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About I am Second - I Am Second

2011-12-30T19:31:00.000-06:00

I am Second Films

2011-04-22T10:32:00.001-05:00

What is your favorite I am Second film?

Welcome Home Adelaide Joy

2010-09-17T03:52:00.002-05:00

A few days after Adelaide was born in the capitol, we headed back to the Asian city where our kids live. Here's a look at life there during the first month of new granddaughter Adelaide Joy's life.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Awaiting Granddaugther in Asia

2010-09-17T03:49:00.002-05:00

Rejoice with us at the birth of 0ur second grandchild--Adelaide Joy. Here's a short video about our time in Asia a week before and after her birth.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Missions Math

2010-07-02T03:49:00.003-05:00

+ 36 enthusiastic Seconds (Christ followers) from the States
+ 30 Bolivian translators (we have some bilingual team members)
+100 or more local Bolivian Seconds
+ 1 triune, all powerful, loving, gracious saving God
___________________________________________
Many changed lives + new churches planted + great glory to God

We’re heading to the airport. Will be a long couple days even if everything goes great. Please pray for all of us to safely intersect in Cochabamba, Bolivia Saturday afternoon.

Pray also for God to prepare the hearts of the people we will be meeting this week so that the “light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ” might get through to their hearts.

Jesus is First!

Mike Jorgensen

Ultimate Cell Group

2010-03-16T23:28:00.004-05:00

Chaplain Albert started an I am Second group in one of the pods (dorm rooms) at the Dawson State Jail in downtown Dallas. Last week we joined the group as he presented certificates to about 25 inmates who has completed the first 10 sessions. With tears in his eyes and a crack in his voice, one young guy shared “finally I have something my kids can be proud of their dad for.”

Prison Missionaries? Now some of them are ready to start their own I am Second groups as they are moved to other pods, and some to other prisons around Texas. Pray for God to “grow them in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52)

My favorite picture is above, taken as they prayed for one of the guys that had just had a year added to his sentence.

Click here to see some other pix.

Only God Can Do Stuff Like This

2010-01-17T22:35:00.004-06:00

Jon was a long term project. His sister, Vicki, had been praying for him for 24 years. Around the first of January Jon saw the Colt McCoy I am Second commercial running on ESPN. He was out of town, but he went to his computer to check out http://www.iamsecond.com/ as soon as he got back home to Boise, Idaho on Jan 7th.

As Jon watched film after film, he was amazed how Jesus changed lives. Jon called Vicky, who lives way off in Atlanta, to see what she thought of the site. “It’s good, keep looking at it” she told him.

Jon spent 6 hours . . . yes, 6 hours . . . looking at videos. Then his heart could not hold back . . . he fell to his knees and talked to Jesus. Confessing. Worshipping. Putting his faith in He Who is First.

“Find an I am Second Group” caught Jon’s eye on iamsecond.com. As he clicked on the page, up popped a Google map right around his house. Jon didn’t know it, but that part of the website had just gone live 3 days before. But in God’s providence there already was a group registered near him. Probably not another one for 500 miles, but God had a group right there for Jon to find.

Jon called Vicky to tell her the good news that he now believed in the Good News. Vicky’s joy overflowed to Mike R. Mike R knows Scott, one of our Board members who lives in Orlando. Scott knew I’d love the story, so he sent it on to me.

The rejoicing went from Boise to Atlanta to Orlando to Charlotte, where I was when I got Scott’s forward of Mike R’s forward of Vicky’s hallelujah email message. As I joined in the email celebration, Mike R asked where I am Second is headed next. When I responded that actually I was in Charlotte that very moment discussing launching there, Mike R mentioned that Apartment Life, the ministry he’s with, had just started work there.

A few hours later . . . I’m sitting across the table at a Starbucks in Charlotte talking to Nick, AL’s brand spanking new regional leader. Discussing how we might partner together. All because Jon trusted Christ in Boise a few days before.

The fingerprints of God . . . all over that whole thing. I can’t help but believe in a sovereign God who WILL accomplish His plans, and often in a way that only He gets the acclaim for pulling it off.

Also challenges me NOT to give up when praying for someone. For we never know when or how God will cause the spiritual dominoes to fall.

Here’s what Vicky told us later—

“I want to personally thank every person involved with this website for helping to bring my brother Jon to Christ. Jon and I were not raised together. We share an earthly father who struggled to give either of us what we needed emotionally. But now, after I have been praying for him since he was 15 years old - 24 1/2 years of prayers, God has drawn us together as children of the same heavenly father. A father who can love Jon in a way that he has never experienced before.

“The work that you are doing has such great eternal impact. My brother who was lost up until this day is now absolutely blown away by the love of Christ and his new life in him. And I have the privilege of sharing this with Jon and having new life breathed into my own spiritual walk - if DOES matter what we say, what we do, where we put our efforts, and how we nurture these over the years.”

People are looking for hope and change and God. Would you like to be there when they come looking? Register your group or ministry at http://iamsecond.com/join/.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Marry the Miracles?

2009-12-29T18:52:00.001-06:00

Two major ministry miracles happened in 2009. In 2010 we’d like to figure out a way to marry these two bountiful blessings from God.

Miracle No. 1. Despite all the gloomy economic news, the Lord of the Harvest did a miracle with e3’s 2009 mission trips (with reports still coming in):

• Trip participants went up 7%
• Nationals equipped went up 13%
• Professions of faith went up 26%
• New churches went up 31%

Miracle No. 2. Even though we’ve only advertized I am Second in the Dallas area, God’s fingerprints have been on iamsecond.com since it launched about a year ago:

• 1.7 million visits from 208 countries
• 75,000+ Facebook fans
• 5,300+ Twitter followers
• Almost 3,000 people registered on a new part of iamsecond.com
• Partnership requests from numerous ministries and churches

The best part about these startling stats? Behind the numbers are multitudes of people whom God is touching and changing and inspiring. All for His glory.

God answered your prayers exceedingly abundantly above what we thought or imagined. Thank You, Lord. Thank you, prayer team.

So here’s the next prayer assignment we’d like you to embrace:

Marry the Miracles? How can we marry the international eternal impact of the mission trips with the excitement and commitment the I am Second movement is generating?

Idea: I am Second Expeditions. Do an experiment with some of our e3 Mission Trips. Keep the same focus: evangelism and discipleship with the goal of starting new churches. But add some I am Second elements. Like orientation using parts of the I am Second curriculum. And a community service activity on each Expedition, like medical or dental clinics, free wheelchair distribution, eyeglass clinics, sports clinics, or HIV/AIDS awareness training using our Hope Cube. Recruit through the I am Second network.

We look back on 2009 with great gratitude that our glorious God did things we did not imagine last January 1st. We can’t wait for 2010!

Ethiopia Slideshow

2009-11-25T07:32:00.001-06:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Waking Up Sad in Ethiopia

2009-11-25T07:28:00.001-06:00

I woke up sad.

It was about 4 am last Wednesday, the third day of our eye clinics around Gondar, Ethiopia. I woke up sad, but not because jet lag was stealing my sleep.

I woke up sad thinking about all the eyes I had looked into the previous two days. The eyes of the very old and the young. The eyes of those encrusted in dirt, and those of the smartly dressed. The eyes of children with flies feeding at their corners. The eyes of those clouded by age and cataracts. The weeping eyes of those with problems beyond our capability.

I woke up sad grieving the spiritual darkness that shrouded their spiritual eyes. Grieving the spiritual strongholds of religion and tradition that chained their hearts. Grieving that whatever help we gave them would evaporate the moment they breathed their last breath if they did not put their trust in Jesus the Savior. Grieving that they do not have the joy of worshipping our Risen Lord, but instead bow to lifeless idols amidst the daily squalor in which many live.

Our wonderful team of 23 did exactly what the leaders in Gondar asked us to do—break the spiritual ice with humanitarian aid. Eye glass clinics in four villages. HIV/AIDS awareness training using our Hope Cube. And 220 free wheelchairs on their way in a few weeks. Several government leaders enthusiastically thanked us for this help, and invited us back. So our obedience served its purpose, and for that we give thanks.

We did encounter opposition, though. In one village, the local religious leaders convinced the clinic director to barricade the door of the room we had been using. From what little information they gave us, it seemed that a couple stories our team told offended them, including the one about the Good Samaritan. While we told it to emphasize helping others, they evidently focused on the part where the religious leader is the bad guy.

It was harvest time in Gondar. As an Iowa farm boy, I was fascinated by the techniques they use. Cutting the grain by hand. Using oxen and other animals to tread out the grain to separate it from the stalks. Throwing it up in the air to winnow away the chaff. Loading bags on donkeys to transport to local markets. Like first century Biblical passages coming to life (pictures in slideshow linked below). But while there was an abundant harvest of grain, we saw no spiritual harvest. Too early in the process.

I woke up sad last week, and my grief continues today. But it fuels my focus on continuing to pray for the people of the Gondar region of Ethiopia. To pray for that spiritual harvest to one day come to these sweet and polite people.

Would you pray with us? Would you pray for the seeds of compassion that were planted to ripen into a harvest of more worshippers for our King? Take a look at this short online slideshow, and pray as you travel with us through pictures.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bolivia Praises

2009-07-25T11:23:00.002-05:00

Heavenly Father, Lord of the Harvest, Patient God—

When Your glory is displayed, we are most blessed. You manifested Your glory in so many ways in Bolivia, Father. We worshipped You then, in prayer, in song, even in dance. We worship You now.

As Lord of the Harvest, You raised up a blessed US team. From 7 and 9 year olds to grandparents, with teenagers, college students, dads and sons, and many other godly people in between. Including a family and several couples. You even gave us several having birthdays and anniversaries during the trip. Even enduring their “different” traditions. You led us through Pastor Enzo. You raised up 30 talented and enthusiastic ministry partners (translators). You partnered us with host churches eager to reach their barrios for Christ. We fellowshipped together, then together saw Your fingerprints all over Santa Cruz. Blessed be Your name.

You opened doors and hearts all over the city. Down dusty roads. At barbed wire gates. In homes. The prison. Soccer teams. Executive suites. A restaurant chain, like the McDonald’s of Bolivia, where our team was able to go to about 10 locations to share the gospel with the employees. This was all You, Lord, all You.

But not any schools, which was a blessing. As the schools remained closed due to the swine flu scare, many kids and teenagers trusted Christ. Then started evangelizing and discipling their friends. Such as Katerine, who trusted Christ, then led several of her friends to Christ. As she began the discipleship process, she turned around and immediately taught her friends what she had learned. Just as ducklings walking in single file, following their brother or sister only one step ahead of them.

Father, You gave our team the privilege of seeing 612 pray to receive Christ as You drew people to Yourself by giving them faith to trust in Jesus as Savior. Thank You.

In the midst of all this, You gave us safety and good health over thousands of miles of travel.

Lord, we surrender the follow-up to You, for we are confident that You are able to complete the good works You have started in many lives. We were able to have 91% follow-up, but we know that discipleship is a long term process. As we turned over the names and addresses of these precious new spiritual babies, we trust You to raise up disciple makers to stick with them to help them follow You.

Jesus, You are the Head of the Church. You are Head over the 4 new church plants and the 5 churches that were strengthened. Enable all our Bolivian partners to obey your command to make disciples. As they build people, we claim Your promise on behalf of them that You will build Your church.

We pray this also for the restaurant chain, one of whose HR leaders is a Dallas Seminary grad. Enable them to disciple their employees who now are following Christ. Whether You point them to a church, or start small “restaurant churches,” give them spiritual communities in which to grow and obey.

Without You, we can do nothing. Everything that happened this week of eternal value was 100% You. Thanks for letting us in on the fun.

All this we pray so that You might be more famous in Santa Cruz and around the world.

Amen.

Bolivia: Burger Churches?

2009-07-25T11:11:00.002-05:00

In Texas we have a lot of Cowboy churches. Churches that reach people with similar interests who enjoy a similar culture.

Sunday we asked people what groups they are part of when we spoke at the church we helped plant three years ago. We were talking about the person of peace principle from Luke 10, an example of which is the woman at the well in John 4. We challenged them to be the key that unlocks the Gospel for their groups, networks, workplaces, neighborhoods.

At the end of the service the owner of a chain of hamburger fast food restaurants talked to Enzo. [Their restaurants are sort of like the McDonald’s of Bolivia, since McD is not here.] “Will your team speak to the employees of my restaurants? We have 200 in Bolivia, and 20 here in Santa Cruz. We will gather the employees at the beginning or end of their shifts to hear the Gospel.” So today Steve and the Vidor team (Linda, Terry and Lloyd) have appointments at four of the local restaurants!

