Carlos Julio Guarneri Gonzalez
September 11, 1941--February 7, 2021
"For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain"
Philippians 1:21 (NIV)
Carlos Julio Guarneri Gonzalez has passed from death to life! He has fulfilled his longing and that of the apostle Paul's to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands" (2 Corinthians 5:1, NIV).
Carlos was a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, a Christ-follower, a minister of the gospel, a teacher, a disciple-maker, a self-taught photographer, hunter, horse rider, gun safety instructor, carpenter, mechanic, motorcycle rider, dog-lover and information technology fan, among other things
To some he was known as Julio Guarneri. To others as Carlos or Carlo. To some he was Mr. Guarneri, Hermano Guarneri or Brother Guarneri. To a few, dad or grandpa and to one, great-grandpa.
Although he was ultra-conservative theologically and politically, he was not a traditionalist by any means, and was unorthodox in some of his methods. Carlos was convinced about planting house churches vs traditional churches since the early 70s (influenced by Watchman Nee's writings). He was a gun-carrying missionary. He rode his motorcycle to make pastoral visits and at least twice went on cross country journey, camping overnight. When he gave up his motorcycle he did the same thing on horseback. He taught himself English, Italian, Greek and Hebrew. He reloaded his own ammunition. Carlos Julio was thankful for his Mexican heritage, proud of his Italian ancestry, and gladly flew a pair of USA flags from his Ford Expedition. He developed his own pictures in his home darkroom and fixed his own vehicles. Carlos established an online ministry two decades ago using the internet, email, and more recently, social media. He video-conferenced way before the pandemic. He loved his children and grandchildren and always enjoyed a good meal with them. He loved ribeye steaks, machacado con huevo, turcos, pecan pie and Coca Cola.
Life in Kansas
Carlos Julio was 79 years old when he entered eternity. He had suffered from a cardiac condition for half of his life. Carlos suffered multiple heart attacks, underwent open heart surgery, and had other procedures that extended his life. Because of the extensive nature of his cardiac condition doctors had predicted that his life would end many years before it actually did. But the Lord kept him on earth as long as it was his will and Carlos enjoyed each day until the very end. Up until his last day, Carlos went on his daily bicycle ride for exercise, interacted on social media and watched movies on Netflix. He was active until the very end and entered his eternal rest during his sleep.
Carlos Julio as a young boy mid-1940s
Carlos Julio Guarneri Gonzalez was born to his parents, Julio Guarneri and Angela Gonzalez, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México on September 11, 1941. He was the only son surrounded by a sister and five half-sisters. His father, Don Julio Guarneri was a pioneering chemical engineer in Monterrey, having founded "Laboratorios Industriales de Monterrey" and then established the paint factory "Pinturas y Lacas Modernas." His mother, Angela Gonzalez, having become a single-mother with young children, worked as a server at the iconic Sanborn's restaurant in downtown Monterrey.
Julio Guarneri & Angela Gonzalez (Carlos's parents)
On their wedding day 10-01-1938
Having grown up in a Roman Catholic home, as a mechanical engineering student at the UANL in the early 1960s, Carlos sensed a tugging in his heart that he did not understand. A couple of days later as he was walking in the street close to his home another student, by the name of Silvestre Martínez, stopped him and shared the gospel with him. At that moment Carlos Julio understood that was what the tugging in his heart was about and he understood the gospel. The verse that pierced through his heart was 1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed” (NIV). Carlos Julio prayed to receive Christ as His Lord and Savior and his life was forever changed. His conversion was radical as were most of his decisions thereafter.
Shortly thereafter Carlos Julio was introduced to the North American missionary Emil Aanderud, who took him under his wing and discipled Carlos Julio, one-on-one. Carlos Julio would also become involved with the inter-denominational college student ministry called "Círculo Juvenil Cristiano," founded and directed by María de la Luz de la Garza (Gutierrez after marriage). Emil strongly encouraged Carlos Julio to go into full-time ministry. Believing it meant abandoning his engineering career and his right to succeed his father in the paint manufacturing industry, in 1963 Carlos Julio became staff of the Greater Mexican Missions and embarked on a "faith-based" ministry.
