Bolivia: Blessed My Socks Off

Remember the old saying—“that blessed my socks off”?

The Biblical equivalent is in Ephesians 3—

²⁰Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We saw those verses come to life last weekend in Bolivia as God blessed our socks off.

First was our Leadership Conference in Sucre. Sucre is high up in the Andes at about 9200 ft. It is a beautiful place, and one of the least westernized places I’ve been to. One of the missionaries said there was only one “supermarket” in town, and it was only the size of a 7-Eleven. Everything else is sold in small shops and outdoor markets. It was fun watching the colorfully clad little Quechua ladies walking down the beautiful streets lined with beautiful Spanish colonial buildings.

We expected 30 to 40 people to show up, which is the norm the first time we go into a new small city. When we arrived, I was shocked that 130 already had pre-registered. Then 170 ended up attending. All very enthusiastic. Over half were college aged “jovenes,” for Sucre is home to several universities. Definitely “exceedingly abundantly above what I asked or thought.”

Second was a meeting called by Tito Ramos, the Bolivia national director for Campus Crusade. We have become good friends over the past several years as we have gone to him for advice and counsel about how best to do ministry in Bolivia.

Let me give you some background to that meeting. Our goal in each e3 country is to work with nationals who have a vision and plan to cover their country with churches. We prefer to partner with them in their plan, not to come up with a plan of our own, for they know their country and culture better than we ever will. But when we entered Bolivia 4 years ago, it was like many other countries in which we work—initially we could not find anyone who had a national vision for church planting.

So it blessed our socks off when Tito Ramos asked us to partner with Campus Crusade and others to plant 1600 churches over the next 4 years! Their plan essentially is the e3 method of church planting, to which they have added Jesus film evangelism and ongoing leadership development. We are looking forward to hearing more about his plan and asking the Lord how He wants us to be involved.

Praise the Head of the Church for giving this vision for building His church in Bolivia. Pray for God's will to be done in this plan as His will is done in heaven. Pray for wisdom for us as we discuss how to work together for God's glory.

Bolivia Flood Aid

Thanks so very, very much for those of you who contributed to help the Bolivia flood victims. We sent on to Pastor Enzo 100% of what you sent us for the flood victims. Below is Pastor Enzo’s report.

Here is a link to pictures he took as he distributed the blessings you helped make possible.

Bolivia Flood Aid

There still is great need in Bolivia because of this flood. If you would like to help now, you can give online at https://www.gmf.org/donation/donate.asp.

Because this is a special project, check “I’d like to give to a staff member” and then in the place for the name say your gift is for “Bolivia Flooding.” We have a team going to this area in a couple weeks. Please email me to let me know that you contributed so we can immediately send it to Bolivia with that team.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

---

From: Enzo G. Saavedra
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 10:34 AM
To: Mike Jorgensen
Subject: Beni Trip

I am sending this email to thank you all for your contribution to help the damaged people in the natural disaster that affected the department of Beni. Until now there is a los of 600,000 heads of cattle and an estimate said that this number can reach the millon or millon and a half of heads of cattle lost. This flood has affected more than 22.313 families that are aproximatedly 130.527 persons. The comunity that has been more affected is San Francisco de Moxos, they use to have 115 houses, now 59 houses has been completed destroyed for the waters and the rest of the houses of that village needs at less 50% of repairs.

I am sure thar God will bless you for your generosity, because “for God loveth a cheerful giver”. 2 Cor. 9:7.

For God’s mercy we gather 10.110 kilos of provisions that were distributed in the following way:

To San Francisco de Moxos, to the major’s representing Matilde Yuco and the sheriffsheriffsherisssssss Agustina Mobo, 2.150 Kilos.

To San Lorenzo de Moxos, al to the major’s representing Adalberto Masapaija, 922 kilos.

To San Ignacito de Moxos, to the sheriff Maximo Orihuela, 552 kilos.

To different communities and neighborhoods in Trinidad as Puerto Barador, Puerto Ballivián, Puerto Jeralda, Villa Monasterio y Barrio Pantanal, 6.486 Kilos.

