Another note on the retreat

Just received this picture from our retreat leader, George Warren. He and Donna did a wonderful job. As you can tell by the faces of the staff, we were all quite pleased with their ministry. The next step is to combine the results of the "Strength Finders" with the results of the other test we have taken so far in the last few years (spiritual gifts, Firo-B, Myers-Briggs, and a few others) so that we are able to have a more complete picture of how God has wired us.

It was great to have George and Donna Warren with us for a week as they administered the "StrengthFinders" tool. Each of us prepared ahead of time and then the Warrens met with each team member to go over the results which identified our top five strengths. The team was brought together for an entire morning and we shared the results of each team member. What a great experience as missionaries and Costa Ricans staff were affirmed in their areas of strengths. It was great for Judy and me to see how similar and different we are, although we really didn't need a test to figure that one out! We are already seeing the positive results of the test as we work on tweaking our responsibilities. We are very grateful to the Warrens for leading us through a great week of team-building!

Strategic alliance in Guatemala!

What a contrast with the previous week! In mid-October I was facing the extreme poverty conditions of Cuba and two weeks later found myself with Drs. Fernández and Kautzmann with the leadership of a Christian University being taken to places where food abounded! We had asked you to pray for the trip to Guatemala. We are so excited as to how God is answering prayers! After three days of intense meetings, the leadership of the Christian Univeristy in Guatemala has agreed to grant accreditation to our two master's programs in exchange for the use of those programs for their theology students. This is significant news for LATN / ProMETA, but even of greater joy to all our students who are able to register their degrees with their governements and have the same rights and privileges as those who have secular degrees. Final details on how all this will work out are still being developed, but God is in all of this! One neat God sighting was revealed in a conversation I had with the vice-rector of the university as he was driving me to a restaurant. He actually studied with my cousins at John Brown University and as it turned out, his father and my cousin's father were best friends back in Guatemala! What are the percentages of that kind of a connection! Needless to say, that relationship did not hurt our discussions with this university of 55,000 students! We praise God for that "little" affirmation.

Tragedy and opportunity in Cuba

From October 18th to the 23rd, I was able to accompany a group of pastors and lay leaders from The Church at Charlotte (an EFC church in North Carolina) and My ReachGlobal leader, Brian Duggan, on a trip to Cuba. The purpose was two-fold: assess the devastation caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike and explore new avenues for ProMETA to equip the leaders of the church. As to the devastation, it was incredibly severe in the southeast of the island. Many churches lost roofs, pastors lost their homes, and the economy was hit hard. But, the resiliency of the leaders was incredible and their faith was great. Their trust in God to continue to lead and provide for their future was impressive! And the potential for ProMETA? Well, I anticipate some movement on this as we enter 2009. The desire is great and the possibilities are available. Please make that a matter of prayer. And continue to pray for the church as it struggles to recover from the most recent hurricane last week!

Jonathan and Karen tie the knot!

On October 4th, our middle son, Jonathan married Karen Sikora at a beautiful ceremony in Linconshire, IL. God is so good! As parents, we pray that our children will cultivate wonderfully healthy and godly relationships whether in marriage or singleness as God's plan, and it is humbling to see how God answers those prayers. Karen is a lovely, godly young woman, committed to God's purpose for growing in Him and His purposes as a couple. Please pray for them as they follow His steps. They will be living in the Chicago area while Jonathan finishes up seminary.

September quarter - great launch!

On Monday this past week ProMETA began the third quarter of 2008. With a record number of students (36) in 12 countries, the virtual classes opened successfully! We've never had this large of a number of students in one quarter so this is wonderful. (A significant detail - we did not put out any advance invitation to prospective students nor to those who were currently enrolled in classes - this is something we normally do. God brought the students to us.) In the picture you see the ProMETA staff interceding for the 36 students, the five mentors - the Biblical Worldview course is being "team" mentored by Dr. Fernández and a very capable and gifted Spaniard. We pray that the course will eventully be mentored by him and Dr. Fernández move on to developing other courses. Thanks for praying, and keep it up!!

Great time in US and Safe Return to Costa Rica!

After traveling through eight states to meet with churches, small groups, mission leaders, family, friends, attend two weddings and the EFCA conference, we were able to return safely to Costa Rica two days ago. We're thankful for God's blessing our time in the US and also quite thankful that we are now back in Costa Rica, in spite of our Chicago flight getting cancelled and then arriving in Costa Rica minus three pieces of luggage. It was good to see our team mates again. Thanks so much for your prayers these past six weeks.

Visit to the US has just begun!

Judy and I arrived in Florida on the 20th, preached at the Miramar EFC on the 22nd and returned (Keith) from the EFCA conference in St. Louis a couple days ago. This week we will be working out of Dubuque, IA as we spend time with Keith's folks and sister. While in the US, we will be staying in touch with the office as well as visiting churches, supporters, and going to two weddings.

