Small Steps. Big Faith.

"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...

José and Sara (names changed to maintain confidentiality) were participants in our first pre-marital conference - the S.O.M. (Seminario de Orientación al Matrimonio) in March of 2021. We did the conference online because of the limitations for on-site events due to the COVID pandemic. Like all engaged couples, they were in love and excited about all that lay ahead. Although we actually did not know them well, we invited them to participate in the S.O.M. the following year in 2022 as "graduates" of the S.O.M. and to share what they were learning and how the S.O.M. had helped them. Several months after hearing from them, now with one small child and a second child on the way, the strain of married life and parenting had caught up to them. Last month, they contacted me, looking for support through marriage counseling. While I am not a counselor, I am a certified facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich couples inventory. In addition to helping to bring to light how each spouse is feel...

Penny Saunders is a long-term staff woman from Canada who joined Agape Spain during the pandemic, first part-time and later full-time as assistant to our national director in our national office in Valencia. Although Penny has been on staff many years, we decided to go use the New Staff Training material to help her improve her language skills. She and I have been meeting every week to practice speaking on a different topic, using and developing her Spanish vocabulary.  It has taken a while for Penny to feel comfortable in our ministry here in Spain....but over time we have seen her open up and also develop her capacity as a leader.  While she has served faithfully in this role, the large part of her ministry experience has been working as a teacher in Christian schools in Russia, Moldova and Madrid, Spain. Her dream is now to start a new Christian school in Valencia. It is in this context that teachers can teach students a Christian worldview as well as present the gospel wit...

After obtaining the rights to print EL ARTE DE SER PADRES in Spain last May, we finally had our first batch of manuals available to promote for parents and churches in Spain.  Several small groups have started up in and around Madrid. We also launched a pilot group on Friday evenings in our church in Terrassa (near Barcelona) at the beginning of May.  The 8-lesson study covers topics such as helping our children to develop relationships, identifying and nurturing their identity, forming character, applying discipline, preparing them for the mission God has for them and realizing the power of family. It's been a great chance for us to get to know a few of the families in our church better. The study has also given us all a lot to think about in our role as parents and grandparents. Please pray for those pictured here: Dámaris, Oscar, Miquel, Fina, Ruben, Iolanda, as well as Ruben, Sara and me (not pictured) that God would continue to give us wisdom, perseverance, patience and l...

This spring has brought numerous opportunities to interact with our new staff. On this occasion, Donna Cannella (pictured front row, 2nd from right) and I invited 5 new staff, 2 interns and their trainers from a variety of Agape ministries to join us near Barcelona to cast vision for them about the value and purpose of ministry training. In our organization, Ágape prioritizes faith, growth and lasting fruit. The " Capacitación de nuevos coordinadores " (CNC) (or "New Staff Training" (NST)) exists to create a space to develop life change and ministry effectiveness. Our aim is to equip our staff not only in skills (hands), but also with knowledge (head) and attitude (heart).  At the CNC Orientation, we begin this 2-year training process by tackling together the first 3 of 39 topics. Another important component to the training includes an intentional relationship between the trainer (the director or some other senior staff) and trainee (new staff member). During the CN...

Being a parent is one of the most rewarding and most challenging responsibilities one could ever take on. It brings great joy, but can also wear us out and even create great frustration, especially when things don't go the way we wanted them to. Time Out for Parents  ( Darse un respiro ) is a Christian course on parenting but uses no Christian language nor bible references. It is designed to minister to all types of parents with the desire to build relationships and create community. I was certified in Spain in May to teach this course, but had no specific context in which to launch it. I asked the Lord where to start. After talking with teachers, principals, the local library and even the town government, I was encouraged to launch the program in our little village. I created a website with info and a sign-up form and the city hall even prepared publicity (left). All the information was sent out to parents in the 3 local primary schools as well as the local nursery school. digita...

For decades (if not centuries) in Spain, the the perspective on giving financially toward God's Work has been a difficult pill to swallow even by many Christians. For many Spanish missionaries, the idea of support raising is equal to begging for alms and living on less than enough.  As a result, many of our staff struggle financially, which in the long run also hinders their personal ministries. However, in October I went to Málaga with our newest staff in Spain to listen to their presentations of their personal ministries. The small room was filled with several of our bright new staff who are trusting God to meet their financial needs so they can use their FULL-TIME to take the gospel to others who don't know Christ.  I got goosebumps. There was an eagerness stirring in me as i listened to David and Ellen share about how God had called them into ministry and the profound effect the gospel had on one of their neighbors. I am still overwhelmed and amazed ...

Over the last 2 years Agape has seen an encouraging rise in the number of new staff joining our ministry. I was in Málaga this month (Oct 8-10) to assist in our ministry support development training for new staff in Spain. In was a very encouraging time to get to know these young staff and to hear their stories, to remind them of God's faithfulness in raising up our ministry support team and to encourage them in all that God has called them to do. One of the staff I met is Pablo Gómez, or Pablín as he is often called. He has been volunteering for several years with Agape, but the end of 2012, he made the most important decision of his life, to not only dedicate part of his time serving God but rather to work full-time to build bridges in order to help change lives by introducing people to Jesus. Below he shares a bit of his story.... "My name is Pablo J. Gómez, but everyone calls me Pablín. It's a name that I identify with because, although I am tall, I recognize...

image: newparentinfo.com When I arrived in Spain 12 years ago, the Agape staff family was made up of senior staff in their 40´s and 50´s and a new, younger generation of singles and young married couples. In the last 5 years, there has been an explosion of new marriages and a new generation of staff babies being born, which means full-time staff women becoming full-time staff moms. In Agape Spain, there are now more than a dozen staff moms with children between 0-3 years of age! As for any mom, their lives are changing in countless ways. Focus shifts. Sleep deprivation comes. A once-clear vision and solid schedule can be knocked out of whack. A whole new learning curve accompanies this great bundle of joy given by the Lord. These changes also affect ministry and entire ministry teams. How does a young staff mom regain direction and focus for personal life and for ministry while balancing the requirements of being a full-time mom? Agape gives staff moms the freedom to concentr...