We are challenging this church to start discipleship groups wherever people receive Christ . . . possibly right in the restaurants.

Please pray for open hearts, and also the discipleship of all the new believers. We are doing our best to model follow-up discipleship in all the areas. We want to have what Jesus called “fruit that remains.” Today and tomorrow are our last days to accomplish that.

Thanks for praying for us here in Bolivia. Everyone is doing great, although people are getting pretty tired from the long days.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia: Misc Links

2009-07-22T17:01:00.002-05:00

Click here to see more pictures on Facebook

Click here to see some of our work areas via Google Earth

Bolivia: Why Swine Flu?

2009-07-22T09:37:00.005-05:00

When we heard several days before we came that they were having a swine flu "issue" here, my first thought was "why now, Lord?"

This week we have seen at least part of the reason. Every team had many teenagers come to Christ, and many of these new believers then have worked with our teams. So youth have come to Christ, then led friends to Christ, then helped disciple them . . . all this week.

Last night a 13 year old new believer performed a "Jesus Rap" he wrote this week. I'll try to post the video online soon.

Without the swine flu precautions here, they all would have been back in school every day! But a school break was extended for two weeks, and the start back to school next Monday, after we're gone. Thank You, Lord, for this blessings.

Please keep praying for our Bolivia team. Today is maybe our hardest day--saying goodbye to new dear friends. It is amazing how working side-by-side with people serving God bonds hearts so quickly. Even though we don't share a common language or culture. It is the power of the Holy Spirit and the joy of seeing God work as we walk the dusty streets of Santa Cruz together. Plus see people come to Christ and begin walking with Him as they begin to be discipled.

As Alex, my son-in-law to be (in 10 days!), said this morning, "I'm so torn right now. This has been the best week of my life. My fiancee is at home, and I want very much to see her and get married. But I also so much want to stay here with all my new dear friends." So pray for us all as the transition process back to life at home begins tonight as each team has a closing celebration in each work area.

Quote of the day: "I came here expecting to serve. What I didn't expect was being so much like a wrench--begin a tool that God uses to do His will." From PJ Charles, inventor of EvangeDreds, which now are spreading like wildfire in his area.

The "Burger Church" planters went to 6 restaurants yesterday. More on that in a future report. Keep praying--there are several more today.

God has given us the priviledge of seeing over 500 people say "Si" to Jesus this week. Please continue to pray for the leaders and workers in the 6 areas in which we are working to have a vision, a strategy and the commitment to follow-up with all these precious new spiritual children.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia: How fast can God change a life?

2009-07-19T14:06:00.006-05:00

Ten days ago Gonzolo (with guitar in picture below) was working in Spain. After he was stabbed while being robbed, his mother convinced him to come back to Bolivia.

Four days ago, after returning home, he trusted Christ.

Yesterday, after only three days as a believer, he started working with Cameron. This week he will share his new faith with many.

God has so many ways to get us on His plan. Some nice and some painful. But His will is done.

Here's Cameron (in light t-shirt) practicing with Bolivian team about how they will do evangelism in new subdivision (shown in second picture).

Bolivia Precious Moment

2009-07-19T13:55:00.005-05:00

Each morning our team here in Bolivia gathers for breakfast, testimonies and worship. Precious moment yesterday morning when mom Michelle broke into tears sharing about daughters Tessa (age 9) and Ella (age 7) using the EvangeCube yesterday to share Christ with people.

Bo, their dad, told how Tessa shared Christ with one lady. As Tessa's eyes scanned between the very pregnant lady and the EvangeCube, she clearly presented the gospel. Perhaps spurred by a mother's love for little children, the lady listened very intently. Then she prayed to receive Jesus as her personal Savior.

Lord, what are You doing in the lives of our team?

Dozens of people are praying to receive Christ as the teams of Bolivians and Americans share about how Jesus died for their sins and offers eternal life only through faith in Him. Please pray for them to be open and eager to be discipled into a full life walking with Christ.

God has answered the prayers of this family exceedingly, abundantly already!

Bolivia Surrender

2009-07-18T12:29:00.006-05:00

As a team we've been talking and praying about surrender. Surrendering everything to God. Big topic the first two days.

Today Enzo (e3 national director) and I were headed out to visit the MBBC team. We stopped to change some money on the way. When we got back in the car to head out . . . nothing. Wouldn't even turn over.

My first thought . . . "here we go again . . . why don't things work here like they should?" Not wanting to give in any more to this tempation to murmer, my next thought was "Lord, what do You want to accomplish through this?"

Almost immediately a car parked next to us, and a family got out. In a city of almost two million people, the lady says "hola, Enzo." We had stalled in front of the apartment of a former student of Enzo's, from way back when he taught high school for a little while.

Since I evidently had a mechanical lobotomy when I was younger, I knew everyone would be better off if I just stayed out of the way. So as her husband helped Enzo, I tried to engage in conversation with the lady with my very limited Spanish.

IF (and that's a big IF) I understood her correctly, both she and her husband are now doctors. They work at the Christian University here, serving as doctors and professors. On the weekends they volunteer doing medical clinics for the poor. So we invited them to participate in our medical missions trip in September to Sucre!

Since it was too late to go to the area, we then went to my favorite restaurant in Bolivia—Sakura 2. Hole in the wall place that serves world class chicken, plantains, yucca and French fries. Because of the swine flu scare here, the waiters were all wearing masks. Does this make me feel safer? Or not? How about you?

As we got our food, we heard another “hola, Enzo.” A lady and her new husband were walking in. Turns out his family lives in Sucre. His father is a recovering alcoholic, and now his parents do conferences to help families of alcoholics. So another Sucre connection within a few minutes.

Oh . . . you’re still wondering about the car. Enzo and the man tried his battery in the car, and it started right up. So with it running, they put the old one back in. We took it to a repair shop . . . they checked the battery . . . said it was good . . . maybe a drop of oil shorted out a connection (?) . . . for a little while . . . don't really know . . . stop bothering us with a car that is running fine?

Seems to be working fine now. Just had problems at the doorway of the two doctors. What are You up to, God? Time will tell.

Friday Bolivia Report

2009-07-17T20:02:00.004-05:00

Great day today. Breakfast. Worship. Orientation. Met our 30 translators, who helped as we met the leaders of the areas where we will be working. Dinner. Very relaxing day to get caught up from our long travel day yesterday.

On each e3 mission trip we follow the model of ministry given us by the Apostle Paul, the parts of which are summarized in this diagram.

Today we focused on prayer. We prayed for many things, including surrendering this week to the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus. Now we wait to see what He will do. It's gonna be exciting, whatever it is.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we begin the work. We'll continue praying, and add the evangelism part of our ministry. Please pray for us to be totally open and surrendered to what he wants to do through our teams of Bolivians and Americans, connected through our wonderful translators.

Check out the pix of the teams below.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Crossman/Olson/Ward Team

2009-07-17T17:03:00.004-05:00

Scott & Sherry, Birken & Kelly, and Bo, Michelle, Tessa & Ella meeting with their translators and host church leaders.

Chens/Harpers/Mercedes/Cragers Team

2009-07-17T17:01:00.002-05:00

Jim & Michelle, Todd & Wesley, David & Josh and Robbie & McKenna meeting with their translators and host church leaders.

Jim/Michelle/Christyne/PJ/Alex/Mary Team

2009-07-17T16:58:00.005-05:00

Gaylord/Maria/Christine/Vivian/Wei Team

2009-07-17T16:54:00.003-05:00

Gaylord, Maria, Christine, Vivian, Wei and their Bolivian ministry partners nicknamed themselves the "Chinebianos" team, a combination of "Chinese" and "Bolivianos."

Mason/Laurie/Cameron/Libby/Sarah Team

2009-07-17T16:52:00.005-05:00

MBBC team getting to know their translators and local church leaders.

Steve/Linda/Terri/Lloyd Team

2009-07-17T16:30:00.006-05:00

Where are we on Life Events Stress Meter?

2009-07-12T18:10:00.007-05:00

Photo l to r: Alex, Joanna, Philip, Woodlyn, Alycia holding Ella, me.

Ever take one of those Life Events Stress Tests? The kind that measure if you’re likely to go bonkers if you have too many major life changes? One of those tests where even too many good things can raise the old stress meter?

I’m married to the same wonderful wife. We live in the same house. I work in the same office, with the same great team, and for the same organization—e3 Partners. Our kids continue to walk with the Lord. But other than that, just about everything has changed in the past few months.

I decided to take one of those online stress tests just to see how close our family is to going bonkers. Oh, no! It said we had an 80% probability of stress related illness! But what it did not factor in is the grace and peace and strength of God lavished on us. But here is a recap, so you can be praying for us!

Note--many of these things are great things! So we’re not complaining! But coming all at once is a blessed challenge. So here’s what’s up with us, taken from the Life Events Stress Test list--

Addition of New Family Member: Yeah, we love this one. Elizabeth Grace (Ella) joined our family 11 months ago, born to Alycia and Landon who have been living in Asia. We can’t wait until they come home this week for a 5 month visit.

Marriage: We love this one, too! We rejoice that Joanna is marrying Alex on Aug 1st! They both will continue to teach at Bryan High School, where Joanna teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) and Alex leads the school choirs.

Beginning or Ending Formal Schooling / Outstanding Personal Achievement (On a stress test? Yup!): Landon just finished his Ph.D. in Asia. They are coming home for a few months, then heading back to a new city in Asia in December. Landon will be a professor there.

Son or Daughter Leaving Home / Changing to a New School: After graduating from high school a few weeks ago, Philip is looking forward to Howard Payne University this fall, which is Alycia and Landon’s alma mater. The August 21st drop-off date already is marked on our calendars.

Death of Close Family Member: Woodlyn’s mother passed away in early May. Fortunately Woodlyn was able to spend about 6 of her last 8 weeks by her side. Picture above was taken at the graveside service.

Personal Injury or Illness: A couple weeks after her mom’s funeral, Woodlyn had surgery to remove some precancerous cells. We are praying that her follow-up check-up shows they got them all.

Major Change in Responsibility at Work: My transition from the international side of our ministry at e3 Partners to our I am Second project has been wild . . . and great fun. I am Second has been an “exceedingly, abundantly” blessed project as almost 1 million people have visited the website, each spending on average over 9 minutes watching the videos about Jesus changing lives. Even though we have only promoted it in Dallas, people from 191 countries now have visited.

Our vision is to “inspire a revolution of Second.” Which means helping followers of Christ live like Jesus really is First in their lives. Tall order in our materialistic consumer culture. We are writing small group curriculum to go with the videos on the website. Plus redesigning the “Get Involved” and “Find a Group” sections of http://www.iamsecond.com/ to make it easier for churches to partner with us and people to use these new resources.

Fortunately, I can still continue leading church planting teams. In July we have a team of 35 going to Bolivia. Then in November we are taking about 25 from our church to Ethiopia to open up a new area for e3. Plus I continue to serve as our Africa Continent Director until we transition that role to someone.

Change in Financial State: Like many in ministry, we have seen our support fall substantially. July 1st was our 17th anniversary with e3 Partners, known as Global Missions Fellowship way back then. So we trust Jehovah Jireh to continue to provide for our family as He faithfully has done over so many years. He is able and we delight in being “stranded on omnipotence,” as someone once said.

Thanks: Thanks to all of you who have prayed for us, gone with us, encouraged us and financially supported us over the years. We are here because of YOUR partnership in the Gospel.

For the Fame of His Name,

Mike Jorgensen

Divine Interruption

2009-02-27T19:49:00.003-06:00

I have the best job in the world.

I love my job. Daily we get to see God’s hand at work. I love the national directors and US Team Leaders I’ve been working with the past 4 years. We have seen much spiritual fruit (see blog posts below) as we have transitioned our ministry focus to serving our national partners as they plant new churches. Our World Conference last month was a joyful celebration of all these blessings, and a look toward many new initiatives coming online. I couldn’t imagine a better job.

So I got a real shocker about 10 days ago. That morning I was just strolling along on my morning walk. Enjoying the fresh air. Not thinking about anything in particular. Quite frankly, simply enjoying not having any crushing deadlines after the joyful chaos and crunch of the World Conference.

Then He spoke. It wasn’t audible, but it was clear and compelling. Along with it came a physical sensation that confirmed this was not an ordinary thought racing through my head, but directions from our Commander-in-Chief.

