Victor H. Cuartas

Dr. Victor Cuartas is the Elmer V. Thompson Chair of Church Planting at Columbia International University, where he is passionate about helping students see God’s redemptive purpose throughout Scripture and equipping them to make disciples, plant healthy multiplying churches, and engage unreached and unengaged people groups with the gospel. He teaches biblical missions, intercultural studies, church planting, leadership development, and God’s mission, and he especially enjoys helping students connect sound biblical theology with practical ministry in diverse cultural contexts.

Dr. Cuartas wants students to leave his classes with a deeper love for Christ, a stronger biblical foundation, and a clear understanding of God’s global mission. Beyond acquiring knowledge, he hopes they develop the character, leadership skills, and practical competencies needed to serve faithfully in ministry, whether as pastors, cross-cultural workers, church planters, educators, or Christian leaders. His goal is for students to think critically, lead with humility, and become lifelong learners committed to multiplying disciples and expanding God’s kingdom.

For more than thirty-five years, Dr. Cuartas has served in pastoral ministry, church planting, missions mobilization, leadership development, theological education, and cross-cultural ministry. Before joining CIU’s faculty in 2016, he taught global missions and church ministry at Regent University and spent several years in missions and church planting in his home country of Colombia. He has taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels, developed curricula for multiple institutions, and published books and scholarly research. This blend of academic scholarship and extensive field experience allows him to prepare students not only to understand ministry principles but to apply them effectively in today’s rapidly changing global context.

Dr. Cuartas’s teaching combines biblical fidelity, missiological scholarship, practical ministry experience, prayer and intercession, and worship. He creates an engaging learning environment where students actively participate through discussion, case studies, ministry applications, and collaborative learning, and he enjoys mentoring students personally as they discover how God can use their unique gifts and calling to impact the nations for His glory. He is also actively involved with Crossover Global, a church planting organization dedicated to providing gospel access through the planting of multiplying churches among unreached people groups.

Born and raised in Colombia, Dr. Cuartas has served across cultures for decades and values diversity, lifelong learning, and servant leadership. Since 1993, he has been married to Isabel, also from Colombia, and together they have a daughter, Eliannah, who loves traveling, dancing, singing, and art. In his free time, Dr. Cuartas enjoys playing soccer, jogging, camping, traveling, and drinking coffee with family. His commitment is to equip students with biblical conviction, academic excellence, and practical ministry skills so they can faithfully fulfill the Great Commission wherever God leads them.