The distribution of this help was realized with the help of pastors of Trinidad city, Pr. Eval Soliz, Pr. Alex Llanos and others, etc.

The next April we have a team of volunteers from US going to Trinidad to work in church planting, with translators an anothers people volunteer from Bolivia. We hope to be able to take some more provisions for the people in trinidad.

God bless you all

Enzo Saavedra

Will a house get me to heaven?

Arrived in Kigali, Rwanda about noon Friday (around 5 am Dallas time) after an overnight stop in Ethiopia. Long but smooth trip. On 15+ hour flight from Washington DC to Ethiopia I sat next to Fitsum, who’s in his late 20s. The youngest of 7 children, he was returning to Ethiopia after 5 ½ years away. He now lives in San Diego, where he works at 7/11 and a Ramada Inn. Through those jobs he saved enough money to buy his mom a house back in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So not only was he going to see his mom for the first time in a long time, but also the house he bought for her.

He chose this time to return so he could spend Easter with her. In fact, the huge Ethiopian Airlines plane was full of families returning home. Lots and lots of kids with their moms and dads. In fact, it was the only time in all my years of flying that I was the only white face on the whole plane. It was fun watching all the families and friends interacting with each other in that “community for a day.”

Fitsum grew up as an Ethiopian Orthodox, so Easter is a big deal, even though he admitted he’s not much involved. When I asked what he believed was needed to go to heaven, he listed many good works he was relying on. I’m sure the house for his mom was motivated primarily by his love for her, but if it also helps in getting to heaven, then so much the better.

So I shared with him how Jesus had died for his sins and mine. How God the Father had raised Him from the dead, conquering sin and death on our behalf. How he was going to celebrate that resurrection as he returned home to share Easter with his mom in her new home. How eternal life, a ticket to heaven, was a free gift from God as we place our faith only in Christ for salvation. That it was not of good works, so that no one can boast. But that he needed to receive that gift, and not just know about it.

Just as he did not want his mom to pay for the house he had saved for, we cannot pay for our salvation, because the price is too great. He just wants us to live a life of “thank you” as we do the good works He has prepared for us to do.

For years Fitsum played soccer in the US in a league of Ethiopia teams in about 20 cities. He agreed that no matter how good he was, he would not be able to kick a soccer ball from San Diego to Dallas, for the distance is too great. The same is true of our sinfulness and God’s holiness—there is too big a gap for us to cross on our own.

As he heard these truths watching the EvangeCube unfold, his smile got bigger and bigger. He said he needed to think about this some more because it was the first time he had heard it. But he said he felt something inside that he could not describe because he did not know the English word for it.

Please pray for God to complete in Fitsum what He has begun. And pray for his whole family as he takes the Cube I gave him home, with the Gospel explanation in the instruction sheet, for he said he wanted to tell them all he had heard. Wouldn’t it be great if Easter came alive to that whole family as they all came to understand the real “reason for the season”?

Most of the trips I make are for the “ministry” of our ministry. But today (Saturday) here in Kigali Robert Mutijima (Rwanda e3 national leader), Mike Wagner (our US based Rwanda Strategy Coordinator) and I will be focused on the “business” of our ministry. God has blessed us with great growth here, so we are looking at office space, interviewing accountant candidates, and talking to a lawyer about registering as an NGO (non-governmental organization—the international equivalent of a non-profit org back in the States). So today I get to do the 30 minutes of lawyering a year that I still do (which is enough to suit my tastes now!).

Please continue to pray that God’s will be done in all this as it is in heaven.

India Leadership Conference

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Check out the entry below to read what God did in Kazipet India.

Elephant gods and Sourdough

Hindus have millions of gods. One of the most widely worshipped one is Ganesha, which looks like a mutant elephant. George Robinson, Philip and I saw lots of altars to this god last week on our leadership training trip to India. One restaurant we went into had a worship shrine to Ganesha at the front door. A handicrafts store had a big shrine prominently positioned by the checkout counter.

How do we as followers of the Living God, the Lord Jesus, help those enslaved to such a god?

Remember the answer to the famous question: how do you eat an elephant? “One bite at a time.”

Let’s rephrase that question: how do you defeat an elephant god? “One life at a time!”

That was our focus last week in India. Training 35 people how to train others to do evangelism and discipleship that results in planting new churches. Expanding the kingdom of God one soul at a time, then gathering them together in new churches to be discipled.

You may be thinking “that’s just a drop in the bucket . . . there are a billion people in India!”

If that is what you are thinking . . . you’re right. Just a drop in the bucket.

Maybe a better analogy is sourdough. How do you make sourdough bread? Each time you make a batch you hold back a small ball of dough. It has the sourdough yeast in it, which is needed to make the dough rise.

When you put that small ball of dough in a new batch, the yeast multiplies and the bread rises. Then you put it in the oven, but first you hold back a small ball of dough. The yeast for the next batch is always in the current batch.

There are lots of effective churches and ministries working in India. Many people are coming to Christ. We’ve had teams going to India for 10 years. Now we thank the Lord that He is allowing us to expand our ministry there through training church planting coaches.

Each of these coaches will be like sourdough yeast going back to their areas of ministry. Here’s why.

Dani Abraham, our India coordinator, did a great job gathering together 36 leaders from 10 states of India. Among them they spoke 5 or 6 languages. In our training we covered Vision for Church Planting, plus a very basic church planting process: Pray, Evangelize, Make Disciples, Gather Together, Develop Leaders and Multiply.

Then each day we went with the leaders we were teaching out to Banjara gypsy villages to "practice."

There is severe discrimination in India, the result of the Hindu "theology" of the caste system. The Banjara are treated very badly. They work hard at menial jobs, such as breaking up rocks to make gravel. The homes we saw were made of sticks covered with discarded plastic. Cooking was done on a small mud "fireplace" in front of each hut (at bottom of picture).

Often towns refuse to put in water lines to their neighborhoods, forcing the women and girls to spend many backbreaking hours carrying water.
Pray. The first day we taught a session on Vision for Church Planting and another on prayer. Then we went to the Banjara villages to prayer walk. We prayed for the area, and also for some of the people's needs there.

Evangelize: The second day we returned to share the Good News about Christ with people in 4 different villages. 36 people prayed to receive Christ in the 2 hours we spent in the villages. Hallelujah!


Make Disciples and Gather Together. The third day we returned to the villages to follow-up with the new believers and gather them together into new house churches. 50 people showed up at one of those meetings! The new believers in one areas got permission to meet in the front room of a house in the midst of their recycled plastic huts (see picture at left). That day many of these illiterate Banjara gypsies began to learn the 7 basic commands of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Plus 6 more people trusted Christ at the follow-up meetings.

Develop Leaders. 24 of the leaders we trained indicated that they want to be e3 church planting coaches back in their regions. Most traveled at least 24 hours on trains to return home, with some taking 3 days to get back. Dani Abraham will be coaching each of them as they now conduct First Steps church planting training and EvangeCube training.

Multiply. They go with a fresh vision for mobilizing churches to mobilize churches. Each committed to try to train at least one church and 50 believers each month. They have been "infected" with the "yeast" of God's vision for expanding His kingdom. As they go and make disciples, they will multiply more "sourdough" leaders. And one by one, life by life, soul by soul people will be rescued from the destructive paths of worshipping elephant gods.

Before we left Dani already had plans to train 100 leaders next week in a ministry in another state that wants to plant churches among other tribal peoples in India. Also, 3 trainings in Nepal in 3 weeks were set up.

Bottom line for the 3 day conference? 4 new house churches planted. 40 professions of faith. Over 100 attended inaguaral meetings of new house churches. 36 leaders trained, of which 24 were certified to be e3 Church Planting Coaches in 10 Indian states.

Jesus promised that He would build His church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. We thank Him for allowing us to see that promise come to life last week in Kazipet, India.

Headed to India

Mar 9th our son, Philip, and I head into uncharted territory . . . for us. We’re headed to Kazipet, India (near Hyderabad) for a Leadership Conference. George Robinson, one of our staff from Atlanta, will join us along the way.