The words were as simple as they were direct—

--I have a new assignment for you.
--You are to focus on I am Second.
--Your contribution to the international ministry is complete.

My mind raced. More ideas tumbled about in the moments following, and I’m not sure how much was from the Holy Spirit and what was my mind figuring out “so what does all that mean?” Time will tell.

I power-walked home to tell Woodlyn and Philip. That evening I was able to talk to my good friend and boss, Curtis Hail. Then over the next few days we talked to Nathan Sheets (I am Second creator and team leader) and the rest of our leadership team here at e3. Everybody is a go!

Lots and lots and lots of details to work out. I am scared and excited all at the same time. As we’ve discussed what this might mean, three popular things from our culture stand out--

· Starbucks: how can we help people and churches start thousands of new groups (more than Starbucks) to reach out to our culture to evangelize and disciple people attracted to Christ through the I am Second campaign?

· iPhone Apps Store: how can we harness the creativity of individuals, churches and ministries who want to develop materials and strategies for I am Second (like Apple has done with developers of applications for its iPhone)?

· Facebook: how can we develop web functions to create an I am Second virtual community (like Facebook) to communicate, train leaders, get materials, etc. to use with I am Second strategies, especially to multiply new groups (just like we do internationally)?

Right now we are working on all the ripples this causes as I transition from my current role to this new assignment. Curtis Hail and our Cabinet are prayerfully and carefully deciding who and when. I definitely do not want to drop this baton, for our international ministry is the heart of all that e3 does. It is our main ministry, and probably always will be. So please pray for God’s direction and empowerment to pass on this leadership role to His choice in His way.

e3 Wild Year 1: Fingerprints of God

2008-12-24T09:13:00.005-06:00

This has been a wild year. Wild economically. Wild politically. Wild on the high seas as pirating off Africa is now a growth industry.

It’s also been a wild year at e3. But wild in the good sense, in the exciting sense, in the wonderfully unexpected sense. Wild in the sense that we see the fingerprints of God all over many good things happening.

I am Second. Earlier this year a major donor / friend of the ministry asked one of our staff for ideas for an evangelism outreach in Dallas. The verse burning in his heart was “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. “ He loved the ideas our creative team came up with, and excitedly asked if e3 would do them. “But we’re an international church planting ministry, and this is a local evangelism project,” was our first thought. But we concluded that this was God opening a door, so we accepted his request.

There are three parts to the I am Second strategy. One is lots of local media—billboards, TV ads, radio spots, etc. They point people to the second part of the strategy-- a web site with videos of famous people and ordinary folks sharing how Jesus is first in their lives. The third part is to hook them up with local churches that have committed to follow-up with them. Check it out at http://www.iamsecond.com/.

Now comes the wild part. Over 100,000 visitors hit the web site in its first 10 days. From 130+ countries. A “fan club” on Facebook gets over 500 new members a day. We’re already hearing sweet testimonies of people accepting Christ after listening to the videos and talking to their friends.

Lots of hard work has gone into this project, but it came up out of the blue. Totally unexpected and unsolicited. With the fingerprints of God all over it.

(this post continued below)

e3 Wild Year 2: Michael Jordan of Church Planting

2008-12-24T09:10:00.005-06:00

Last Spring we hosted a church planting “celebrity” named Dr. Curtis Sergeant in our office. We have known about him for several years, mainly watching from afar as he spoke at conferences. Curtis pioneered many of the strategies now used by missions agencies around the globe to initiate church planting movements. We were honored he even took the time to come by our office. But we were more than shocked when he shared that God had awakened him at 4 am that day with the message to “join e3.”

Since he’s an acknowledged world-wide expert on church planting, we were willing to make whatever changes he suggested to our ministry. Early on I asked him, “What do you think of our First Steps church planting curriculum?” Since I have spent much of the past several years writing, testing, editing, and prototyping First Steps, and then training our national networks of coaches how to use it, it was with fear and trepidation that I even asked that question. Much to my joy and relief the answer was that it was “right on,” with simply the need to add some tactics to accelerate church planting even more.

Again, something totally out of the blue with the fingerprints of God on it.

(This post continued below)

e3 Wild Year 3: Shark Fin Impact

2008-12-24T06:49:00.018-06:00

Notice the “shark fins” below? We look at 3 key things as we evaluate the effectiveness of our ministry—people equipped, people evangelized, and new churches established. The foundation of our ministry for 20 years has been our US teams and staff. The foundation lines of each graph are the blessed fruit the Lord of the harvest has given our US teams and staff the past 10 years.

Three years ago we began to build on that foundation. We focused more attention and resources on developing networks of national church planting coaches to continue the ministry after our teams return home. The “shark fins” below show the multiplied ministry God has given us from that added strategy. (The reason there are dips at the end is that not all the stats are in for 2008.)

Equipped Nationals: blue is by US teams and staff / red is by national trainers

Evangelized (professions of faith): blue with US teams / red by national teams

Established (new churches): blue with US teams / red by nationals

Wild, isn’t it? Again, the fingerprints of God all over this “shark fin” ministry acceleration. And this is before the impact we know God will bring through Curtis Sergeant’s influence and coaching.

You are a Big Part of these Blessings. We thank the Lord for our faithful partners who support us financially and prayerfully. Your investments of time and treasure bear much eternal fruit.

May the Lord Bless You Richly in the New Year.

Mike Jorgensen

Asia Visit Slideshow

2008-12-07T20:30:00.003-06:00

Woodlyn and I had the joy of visiting A, L and E in Asia for a couple weeks. Our first grandbaby, Elizabeth Grace (they call her Ella), is now 5 months old. Here's a short slideshow that captures some of the joy of our visit. Warning: it is unapologetically grandparentish!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bolivians Go On Mission Trip

2008-12-03T19:32:00.007-06:00

Here's a report from Julia in Bolivia about a team of Bolivians who did an e3 style campaign. This mission trip was to an area where about 20 people (including a pastor) were killed several months ago in a clash between a crowd supporting the socialism of Bolivia's president and a pro-capitalism group. The area has been under martial law since then.

God showed his glory in Cobija, even the enemy was trying to discourage the missioneries and local workers using the police and sickness, nothing stopped the plan of our Mighty God! According to the testimonies of the missioneries; the people never thought that God love them and to see people go to their own houses to share about it was a surprise for them. The families open de the doors not only of their houses , the door of their hearts. Some were afraid because all the social problems that happened, but God showed them with hope and love.

Thanks for your economical support, for your prayers; you make possible these.

God bless, Julia

COBIJA - PANDO

CAMPAIGN: November 14 - 22, 2008
Missioneries: 22
Local workers: 48
New churches: 6
Strengthened churches: 1
Gospel presentation: 805
Professions of faith: 624
Follow up: 434 (70%)
Attending Celebration Meeting: 350

Horses, Rabbits and Ducklings / Church Planting

2008-11-19T11:54:00.002-06:00

So how can we have horse churches that reproduce like rabbits and produce duckling’s . . . and not produce more “mile wide, inch deep” Christianity? [If you are wondering about what in the world is up with horses, rabbits and ducklings, see entry below.]

Curtis Sergeant shared several keys with us last week in our South Africa meetings—here are my top take-aways.

One, new believers should immediately be taught how to share the gospel, and also to make a list of 50 people they would like to share with. Like a day or two after they trust Christ. Then helped to do that, and held accountable to do it.

Two, they should be taught to be self-feeding. Meaning they immediately need to be taught how to read, understand and obey the Bible. Not just tell them about the Bible. But teach them how to get into it for themselves And learn how to pray for themselves.

Three, practice dual accountability. This means 1) obey what they learn and 2) immediately teach it to someone else. That’s the duckling principle put into practice. If they don’t obey lesson 1 and teach it to someone else, don’t give them lesson 2 until they do. Radical? Or simply Biblical?

“But wait,” one leader asked, “doesn’t this open the door to heresy and problems if you turn so much responsibility over to new believers?”

Curtis’ answer made me smile with agreement., as well as everyone else. “If you look at church history, every heresy has been introduced by those with advanced theological training. There is not much temptation to put the opinion of a poorly educated person over the plain words of Scripture.” He went on to say that of course more education is important, but that should not delay sending out a new believers to share with his friends, and then teaching them whatever lesson he just learned. And someone should stick with them to disciple them to help them stay on course.

Another African leader posed this question. Which church is healthier? One with 3,000 people who worship together each weekend, but do little else during the week? Or a church of 300 with 80% of its members ministering in some way during the week?

As I stew over these challenging concepts (which are so thoroughly Biblical), I wonder if maybe the US many times is a mile wide and an inch deep?

What do you think? Or more importantly, what could you do about it? Would love for you to leave a comment.

Mike Jorgensen

Blind Guy on a Mission Trip? Big Problem?

2008-11-19T11:46:00.002-06:00

“I’ll go. I’ll go.” Oh no, the church leaders thought as the speaker asked for volunteers to go on an Ethiopian mission trip. “He’s blind. Big problem.” [This happened about a year ago, but I just heard this story.]

But they decided to let him go, for he was so enthusiastic. The two small sending churches raised the funds for the team’s transport, food and hotel. e3 kicked in EvangeCubes and other tools. The team of 21 traveled 200 kilometers, but in Ethiopia this can be a world away. They were reaching out to another people group, so they needed translators, just as our American teams do.

Trouble immediately erupted as they began to share the gospel. Mslm crowds formed to throw stones and beat these visitors with the audacity to talk about Christ.

“But wait, one of them is blind.” In their culture it’s wrong to harm a helpless blind person. They stopped. Questioning glances shot among the angry eyes.

As the crowd murmured , wonder began to erase anger. “This must be great love for a blind man to come so far to talk to us.” Wonder eased into curiosity. Why is he here? What does he have to say?

They listened to not only the blind man, but the others as well. The hand of God used one blind man to stop the mob. 135 Mslms prayed to receive Christ. Three new churches were started.

Our creative God used weakness to show His strength. He used the curse of a lifetime to flow blessings of eternal life. He turned a handicap into a gift.

Makes me want to search my heart for what I’ve said “no” to lately.

We are here in the same place this took place about a year ago. We are meeting with local leaders, trusting God to show us how He wants us to partner with His church here to reach this people group that is less than 1% Christian. Pray for wisdom and direction as we seek His plan.

Mike Jorgensen

Church Planting Zoo in South Africa

2008-11-15T04:14:00.003-06:00

Is your church a horse or a mule?

Is your church an elephant or a rabbit?

Are you producing ducklings?

Curtis Sergeant challenged us strongly with these questions here at our training and planning retreat for our Africa e3 leaders in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Keep this in mind. The average life span in Africa now is 45. And it is falling, largely because of AIDS. Reaching many more people much more quickly is crucial.

God designed His creation to reproduce. Including His church. As in many parts of the world, here in Africa if a person cannot walk to church, often he cannot go to church. Where poverty abounds, personal vehicles do not. Many times even bus fare is not an option. So to effectively reach and disciple people, a church must be close by.

Horse or Mule?

Horse churches multiply. Mule churches do not. A mule is a hybrid between a horse and a donkey, so it is sterile and unable to reproduce. Mules work hard, but are stubborn and focus on their own corral. Unfortunately, many churches are like that., too.

Elephant or Rabbit?

Elephants reach sexual maturity at age 18. They are fertile 4x a year, have a 22-month gestation period, and have one baby per pregnancy. So after a pair reaches sexual maturity, in 3 years there will be 3 elephants.

Rabbits reach sexual maturity at 4 months, are almost continuously fertile, have a 1-month gestation period, and have an average of 7 babies per pregnancy. So after 3 years, there could be 476,000,000 rabbits . . . if you had enough room, enough food, etc. Explosive blessing?

Ducklings?

Ever see ducklings following their mother? They walk single file, one after the other. The first is following the mama duck, but each of the others follows the duckling ahead of it. Each duckling is leading its brother or sister, and the only qualification is that it is one step ahead.

How do we grow disciples? Usually we teach and teach and teach, and someday, after much training, we hope they will disciple someone else. But the rate of disciple making can be radically sped up if we immediately challenge new believers to turn around and teach someone else. Teach someone that they are at least one step ahead of.

How do we produce horse churches that reproduce like rabbits and walk like ducklings? How do we do this and not fall into the “mile wide, inch deep” problem? Next blog entry. Gotta run to catch a plane from South Africa to Ethiopia.

