Small Steps. Big Faith.

This season of time at home with Aaron is giving me the chance to step back and reflect on life and ministry and gives me a unique perspective on ministry going on around me. Even though I´m limited in my ability to accompany staff in the field, it´s been great to be able to talk through important ministry truths with various staff women from week-to-week. Isabel Fernandez (pictured on the right) came for a visit last week. She´s an amazing woman: a wife, a mother of 3 kids, co-director of Agape´s orphanage in Portugal for 10 years and now Agape Spain´s National Associate Director. She dedicates most of her time to connecting with and developing the Spanish staff women in the country.  However, the last time Isa came to visit, I was still in pajamas, I had slept very little the night before and Aaron would not stop crying. It was nice to have a visitor but a bit humbling in my role as a mom. I was sure that the word "clueless" could be read on my weary face and I...

Esther is one of my Bible heroes. A small town girl steps up to the plate at just the right moment and as a result her people are saved and history is changed forever. While I can´t say that my situation is the same as that of Esther´s, it is interesting to see how God may open a door for the Spanish church here in Spain as a result of a few conversations this month. My friend Kathie got in touch with me a couple weeks ago to refer me to a friend of hers who started a mentoring ministry. This friend happens to be long-time Navigators staffer Stacy Rinehart, founder of MentorLink , the ministry chosen for the  Leadership Development  track at the next Worldwide Lausanne Congress  in Cape Town, South Africa this Oct 2010. It´s interesting to see the chain of events.... March 3 MentorLink´s Weekly Prayer Requests: March 3 • Spain – Urgent – We are asking the Father for Mentors and Partners working in Spain. Pray with us as we wait on Him. Please contact Sta...

In the monthly prayer letter I send out by email I mentioned my recent involvement with  Global Media Outreach  – one of Campus Crusade’s Global Evangelistic Web Site Strategies.   Want to learn how easy it is to be involved in reaching out to people all over the globe through your home computer? Volunteer with Global Media Outreach (GMO).   As the image above describe, almost 2 million people every day look for God by searching for Him on the Internet!  A large percentage of these are visiting sites such as  Jesus2020.com , TrueLoveandGod.com  and 4stepstogod.mobi  – these are just 3 of hundreds of web sites GMO operates. See-in real time-how thousands of people are coming to faith in Christ through these websites.  This map  is so cool! In 2009, Global Media Outreach: Presented the gospel 61,695,024 times Saw 10,502,641 people indicate a decision for Jesus GMO volunteers responded to 1,943,585 emails requesting follow up fro...

"Contemporary Europe has become the most godless civilization the world has ever known. --International Herald Tribune Europe: a continent of great beauty, culture and lasting intrigue. A continent of compelling spiritual need. Today, Europe and Russia have generally forsaken their Christian heritage - exchanging the truth of God's Word, for the empty promises of a world view centered around a humanistic ideology. Yet, there is a growing sense that the spiritual climate is changing. momentum europe  is the first phase of a long term strategy to develop the capacity to give everyone in Europe and Russia an opportunity to know someone who truly walks with Christ. It is about seeing tens of thousands of lives changed for Christ. It is ultimately about helping to transform the spiritual destiny of an entire continent. Check out   "Europe: The Lost Continent" and the "Momentum Europe" emphasis.

The phone rang this afternoon. "Hey Jill, have you got a few minutes to talk?" I had just finished eating and Aaron was still sleeping. "Sure," I said, welcoming  the opportunity to visit with a staff friend between bottle feedings. It was an international staff woman needing to process some thoughts, concerns about administrative decisions, uncertainties about the future for ministry in her city. Surfing the cultural differences in a national organization can be a challenge at times. In our ministry here we all have the same heart--to see Spaniards come to know Jesus...but there are situations where the WAY we go about things is different. That can be confusing at times. It´s helpful to have someone to help interpret the situation, a fellow compatriot who has gone before us. Even though I´m not on the frontlines of campus ministry in Spain at the moment, I have logged quite a few years here. Not only have I learned something about the culture, but I´ve also g...

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...