Small Steps. Big Faith.

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...

We gathered today at the GAiN ( Global Aid Network ) headquarters  to prepare for this Fall´s new wave of Spanish students, who are almost exclusively Moroccan immigrant women living in Terrassa, Spain. This is the 5th consecutive year that we´ve been able to offer these classes to more than 100 women whose social needs are enormous. Our teaching team for the 2012-2013 year is made up of 8 women: 3 full-time staff and 5 volunteers, one of whom is an alumni of these Spanish classes. We are very excited because this project continues to grow in number and we believe that it is also improving in quality and excellence. This year we will be using specific student manuals for each of the five lanugage levels. Although it might seem like a small detail, it reflects a huge step forward compared to the previous years. As you may already know, GAiN is working to improve the quality of life for its students and to encourage social participation from those who don´t have the same econom...

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.

22 students started. 10 continued faithfully to the end. They come with head coverings, long skirts, hard life stories and big smiles. Each Wednesday I have looked forward to my Spanish class, a solid group of 8-10 women who have attended faithfully each week, pictured here: (left to right) Karthoum, Saliha, Guita, me, Rachma and Malika. The learning curve is high. Many are not literate in their own native languages. So, learning to hold a pencil and/or re-learning to read from left to right (instead of right to left) are some of the language challenges that they must overcome as they gather the building blocks for adequate communication in this new world they live in. The learning process is slow. Many have lived here for years and are just starting to learn the language. Others have attended classes for multiple years but require much repetition of basic topics until they are recorded in long-term memory. The year-long course ended this week.  We celebrated with trad...

Coque-a Catalan pastry- and café con leche. They were small details that reflected a strong desire....to connect. She was so kind to come, the neighbor that I see on her balcony throughout the week. I was so happy to have someone over. After months of silently retreating inward, the moment had arrived to start reaching out again. Although we literally see each other from our balconies, we don´t really know what´s going on in each others´ lives. How could we know? It´s the hidden things of our hearts, not just the outward activities, that really reveal what´s going on. I was kind of nervous about the details. It had been months since we talked last. What would we talk about? Would she be turned off by the emptiness and boxes in our house as we prepare to move? After cordial hellos and the traditional 2 kisses, she simply opened up and shared her own details.....life is hard right now: laid-off, money is tight, a postponed wedding, a diagnosis of illness, a weary mo...

A few months ago, I mentioned that Campus Crusade for Christ would be changing its name to Cru. We´re excited about the name and the opportunities it offers to tell the world about Jesus. Many of our ministry partners have also shared their enthusiasm. Unfortunately, you may have heard some misinformation in the media abou the motivation behind the name change. Just in case these reports have caused any concern, I want to let you know, first hand, what is true. If, by chance, you´ve wondered about what you´ve heard in the media, let me share a few thoughts: 1. Campus Crusade for Christ is unswervingly committed to lifting up and proclaiming the name of Jesus. We were founded with a commitment to the centrality of the cross, the truth of the Word, the power of the Holy Spirit and the global scope of the Great Commission. Nothing has changed. 2. The problematic words in the name were Campus and Crusade . The term "Campus" has not represented the full scop...