Small Steps. Big Faith.

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...

grow·ing pains   (gr ng)  plural noun 1.  Pains in the limbs and joints of children or adolescents, often attributed to rapid growth but arising from various unrelated causes. 2.  Emotional difficulties that occur during adolescence. 3.  Problems that arise in the initiation or enlargement of an enterprise. Recently several supporters have asked the question about my role in ministry here in Spain. The truth is that it has been slowly evolving for the last 5-6 years. At times it has been difficult to define and even more difficult to pinpoint and share what God has been doing all around me.  I'd like to try now to illustrate what I understand God to be doing in Agape Spain during a season of incredible growth for this ministry. I'd like to do in through a Bible story and some organizational numbers. There is a story from Exodus 18 that illustrates the strain of growing pains and that "a-ha" moment in Moses' life where he realizes that...

P urpose   The Round Table Priority "Finance & Development" wants to glorify God and be used by Him in the power of the Holy Spirit to study, practice, teach and involve others in living biblical stewardship on all levels of Agape Europe in order to help fulfill the Great Commission through abundant funding. People who worship Mammon must see people who worship God - especially with their money! Therefore, we live and promote the culture of generosity to advance God's Kingdom. Vision   All our AE ministries are professionally operated, worthy and able to receive abundant local funding to fulfill all our God owned ministry objectives. Mission   To align our administrative support functions to incerease professionalism and strengthen the organizational and financial capacity of our national ministries using technologies, accounting, auditing, training and fundraising in order to involve more ministry partners to get more then enough funding. Looking at global financial...

Since the last time I wrote the pace has picked up quite a bit. I started facilitating the visa application process for two new staff. I´ve begun talking about the possibility of teaching English to some of our Spanish staff. (This is an exciting option for me! Here in Europe, especially Agape Europe, a solid command of the English language is very important for giving and receiving Biblical teaching, ministry training and even for fellowship.) Also, as I mentioned in my last entry, I´ve begun coaching a few staff in their financial support raising endeavors. Oh, and did I mention I had a baby?! (For details on Aaron´s arrival   click here. ) In spite of the fact that I actually have less time than I did before, it seems that the Lord is providing more and more opportunities to minister to people. This past week I began connecting with Mari Angeles Bootello.  Mari has been working as a staff person with adolescents for the last 7 years. She is incredibly gifted...

So, the fall season is starting to crank up here in Spain. The majority of folks have returned from their summer vacations and have started back to work. The university classes will start in a couple more weeks. Today was the first day of school for many school children. Ministry with Agape is no exception. This week we had our first virtual meeting as a group. There are 5 of us on the Ministry Team Development Coaching Team (MTD Coaching Team)  and we are spread out all over the Iberian peninsula: Málaga, Portugal, Valencia and Catalunya...so 21st century team meetings happen via the internet. (As a matter of interest, 3 of the 4 teams represented on this team are also in the process of having babies. The first, Evelyn Ana, was born August 27. The second should be ours--Aaron Daniel--who was supposed to be born September 14...but he´s taking his own sweet time. The third, in Valencia, is due to be born some time in November.) The Spanish Agape staff are some of the mos...

During these weeks of waiting for the baby to arrive, we´ve been trying to make room for him, which has meant sorting through my stuff and throwing away non-essentials. I´ve done a fairly good job of parting with things (my efficient friend, Jalynn, would be so proud of me). However, there have been a few things that I just have not been able to part with. Among those things are a few select journals that I´ve carried with me from my days on campus at the University of Granada. With all this extra time on my hands, I decided to go back and read through some of my thoughts and experiences, recorded at a very different point in my life from now. August 9th, 2002 In the next 3 years I long to see... *20 new Spanish staff raised up in cities where they can be trained *group after group of Spanish students discipling each other *a regular annual conference providing times of worship and Biblical teaching for students leaders August 19th, 2002 There are many times when I lose hope, ...