Jacob Torrez: A Record of Grace

A Record of Grace

WBS Student Jacob Torrez sees his past turned into a testimony that is multiplying in ministry.

As a young man, Jacob Torrez found himself with a record of wrongdoing that would disqualify him in many people’s eyes from employment. Yet, in God’s grace, he has not only found a place to serve Christ, but his ministry is also multiplying greatly, resulting in dozens of new discipleship groups in his community outside Houston, Texas.

It all started for Jacob when his father, a “hellfire and brimstone” preaching Pentecostal pastor, left their family when Jacob was 12 years old. Although he had had an encounter with the Lord at a Christian summer camp and been baptized, and even felt a call to ministry, the wound resulting from his father’s departure left Jacob angry with God and the church. Combined with the wrong group of friends in high school, he was soon on a path of destructive behavior.

Nevertheless, God was at work in Jacob’s life. When he was 22, he met his now wife Nicole. Four years into their relationship, she suggested that he needed to attend church. His immediate response was, “Are you kidding me do you know what the church and God have done to me!” Nevertheless, the next Sunday he went to worship. With her background in Catholicism and his Pentecostal, they decided a good compromise was a small Methodist church. Over time, the Wesleyan message of grace from the Scriptures drew his heart and mind back to Jesus. “In Texas, we say that Pecos Bill wrestled a tornado,” Jacob jokes. “My mind was the tornado, and Wesleyan theology was my Pecos Bill.”

Working for an auto parts store, Jacob and Nicole traveled to various places. At four different churches, they heard the same announcement: “Our youth are going on a mission trip, and we need adults to help lead them, and we also need a drummer.” Jacob commented to Nicole, “I don’t know who God is trying to speak to, but they need to quit following us!” Eventually, they realized the call was for them. Back in the Houston area, a pastor told Jacob, “Our youth pastor just resigned, and our drummer quit, and I want you to interview for this position.” Jacob recalls praying on the way to the interview on August 8, 2018, “Lord, if you get me this job, I will give you my life.” An hour afterward, he got the call that he was being offered the position.

Jacob had a natural connection with students. Because of his own past, he could identify with troubled kids and help them find God’s grace. When he took it upon himself to serve communion and baptize two new believers at a summer camp, his pastor gently informed him that he needed to be ordained. Soon, he began the journey of candidacy for ministry. Delayed by COVID and then by denominational disaffiliation, Jacob’s plan to remain in youth ministry was challenged as he began to feel God’s call to full-time pastoring. Yet he was still unsure if his past would disqualify him for such a leadership role.

Jacob came to Wesley Biblical Seminary in 2022 for the Global Methodist Course of Study. He says that Southern Methodist University had made him feel unwelcome, telling those like him who affiliated with the GMC that they no longer belonged there. He prayed about what to do, typed in “online seminary” in his search engine, and WBS was the first result that came up. When he began classes at WBS, he says, hearing the commitment of the professors to the inerrancy of Scripture and their understanding of Wesleyan theology, it felt like “coming home.”

“My wife has followed my journey as a preacher and teacher,” Jacob says, “and she has told me, since coming to WBS, ‘there’s something different about you.’” He explains, “It’s because I’m preaching what my heart is feeling and what my mind is thinking—I can now articulate the ideas I had on Christ, on holiness, and on Christian perfection.”

Jacob is now the Executive Pastor at the 4,000-member Lakewood Methodist Church in Cypress, Texas, in the Houston suburbs. In that role, he oversaw a successful discipleship ministry that included 10 groups with about 50 participants. After taking Dr. Matt Friedeman’s class on discipleship, however, which includes the “5Q” method of structuring transformational small groups, Jacob has seen the ministry multiply to include 27 groups with over 300 participants, and he says the overall spiritual health of the congregation has improved as a byproduct. “Approaching the Scriptures with intention matters,” Jacob says. “When we come with the expectation of hearing something that we will put into action, we experience greater transformation.”

Seeing the benefits of his education, Jacob has transferred from the Course of Study program to the full Master’s degree program at WBS. Now, he is taking what he learned from his most recent evangelism class to challenge his groups to be more active in personally sharing their faith and putting their witness into action with good works. “Our church has always had a strong missions focus overseas,” he says, “but now we are seeing a practical and simple way to become more active in evangelism here at home.” He says their vision is to empower people to be part of “100,000 life-giving moments” of sharing God’s love over the next five years.

As for his father, Jacob says that, after not seeing him for 14 years, he “just happened” to see him a month after he got back in church. “I had prepared everything I wanted to say in anger for what he had caused,” Jacob says, “but all I could say was ‘Dad, I missed you.’” He was able to forgive by God’s grace and went on to spend a year reconciling and rebuilding their relationship. “Through that process, I was also able to forgive myself,” Jacob says, “and to see more of how God’s grace works even in my own weaknesses and failures. That, in turn, enables me to better communicate that grace to others who are in need.”

“Just five years ago, I could not have imagined I would be where I am today,” Jacob says. “Before I became a pastor, I worked hard at every job I had to prove that I belonged. At every company, I was always trying to earn everything. It is the exact opposite with God. It feels easy and He does it freely. I’ll never take for granted what I get to do. I am honored to serve Christ, and I intend to keep preaching the gospel until the day I die.”