Our Africa leaders want to see YOU when they are at our 2009 World Conference in January. More info and sign-up at www.e3partners.org.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Click here to read more about this trip on Curtis' blog.

Yoseph Menna (ET), Mike Jorgensen (US), Paul Buhwahwa (TZ), Joe Michael Kamau (KE), Manasseh Wandera (RW), Joseph Oyuki (UG), Curtis Sergeant (US)

Off to Africa

2008-11-07T14:50:00.002-06:00

One of the great blessings of working at e3 is the people God brings to us. Recently He surprised us with Curtis Sergeant, one of the foremost authorities on church planting on the entire planet. God has provided his support and he’s now on board full-time with e3.

Saturday I leave for South Africa to tag along as Curtis trains master church planter trainers from OMS International. We have invited our e3 Africa national leaders to attend this training. So it will be a wonderful time of learning, networking and strategizing. Those able to attend are—

• Yoseph Menna from Ethiopia
• Joe Michael Kamau from Kenya
• Manasseh Wandera from Rwanda
• Paul Buhwahwa from Tanzania
• Joseph Oyuki from Uganda

Then we head to Ethiopia to meet with our e3 team there. Curtis will be helping us develop a strategy to reach the people group called the Arsi Oromo.

Please pray for—

• God’s wisdom as we learn and discuss strategy
• Relationships to strengthen among our Africa leaders, and with the OMS staff
• For all of to learn how to be more effective in our service to your King

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Sucre, Bolivia 3 Months Later

2008-09-01T17:11:00.004-05:00

Exciting news came in this morning about the areas in which we worked in Sucre in June! Here’s what God has done through the Bolivian host churches since the June campaign. [Thanks, Julia, for these updates.]

Alto Sucre, where Deedra, Marisa and Caroldean worked
--30 people at last week’s meeting
--5 will be baptized on September 14th
--Mario Pocuna now is full-time leader

La Calancha, where Scott & Sherry Crossman worked
--110 people at last meeting
--5 people will be baptized in October
--10 more people have accepted Christ since campaign
--Today (Sept 1) they are having big kids outreach

Lajas Tambo, where Mary, Joyce and Geanie worked
--90 people attended last meeting
--Meeting place now too small for this growing group
--10 additional new believers since the campaign
--Plan to baptize people when they finish first discipleship book

Llimpi, where Doug, Catherine and Lori worked
--54 people attended last week, mostly kids and teenagers
--Several want to be baptized

Tujsupay Bajo, where Philip, Woodlyn, Letty and Andrew worked
--50 people at recent meeting
--Having cell group meetings on Monday nights
--4 new families have accepted Christ since campaign

Bolivian Team Plants More Churches

2008-09-01T16:50:00.004-05:00

One of the most exciting things about our ministry in Bolivia is seeing our Bolivian partners do their own church planting campaigns. At the end of July Pastor Enzo organized a team of 16 Bolivians to go to Santa Ana, Bolivia.

They trained and worked with 37 local believers. God allowed them to see 369 professions of faith.

Over 300 of these new believers worked on the discipleship lessons! Two new churches were started, and 1 church was strengthened.

Goodbye Grace

2008-07-28T16:50:00.000-05:00

It was time to say goodbye. We hugged one last time, and then our daughter A--sweetly holding Elizabeth Grace (“Ella”)--climbed in the taxi. They and L's mom were taking an early train the 2 1/2 hours back to their home. L would take the rest of us to the airport, and then catch a later train.

I couldn't say anything, for I feared sobs would flow instead of words. We all knew it would be months until we saw each other again. Yet the time had come to part from our darling daughter and the precious child she had delivered just two short weeks ago.

As we all stood there on the steps of the hotel, that still, small voice whispered strength into my heart. "Her middle name . . . that's the only way any of you can do this."

Grace. Elizabeth Grace. Yes, that’s the only way.

I've heard a couple good definitions of "grace" over the years. One is "getting what you don't deserve." That certainly is true, especially about the grace God gives us in the gift of His salvation.

But there is another explanation of the grace that our loving Lord poured out on us on those hot steps last Saturday morning in Asia. "There is a grace ambulance," someone once told us, "that races to us to give us everything we need so we can do everything that God has for us to do."

Thanks for praying for our family these past 3 weeks. All of A and L's friends said "tell them not to come, it will be too hard on you to have all that company right after having the baby." We were concerned, too, for we did not want to be a big burden on a new mom and her hubby, especially since we’d be in a country where we couldn’t communicate on our own.
But God blessed us with a wonderful time together--our family, L's parents and the new little family of A, L and little Elizabeth Grace. As A put it, "I wouldn't have had it any other way." Neither would we.

More Unapologetically Gpa Pix

2008-07-28T14:27:00.005-05:00

The whole clan together in Asia

Dad enjoying daughter

Gramma Woodlyn, A holding Ella, Aunt Joanna

I love my Momma!

Sleeping Beauty

Ella Smiles

2008-07-24T01:11:00.002-05:00

G'parenting Thoughts

2008-07-21T03:38:00.003-05:00

A few months ago Rhonda Stewart, my wonderful Exec Assistant, also became a grandparent for the first time. Here's some thoughts she sent us when we joined the gparent club.

I don't think I have added my Congratulations to y'all yet, so "Congratulations!" She is beautiful.

I guess by now you have discovered that Grandpa Curtis is right - "There's nothing like it!"

I think maybe we are blessed with grandchildren to remind us of that overwhelming feeling of new and unconditional love that we just can't get enough of. We've been married "forever;" the kids are just about all grown up and don't need or want so much from us and hopefully we've taught them just about everything we know by now; we've loved our Father and been loved by Him since we can remember. . . We've just gotten used to loving and being loved. Sometimes, instead of "We can't get enough," it's "We've had enough!"

And then - this beautiful, helpless, little perfect creation comes along, and -suddenly we feel these wonderful feelings that we forgot we had - the anticipation, joy, delight at the tiniest things, overwhelming - can't get enough of it - LOVE. Like we had when we were dating our future spouse, or when our babies were born and growing and learning, or when we first came to have a personal and close relationship with our Father. It's been so long and we've gotten so used to loving and being loved that the love and wonder we feel for this new life seems like something we've never felt before.

I guess we need a reminder of that kind of love - a rekindling of that love for our spouse and our family and a new realization of just how much our Father loves us - the kind of unconditional, overwhelming, amazing love He has for us.

"There's nothing like it!" is true. We have (and probably make) more time for them, we don't usually have to stay up all night with them, we aren't actually responsible for them 24/7, we have a little money with which to spoil them, etc. It's great!

Ella-copters

2008-07-21T00:52:00.009-05:00

Uncle Phil has come up with a new name for our family -- "Ella-copters." All because we hover so much! Here are some of my favorite hovering pix, plus there are lots more in previous posts!

Aunt JoJo reads very first book to Ella

Steve and Derinda whisper some family secrets about Ella's dad!

Gramma whispering family secrets about Ella's Mom!

See, I CAN hold her without making her cry!

Visit to Ella Land video

2008-07-20T00:30:00.003-05:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ella Update

2008-07-14T06:23:00.007-05:00

Elizabeth Grace has arrived!!

2008-07-12T04:26:00.009-05:00

Due Date Activities

2008-07-09T21:49:00.008-05:00

So what do you do on the baby's due date when the baby's not ready to "do"?

Starbucks Breakfast

Breakfast of Champions?

Go sight seeing

Check-up at The Clinic

Trip to Handmade Cloth Shop

Eat at Hot Pot Restaurant

Enjoy (?) Chicken Feet Soup

Play games back at the hotel

Baby Wait: Keeping up with A

2008-07-07T01:19:00.004-05:00

9 minutes, 21 seconds. That's what A & L told us was the walking distance between our hotel and where they have been staying the past 2 weeks as they wait for little Ella to arrive. So when we started out on this short jaunt the first time, I realized I had subconsciously made some incorrect assumptions about A's 9 month condition. I found myself surprised. No, not surprised. Pleasantly shocked.

Walking out into the 95 degree heat, we had to hustle to keep up with her! She took off down the street, and all us non-pregnant people didn't have time to dilly dally, and certainly no time to catch our breath!

As I marveled at her good health and good spirits, I thanked the Lord for a strong daughter supported by a strong husband. Both of them have taken all this in stride. This culture of walking everywhere is paying great dividends as she waits out these final days? . . . hours? . . . minutes? . . . until little Ella arrives. My heart sings with joy with yet another confirmation that God designed both A and L to do exactly what they are doing.

Baby Wait Update

2008-07-04T18:08:00.003-05:00

Thanks so much for continuing to pray for our kids in Asia, and the delivery of our new granddaughter. We leave our house at 4 am Saturday to go spend time with them, and little Ella still has not arrived! Our daughter, A, has been having contractions for over a week and a half. She and L, our son-in-law, have been staying at a hotel in the hospital city, since they live 2.5 hours by train away from their hospital. So keep praying!

My mom must have the inside scoop on this baby communication stuff. Here’s what Great Grandmother Jane wrote to A and L. I guess she must have interviewed Ella in utero via skype or something. All in the midst of all the flooding that has taken place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where my parents live.

Now, for the really exciting news! At present our little Elizabeth Grace (Ella) has decided to kick back and rest up for her journey into our world. Wondering why? Here are some reasons why we think she is waiting (no particular order of importance):

1. She's content in her present environment to lay back and gain some weight. She's part Danish you know and is attracted by weight gain.

2. She's waiting for her Gramma and Granddad to get there because she's heard they are special people in her life.

3. She's heard baby showers are fun and she'd like to witness at least one first hand that's put on in her honor. [They missed a shower because they left for the hospital city early. They will probably have it after Ella is born and they return home.]

4. She's all snuggled in where she is and wondering if that arm cradling and rock-a-bying are really all they're cracked up to be.

5. She's not all that excited about having to wear clothes. 6. She's practicing her gymnastics getting ready for the Olympics.

7. She really would like to help cook but she's afraid she might have to help with the dishes.

8. Her Mom is walking all over so she is being gently rocked in her special hammock most of the day. What could be better than that?

And last but not least:

9. She'd really like to go to Iowa but she hears it’s just too wet at present.

As you can imagine, we can hardly wait to give a big hug to all 3 of them!

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia Tears

2008-06-17T21:11:00.007-05:00

Andrew was the youngest member of our Bolivia team at 16. His team had a tough start to the campaign. For the first couple days they didn’t have a place to meet, or any workers to go with them.

Then things turned around as God answered prayers. Several workers from a local seminary showed up to help. Local believers in a nearby neighborhood offered their home for the evening meetings.

I visited the second night they had the meeting place. The small room was full of new Quechua believers singing Quechua praise songs. As my eyes swept the room, I noticed Andrew standing up against the back wall. His face was grim so I worried that he was sick or something.

Then I noticed a tear roll down his cheek. “You OK?” I asked. He nodded yes, but his words choked in his throat. With a bit of time, he was able to speak. “For this one hour, they look so happy,” Andrew whispered, “even though they are so poor.”

Andrew was experiencing the joy of seeing God use his life to touch others. The kind of experience that can change the direction of a person’s life.

As you prayed, God touched many lives—

• 696 professions of faith
• 116% follow-up of the people we talked to in the neighborhoods
• 139 Bolivian believers catapulted into ministry, so on average each US team member was the catalyst for 9 Bolivians to be involved in ministry
• 4 new churches started, 1 young church strengthened, and 2 mother churches strengthened

If you’d like to see the faces of some of those touched, including the evening meeting that brought tears to Andrew’s eyes, click on this picture to see a short online slideshow.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thanks for being a big part of our Bolivia team as you prayed for us!

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Light in Twilight

2008-06-13T18:29:00.006-05:00

I´ve been struggling how to express how enthusiastically people have responded this week. How do you communicate something that is so unlike what we see in US?

The best I can come up with is--

¨Free iPods to first 712 people who open doors to our reps!¨

People would be standing on their doorsteps waiting to get this blessing, wouldn´t they? In many areas that is how our team has been received this week as we have shared the truth that God loves them and Jesus died so they could have eternal life.

Bolivia is a country of uncertainty. Will the pro-gov´t people protest and blockade? Will the pro-democracy folks demonstrate and strike? If I go to the next city, will I be able to get back? Will we end up in civil war? Or will things stay peaceful?

In the midst of this, the Light has shone into the twilight of this uncertainty. This picture symbolizes what God has done this week. The kids are meeting in the lighted room, with the lights of the city in the background, as the adults and teens meet across the street.

712 people prayed to receive Christ! Their desire to learn about how to follow Christ shone through as we saw 106% follow-up as we visited them again in their homes and they came to the evening meetings. We are praying that disciple-makers will teach each one how to walk in the light the the Lord Jesus gives them.

4 new LifeGroup-style groups were started, which hopefully will grow into established churches in the next few months. 3 other churches were strengthened.

The Head of the Church is keeping His promise in Bolivia to build His church.

Thanks to everyone who has given and prayed for our team. Your time and treasure has yielded much fruit in Sucre, Bolivia.

Do They Understand?

2008-06-12T17:23:00.004-05:00

People often ask ¨do they really understand, or are they just being nice to foreigners?

Mary, Joyce and Geanie were invited into a school to talk to 11th and 12th graders. Here´s what some of them wrote. What do you think?

Roxana says: I accept Jesus, and because he died for our sins, and loved us so much I want to know more about him. Thank u for make me think about the good values.

Alicia says: I accept Jesus, and I see how he worked in their lifes, and I want the same too with mine. Thank u to come.

Juvenal says: I accept Jesus, thanks for the reflexion u made its was very usefull to me.

Juan says: I accept Jesus, I would like to know how to improve my lidership’s skill cause I want to make a group of bible study.

Maria says: I accept Jesus, and I would love to know more about Jesus, its interesting to know that some body loves me as much that died 4 me.

Juan says: I accept Jesus, I want to know how to love Jesus cause he loved me first, diyng 4 me at the cross.

Felipa says: I accept Jesus, thanks for show that is some one that loves and I’m important to somebody. Thank u I love U

Coming Down Off The Mountain

2008-06-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

Today is last day of work in the 5 areas. So there will be lots of ¨goodbye¨ tears tonight. Pray for the discipleship to continue long after we leave.

Tomorrow is a vacation and shopping day. Then Saturday we head back to Santa Cruz to catch the plane on to the US.

Pray for us as we readjust to coming down off the mountain--physically, emotionally and spiritually. Physically it is just as tough coming down from the Andes as it is going up. Spiritually and emotionally it is difficult leaving the myriad spiritual and physical needs here to return to the land of plenty.

Blessings.

mike j for team bolivia

Answered Prayer

2008-06-11T16:50:00.003-05:00

God is answering your prayers, Prayer Team.

Earlier I wrote about Philip/Lettie/Andrew/Woodlyn`s area, and how they had no workers and no place to meet. God changed all that yesterday. Six students from a local seminary came to help. Plus, the leader took them to a different neighborhood. Not only are the people much more receptive there, but they also have a nice home to meet in! A local believer volunteered her house for the new group. Picture below is new ¨LifeGroup¨in neighborhood after one day´s work in the new area. People are hungry for hope here!

Prayer changes things, and it is not limited by time or distance. You are making a difference in Bolivia as you lift our needs to our loving Lord.

God has blessed our meetings with our Bolivian church planting coaches. They are from all over Bolivia, from the jungles of the northeast to the Andes of the southwest. To see each other, they would have to travel hours and hours and hours. Many of them have mentioned how they now feel like they are part of a family, and not so alone as they did before.

As God has directed our agenda, yesterday we talked about other denominations and ministries we can partner with here. It was amazing to hear the positions they hold in those types of organizations. One of our coaches has two earned doctorates, and is the leader of several provinces of his denomination. Another is the director of a Bible institute. Another leads the Bolivian work of a ministry that distributes audio New Testaments. Another is a leader of a group of 150 pastors. They are seeing more clearly how we want to partner with others, not just build our own organization.

Today we challenged them to ask God how many churches in their respective networks might want to be trained with our methods and materials. We also challenged them to raise up others to be church planting coaches within those networks.

Please ask God to enable these dear coaches to hear His plans clearly as we finish our meetings tomorrow.

And as before, please beseech the Lord of the Harvest to raise up disciple makers for every new believer. What they do next week is more important than what we are doing this week for the long term health of these new groups, which hopefully will grow into churches in the coming months.

Thanks for praying.

mike j for team bolivia

Terrific Tuesday

2008-06-10T20:45:00.003-05:00

Trouble on Tuesday. Trouble on Tuesday. Trouble on Tuesday.

Everywhere we went, that´s what we heard. From different leaders in different places. Even from a soldier here, who gave one of our ministry partners (translators) his cell number in case he needed help. The local officials had declared several days ago that they were going to shut down Sucre to protest the national government´s policies. Road blocks. No taxis or busses or anything on the road. Total shutdown.

But the first thing I heard this morning when I saw the hotel owner on my daily pilgrimage for coffee was ¨todo normal.¨ (Everything normal)

Proverbs 21:1 says that God holds the hearts of kings in His hand. We have seen him turn those hearts in a way that allows us to continue our work.

3 of our areas are going great. Lots of workers, lots of decisions, lots of follow-up. We thank the Lord for that.

But 2 of our areas have some major obstacles. One, where Philip, Letty, Andrew and Woodlyn are working, does not have any workers. Even the pastor has been gone almost all the time attending to other things. They have seen many people say ¨Si¨ to Christ, but they need workers to follow-up.

Another area where Doug, Catherine and Lori are working has a huge spiritual obstacle. There was a church in the neighborhood that broke up a couple years ago. So there is a building there for anyone who wants to use it. But the community is very much against whatever happens in that building, or anyone they think is connected with people from there. Evidently there was an issue that split the church, and now people don´t want to have anything to do with it or anyone on the other ¨side¨ of whatever the issue was. Pray for God to bring down the obstacles of bitterness and anger.

We have a couple folks down with some tummy trouble, and a couple others with bad colds. So please also pray for our health and stamina as we continue our fun but long days.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

Drunk Person of Peace

2008-06-10T20:24:00.006-05:00

Our teams always pray for a person of peace in each area. A person of peace is mentioned in Luke 10, and is a well-known person in the area who is a believer, or open to Christ. Whole neighborhoods can be reached quickly because persons of peace are known by a lot of people. They can be famous (with a good reputation) or infamous (have a bad reputation).

As members of the Deedra, Caroldean and Marisa team were witnessing one day, they came upon a man who appeared drunk, so they passed him by. Much to their surprise, the next day he came up to them and asked them to share with him about God. Deedra shared how she had put her faith in Christ, and how He had changed her into a different person. She shared that God loves him and wants to have a relationship with him. She went on to explain that was possible because Christ had died to pay for our sins.

Sobbing, Tomas prayed to receive Christ, and the team cried along with him. Then he took them to a large room in his home, which he offered for use as the meeting place of the new church just starting in the neighborhood. The picture above is Tomas and his family, with Deedra, Caroldean and Marisa in the back row.

Before the end of the week, this new house church grew to about 50 adults and over 100 kids. God uses ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary work.

Please continue to pray for the discipleship of the hundreds of new believers we are seeing put their faith in Christ as Savior!

Trouble on Tuesday?

2008-06-08T13:44:00.002-05:00

Sunday: most teams started day worshipping with their host churches, then headed to new work areas in afternoon. Beautiful day in this beautiful place.

Biggest obstacle so far came last night for a few of us who walked 2 blocks from the hotel to get some dinner. They were having what looked like their equivalent of the Macy’s New Year’s Parade! It was wall to wall people. People were so packed into the narrow colonial streets that there was no distance between the paraders and the spectators. Everyone was belly button to belly button. Only difference was that the paraders were moving and the spectators were standing, or at least dancing in place.

This morning I had the joy of going with two of our teams to their host church (Mary/Joyce/Geanie team and Scott/Sherry team). Scott challenged the members to work with us this week, and Sherry sang “Amazing love, how can it be, that You my King would die for me?” For some reason it brought tears to my eyes hearing that song sung so sweetly in this place.

So picture joyful teams in a beautiful place on a perfect weather day . . . but then imagine a dark thundercloud of caution drifting over the horizon.

As the service ended, a missionary came up and whispered to me “be careful on Tuesday. Be very careful on Tuesday.”

She went on to explain that more transportation strikes and blockades are being threatened for Tuesday. “Don’t ignore them,” she cautioned.

“Are they between cities, or in Sucre?” I asked.

“No one knows. Just don’t ignore them.”

I assured her we would be very, very careful, as we do with all our precious teams.

Please pray that everything will remain as tranquil as it now looks to us. Pray that the hand of the Almighty will continue to envelope us with protection and peace.

Please pray 1 Timothy 2:1-4 for our team—

--That God will direct the decisions of leaders here in a way that enables people to live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence, and

--For many to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

Thanks, Prayer Team.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

Team Arrives in Sucre

2008-06-07T17:31:00.003-05:00

Team Bolivia arrived safely and joyfully in Sucre—North American team, translators and Bolivian church planting coaches. More transportation strikes here, so please continue to pray.

Met with the pastors and leaders of the churches hosting our teams. They have 5 neighborhoods and villages where we will be working side-by-side with their church members.

We have several goals this week. One is to help these churches as they form LifeGroup-style home Bible studies in these 5 neighborhoods. Our prayer is that they grow into new churches within a year or two.

But an even more far-reaching goals is to provide more “on-the-job training” for our Bolivian church planting coaches. We hope they head home at the end of the week here saying “this is simple—we can do this with our own people—we don’t have to wait for the next North American team to come.” Please pray for that impact.

Please also pray for us as we acclimate to the 9,100 ft altitude here in the Andes.

Thanks for praying.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

PS One of the mottos of our home church (Chase Oaks Church) seems especially appropriate here--see Tshirt below--

Scott / Sherry Team

2008-06-07T17:29:00.003-05:00

Sherry singing "You are My King" in morning service.

Scott exhorting church members to work with us this week.

Mary / Joyce / Geanie Team

2008-06-07T17:23:00.003-05:00

Deedra / Marisa / Caroldean Team

2008-06-07T17:20:00.001-05:00

Doug / Catherine / Lori Team

2008-06-07T17:16:00.004-05:00

Philip / Lettie / Andrew / Woodlyn Team

2008-06-07T17:11:00.003-05:00

Bolivia Updates

2008-05-05T16:33:00.002-05:00

Prayer Team—

God has answered your prayers for Bolivia. Here’s a quick update.

1. In spite of a sinus infection, a difficult translator and lots of political drama, the leadership conference last week turned out to be a huge success. The organizers switched translators on the second day. Pastor Enzo and Chris Horton taught the sessions that I missed while out sick. We ended up with 168 people registered, many more than I expected.

2. At the end of the conference the pastors indicated they have 12 areas in which they want us to work in June with our team. That is a big hallelujah, for it is substantially more than the 5 areas in which we worked last year. So the vision seems to be spreading.

3. Our challenge is that we only have 16 on our team from the US, enough for 6 or 7 teams. The Bolivians certainly can do the work without us, but we'd like to have a team of at least 2 from the US to go to each area where they have requested help. So we continue to pray for more people for our June 6 to 15 trip. [Click here if you’d like to go with us.]

4. The election yesterday in Santa Cruz was generally peaceful. There was some scuffling in the huge neighborhood of Plan 3000, where supporters of the socialist president tried to stop the people from voting. We have helped plant several new churches in Plan 3000. There was almost an 85% vote in favor of autonomy for the state of Santa Cruz.

Please continue to pray that God will expand His kingdom of light in Bolivia.

Lookin’ for Chicken Soup

2008-05-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

After I wrote the blog entry below, I decided “I gotta get out of this hotel room . . . how ‘bout some lunch? Chicken soup would be good.”

So I headed toward a couple nearby restaurants. But almost everything was closed. Its Labor Day here.

About the only place open was a little hole-in-the-wall chicken place. They have a diverse menu—whole chickens, half chickens, white meat quarters and dark meat quarters. Plus white starch to round out your plate: potatoes, rice or spaghetti. But no chicken soup.

So maybe that’s what got me thinking about chicken soup.

Anyway, this picture came to mind of God making this big kettle of chicken soup. He’s like my Grandma Bess, who never used a recipe. She poured stuff in her palm, or sprinkle spices in the pot, because she knew exactly what was needed and how much.

God doesn’t use a recipe because He’s so creative and knows exactly what He wants it to taste like, and what’s needed to get that taste. Plus every batch is different.

We’re not the chef of what’s going on, He is. We’re ingredients He uses. He decides if He wants the oregano or rosemary or thyme or peppercorns or cloves or broccoli or ginger. If we’re ready and available, He may put us in this or that batch of soup He’s got cooking. Or not. If we crumble or rot or split open or fall on the ground, He may pick something else that day. Or not. He decides.