Mission Staff ID
It was through both of these ministries, Greater Mexican Missions and the "Círculo Juvenil Cristiano" that he met Elizabeth Martinez, who was a leader in both organizations. They married in 1964, and together they left extended family in Monterrey to make disciples among students of the University of Mexico. Carlos Julio was the founder of this ministry, having learned from Campus Crusade and how they operated. Their home became the student ministry center where students came and went throughout the day and late evening. Their sons Julio and Daniel were born during this time of ministry.
In 1967, Silvestre Martínez, who led Carlos Julio to Christ, was named the director of the student ministry in Monterrey, Carlos Astorga, who was Carlos Julio's friend before and after his conversion, was named director of the work in Mexico City, and Carlos Julio was named director of the house church network called "Vida Nueva" in Monterrey. As Carlos Julio and the family prepared to return to Monterrey, their plans were changed by a unique invitation.
Snow in Monterrey in 1967
Shortly before the 1968 Olympiads in Mexico City a committee of pastors and church leaders from various denominations asked Carlos Julio to coordinate the city-wide evangelistic outreach for the olympic games, which he accepted. This was a daunting task and an incredible opportunity to mobilize churches in Mexico City to share the gospel with the entire world who came to their city that year. Only eternity will tell how many hundreds, if not thousands of people from various nations came to know Christ and took the gospel back to their countries.
In addition to that Carlos Julio and his wife made disciples and planted house churches in Toluca, Puebla and Ciudad Satelite. Many came to Christ during this ministry and some house churches were planted.
During his Mexico City ministry, Carlos Julio worked alongside pastors and church leaders such as Aurelio Patiño, John Thomas, Samuel Espinoza, Rene Zapata, Hector Espinoza, Pedro de Koster Fuentes and Luis Palau, among others.
Shortly after the Olympiads, the Guarneri-Martinez returned to Monterrey in 1968 where they continued to do discipleship work among college students. Several house churches were planted as the result of this effort. The Guarneri home was the host of one of those church plants started with young men such as Hector Valay, Sergio Galvan, Javier Leal and others. This new network was designated "Vida en Cristo" and was separate from "Vida Nueva." The other two Guarneri children, Noe David and Anna Elizabeth were born during this time of ministry.
Having used three different homes as a family for this ministry (Ruperto Martínez, Heroes del 47, and Prolongación Reforma), the Guarneri's lived upstairs while Bible studies, worship services, fellowships, evangelistic meetings, prayer watches, VBS and other ministry events took place downstairs. Their home had an open door where people came and went any day at a any time. The house church ministry had been an outgrowth of student ministry and it was often accompanied by retreats, camps, and daytime trips to a nearby river for baptisms and fellowship.
Rancho Viejo retreat 1972
The Guarneri family life during this period consisted of regular meals at the table, often with guests, and spiritual conversations. Many young people and college students hung out at the house sharing meals, singing songs, enjoying fellowship and laughing until late hours of the night. Often a student or mentoree would move in the Guarneri house for a year or so, including Mike Downy and Santos Garcia, among others. In essence the Guarneri family enjoyed a rich spiritual extended family life.
When the children were young Carlos Julio had family devotionals, did one-on-one discipleship with the older boys, took the family out to eat on weekends, went on vacation to places like Acapulco, Cuernavaca, Corpus Christi, and frequent shopping trips to McAllen and Brownsville. Carlos Julio took his family on day trips to Saltillo, la Cola de Caballo (Horse tail water falls), las Grutas de Garcia (Caverns), and did frequent hikes at Monterrey's Chipinque mountain. On one occasion they hiked to the peak of the iconic "Cerro de la Silla" (Saddle Mountain). Carlos was a strict disciplinarian but he loved his children and prayed for them daily.
