Meet Carlos Erazo ’14, Calvin University grad and the visionary for Proyecto GTG.
GTG stands for Glory to God. That’s what Erazo is looking to bring through his Spanish language YouTube channel that shares the gospel, engages culture, and has a lot of fun along the way.
When Erazo was a sophomore at Calvin, he not only took a deep dive into his study of economics and business communications, he also got in the habit of filming and producing a weekly video for his YouTube channel—which at that time had more than 62,000 active followers.
Erazo decided to combine a lifelong interest in digital art, video creation, and music with a growing desire to connect spiritually with Spanish-speaking friends and family in his home country of El Salvador.
“I became a Christian in high school and grew up with mostly non-Christians,” he recalled. “When I left El Salvador for the United States, I felt a burden for my friends at home who weren’t Christian. I wanted to speak with them about what it means to be a Jesus-follower.
“At Calvin I read theology as a hobby, but for a lot of teenagers, theology isn’t something they choose to go to. The church at home in El Salvador wasn’t reaching my friends,” he said, because his friends “didn’t understand the religious talk and theological language used.”
The disconnection between Christianity and young people inspired Erazo to put his beliefs into action and create weekly Spanish YouTube videos that discuss Christianity and how it intersects with culture, social issues, relationships, and daily life in today’s world. He published his first Proyecto GTG episode in 2011.
More videos followed each week, filmed across Calvin’s campus, highlighting topics ranging from pornography to dating to tattoos to evangelism: issues that Erazo knows are relevant to teenagers curious about living a Christ-like life, as well as unchurched youth.
Over time, this vision began to resonate with YouTube audiences beyond Erazo’s friends. He and his wife, Brooke Kuzera Erazo ’14, have grown a social media empire through the engaging content of their music, comedy, and advice videos.
With more than 900,000 followers on Facebook, more than 2 million Spotify streams, and approximately 90 million video views combined over his social media platforms, Erazo’s monthly reach is estimated at more than 1 million people per month.
Since 2014, Erazo has also been touring in Latin America and the United States, and his shows deliver the kind of turnout expected by major celebrities. Despite his fame and success, however, Erazo remains deeply rooted in his initial passion to speak to his viewers about God’s love.
“I know there are real people listening to what I have to say and responding to it,” he said, “and the best part is those responses. They impact me and they move me.
“I had a mom email me once and tell me that her 14-year-old son is watching. It’s very humbling to hear that, and it snaps me into reality. People are watching and soaking up what I’m saying.”
Being aware of his impact has continued to inspire and encourage Erazo to continue the project and grow personally in his own faith.
“By God’s grace, the project has grown to what it is now. I’ve worked a lot,” he said, but his success “is not all me.”
“It’s easy to become preachy, but I want to make sure that I’m always living out what I’m saying. The biggest challenge is to be genuine with both what I say and how I live. I have to ask myself if I’m following the gospel and living into what I’m preaching. Like everyone else, I’m struggling to act out my faith every day.”
As Erazo had hoped as a senior at Calvin, Proyecto GTG continues to develop and grow.
“I want to continue making creative, professional media with a message in the future. I want people to be exposed to the gospel. That’s the vision.”
Some content originally appeared in a piece by Katy Gerber of the Calvin Chimes newspaper.
