The global pandemic has challenged the way academic education is advanced on all levels of instruction. SENDAS continues the teaching and training of pastors and leaders in the midst of it all. But it has also brought some new challenges, as you could imagine. Online instruction works for most people, but not all. For example, what if one is blind? Can someone without sight participate and succeed in online courses? For SENDAS the answer is “yes.”
Meet Haury Cerdas. Haury is participating in online courses to complete his Certificate in Worship through SENDAS.
Haury is a talented musician who in 2011 won the reality talent show, Nace una Estrella (a Star Is Born) which is produced in Costa Rica. However, that is only part of his story. In that same year he became a believer in Jesus Christ after the death of an unborn child he had been expecting with his wife, Katherine. That event and his decision to follow Christ changed the trajectory of his future. He began to dedicate his talents to singing, playing, and composing for the Lord.
Haury enrolled in the Certificate in Worship program offered by SENDAS earlier this year. To be honest, the fact that he was blind presented some challenges to his instructors. However, with time, patience, and a compassionate heart to serve, Haury is succeeding and deepening his understanding for his call to share Christ with others through worship.
Haury shared the following statement about his experience at SENDAS: “It is great to know that SENDAS is there, and that the tools exist so that someone like me can have access to the education that’s so important to worship ministry through technology. Many times, we think that our function is limited to directing people, playing instruments, forming worship teams, and developing individuals. More importantly, our function is to reach others through the work we do. The fruit that is gained through our ministry will also be part of our labor for the Kingdom, and that makes me very happy. My experience at SENDAS has been precious. The courses are so good! I am very grateful for the blessing of being part of this beautiful seminary and for your support, which has been very effective. I have felt very loved in this institution. I am very happy and willing to continue to where God wants to take me. May the Lord bless SENDAS!
His participation in this program has been a blessing to his professors. One of them, Dr. Marco Velasco, SENDAS´ academic vice president says: “When I first heard about him and that he would be in my class, Wesleyan Theology of Worship, I admit I felt a certain fear. I started to ask myself, how can a blind person take an online course? Should I make this class different than other classes? I have never had any student in a class who had a problem with vision. Haury challenged me as a professor but also as a Christian through his life of faith and the way he came to know Jesus Christ. He is young man who lives his life beyond tangible and visible evidence because he knows who has taken control of his circumstances and his own life: it is Jesus, his personal Lord and Savior!
With determination and confidence in God, Haury represents one who will not be limited by his inability to see. He has continued to produce worship music and recently was signed as the voice of the country’s new Burger King® commercial by producing a video looking ahead to the day when we can all gather with each other after the pandemic has abated.
Haury and Katherine have two children, Emanuel and Abigail. The family lives in Costa Rica.
By: SENDAS
