, united by the same need for Jesus.