We are working with a wonderful Indian pastor and leader—Dani Abraham. He is gathering pastors and leaders who are interested in working with e3. We’ll train them how to train others to do evangelism using the EvangeCube, and how to plant new churches using our First Steps curriculum.

Each day George and I will punctuate our “lectures” with “laboratory.” The first day we will go prayer walking after our session on prayer. The second day we will go out into the neighborhoods to do evangelism after the session on evangelism. The third day we will go back out to visit the new believers to begin the discipleship process after our session on making disciples. So the participants will immediately put into practice what we teach. They immediately will “walk the talk” as we model how they can train and mobilize churches to do evangelism and discipleship that results in new churches.

Our prayer is that God will raise up from this group key church planting “coaches” we can work with in the future. We’ll supply them with EvangeCubes, First Steps manuals and other church planting materials so they can multiply the ministry by training many other churches.

If you’d like to see pictures of the Banjara, one of the people groups that lives around the conference site, click here.

That’s the plan anyway. I can’t wait to see what God does!

Your prayers are needed—

• Pray for God to bring His choice of leaders to the conference
• Pray for wisdom for Dani as he completes the planning for the conference
• Pray for George and me to walk in the Spirit in all things
• Pray for God to continue to grow my relationship with Philip
• Pray for God to continue to prepare Philip for the life work He has for him
• Pray for God to use this conference as one of His matches to light the fires of church planting movements in India

Thanks!

God's "A" Team

Several weeks ago I sat slumped over my desk during what seemed like the umpteenth conference call of the month. I was dog tired. I was physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually worn out. Tired “every which way,” as my grandfather used to say.

The past two years at e3 have been exhilarating, exciting . . . and exhausting (how’s that for a new “e3”?). Adding a new e3 Partners $30/mo giving program. With those resources greatly expanding the help we give to our national partners over and above the campaigns. Taking on a new role of leading the development of national strategies, staff and infrastructure for the 30 countries in which we work. Changing our name to e3 Partners Ministry.

So for two years every decision our leadership team has made has been a brand new decision because of these changes. No coasting on past experience. Everything has reevaluated. Every big strategy and every little detail has been reviewed, refined and revised in light of these changes. While I loved the new doors God was opening, and thankful I was part of a strong team, it also was very tiring.

The conference call that morning was the first meeting of another new team. That team was to spearhead a deeper emphasis on prayer throughout e3. On the call were some of the strongest prayer warriors I personally know, and we were meeting by phone because they were spread from Tennessee to California. The agenda for that first meeting was . . . can you believe it . . . just prayer!

A picture came to mind as I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair. It was a scene from Exodus 17. Joshua and his men were in the valley fighting. Moses was on the hill with the rod of God in His hand. The symbol to all Israel of reliance on God. When he held it up, they won. When his tired arms drooped, they got pummeled. So Aaron and Hur held up his hands, and God gave them victory. (Picture above from http://oneyearbible.blogs.com)

That day those prayer warriors supported my tired arms, just as Aaron and Hur had done centuries ago. God gave me a fresh sense of His creative power as His grace flowed through that Aaron Team—that “A” Team—on the phone that day.

God’s "A" Team for Our National Leaders

That call took place in the midst of our preparations to bring many of our national leaders to Dallas last month for our e3 International Conference. As I read, reread, meditated and prayed over that passage, I sensed that God wanted us to do the same for our national leaders. They have “Joshua Squads”—teams of people that are on the front lines of spiritual battles. Each national leader is like our Moses directing his team and keeping them focused on God and relying on His power, not their own. We wanted them to know that there is an A Team here lifting up their arms as the battles rage around them.

We started with a Leaders Summit as 30 leaders from 20 countries arrived in Dallas. It was a gathering for just the national leaders and a US based Strategy Coordinator for each country. We listened to their reports. We asked for their advice. We brainstormed with them. We wanted to learn from them more than we wanted to give them info. They then were the focal point of our International Conference.

But most of all we prayed for them. Frequently we prayed for them, sometimes symbolically holding up their arms, as Aaron did, to show that we support them in the spiritual battles they and their teams fight back home. You can see that in this picture of Vasily Dmitrievsky, our Russia National Director, as his A Team prays for him.