Things definitely are cooking in Bolivia. And it sure smells good.

Bolivia: From Bad to Worse?

2008-05-01T10:49:00.009-05:00

Last night I surrendered the conference here to the Lord, translator and all. To tell you the truth, I had it all worked out in my mind how today was going to be glorious.

But it wasn’t anything like I thought.

As Pastor Enzo, our Bolivia National Director taught the first session, I felt worse and worse. Back in Dallas I had some upper respiratory gunk. I hoped it was allergies, which would disappear once I left Texas. But the gunk has persisted here. I felt weaker and weaker, even as the conference folks were very enthusiastically learning how to use the EvangeCube. (See pictures below.) So Enzo grabbed a taxi for me so I could come back to the hotel to rest.

I was strongly tempted to whine. Woe is me, in a far foreign land with a nasty head cold. But James 1:2-4 kept ringing in my clogged head—

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing
So I’ve been laying here “counting it all joy” and looking forward to growing through this—

**The turnout for the conference has exceeded expectations. Over 100 attending.

**In the midst of political turmoil here, believers are excited about evangelism, discipleship and church planting. One pastor from Potosi (3 hours away) brought 15 from his youth group to be trained!

**The conference will go on great without me. Enzo could do the whole thing, and not need a translator. And Chris Horton came along to help teach. They both do as well, or probably better, than I do.

**I am not indispensible. (I know that all of you already knew that, but I have to keep reminding myself of this fact.) Jesus commanded us to make disciples to carry on the work with or without us.

So, no, the conference did not go from bad to worse. It just went to “different.” But I guess that is what surrender is all about—being willing to accept what He does.

Please pray for God to bring glory to Himself as He raises up laborers, and leaders of laborers, for His harvest in Bolivia. Please also pray for the Head of the Church to show us exactly who to work with when our team comes in June.

PS I don’t know how the translator situation turned out. I left before Chris started to teach.

Leadership Conference Pix

2008-05-01T10:41:00.002-05:00

Bolivia: Tough Night at LDC

2008-05-01T10:34:00.002-05:00

Tonight was perhaps the toughest session I’ve ever had at a leadership conference. We had a great turnout—many more than I expected.

What made it tough was the translator. He made jokes as I talked, sometimes not even explaining what I said before he made the joke. He also talked at a different pace even when I was very animated. In other words, he might have been saying much of what I was saying, but it was coming across very differently than intended. I could tell from the faces of the people that they were confused most of the time.

Please claim this promise for tomorrow’s sessions—

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I have surrendered this situation to the Lord. I do not want to discourage or embarrass this man, for translating is difficult. I know I could not do it well. But we also have a responsibility to effectively communicate to those who are taking their precious time to participate. We also need to prepare the churches and their people for campaign and team coming in June.

Thanks for praying.

What Did You Like About The Bolivia Trip?

2008-04-08T17:23:00.004-05:00

Here's how some of our Mission Trip participants answered this question.

This has to be the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I saw a baby church plant another church and thriving only 8 months later. I will be sure to use up my 5 year visa in a big way. I love the Bolivian people and will do my best to partner with them to reach as many people as possible. Thank you JESUS! ~ Kip Childers / Fellowship Orlando

This trip was very interesting. It was very different from my last trip with e3. Being dramatically stronger in my faith, I have come to value what e3 does more. It was so encouraging to share the gospel and see lives changed. ~ Ellie Crossman / Fellowship Orlando

While planning this trip with e3 came with short notice, completing the campaign has left a profound, eternal impact. As I daily saw dozens of souls added to the Kingdom, I was reminded of the extravagant, unconditional love of God. During this trip, I didn’t just sense the heart of God . . . I felt it. ~ Canita Brent / Crossing Place Fellowship / Franklin, Louisiana

I am one who had reservations about taking this trip for a number of reasons: separation from our children, our safety, cultural differences, fear, leaving my “comfort zone”, work, etc. It took about 24 hours for the Lord to melt those away after I was used to lead the first 19 people to Christ. Seeing lives changed, relationships built, barriers broken down, families drawn closer together, are memories I will cherish until I see them again in heaven. The pastors, their families, translators, national, etc. are now counted as friends. I pray, Lord willing, that I may reunited with these friends again soon! ~ Mark Poole / Fellowship Orlando.

This trip has been rewarding at many different levels; from sharing the joy of watching grandfathers, daughters, husbands, wives entire families coming to know the Lord, to seeing Nationals grow as they learn to evangelize and teach others about the Bible. Watching my preconceived barriers and cultural differences melt away as you truly fall in love with your new brothers and sisters in Christ. By the last night, everyone is crying and hugging one another and you do not want to leave. ~ Catherine Poole / Fellowship Orlando.

Sitting underneath our cabana and watching the children’s group and then looking forward and seeing brand new believers doing a disciple lesson. Then the new believers were helping the people who just came. One lady was helping three ladies who could not read by reading the lesson to them. I saw God working and could not help myself. I just started praising Him. It was an incredible evening. ~ David Parsons / Fellowship Orlando

The moment that I will always remember is when I asked a group for 4 teenagers if they wanted Jesus to come into their lives and one of them said, “I want to have Jesus in my life, but I don’t know how”; so I said “that’s what we’re here to tell you.” He came to every evening meeting and even presented the cube to the schools on the last day. ~ Luke Parsons / Age 14 / Fellowship Orlando

The first day we shared the gospel with a young mother whose husband usually goes away for the week to work and comes home only on weekend, like most men in this neighborhood. She is lonely and has a drinking problem. As we were sharing with her, she told us that she was lonely and had family problems. During the prayer she began to cry. After the prayer she confessed her drinking problem. She came to the evening meetings and by the last day had finished the second lesson with the help of other ladies in the neighborhood church. (She doesn’t read.) She quit drinking the day she gave her life to Christ. The change in her countenance was obvious. The sadness was replaced by a joyful appearance. She has a new life in Christ. ~ Jenny Parsons / Fellowship Orlando

My most memorable moment was when the wife of a man was jumping up and down because her husband accepted Christ ~ Ben Parsons / Age 10 / Fellowship Orlando.

My most memorable moment was when we came across a man who was a recovering alcoholic. He changed his ways after the unexpected death of his wife months prior. Since then, he became sober and began reading his Bible every day, but still has had many questions about salvation. Our team had the honor of answering his questions along with eventually praying the prayer with him. Following his prayer, we presented the cube to his employee, who also received Christ. ~ Kyle Parsons / Age 18 / Fellowship Orlando

On the third day of evangelizing, we encountered a woman who was about 60 years old. She was raised in church and believed in God, but she hadn’t truly accepted Jesus in her heart until we were done talking to her. God definitely used us for His work. After accepting Christ, she shared with us that she recently had open heart surgery. She further divulged that her husband was not a believer and refused to read the Bible or go to church. God gave her the courage to accept Jesus and came to our Thursday night service. I do not know where her faith will take her, but I know God is working in her life. ~ Andrew Bonfiglio / Fellowship Orlando

The Don Bosco team had witnessed to his grandfather who made a statement of faith. Jose Roberto was only 7 years old, but also prayed to receive Christ. Two days later, we were witnessing to an older man who was very hard of hearing, Jose Roberto was playing nearby and came near us. The older man was beginning to pray, but still had a hard time with the words. Jose Roberto went right up to the man’s ears and repeated the words of an acceptance prayer – just 2 or 3 words at a time. The old man heard what was spoken by Jose Roberto – already a missionary at 7! ~ Robert McGough / Friendship Baptist / Poteau, Oklahoma

Bolivia Hallelujahs

2008-04-07T11:39:00.006-05:00

God answered your prayers. Here’s how He displayed His glory as He worked through our team in Santa Cruz last week—

26 US team members working with . . .
. 139 Bolivia believers from several mother churches starting . . .
. . . 8 new baby churches and together they saw . . .
. . . . 990 professions of faith and then worked to have . . .
. . . . . 97% follow-up contacts (compared to POFs in neighborhoods)

While these stats are exciting, they do not communicate the depth of life change God was doing in people’s lives. For example, Bob talked to a man on a park bench one day. I don’t recall his name—let’s call him Juan. Bob learned that Juan had returned home to Bolivia from Spain to avenge the murder of his brother. A week before the same man had robbed Juan’s father. A couple days before Bob first met him, Juan had found the other man . . . and killed him. As Bob shared that God loved him and had sent His Son to die for him, Juan prayed to receive Christ.

The next day Bob saw Juan again on the same park bench (pic at left). Juan had decided to turn himself in to the police. When I met Juan and shook hands with him his hand was trembling. What a horrible situation he was in. But now he had the Comforter living inside him.

This week is even more important than last week.

Please pray for Juan and all the other new believers this week. Many will be making decisions about whether to walk with Christ, or turn back to their old way of life. Pray that they will take those first baby steps toward following our Savior. Pray also that God will raise up committed disciple makers to help them on their Jesus journey.

Don’t Want to Leave a Lame Example

2008-04-03T18:48:00.005-05:00

Funny story. Great illustration.

There are two dogs that live at the house where Steve, Bob and Kyle are helping start a new church. The big one has a bad leg and gets around on 3 legs.

Bob shared with our team this morning that the little friend dog has 4 good legs. But it walks on 3 legs just like the big dog! It has been “discipled” to settle for only part of the blessings God designed it for. Literally and figuratively it is following a "lame" example.

We don’t want to leave behind a “lame” example for the precious people we have been serving here this week. Our heart cry is to model in a balanced way what the Apostle Paul did in his ministry. We’ve summarized his ministry with this diagram—

The big challenge is to leave them with an effective model for making disciples. Chris Horton and I interviewd many pastors this week with whom we have worked in the past. One told us that “our big challenge here is most pastors’ idea of ‘church.’ To most it is simply having a service of sing, preach, give and go home.”

We have modeled one on one discipleship as our teams returned to visit new believers in their homes. In the evening meetings we focused on teaching new believers how to study their gift New Testaments. Several new believers this week learned how to do evangelism by tagging along with our teams.

Next week is the most important week of the campaign. Yes, we return home on Saturday. But how they follow-up with the new believers next week--the model that they adopt after we go--will make all the difference in the world.

Please pray that those we have served this week will be gripped with a Holy Spirit “addiction” to obey Christ’s command to make disciples.

Team Bolivia

2008-04-03T18:14:00.003-05:00

Saddest Meeting of Ministry

2008-03-31T21:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday evening I had perhaps the saddest meeting in my 16 years with this ministry.

Background

In 2004 our team of Steve, Joe, Taylor and Wallace worked in El Quior. Over 120 people prayed to receive Christ. They did not have a place to meet, so they asked new believers to host Bible studies in their homes. 7 new cell groups started that week.

About 8 months later I returned to Santa Cruz. I heard that the 7 cell groups had multiplied to 11, so we visited on a Saturday afternoon. They had just gotten permission to meet in a school in return for a promise to paint some classrooms.

On that surprise visit I saw some wonderfully surprising things. About 40 adults were doing discipleship lessons in the shade of the school building. 100+ kids were involved in various activities under the trees. The church was alive and healthy.

Bad News Last Night

Yesterday I was eager to revisit the church. In the evening we were close by, so we stopped by the church. It was dark, but we could see the outline of a huge building. The building was dark, but the light in the pastor’s house at the back of the property was on. We knocked on the gate.

As we sat down to talk, sadness rolled in like a damp fog. “This morning we had 2 adults and 15 kids in our service,” the pastor replied to our questions. “And in the afternoon service we had 9 adults and 20 kids.”

What Happened?

Only God knows. But I have some questions.

The church was planted with the vision for focusing on discipling new believers. No building? No problem! The discipleship continued in homes. It even multiplied in homes even though (or maybe because?) they had no place to meet.

At some point did the focus change to a building and programs? On that second visit, I met a missionary couple. They had not been present during the first 6 to 8 months of that new church—they were on furlough back in the States. They were not there when the 7 groups grew to 11 home groups.

After that visit, I began to get their newsletters. They asked for money for a building. They told what programs they were leading. No mention of discipleship. No talk of equipping local believers to do the work. Did the vision change?

Last night the pastor shared how they started to give out food every week. Then they implemented membership cards to control who got the food. Then they added more rules to stop people from bringing multiple cards to meetings.

Buildings and handouts are not bad in and of themselves. The question I have is “did the church die because the vision died for obeying Christ’s command to make disciples?”

