Bible Training in Spanish: A Complete Curriculum for Bi-Vocational Pastors and Church Planters

A Complete Curriculum That Fits Bi-Vocational Ministry

Every part of the BTCP program is available in Spanish today. The curriculum offers three tracks so that training fits the calling and context of each student:

• BTCP (10 courses) — full pastoral certification for men who meet the biblical qualifications for pastors outlined in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1

• BTCL (8 courses) — Bible Training for Church Leaders, open to any committed disciple, including women and lay leaders

• BTCI (5 courses) — a foundational overview of Scripture, doctrine, and ministry

Rather than a classroom lecture hall, each course happens in a local, life-on-life setting, no exams, no tuition debt, and no years spent away from work or family, exactly the flexibility a bi-vocational pastor or a church planter starting a new work needs most.

One of BTCP's Most Successful Programs: Equipping Bi-Vocational Pastors Across the USA

The Spanish-language program in the United States is, by class count, BTCP's single largest field of ministry anywhere in the world, and it's become one of the most effective ways BTCP reaches a group traditional seminary often overlooks: bi-vocational pastors and church planters who are already leading, but working a full-time job to do it.

This training isn't confined to the states with the largest Hispanic populations. Alongside Texas, California, and Florida, BTCP's Spanish curriculum is actively equipping pastors in Arkansas, Tennessee, Ohio, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, and many places in between. Wherever a Spanish-speaking church exists, this training can reach the pastor leading it.

Valentin Chun is one example among hundreds. Originally from Guatemala, he now leads a BTCP training center in Alcoa, Tennessee, teaching and training pastors and leaders across Knoxville, Morristown, and the surrounding East Tennessee region, and is already recruiting new students from Cleveland and Jefferson City to keep the program growing. "It's been a tremendous blessing for my church, for my ministry," he says, "because this Bible Training Center for Pastors is very Christ-centered, very biblical."

Reaching Nearly Every Spanish-Speaking Nation

Latin America is where BTCP's Spanish curriculum runs deepest: thousands of classes across more than 30 countries, led by hundreds of different ministry partners, together reaching nearly every Spanish-speaking nation in the world. Venezuela alone has produced thousands of graduates, and BTCP's footprint spans everywhere from Mexico and Central America to Peru, Argentina, and the Caribbean.

One thread in that much larger story: Paul and Denise Lambert, missionaries who spent over three decades bringing BTCP's training into communities from Mexico to Cuba, including significant work among refugees. Their ministry opened serious Bible study to indigenous believers who had once been told they weren't capable of studying Scripture for themselves. Read more about their story →

Other partners have taken the training just as far. In Bolivia, one pastor has used BTCP's materials to train more than 60 church leaders in remote areas far from the country's cities. In Venezuela, one ministry alone has run the program since 2010, graduating 250 students and planting 21 new churches directly from that training, proof that this curriculum doesn't just teach, it multiplies.

For individual disciples, the impact is personal. Alejo Perea expected his two-year BTCL program to take even longer, studying the entire Bible seemed like a project that would stretch on for years. Instead, after first learning the tools to interpret Scripture correctly, he and his classmates worked through every book of the Bible in just a couple of months, guided by his teacher and, as he puts it, "the ultimate guidance of the Holy Spirit." The experience reshaped his daily spiritual habits and left him, in his own words, "very thankful for BTCP." Read Alejo's full story →

In Cuba, the story is remarkable. In spite of sustained political opposition to the Gospel, a flexible, low-profile version of BTCP's training model has still reached thousands of pastors and church leaders on the island, proof that this curriculum can adapt to some of the hardest contexts in the world without losing its depth or faithfulness to Scripture.

Bring BTCP to Your Ministry

BTCP doesn't train students directly. We equip ministry partners, churches, denominations, and mission organizations, to run the program themselves, using our full curriculum, model, and ongoing support.

Whether you're a bi-vocational pastor, a church planter, or a mission organization looking for a ready-made curriculum to equip Spanish-speaking leaders, there are two easy ways to start: