Small Steps. Big Faith.

With 100+ staff, students and volunteers in attendance from all over Spain, fellowship and good news updates abounded at our annual staff conference held in Guadarama, outside of Madrid. Ruben and Aaron came with me and participated as well. (Aaron pictured above.)  The theme was Co-Mision (Co-Mission). We were reminded of our mission , with an emphasis on collaborating with other ministries and Christian entities outside of our own in order to more effectively reach Spain with the gospel of Christ.  I  was encouraged to dove-tail this conference theme during a leadership workshop that I facilitated, emphasizing the crucial role that leadership development plays in accomplishing our mission. This mission is so big that we must trust God to raise up and develop leaders who are capable of guiding teams and  movements all over Spain to make Jesus known and to make disciples. After my workshop I received the pensive reflection, "Jill, you've given me a lot t...

Amidst the ongoing responsibilities I am taking with LDHR, this month I had the opportunity to attend a special gathering with 2 conferences in one: University students and staff from all over Western Europe AND LDHR staff from all over Western Europe descended on the city of Torremolinos (outside of Malaga) for several days of worship, prayer and strategic planning of how we will move forward in reaching Western Europeans with gospel of Jesus Christ. Since the campus ministry is where I learned to walk with the Lord and where I gained much of my ministry experience, it was incredibly refreshing to once again be among university students. My roommate was Campus staff member Dawn Miller, (first picture) who has recently returned to Spain after several years in the U.S. to earn a seminary degree in Theological Studies. We talked late in to the night, catching up on life and ministry while she had been gone and since she's been back. Also, Rex, Gema and I were able ...

After months of preparation, the weekend finally arrived! 6 of our newest staff rolled in for 3 days of focused talks and activities to introduce them to a 2-year long training program that is being launched in Spain for all new staff. Since this is the first time that a New Staff Training Program of this sort will be implemented here in Spain, we as a design team decided that it would be worth investing in some face-to-face time, together with their trainers, to lay out the elements and details of the training program.  And it's a good thing we did. After the first session on Friday night there had been some blank stares and confused looks. We found out later that these new staff had mistakenly thought the the training consisted of this weekend gathering, when actually the weekend gathering was just an introduction to many months of articles, discussions, activities and projects to help ensure that all of our new staff receive a solid foundation of walking with the Lord...

As an adolescent, a high-schooler, a college student and a staff member for many years I have benefited from the initiative, persistence and perspective of a number of godly women across the globe. Each relationship has made an indelible mark on my life which God has used to mold me and mature me so that I can better follow Him. So, when  there was an announcement this week at church about discipleship and the need for disciple-makers in our church community, I jumped at the chance to serve in this way. After talking with the director of women's ministry, she mentioned that there is a great gap of discipling with the teenage women in our church. "Wow! Teenagers," I thought. I was thinking about young working women or young moms. It has been quite a while since I've been a teenager. I might be a little rusty in relating. I was given a list with the names of 6 young ladies plus the youth pastor's wife to connect with. Since I live 30 minutes from the c...

This month begins a new step in helping to develop our staff here in Spain.  One aspect of this staff development is to serve as a supervisor/mentor for Donna Cannella, pictured left, an American woman on staff with our ministry to ensure that she is being cared for and developed as a senior staff woman. Donna and I actually came to Spain around the same time through the campus ministry. I came as staff and she came as a student. Over the years, the Lord led us both to work with Agape Spain. He also has led each of us to marry Catalan men who are not on staff with Agape. And most recently we have both entered the stage of motherhood and all the adjustments required as a new mom in ministry. My hope is to provide support and direction for Donna that sometimes is lacking for moms in ministry. Donna has been instrumental in training our new Campus ministry staff and about a year ago the national leadership asked her to adapt that training for all new staff in Spain...

This month I was honored to be sent to CXI, Western Europe's Team Leader Training in Malta. CXI are the Roman numerals to stand for  100 Team Leaders, 10 Days training (5 on-site, 5 on-going), 1 purpose (healthy teams). The idea was to attend, receive the training and return to lay the groundwork for a Spanish version of the training to prepare future Spanish team leaders for leading more effective teams of evangelism and discipleship. It was a very encouraging time to be with other leaders from around Western Europe, a refresh of many materials I had seen during my days as an Associate Campus Director in Texas and a significant time of soul-searching in regard to my future in ministry.  A s I have served in a variety of roles and carried out a plethora of different administrative tasks in Agape over the last few years, my heart's desire of discipling believers, developing staff and mentoring leaders is still burning...but not occupying the bulk of my ministry ti...

Working in a team is such an important aspect of effective ministry for me. That's why I am so grateful to have begun working more closely with Gema Alvarez and Rex Winn pictured above to begin redefining and renewing Agape Spain's Human Resource Team. Several months ago I began collaborating with Gema Alvarez, the HR Director to consult on several staff-related issues from revising staff standards and the interview process, to hiring and orientation of new staff, to receiving international staff. This has been an amazing opportunity to re-connect and re-engage with ministry on the field and the lives of our Spanish staff. This fall Gema, Rex and I will take the next step in forming our team by receiving official training from the Agape Europe office for LDHR. (In the last few years, the name of HR has been changed to LDHR (Leadership Development and Human Resources) to emphasize the importance of developing leaders as we grow our ministry.) We have begun to meet ...