But Wait, There's More

2008-03-30T13:45:00.005-05:00

“But wait, there’s more.”

When I hear those grating words on the TV commercial with the bearded guy, I lunge for the remote to mute whatever infomercial he’s doing that day.

But those words were pretty sweet here in Bolivia.

Yesterday I saw Pastor Luis, whom we worked with last year. A year ago our team of Kip, Greg, Jocelyn and Mike worked with Pastor Luis as he planted a new church. Pastor Luis is a missionary from Argentina, and he already had started the work. But we had the opportunity to serve him and his team for a week as they planted “Iglesia Biblica Missionara” (Missionary Bible Church).

This morning I had an exciting assignment—I got to preach in that church. Here’s a picture of the adults attending this morning after the kids and their leaders went to do Sunday School. About 60 adults attended, plus 5 leaders and 30 kids. God is at work. This church is thriving. Hallelujah!

“But wait, there’s more.”

This week this one year old church is planting a new church! It has picked an area about 40 minutes away where it is working to establish a new church. So Kip, from last year’s team, and Scott and his son Sam, are again serving Luis and his team. God is at work in Bolivia!

Please pray for Jesus to fulfill His promise in each of the 8 places we are working this week: “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Scott / Ellie / Canita Team

2008-03-30T08:57:00.002-05:00

Morning prayer time before heading to areas

Steve / Bob / Kyle Team

2008-03-30T08:56:00.001-05:00

David / Jenny / Ben Team

2008-03-30T08:55:00.001-05:00

Ben and Raul, his translator extrordinaire

Evening Bible Study with one light bulb

Virgin territory for this new church!

Mary / Sherry / Charlie Team

2008-03-30T08:54:00.004-05:00

Auzelio / Mark / Cathy Team

2008-03-30T08:52:00.001-05:00

Carol's team shares door to door

Xemina trusts Christ as Mark shares Gospel

Auzelio leads neighbor to Christ

Garry / Drew / Emily Team

2008-03-30T08:51:00.001-05:00

Kip / Scott / Sam Team

2008-03-30T08:50:00.001-05:00

Jim / Michelle / Luke Team

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Much fruit in this neighborhood!

Ministry is turned over to local believers

Joy of seeing local teenagers learn to boldly share their faith

Follow-up discipleship visit with new believer

Heading Back to Bolivia

2008-03-23T20:33:00.002-05:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If you’ve been to Bolivia with us, clicking on this slideshow will bring back great memories of your visit. If you’ve not been, it will give you an idea of the many people there who God has touched through people praying and people going.

Please pray as you watch. Our next team to Bolivia leaves this Friday. We’ll be working with about 8 churches who want to start new churches. Your prayers back in the States will make a difference in Bolivia.

Africa Prayer Update

2008-03-22T19:06:00.001-05:00

Coming into our kitchen a few days before I left for Africa, I was shocked to see Woodlyn sprawled on the floor. If it hadn’t been for the smile on her face, I would have thought our “junk cabinet” had exploded. Papers spread all over. Years of phone books scattered beside her. Seemed like every stray thingamabob in our house had burst out of that cabinet.

Reminded me of one of her favorite sayings: “this isn’t a mess . . . its progress.”

My first stop on this Africa trip was Rwanda. We’ve had a mess in Rwanda. Early last year we suspected something fishy was going on with our national director. He seemed like such a humble and hardworking guy. The reports we were getting were great.

But red flags kept popping up, so we hired a finance person to provide more accountability for the money. Then we hired another person to audit the field ministry reports. We were saddened when they found serious reporting and financial discrepancies. Needless to say, he is no longer with our ministry.

Now the Lord of the Harvest has blessed us with wonderful progress in the midst of the mess. As we interviewed candidates last week for a new national director, one clearly rose to the top. He has strong leadership credentials, plus he is nationally known for a ministry he started that teaches integrity to business, government and religious leaders! God has provided perhaps the one person in the whole country of Rwanda who is best suited to rebuild the trust of pastors and other leaders!

I’m now in Ethiopia praying and planning with our team about our 2008 plan and budget. Please pray for--

· Smooth transition for our new Rwanda national director

· God’s direction for our Ethiopia ministry this year

· Staffing and finances to accomplish our ministry plans in both countries

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Back to Africa (Rwanda)

2008-03-09T20:55:00.003-05:00

This morning I head back to Rwanda. I love Rwanda. God has completely changed it since the genocide in the mid 1990s. Its president has led it through a wise process of reconciliation and rebuilding.

What do you do when your population is about 9 million, but then hundreds of thousands of those people participate in killing a million of your people? How do you come up with enough courts and jails to deal with that situation? The Rwandan leaders decided to focus on reconciliation instead of retribution. The key leaders of the genocide were dealt with in one way. But the rank and file members of the mobs were handled differently.

They set up community genocide courts. They still meet every week all over the country. If a perpetrator explains who they killed, how they did it, and who they worked with, and publically repents, then they are forgiven! They have community service to perform, but they go free to provide for their family.

The president also focused on cleaning up the country. He has worked to clean up corruption, crime and even litter! Now Rwanda is the cleanest and safest country in Africa. Construction is booming as international companies build headquarters and invest money there.

On this trip we will be interviewing applicants for a new national director. It is exciting reviewing the resumes of the experienced and solid leaders who have applied for the job. Please pray for God’s will to be done in this selection process as His will is done in heaven. We are surrendering this process to the Head of the Church so that we hire His choice for this strategic position.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Personality Makeover

2008-03-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

Now that our son, Philip, has finished his Eagle Scout project, he decided to have a personality makeover. If you need a break from work, or political news, or stock market rollercoastering, or whatever else has ya buried, take a look at the process--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP3G8dIAgsk

Growing Pains

2008-02-24T16:29:00.006-06:00

Growing Pains

Back in junior high, my joints ached all the time. My mom’s words of wisdom were “Don’t worry, they’re just growing pains.” I grew over 6 inches in less than a year. But the pain was worth the progress, especially during basketball season.

Our family and e3 Partners Ministry both are experiencing growing pains as God blesses us with progress.

A, L and baby Elizabeth

Our daughter "A" has “wonderful” growing pains, as she now is 5 months pregnant! (Easy for this new Granddad to say, huh?) The morning sickness is easing, just in time for the backaches to start! On Valentine’s Day, they treated us to a visit to “Stork Vision.” We crowded around a big screen TV hooked to a sonogram and found out . . . it’s a girl! So now we can pray for little Elizabeth Grace by name. The pain is worth the progress.

We enjoyed A and L’s five week visit here in the States. They are now back in Asia—back to their Ph.D. and language studies, back to reaching out to fellow students, back to daily eating with chopsticks. The pain of seeing them get on that plane is worth the progress being made there. But we’re counting down the days until we go see them this summer, right before A’s July 9th due date.

Joanna: New Teacher . . . Again

Every new teacher looks forward to their 2nd and 3rd year when they have lesson plans prepared, they have learned the ropes, and can focus more on teaching than on daily preps. But this year Joanna endured another “first year” as she felt called to change to teach ESL (English as a Second Language). But the progress she has made toward her goal of ministering in other cultures has more than offset the pain of starting over.

Philip: Eagle Growing Pains

Recently we celebrated with Philip (with proud sister Joanna in picture) as he attained the rank of Eagle Scout, something only 4% of Boy Scouts do. He persevered through literally hundreds and hundreds of requirements that must be finished to get to this level. The toughest were not the ones he did himself, but the ones when he had to lead others to accomplish a goal or complete a project. Some little, some big, but cumulatively very, very challenging.

As is common with many students, there were times he walked away saying “I’ve had it.” But God gave him the persistence to always return to successfully finish whatever task was blocking the trail to Eagle. The pain was worth the progress.

e3 Partners Ministry

Three years ago we began to expand beyond doing only church planting mission trips. We started recruiting national networks of church planting coaches. As God provided funding, we equipped them with training, EvangeCubes, First Steps church planting manuals, discipleship materials and other resources to help them help more churches plant more churches.

I am using skills I honed practicing corporate law more than I ever thought I would as I was asked to oversee this new part of the ministry. Please pray for us as we go through the growing pains of making progress in these areas—

· Setting up offices in 25 countries
· Hiring national staff in each office
· Developing policies and procedures that work across many cultures
· Updating our First Steps church planting curriculum that we used last year to train over 20,000 pastors and leaders
· Registering to do ministry in each country
· Training the first generation of church planting coaches in several of these countries

Thank you.

Thanks to all of you who have partnered with us in going, giving, and praying. Because of you, we get to see all these growing pains as God continues to grow us as His servants.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Don't Wish Your Life Away / Africa Trip

2008-01-07T09:44:00.002-06:00

“Don’t wish your life away.”

I can remember my Mom telling me that as a kid. Don’t so look forward to what’s in the future that you want to bypass what’s coming up first.

I’m struggling with this advice today. Next week A and L, our daughter and son-in-law, return home for a visit from Asia. We’re excited anyway about their visit, but now that A is pregnant our eagerness to see them is through the roof!

But today Curtis Hail (e3’s President) and I head to Africa. The trip is a combination of working out problems and evaluating new opportunities. But probably a little heavier on the problem side of the balance than the opportunity side. So an agenda full of issues to resolve this week, coupled with Alycia and Landon’s arrival next week, leaves me in serious “wishing your life away” mode.

So please pray for our trip as we meet with many leaders—

• Jan 8 to 10—Ethiopia—meetings with Yoseph Menna, our national leader, and leaders from several denominations about partnerships. Planning meetings re new AIDS Cube.
• Jan 11—Uganda—meetings with Joseph Oyuki and Moses Kaziba re 2008 ministry plan.
• Jan 12 to 14—Rwanda—meetings with Rwanda leaders re choosing new national leader for e3.
• Jan 15—Ethiopia—more meetings before evening departure back to States
• Jan 16—return home
• Jan 17—Alycia and Landon, our daughter and son-in-law, return home from Asia!

We need God’s wisdom for all these meetings with key leaders. We need His direction and wisdom for the issues that need resolving, and the opportunities that must be evaluated. Please also pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Thanks, Pr-Air Force.

Bolivian Missionaries in Bolivia

2007-10-19T19:14:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who gave so our good friends in Bolivia could go on their mission trip to Riberalta, in the north of Bolivia. 20 Bolivians made the trip, as you can see from Enzo’s report below. It always gives us great joy to see the passion they have in Bolivia for reaching their country! Praise God with us as you watch this short online slide show—

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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From: Enzo G. Saavedra
To: Mike Jorgensen
Subject: Trip to Rberalta

Good afternoon Mike,

This are som information from the trip to Riberalata, I will be sending pictures later. if you need some specific information just call us.

7 Mother Churches
7 New points
20 Nacional volunteers
108 Local workers
59 Cubes distributed
1,602 Gospel presentations
1,146 Professions of Faith
793 Discipleships

There were 14 persons that went form Santa Cruz and 6 from Trinidad.

God was good on this mission trip taking care of everyone and giving good fruits.

Enzo

Ethiopia's 9/11

2007-10-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

What would you do if fanatics in your town killed some of your Christian friends and burned your church down?

About a year ago while we were commemorating 9/11, Muslims went on a rampage in the region of Jimma, Ethiopia. Many evangelical believers were killed, as well as members of the Orthodox church. Churches were burned. Other churches were turned into mosques.

But our friends in Ethiopia did not shrink back, they moved forward.

"TA" shared with me during our visit in Ethiopia that God brought great glory to Himself out of that persecution. The persecution was followed by a wave of miracles confirming the gospel. People were physically healed as evangelists preached. Some of the Muslims who killed Christians had visions of Jesus as they worshipped at their mosques. Several accepted Christ as their Savior, and then testified to others about the visions they had had.

Evangelicals banded together and shared clothes and encouragement with evangelicals and Orthodox alike. Because of that, evangelicals have been invited into Orthodox churches to preach the gospel.

There are now 520 Kale Heywet (Word of Faith) churches in this region. Their goal is to plant 300 new churches in the next 5 years. Please pray for them as they work to train enough new leaders to pastor these new churches.

Hear TA's testimony by clicking on the link below.

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60 Churches Plant 60 More

2007-10-02T12:15:00.000-05:00

Merdekiyos Meja attended our Ethiopia Leadership Conference in early 2005. As the leader of a district that then had 60 churches, he went home “infected” with a vision. He shared that vision for multiplying those existing churches with his district pastors. Today those 60 have planted 60 more! They doubled in less than 3 years! All this took place in a region of Ethiopia that has experienced great persecution from Muslims (see entry above).

