Small Steps. Big Faith.

An American, a Brazilian, a Spaniard and 9 Moroccan women walk into a neighborhood center....it sounds like the beginning of a joke, right? God has a great sense of humor! Let me tell you how this story works out.... My church in Spain has an amazing outreach ministry in a city neighborhood highly populated by Moroccan immigrants. While immigration has increased globally, Catalunya has one of the highest percentages of immigration world-wide.  This drastic and relatively rapid change is historic and also traumatic for a Spanish system that is not prepared to receive so many immigrants. We personally have seen the burdening effects of immigration in our schools, at our hospitals and in our neighborhoods.  Many of those who come from Morocco are the poorest of the poor. They arrive looking for work and a better life. They come without having learned the language. Many, especially the women, come as illiterates, even in their own language.  While this is a challenge for our ...

Workshop: "How to start a ministry to married couples" On Saturday afternoon, December 2, we had the opportunity to showcase Alex and Monica and Nathanael and Sarai, two married couples who are actively developing ministries to married couples in  Spain.  7 couples connected online from the north, south, east and west of Spain to hear about God's faithfulness in saving and strengthening marriages and to consider how He might use them too to mentor and develop other married couples in their corners of Spain. What a treat it was to have Ruben with me as we created this space for couples to learn from leaders with years of experience. Below you can see us both in the top right hand corner as I hosted this conversation. Alex and Monica have been working with couples at their church in Barcelona for 10 years. Nathanael and Sarai served married couples for several years at the church in Panamá and are now facilitating growth opportunities for couples at their church i...

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?   And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written:  'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! '" -Romans 10:14-15 2023 has been quite a busy year for requesting missionary visas, one of several hats I wear as I serve in Agape Spain.  Although I am not a lawyer, I have learned so much over the last 15 years about the visa application process for religious visas. While it has been quite time-consuming, it has been a privilege to be one of the first from Ágape to meet these international staff  and  to serve them well through this seemingly mundane and sometimes challenging bureaucratic procedure. Nathy Ángel with GAiN Nathy Ángel, who is from Colombia, was working on a masters in Applied Neuromarketing at the University of Valencia when she got invo...

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.   If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.   If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.   This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." -Jesus, 1 John 15:5-8  Late July and August have allowed us the privilege to be back in the U.S. to reconnect and raise additional financial support.  As I have connected with family, old friends and faithful partners in the last four weeks, I have seen the blessings of "remaining."  Some of the possible definitions of remain are as follows.... continue to exist, especially after other similar or related people or things have  ceased  to exist. "a cloister is al...