"A" Teams Pray, Give, Go

You are on the A Team for the nationals, too. As you pray for them, you are on their A Team. As you give to support the work in these countries through the e3 Partners program, you are on their A Team. As you go on e3 Mission Trips, you are part of the nationals’ A Team. You support them with your presence and encouragement. As you give so others can go, you are on their A Team.

Thanks For Being On Our "A" Team!

You make this ministry possible. God answers the prayers of our A Team-ers who pray for us. He sustains us through the financial help of the A Team members that give. He fills our campaign teams with A Team members that go. He encourages us through the calls, comments and emails of His A Team. Thanks for being part of God’s A Team!

Bolivia Video

Here's a great video showing God's people at work sharing His love in Bolivia. Thanks to Ky Azlein for this wonderful look at God at work in Bolivia.



YOU are needed in Bolivia! Click here to find out how you can go with us.

Enzo's English

For those of you who have been to Bolivia, you know that Pastor Enzo (our Bolivia coordinator) doesn't speak English. But check out this short video! He wanted to say something to all the go-ers, pray-ers and givers for Bolivia, so he took a stab at it.

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Thanks Partners!

Thanks to all our partners in the ministry. Here are some of the faces of the people God touched this year as you prayed for us, went with us, or gave so that we could go.

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Tarija Training

Protests against the Bolivian government continue to escalate, including in Tarija. The governmental leaders in Tarija are now on a hunger strike against the socialist government. There is much tension in this region.

Pastor Adid lives in Tarija. He was at our “Train the Trainer” leadership conference over Thanksgiving.

This weekend he is training Bolivian believers in Tarija how to use the EvangeCube and plant new churches.

Please take a few moments RIGHT NOW to ask the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus, to use this training to expand His kingdom in Tarija by bringing many to faith in Christ and planting new churches.

Claim this promise from the Lord Jesus for this area of Bolivia—

“. . . I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18.

Bolivia Thanksgiving Praise Report

Bolivia continues to tilt toward civil war. The political tension heightens week by week. When I asked one of the leaders what he thought would happen, he sadly replied “Logic says there will be bloodshed.”

So we especially appreciate your prayers for our campaign there last week. Here’s how God answered your prayers—

1. Our team of 10 worked with 66 local believers. So God used each North American to mobilize almost 7 local believers! Hallelujah!

2. We worked in 4 areas helping 3 local churches start 4 new churches. At the end of the week, one of the pastors said they may start 2 new churches, not 1 as they had originally planned, because so many people came to Christ in 2 adjacent barrios.

3. These teams saw 333 professions of faith. Hallelujah!

4. 18 pastors and leaders from all over Bolivia came to be trained to do what we do. Each morning we taught 2 sessions from our First Steps church planting manual, and then in the afternoon everyone went out to “practice.” By the end of the week each of those 18 new church planting “coaches” committed to try to train one church and 50 people each month how to do evangelism and church planting.

5. This weekend the first Bolivian trainer will be doing his first training! Pastor Hamer is traveling 8 hours to another province to train a church. God already is multiplying the ministry a week later!

6. All week Woodlyn worked with a lady who accepted Christ 2 years ago on one of our campaigns. Read about her on my blog below.

7. Our Bolivia coordinator, Pastor Enzo, would love to see you at our International Conference here in Dallas Jan 19-21. Take a look at his invitation in the video below.

Thanks for praying for Bolivia!

Personal Invitation from Pastor Enzo

Pastor Enzo wants to see you at the Bolivia Family Reunion coming up Jan 19-21, 2007. He is coming to Dallas for our e3 International Conference, and he wants you to come hear how things are going in Bolivia. Here's his personal invitation to you. You can register for the conference at www.e3partners.org.

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Bolivia Changed Life

One of the blessings of going back to a place again is seeing how God has changed lives. This past week Woodlyn worked with Hilda. Hilda faithfully came to our training sessions each morning. Then she went out doing evangelism and discipleship with Woodlyn and the team each afternoon.