Church leaders at house church on Heroes del 47 street in Monterrey
From left to right: Abraham Gomez, Ricardo Diaz, Sergio Galvan, Carlos Julio Guarneri, Hector Valay, Joel Lopez
Children: Esau Lopez and Daniel Guarneri
House church congregation at Heroes del 47 street in Monterrey
Guarneri was also a representative of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's World Wide Pictures division. He would take a 16 mm projector, reels of movies produced by the BGEA, a screen, and a sound system and show movies in the streets, churches, and other places where crowds would gather to watch. His boys often accompanied him and helped carry and set up the equipment. Many people came to Christ during this movie ministry in the 1970s.
After having attended a 1977 missions conference in Mexico City challenging Mexican nationals to go as international missionaries, Carlos Julio felt God was calling him and the family to leave Mexico as missionaries. As they prayed for direction for which country should be their destination, and as they read about the growing number of Spanish-speaking immigrants in the US, the family decided to go preach the gospel and plant churches among them.
Guarneri had discipled and mentored several young men who would succeed him in the "Vida en Cristo" ministry or would lead other churches elsewhere including Benjamín Martinez, Santos Garcia, Javier Leal, Jose Antonio Perez, José Grimaldo, Joel Lopez, Elías Flores and others.
Carlos Julio was very fond of the North American missionaries who invested their lives in Mexico for the sake of the gospel such as the Aanderud's, the Thompson's, the Letz', and Ms. Roger, to name a few. He developed life-time friendships with them and was influenced by their example.
So in 1978 the Guarneri-Family was sent by their house church to do church planting among Spanish-speaking immigrants in Texas. Once again, after selling belongings and leaving loved ones behind they ventured out into a new season of ministry while being supported financially by their house church in Monterrey.
The Guarneri's first home in the US would be in Edinburg, Texas, where both Carlos Julio and Elizabeth studied under special arrangement at the Rio Grande Bible Institute while serving churches in Rio Grande City and Edinburg.
During their time in the Rio Grande Valley the Guarneri-Martinez family experienced one of their first trials. In addition to culture shock and the devaluation of the Mexican peso (which was their source of income), the house church planting did not immediately materialize. As a result the family lost financial support and experienced financial and spiritual hardship.
In 1980 Carlos Julio was called to pastor the Primera Iglesia Bautista (First Spanish-speaking Baptist Church) of Beeville, Texas, who also ordained him as a Baptist minister, thus, for the first time joining the traditional church system. Noe Ortiz, the area associate missionary, became a friend, encourager and mentor to him there. However, the clash of the organic-church model and the traditional-church model, among other things, resulted in a forced resignation after a couple of years and the family experienced their second period of financial and spiritual hardship.
Carlos Julio answered a call to serve as the bivocational pastor of the Calvary Baptist Mission in Freer, Texas, where he served from 1983 to 1984. In 1985 the Guarneri-Martinez family moved to Corpus Christi to start Parkdale Baptist Church en Español. By this time his son Julio was in college, Dan and David were in High School and Anna Elizabeth (Beth) was in elementary school. In Corpus Christi Carlos Julio and his family suffered their third and most difficult time of hardship. After another forced resignation from church staff, by 1987 the financial, emotional, spiritual and relational toll resulted in Carlos Julio leaving the ministry, filing for divorce, and moving to Kansas while the children remained with their mother in Corpus Christi, with the exception of Julio who was already married by then. This had a huge impact on the family as would be expected.
Carlos Julio had continued his higher education at Bee County College (now Coastal Bend College) in Beeville, at the Baptist Learning Center (now Stark College and Seminary) in Corpus Christi, Friends University, Wichita, Kansas, Fort Hays State University and Wichita State University in Kansas obtaining the Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management (1990), Spanish Certification for teaching at the secondary level (2001), and a Master of Arts in Teaching (1998).
