Small Steps. Big Faith.

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...

Although Eastern Europe and its circumstances are quite different from those of Spain, here in Western Europe, the need for a Savior is just as great. I recently watched "The Wall: A Generation Later," and listened as Campus Crusade staff from around the world, many of whom worked for 20+ years behind the iron curtain, talked about the way it was--before and after. They give testimony to the incredible changes that took place and they give God all the credit. I pray that it will encourage you as we continue to labor here in Spain. I don´t know God´s timing but I believe that when He is ready He will bring sweeping change to Spain as well. The Wall: A Generation Later from Jim Southard on Vimeo .

Before it gets too much later, I wanted to send you a Christmas hello from Spain. While it´s so fun to be having Christmas with my new nuclear family here, I do miss Christmas in North Carolina...the decorated houses, the Christmas carolling, the crisp cool weather, yummy desserts and eggnog, seeing Santa Claus at the mall (At the malls here the kids here actual visit the 3 Kings and end up choosing their favorite from among the three to make their requests, live, drive-by Nativity scenes, midnight candle-light church service on Christmas eve...etc. I pray that this Christmas will be filled with laughter and special moments for you that will speak anew of just how significant this holiday season is! "Praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people...And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his peopel the knowledge of salvation through the forgive...

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...

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...