Small Steps. Big Faith.

As Ruben and Aaron and I drove across the north of Spain toward Galicia, hundreds of pilgrims, represented on the map above) were doing their own pilgramages from different points toward the city of Santiago, Spain. Chris Pratt, a fellow teammate from my days of planting the campus ministry at the University of Granada, and his wife Anna Pratt invited us to join them and two other families for a week in  Ligonde, Galicia, Spain  to serve the pilgrims who pass by Ágape's pilgrim house,  lafuentedelperegrino.com .     Below left we are pictured at our first team meeting where Chris explained the history of the house and the vision and mission of La Fuente del Peregrino.        For one week our team of 8 adults and 8 children served pilgrims walking along the Camino de Santiago, providing coffee and lemonade, clean bathrooms, cold water from our fountain and for a lucky few, dinner and bed to sleep in, all free of charge. We learned how thi...

José and Sara (names changed to maintain confidentiality) were participants in our first pre-marital conference - the S.O.M. (Seminario de Orientación al Matrimonio) in March of 2021. We did the conference online because of the limitations for on-site events due to the COVID pandemic. Like all engaged couples, they were in love and excited about all that lay ahead. Although we actually did not know them well, we invited them to participate in the S.O.M. the following year in 2022 as "graduates" of the S.O.M. and to share what they were learning and how the S.O.M. had helped them. Several months after hearing from them, now with one small child and a second child on the way, the strain of married life and parenting had caught up to them. Last month, they contacted me, looking for support through marriage counseling. While I am not a counselor, I am a certified facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich couples inventory. In addition to helping to bring to light how each spouse is feel...

Penny Saunders is a long-term staff woman from Canada who joined Agape Spain during the pandemic, first part-time and later full-time as assistant to our national director in our national office in Valencia. Although Penny has been on staff many years, we decided to go use the New Staff Training material to help her improve her language skills. She and I have been meeting every week to practice speaking on a different topic, using and developing her Spanish vocabulary.  It has taken a while for Penny to feel comfortable in our ministry here in Spain....but over time we have seen her open up and also develop her capacity as a leader.  While she has served faithfully in this role, the large part of her ministry experience has been working as a teacher in Christian schools in Russia, Moldova and Madrid, Spain. Her dream is now to start a new Christian school in Valencia. It is in this context that teachers can teach students a Christian worldview as well as present the gospel wit...

After obtaining the rights to print EL ARTE DE SER PADRES in Spain last May, we finally had our first batch of manuals available to promote for parents and churches in Spain.  Several small groups have started up in and around Madrid. We also launched a pilot group on Friday evenings in our church in Terrassa (near Barcelona) at the beginning of May.  The 8-lesson study covers topics such as helping our children to develop relationships, identifying and nurturing their identity, forming character, applying discipline, preparing them for the mission God has for them and realizing the power of family. It's been a great chance for us to get to know a few of the families in our church better. The study has also given us all a lot to think about in our role as parents and grandparents. Please pray for those pictured here: Dámaris, Oscar, Miquel, Fina, Ruben, Iolanda, as well as Ruben, Sara and me (not pictured) that God would continue to give us wisdom, perseverance, patience and l...

In March 2021, Pep y Silvia participated online along with 25 other couples in the S.O.M. (Seminario de Orientación al Matrimonio), our pre-marriage weekend conference offered to engaged couples and recently married couples throughout Spain. In April of 2022, although they had a previously scheduled commitment, they participated through video by sharing the benefits they received through their experience with the S.O.M. Because of their incredible communication abilities as well as their maturity and love for the Lord, we challenged them to consider giving one of the talks at the most recent S.O.M. What a great decision that was. There were 12 couples this year participating on-site in Barcelona AND simultaneously online. Pep and Silvia were amazing, not only in their talk about Marriage and Society in the 21st Century, but also in their servant hearts, connecting with couples and serving until the very end of the conference and then getting into their car to make the 3-hour drive back...

This spring has brought numerous opportunities to interact with our new staff. On this occasion, Donna Cannella (pictured front row, 2nd from right) and I invited 5 new staff, 2 interns and their trainers from a variety of Agape ministries to join us near Barcelona to cast vision for them about the value and purpose of ministry training. In our organization, Ágape prioritizes faith, growth and lasting fruit. The " Capacitación de nuevos coordinadores " (CNC) (or "New Staff Training" (NST)) exists to create a space to develop life change and ministry effectiveness. Our aim is to equip our staff not only in skills (hands), but also with knowledge (head) and attitude (heart).  At the CNC Orientation, we begin this 2-year training process by tackling together the first 3 of 39 topics. Another important component to the training includes an intentional relationship between the trainer (the director or some other senior staff) and trainee (new staff member). During the CN...

pictured above: front row - Donna, Jill, Lucía, Liz back row - Andrés, Dani, Jemima, Mateo, Laura, Israel, María, Penny 12 of us descended on Barcelona, gathering in a rented Air B-n-B apartment. It almost felt a little bit like the 12 disciples in the Upper Room. Many had come from very busy ministry schedules. Some flew in from other countries. Others were flying out to other countries after we finished.  These staff represent a variety of ministries:  GAiN , Athletes in Action , Operations and Human Resources , Family Life This group of new staff were wrapping up their two-year training period as New Staff with Ágape. Just as in the orientation, we looked together at 3 more of the 39 topics. We took time to be with the Lord. We reflected on what it means to be a servant leader, the role of coaching others and how to put to evangelize with our actions. Pictured below: María, Lucía and Laura spend time with the Lord before our first session. Pictured below: Andrés and Liz tak...