Carlos taught Spanish in the public school system including High School in Ellinwood, Augusta and Sterling, Kansas, and Barton County Community College. After retirement Carlos dedicated his time to living on a small farm where he tended to his horses. Due to health reasons he eventually moved to Gainsville, Texas, his last residence.
After several years in Kansas, Carlos Julio reconciled with His Lord and Savior from his time of wandering away. He reached out to his children in Texas, visiting them individually, and asking forgiveness of them. He did the same with many of his friends and mentors in Mexico. There was even the opportunity to receive a visit in Kansas from one of his nephews on Elizabeth's side, Gilberto Garza Martinez, with whom he shared the photography hobby and mutual love. One of the things he regretted was that sometimes he had neglected his family for the sake of the ministry.
Eventually Carlos returned to the ministry but not as a full-time church staff member. He visited homes sharing the gospel, offering Bible studies and discipling families. Additionally he began to do evangelism and discipleship ministry online. Whatever town he happened to live in Kansas or Texas he attended the local Baptist or Mennonite church on Sundays. For the last couple of decades he prayed for all his children's spiritual lives.
In spite of his failures during midlife, God used Carlos Julio to lead many people to Christ and to make disciples who made disciples to the fourth and fifth generation, as well as planting house churches that multiplied. He was saved by grace and he was used by grace. Carlos Julio identified with Paul is saying,
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
Galatians 6:14 (NIV)
Toward the end of his life his frequent interactions with family and friends included taking pictures with his favorite cameras, talking about his daily bike rides, sharing about his german shepherd, sharing Scriptures on line, advising people about COVID-19 preventative measures, making his political views known, and expressing his love to those who interacted with him on the phone or online. He lived each day to the fullest and with the expectation of going home to his Savior.
Meeting his great-grandson Daniel for the first time
Carlos Julio's last family gathering on Thanksgiving 2020
Four generations present
Carlos Julio was preceded in death by his parents, Julio Guarneri and Angela Gonzalez, by his daughter, Anna Elizabeth Guarneri, by the mother of his children, Elizabeth M. Guarneri, and by his sister Estela G. Woods.
He is survived by his sons, Julio (Monica) of McAllen, Daniel of Corpus Christi and Noe David of Mojave desert in California; by his grandchildren, Joshua of McAllen, Rachel (Jaziel) of Lubbock, Danielle of Corpus Christi, Alex (Andrew) of San Antonio, Mia of Corpus Christi, Stevan, student at UT Austin, Sabrina of Georgetown and Sebastian of San Antonio; by his great-grandson Daniel Jaziel Garcia of Lubbock; by his sisters, Angela G. Barrera, Antonieta G. Ayala, Maria Cristina Guarneri, Julieta Guarneri and Catalina Guarneri, all of Monterrey, Mexico; and by numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and brothers and sisters in Christ.
Carlos' in-laws, Gumaro and Fernanda Martinez, Gilberto and Irma Garza and Angel and Orfa Rodriguez, were all strong supporters of his ministry in prayer, finances, love and moral support. In particular, Orfa was like a sister to him.
In addition to the leaders mentioned in this biographical brief, other colleagues and mentorees of his ministry in Mexico include Ruben Rodriguez, Obed Barrientos, Alma Solís, Abraham Gomez, Antonio Gutierrez, Francisco Robledo, Javier and Gloria Morales, Fernando Sandoval, Ivan Avila and Ricardo Diaz, among many others.
"Vida Nueva" Leadership with missionary Emil Aanderud
The video of the celebration of Carlos Julio's life and ministry which was broadcast on Saturday, February 20 at 1:00 PM (CMT) can be see here now Facebook Live. A Facebook account is not required to view the service.
The family is thankful to all friends, family and church who have expressed their love through prayers, cards, text messages, phone calls and other ways. May God bless each. May Christ be glorified. And may many come to know His salvation.
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