ProMETA Spiritual Retreat

Last night Judy and I returned from three intense, yet refreshing, days of meetings. As a team, we escaped to the mountains above San Jose and met with retreat leaders (members of the Paraclete ministry) from Colorado Springs. We were guided in a process designed to strengthen as well as develop habits, skills and disciplines in growing to be more like Christ. Now, as we return to the routines at the office, our desire is to bring those habits and skills with us in such a way that the unmistakable character of Christ fills our building! We truly enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of our meetings as well as the interaction we had with each team member. God met with each one of us. Thanks for your prayers.

ProMETA Annual Team Meeting

Last week the Lord gave us a fantastic time as a time as we met for over four days of meetings. Most of our time was spent in training staff in the production of courses as well as rolling out the details of Vision 2011. We sensed God's presence throughout the meetings and as we closed the final meeting we broke out in singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness!" Please pray that the results of our time together will have a huge impact on our progress and God's blessing these next three years. And thanks for praying!

Three-year goals for LATN

We've made reference recently to LATN's goals for 2011. What follows is the text of the ten goals to be accomplished by October 2011.

By the grace and enabling of God, LATN will have...

1. Created a learning community which unmistakably reflects Christ-like character in its staff and students.
2. Crafted a graduate curriculum in theology and leadership that strikes at the heart of the needs of 21st century Ibero- American leaders.
3. Produced a full catalog of outstanding courses for graduate programs in theology and leadership.
4. Enrolled 350 Ibero-American leaders with 200 of them having significant influence upon other leaders beyond their local context.
5. Established a presence in least 18 countries with certified country coordinators.
6. Mobilized 20 certified mentors skilled in leading vibrant learning communities.
7. Formed strategic alliances with 10 institutions and organizations.
8. Received accreditation from a national or regional association.
9. Served as a regional catalyst for excellence and innovation in distance education.
10. Developed a robust, sustainable and reproducible business model for the institution.

LATN's "new" conference room

It's great when a church sends a team of committed men and women to help out LATN by remodeling the office. We are now enjoying the fruit of their labor and have had many team meetings in the newly remodeled conference room. Formerly, a living room and dining room occupied the space. Now, the area can accommodate 20 individuals comfortably and is ready to install a screen and projector, something we plan on doing in the next two weeks, prior to the Team Summit, June 2-6. We pray that God will use the meetings in that room for strengthening the churches in the Spanish speaking world.

Recent trip to Minnesota

Judy and I enjoyed our time with other ReachGlobal leaders at a series of meetings in Minnesota earlier this month. We were impacted by what God is doing through ReachGlobal all over the world. Reports of what God is doing in China, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America were especially encouraging! As an extra bonus, Judy and I were able to visit the Thief River Falls EFC and reconnect with God's people there who are part of our support team. But, it was so good to get back home to San Jose on the 9th (although when we arrived, we were without water for a couple days!)

ProMETA leaders on You Tube

One of the participants at last month's ProMETA Summit 2008, Dr. Glenn Hoyle, edited some of the video and uploaded three short videos to You Tube. These testimonies demonstrate how God is using ProMETA throughout Latin America. (If you click on the link, it should take you to the You Tube site. By the way, you will notice on the You Tube site that "prometa" is also the name of a drug that has received mixed reviews! No connection with ProMETA!)

Esau Bonilla (pastor with a passion for church planting and missions): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ek37EjXNmY

Guido Santamaria (pastor of a growing church explains how ProMETA is accessible): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7npiV3cEFU

Alexander Cabezas (works with an international ministry to kids): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzro9UvH81U

This past week was a great opportunity to interface with ReachGlobal and Latin American leaders from at least 8 countries. Three days were spent in training in the area of "Coaching," a relatively new training concept for Latin Americans. It was great to interact with these leaders and to reconnect with them. We were also able to share ProMETA with the group in one of the morning sessions. Another good point of intersection was with two of the Brazilian leaders who are involved in theological education (one of them is moving to Portugal where he will be involved in leadership at a Bible College). This was encouraging because one of our goals has been to eventually offer courses in Portuguese. We'll see how God leads in this process.

VIDEO

Recently, a kingdom partner produced an excellent video summarizing the ministry of LATN (now called ProMETA - see below). Please click on the "play" button to view it (the video is less than 4 minutes long).

ProMETA Summit Concludes Well

We certainly appreciated your prayers for the ProMETA Summit this past week. 11 invited guests (one was not able to make it due to travel problems) met with ProMETA staff and other on-site guests to participate in two days of intense meetings in which the following issues were presented: ProMETA's context, history, mission, vision, values, program, and needs were shared with the group. Probably the hightlight of the Summit was the dual presentation from Latin Americans: one group of students and another group of Latin American missionaries. Each group gave testimonials of how God has used ProMETA in their lives and the critical need to keep ProMETA equipping leaders for the Church. One of the neat little snippets of information we received was from one of ProMETA's students who works in a global ministry with children at risk. He said that one of the by-products of the courses he’s taken is that not only is he begin shaped in his theology, he has also become a good writer and the magazine in which he publishes for the ministry reaches 55,000 readers. One of readers, a pastor working in Patagonia (the southernmost tip of South America) said that the magazine is the only tool he has for helping him work with these children. The student thanked God for how ProMETA has enabled him to use what he is learning to minister in this way!
We look forward to next year's Summit and are working on the dates for that event.