October Prayer Letter

In an effort to keep you all more informed, I will be posting the text of our monthly prayer letters on our blog. If you'd like to see them in PDF form click here

Here is our October letter. Please continue to pray for our family and the ministry God has graciously allowed us to be a part of.

The Great Adventure
There is a Steven Curtis Chapman song called The Great Adventure. We remembered this song recently and we thank God that our lives are not boring, dull or monotonous. We thank God that He has given us an adventure to partake in; the choice to pursue or decline a journey designed specifically for us. We have chosen to joyfully pursue this adventure.

We’d like to share with you that God has given us a new adventure here in Costa Rica. God, in His great glory, revealed to us that it was time for a change of scenery. We have always felt that we are to follow the example of the apostle Paul as it pertains to being a missionary. Paul never spent much time in one area. In fact, he spent as little as a matter of days to a maximum of about two years before he moved on to the next place. (Read more about Paul’s time in different ministries in Acts 16:12,40; 17:2,10; 18:11,18; 19:10; 20:1). Paul generally taught pagans all about Jesus, from birth to death and then taught them what God expected from them and how to carry it out (which is the commandment given to all of us in Matthew 28:19-20). Then, Paul would leave a very young, immature church in the hands of God and under the authority of the Holy Spirit and he would move on to another area to share the gospel.

For some time now, we’ve felt that it was time to let the church in Tejarcillos, under the leadership of Pastor Rogelio and the authority of the Holy Spirit, learn to grow and mature on their own. God confirmed this and Matt shared this decision with Mark and Pastor Rogelio this past June. We officially ended our time with the Tejarcillos church last month.

We spent the months of August and September praying and seeking God’s leading about what our next step was to be. We’ve been praying for God to show us what He wants for our family for some time now. We feel He is leading us clearly to take the discipleship process to churches that are in desperate need of it, desire to see their members growing in the Lord, but do not know how to get them there. We are convinced without a doubt that the key to spiritual growth is, in part, the discipleship process. If the Body of Christ is not daily studying God’s Word, not daily applying it to their life, not daily praying and listening to God’s will for their lives, they simply will not grow spiritually. We desire to go where we believe God has gone before us and prepared the way to take the discipleship process (teaching a man to fish so that he can teach others and they in turn teach others) to willing churches and pastors. In this, we fully expect God to lead us to the next place before we’ve even finished, just as Paul was lead from city to city, we anticipate being lead in the same manner. Most likely in this process we will encounter areas with no evangelic presence and will be able to share the gospel and disciple there as well. Above all, we desire to share the gospel and make disciples– we just love to disciple others! We also desire to equip existing churches with the tools to teach their members this process.

You can pray for us as we are praying for where to begin. We have had contacts with several pastors over the past few months from many different areas of Costa Rica, all outside of San Jose. This new journey will involve a move for our family. We have already begun making vision trips to a few places where we have felt God leading us. Please pray for:
-Clarity, wisdom and guidance from the Lord
-Safety as we travel as some places we are praying about are many hours away and that we would find people of peace
-Clear communication with pastors about doctrine, theology and the vision God has given us
-Funds needed as these vision trips are extra expenses above and beyond our monthly expenses.
-Funds needed to purchase a vehicle for our family
-Minimal interruptions in our homeschooling routine while on the road