As one of their national leaders put it, this is historic in their denomination—an entire district doubling so quickly.

32 of the churches now have buildings, which they paid for with local tithes and offerings. The other 28 meet under trees, in homes and other places.

Please pray that this “infection” will spread throughout Ethiopia.

Hear this testimony--click on link below.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dancing with the President (Burundi)

2007-09-27T03:14:00.000-05:00

Burundi has the same “Country Threat Security Warning Level” as Iraq! The most dangerous level of 5.

But God is at work here. When we arrived last Sunday our hosts casually said “we’ll be by at 6 to take you to dinner at the President’s house.” The first thought this ole Iowa farm boy had was “Huh? I’ve not even taken a tour of our US White House, and we’re going to DINNER at the Burundi Prez’s house?”

His Excellency, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi (middle of pic on left), accepted Christ as his Savior about two years ago. Now each Sunday evening he has a worship time (this week’s was 3 hours!), followed by dinner. Sometimes he invites local pastors, sometimes international ministry guests visiting Burundi. This week there was a couple from Sweden, 3 other pastors from Texas doing leadership training, our team, plus the nationals hosting each of us.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I’ve never been hugged by a President before. I’ve never danced to praise music with a President before. I’ve never worshipped with a President before. God holds the hearts of kings in His hands. He certainly has a good grip on the President here. Please pray that God will honor his obedience by changing Burundi and bringing peace after more than a decade of civil war.

The President also has his own soccer team that plays around Africa. Its name: “Allelujah FC”!

One more highlight of the night. Two years ago a Burundi pastor named Jérémie attended our leadership conference in Rwanda. I can still remember standing in the lobby of the hotel on my way to the airport. As we shook hands goodbye, Jérémie said “please, please, please come to Burundi.” I gave my standard answer of “we’ll pray, and if God opens the door, we’ll come.”

As I was ushered to my seat at the Burundi “White House,” I was seated right next to Jérémie! God confirmed in those surprising moments that He indeed wanted us there. He gave me good news—his church now has planted 9 churches in Burundi and Zambia, and are planning one in Tanzania soon.

Africa Trip Score: Uganda done / Rwanda done / Burundi completing / off to Ethiopia for last stop.

Blessings.
Mike Jorgensen

Rwanda Stop on Africa Tour

2007-09-24T14:50:00.000-05:00

My heart continues to break here in Africa, this time in Rwanda. Once again, people were touched deeply by Joselian’s testimony of living as HIV+. She shared that she doesn’t know which of these 3 ways she was infected—

· Her first husband who died
· Her second husband who left her
· Being hacked by machetes with blood on them during the genocide.

She survived one holocaust only to be infected by another horror. But now she spends her time ministering to the needs of others. God is using her to bring His hope and love to fellow Rwandans. Now she’s trained to share simple truths about HIV/AIDS.

The AIDS Cube training was part of our normal church planting leadership conference. We look upon our training as—

Lecture + Laboratory

Ground School + Flight School

Vision + Action

We always try to build practice time into our leadership conferences. We don’t want people to go home and put yet another notebook on their shelf.

Practice on Day One was prayer walking. Day Two was evangelism for about an hour. 222 people prayed to receive Christ! Hallelujah! The people were so happy, that two of the pastors decided to stay in that area for a few weeks to start 2 new churches in the big area where the people accepted Christ. They also took up an offering to get two new baby churches off the ground!

Plus, about 10 nursing students prayed to receive Christ as their Savior during the HIV/AIDS Cube practice time! Another example of this new tool opening the door to present the love of Christ.

Here's picture of them practicing to use the HIV/AIDS Cube.

Here they hear the gospel from a Rwanda e3 trainer.

Please continue to pray for our Burundi conference going on now (Sept 24-26), plus our last stop in Ethiopia this Friday and Saturday (Sept 28-29).

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Africa Tour / Stop 1 / Uganda

2007-09-21T03:03:00.000-05:00

God gave us a divine appointment our first day in Uganda. A lady was at the hotel selling handmade necklaces. She had a sign that she was with TASO [The AIDS Support Organization]. Jeff Sheets struck up a conversation with her, and learned she is HIV+. She makes the bracelets, baskets, etc. to sell to support herself and her 3 kids.

Her husband died of AIDS several years ago. He was a truck driver for the UN, running back and forth between Uganda and Kenya. He knew he was infected, but didn’t tell her until his HIV developed into AIDS. At the funeral, or thereabouts, she found out he had 2 other wives with kids in other cities.

Janet (at left) now is a born again believer. She sells stuff to make a living, but her passion is HIV/AIDS awareness training and encouragement. She said she no longer is sad she has it, because God has used her situation to change many people’s lives.

We invited her to share at the HIV/AIDS Cube training. She gave her testimony and everyone was riveted. Then we went to a clinic and shared with ladies waiting for treatment. She knew everyone at the hospital, and presented to all the ladies. The HIV/AIDS “practice” presentation was followed by the gospel. Several prayed to receive Christ.

A huge problem here is stigma. People often are ostracized because others are afraid they’ll be infected if they shake hands or even get close to HIV+ people. Often people just want to die because they’re so lonely. Or they get bitter and want to infect others—“if I die, I want to take others with me” as one person put it. So they don’t tell anyone, and end up spreading it even more. So learning the truth hopefully will reduce the fear, and thereby the stigma. Plus, and this is The Major Plus, this whole thing opens the door for discussions about real hope and love of God through Jesus Christ.

One thing we have heard over and over from many leaders—government, AIDS organizations, business leaders, as well as church leaders: it is only life change through a relationship with Christ that makes a difference.

This fits in with our prayer, that the Lord would use this tool to bring many into His kingdom and plant many new churches.

Please continue to pray for us as we head next to Rwanda for church planting training Sept 20-23, which also will include AIDS Cube training.

After that to Burundi and Ethiopia.

Blessings.
Mike Jorgensen

Uganda: True Hope Through Christ

2007-09-21T02:53:00.000-05:00

Praying to receive Christ after 1) HIV/AIDS Cube presentation followed by 2) presentation of gospel using EvangeCube.

Hallelujah!

Uganda HIV/AIDS Cube "Practice"

2007-09-21T02:37:00.000-05:00

Janet (on left) and Josephine (but now everyone calls her "Miracle") share the truths about HIV/AIDS with the new HIV/AIDS Cube.

Africa: 4 Countries in 15 Days

2007-09-13T19:48:00.000-05:00

Four African countries in 15 days.

Sometimes I wonder “what in the world were you thinking when you set that up, Mike?” But then I think all the people who might be spared untold agony and grief because of a pilot project we are doing. Not only spared for eternity, but also spared in this life.

25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, according to UN estimates. Almost 3 million new infections each year. Some estimate there are 12 million kids orphaned in that region because of AIDS.

Tremendous hurt. Tremendous need. Tremendous open door for the love of Christ to be extended by planting new churches.

So we’ve developed a new Cube. A new Cube that hopefully will open many, many doors for sharing the gospel with the EvangeCube. This new tool is called the HIV/AIDS Cube. Through pictures people can easily learn what HIV/AIDS is, how you get it, how you don’t get it, symptoms, precautions to take, and how to care for those already infected.

This trip is to do a pilot project testing in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia. We want to see what people think of it. The EvangeCube makes sharing the gospel easy. Will this HIV/AIDS Cube do the same? How can we use it to also introduce people to the Great Physician? How can we teach churches to reach out to people with the love of Christ using this tool?

--Pray for wisdom as we learn from our African brothers and sisters, who have lived with this pandemic in ways we don’t understand.

--Pray for God to use this tool to expand His kingdom for His glory.

--Pray for our team (Dr. Zege Tsige, Jeff Sheets, Casey See and me) as we travel Sept 14 to Oct 1.

Thanks for praying.

Mike Jorgensen

BIG Meetings in Bolivia

2007-08-14T11:22:00.000-05:00

We’ve all been there. Fork in the road. Key decision. Something BIG happening that may change things for a long, long time.

This is one of those weeks for our Bolivia ministry. This afternoon I leave for Bolivia to meet with the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ. Jason Ferrell, the associate pastor at Potomac Heights Baptist Church in Maryland, is going, too.

Tito Ramos, national director for CCC—Bolivia, has asked us to partner with them to plant hundreds of new churches in 9 cities over the next 4 years. These meetings are to figure out the who / what /when / where / how of it all.

As I have prayed about these strategic meetings, these verses in Phil. 2:1-4 have come to mind—

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit will enable Jason, me and everyone involved in these meetings to live out these verses.

Please also pray for our travel. As an organization, we’ve had more travel disruptions with our teams over the past couple months than ever before. Since our time in Bolivia will be very short, we don’t want to a bunch of delays disrupting things.

Blessings.
Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia Summary / Boy Scout Trip

2007-07-16T07:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks for praying for our Bolivia trip last week. In spite of all the travel complications (the rest of the team got home about 24 hours late after spending a night in the Santa Cruz airport), God blessed us richly—

· 5 new churches planted
· 91 local believers worked with us and saw first hand a simple, effective church planting model
· 675 professions of faith
· 690 follow-up discipleship contacts (102%)
· Approximately 200 received eye glasses as a result of Philip’s Eagle Scout project, and most of the said “Si” to Jesus when our team shared the Gospel with them after they had received their glasses

You prayed us through a “ends of the earth” ministry. Now we need your prayers for our “Jerusalem” ministry.

Philip and I are involved in a Boy Scout troop. In fact, Philip now is the Senior Patrol Leader (sorta like the president of the Troop). Philip and Trevor (who went on the Bolivia trip with us) and the rest of the Troop left Saturday morning, about 14 hours after we got home. Both are a bit under the weather from the exhaustion of the Bolivia trip. I am flying to Albuquerque this morning to meet them.

This is a high adventure trip through New Mexico, Colorado and Oklahoma. They visited Carlsbad Caverns, and we’ll be fly fishing, rock climbing, white water rafting, canoeing, etc. on this trip.

Please pray for us—

· Healing for Philip and Trevor in the midst of this challenging, but fun, trip
· Safety
· For us to be lighthouses of God’s grace and love
· For open doors for us to share the love of Christ

Here’s a short online slide show of their launch last Saturday, plus where they’re headed.

Troop 751 High Adventure Tour

Thanks for praying.

Mike Jorgensen

All of Tokyo Comes to Christ

2007-07-09T19:31:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Kyle went to a new village named Tokyo. After the first house, a terrible sand storm blew in—so bad they couldn’t see the next house.

“Do you want to leave?” Kyle asked the translator. “No,” she replied, “they haven’t heard here yet.” So they ducked behind a wall to break the wind and prayed the storm would stop. It did, less than a minute later.

After a few more homes, they could see a thunderstorm coming across the mountain ridge. They prayed again and continued. Later they could see a horseshoe of rain surrounding them, but none in the village.

They met Javier (in picture next to Kyle), who told them to go see the mayor of the village, a necessary protocol here. As they shared the Gospel with him, he interrupted and said “my whole village needs to hear this. Can you come back tomorrow? I’ll ring the bell . . . everyone will come.” They agreed and headed back to their team’s evening meeting in another village.

As they arrived in the main village the next day, a man on a bicycle was waiting. “The village is waiting for you.” Kyle was surprised because it was hours before the scheduled meeting, but he and some of the team hurried on.

As he entered Tokyo, they rang the bell to call the village to meeting (click on picture below to see an example). 40 to 60 assembled at this traditional call to come together. Kyle began sharing, but midway through the presentation his translator stopped translating and started passionately preaching about the pain, sacrifice and love of Christ for them. Kyle was stunned, but not by her taking over. He sat speechless as he understood every word she was saying in Spanish, which he could not do before or after those sweet few minutes in the presence of God!

Quechua Call to Meet

When they asked who would like to receive Christ as their Savior, the entire village assembled on that mountainside raised their hand and prayed to receive Christ!

As Kyle tearfully shared this with our group, he told us “I came out of obedience to a call for my daughter and me to come, but I never expected to be blessed like this.”

God is answering Your prayers powerfully! Please keep praying!

Seeing the Light / Eye Clinic

2007-07-09T19:28:00.000-05:00

Our son, Philip, collected and processed donated eye glasses for Bolivia. Today we were blessed by distributing many to the residents of Villa Alegria, a Quechua village overlooking the airport of Sucre.

Click below to see a short slide show of the happy recipients in the midst of other pictures of our trip here.

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