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...

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...

This year's National Staff Conference for Agape Spain, Llamados (Called) 2013,  was held April 19-21 in Platja d'Aro, Spain.  An American couple living in Argentina, Tim and Annette Gulick, designed the talks and the small group activities which made up the bulk of the conference content. They challenged us to reflect on the reality of the world we live in, the gifts and talents that each one of us possesses and the material resources that we've been given to help those in need.  The Gulicks, along with National Director Edi Souto, reminded us that we live in a broken world in which we have experienced 4 aspects of broken relationship: with God, with others, with ourselves, and with the environment. The message of hope highlighted God's plan....a path to reconciliation and healing of these broken relationships. The gathering was also a great opportunity to see many of the new staff  that have joined Agape since Janua...

According to one frontier mission’s leader in the Muslim world, one of the most important trends in missions today is the increasing number of cross-cultural missionaries sent by "second world" countries, which includes mobilizing Latin Americans to reach the Muslim world for Christ. Meet Isaac: he is the newest incorporation to the Agape Spain team. He has come to work under the supervision and direction of Osvaldo de la Espada and Vielka Sempris, helping to minister to the north African community (Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians, Libians, Egyptians, etc.). At the end of February he was granted permission to obtain his visa for entering the country and last week he arrived. "Hi! My name is Isaac Valdés. I come from Panama. I´m 26-years-old and I am an industrial engineer. I will be connecting with the north African university students in Málaga, working on the campus and doing my best to serve the students there. My longing is for God to raise up a movement of bel...

My first assignment in Spain was at the University of Granada in the city of Granada. 4 years of prayer walks and planting gospel seeds and investing in the lives of students and participating with the churches there were not for naught. While my contribution was just a drop in the bucket, it is truly the Lord who begins and carries on his work. "After all, what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants who helped you to believe. Each one had a role given to them by the Lord: I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anythign, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together, but each one will receive their own reward for their own labor. We are God´s co-workers, and you are God´s field, God´s building." --1 Corinthians 3:5-9 A very special family stepped in to lead the minsitry in Granada in 2005, carrying on what God start...

Emails and phone calls and paperwork are not my passion, but seeing laborers sent to the field to carry the gospel are! Please meet this special family who has come to Spain to tell others about Jesus... They came from Argentina. They have made the capital of Spain their home. They have lived and ministered in Spain since 2006. They lead the ministry of Family Life in Madrid. Together  Daniel and Vanina Demai  have five children. They are a family that works to build other families, from little ones to the most elderly . They are carers of people. They are shepherds to parents, many of whom are weary and in need of guidance and care. We thank God for raising them up and for opening the door for them to come work in Spain. May He continue to bless their ministry and cause it to flourish far and wide to the glory of His name.

The behind-the-scenes work for ministry can sometimes seem unglamorous and uneventful, but I know that helping international staff to come to Spain is an important way to help open doors for the gospel in this country. Due to the trend of increased immigration to Spain, the visa application system in Spain is heavily overloaded and the process seems to be taking longer and longer each year. About 4 years ago, I stepped up to help Agape Spain better facilitate the visa application process for its international staff. Up to now, the process has usually taken about 3-4 months per family; and my experience has been mostly working with Americans who come to labor with university students or athletes. In this most recent case, for Jamal and Mariah (names changed for security reasons), their journey began  10 months ago when Allen, from a partner ministry, emailed me to say that this family, who represent 3 different Middle Eastern countries between them, wanted to come labor with ...

This fall has seen a number of new laborers come our way. We welcome our latest recruit, Lindsey Zastrow, to the Athletes in Action ministry in Málaga. She is the 4th of 5 new laborers to arrive in Malaga this year. It´s amazing how God is calling and raising up people from all over the world to be part of His work. Lindsey´s story gives testimony to His sovereignty and creativity: "Hello! My name is Lindsey or ´Lee,´and I´m 23-years-old and I´m from Nebraska. This past June I finished my degree in sports marketing at the University of Colorado where I played softball and basketball. It was just a year and a half ago that I gave my life to Christ. That same day I understood that God was asking me to leave everything and follow Him to take the Good News to others. I was confused. I had never noticed the presence of the Holy Spirit before, but it was really clear that He was asking me to leave everything to love and serve Him. So, as my relationship with Jesus began to grow, H...

In the city of Málaga not only has fall arrived, but this month has also ushered in fresh faces, companions who will form part of the Málaga team for one year with the student ministry and with the Athetes in Action ministry. Today I'd like to introduce to you Amy Gibson. She is one of three STINTers that have recently completed their visa process and will be working with university students at the University of Málaga: "Hi! I'm Amy Gibson and I'm from Minnesota. I graduated this past May from Baylor University with a double major in Exercise Physiology and Spanish. I'm really excited to work with Agape this year and with the university students here. I want to learn more about God, improve my Spanish-speaking ability and see many lives changed by the Word of God." We are so happy to be able to receive Amy here in Spain and pray that God will bless her time here and use her in significant ways in the lives of everyone she meets.

Have you ever had an important detail slip your mind? Sometimes what is important then also becomes urgent. In addition to transatlantic travel, language learning and culture shock, missionary life brings with it additional administrative responsibilities that can sometimes be overwhelming. It´s in moments like these that God reminds me that even administrative contributions do matter in helping to build His kingdom. Rebekah Hiney is an Agape missionary with the Campus ministry in the nation´s capital city of Madrid, population 6 million+.  Every available person willing and ready to labor for Christ in this city is welcome and needed to help make a dent in reaching the 250,000+ university students with the gospel. Rebekah is pictured here with Zadith, one of the women she has discipled in Madrid. (To learn more about Rebekah´s ministry you can visit her ministry website. ) So, just before the Christmas holidays I got a call from Rebekah. It was lunchtime and R...

One of my favorite verses comes at the end of Matthew 9 when Jesus is on the road with His disciples... "...When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harrassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his discilpes, ´The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.´" The Lord is sending out yet another laborer into His harvest field. Her name is Veronica Carrera Jara. Veronica, who is from Chile, graduated with a degree in teaching in 1999 and worked in the public schools for 5 years teaching English. However, God had other plans for her. She became a Campus Crusade staff member at the University of Concepción in 2003 and this year has plans to bring a group of university students for an international summer project to Spain to share the gospel with Muslims in the south of Spain and in North Africa. Once the project is over, she will cont...

Brittany Pulda will be coming to work with us this year in the city of Málaga. She is from the U.S., Racine, Wisconsin to be exact. She is 22 years old and she´s a university student. She has taken a break this year from her double major in Spanish and Business. She loves sports and loves to sing. her passions include praise and worship music and evangelism. Brittany says, "In the time that I have been in Málaga visiting, the Lord has done some impressive things. I have met a lot of students and I´ve made a lot of friends. Each day God is giving me the opportunity to speak about why I´m in Málaga and, the most important, He gives me opportunities to share my faith. At this moment, I´m working with the team that focuses on students in Málaga. We want to see God glorified and see students come to know him personally. We have a group of Christian students at the university and we can see that a spiritual movement is starting. God is working in Málaga. An example of how God is work...

So, just a quick update for all of you following the visa-in-transit story. Last night I received an email from the couple waiting for their papers. Here is a clip from it... Hi Jill, Wanted to let you know that we received the visa documents yesterday in the mail!  We are now getting ready to leave for Houston tomorrow and turn everything in.  We did check the postage on the envelope and the documents were mailed on Aug 17 th . We’ll touch base once we have settled in to Granada or after you have the baby   J I had been praying all day and I was working hard to trust and believe (in the midst of my disappointment with the surrounding circumstances and possible negative outcome). When the email came I was elated and even overwhelmed. Why? Why am I still surprised when God answers prayer? Maybe just amazed that the God of the Universe would choose to be involved in the small details of our lives. Anyway, just wanted to thank you for praying. One more ...

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry....He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." Psalm 40:1-2 The other day I was counting up the years that I have worked with Agape Spain. I came to live in Spain in the year 2000...so it´s been 9 years! I can hardly believe it. During this time, I´ve seen a lot of laborers arrive and a lot leave...hence the idea of a revolving door. The last 5 years have been spent working in Barcelona at the national level. In 2006 I began helping our international staff with the ever-tedious process of getting their visas to live and work here with Agape. As I have dealt with seemingly simple logistics (from hotel reservations to mailing letters in Spain) to more complicated issues (like these religious visas being granted and assuring that organizational financial accounts in order) I have seen how some doors have opened and others have closed, sometimes because of bureaucratic error and sometimes for ...