Toward the end of the week Woodlyn learned "the rest of the story." Two years ago Hilda's life was in a shambles. Her alcoholic husband, Daniel, was making life miserable. She had no one to turn to.

But then Larry and teammate Abigail showed up at her door. They shared with her the hope that is in Christ. Even though it happened in just a few minutes, she knew it was a huge decision to make. She decided to put her faith in Christ. God then used her changed life to bring Daniel to salvation after the campaign. Over time he was delivered from his bondage to alcohol.

Daniel helped in the campaign last week, too. In fact, he's driving the pickup in the picture below, which we took long before we knew his story. And he's now in seminary in nearby Santa Cruz!

Often people ask "what happens after you leave?" Much of the time we do not know, for we leave the work in the hands of the local host churches to do the follow-up discipleship. So this was a sweet reminder that God continues to change lives and communities through the seeds He plants through our teams.

Here's Larry with Hilda two years after he and Abigail shared Christ with her.

Bolivia Thanksgiving

As we celebrate Thanksgiving in Bolivia, instead of at home, we have much to thank God for.

Bolivian Church Planting Coaches

Earlier this year we challenged Pastor Enzo to recruit a team of Bolivian trainers/coaches to expand the ministry here. His first response was “30 by the year 2010.” “Great,” I responded, “but how ‘bout this year?”

“Well . . . . maybe . . . maybe 5 by the end of 2006,” he reluctantly answered.

I told him that I would pray for 10 this year. He gave me one of those “well, go ahead if you want to, but . . . “ looks.

We are tremendously blessed this week to have 18 church planting trainers from 8 cities all over Bolivia! God has used Pastor Enzo to answer our prayers exceedingly, abundantly above what we asked or thought was possible. Today each of them committed to try to train at least one church and 50 people each month. Hallelujah!


Out of the Mouth of Babes

Two years ago Abigail Willett celebrated her 13th birthday in Montero. We praised the Lord when she ended up with a 13 year old translator named Amanda, who had just returned from spending a year in the US with her family.

Amanda, now 15, again is working with Larry and Woodlyn’s team. She has been at our leader training sessions bright and early every morning. She has been one of the leaders for the kids part of the evening meeting when over 80 kids have shown up!

Yesterday she wrote this on her evaluation form at the end of the First Steps church planting training: “I want to train 12 disciples (over the next year), and have each one have their own cell group, and they then also train 2 others, and those others each train 2 others.” Pretty great vision for a 15 year old, don’t you think?

Thanksgiving Team



I thank God for the special team he has given us this week:

· Edna Alexander, who lost her husband this year to cancer, spending her first Thanksgiving without him here with us
· Steve Anderson, who's been a campaigner with me more than anyone else on earth!
· Newlyweds Gordon and Yvonne Wu, spending their first Thanksgiving as married couple sharing about Christ here
· Larry Strickland, enjoying his second campaign to Montero
· George O’Leary, on his first ever mission trip
· Our daughter Joanna, who took time off from her job as a teacher to share this joyful week with us
· Our son, Philip, celebrating his 16th birthday far from his friends back home
· And my wonderful wife, Woodlyn, who gave up one of her favorite events—cooking a great big traditional Thanksgiving feast for our family—to walk the dusty streets of Montero showering people with the love of God

We thank our loving Lord for changing our lives, and allowing us to see His handiwork here in Montero. And we thank each of you prayer warriors for advocating our cause before the throne of the Most High God.

Oh, yeah, your burning questions about our menu here today! No, there isn't any turkey available. They said sometimes you can find it around Christmas time. Guinea pig (called "cuy" here--pronounced "coo-eee") is the delicacy of choice for many in Bolivia, but thankfully no one has "threatened" me with that today.

Fruit That Remains in Bolivia

Many of you remember the story (click here to read) from last summer when two witch doctors accepted Christ in the area where Gary, Sarah and Abigail worked. Many of you have been praying for the last witch doctor left in the neighborhood. We’ll, I just found out “the rest of the story.”

Pastor Hamer is the leader in that area. He also is one of the prospective “church planting coaches” who is with us this week to learn how to train others using our methods and materials. He said one of the former witch doctors comes regularly to the church. He is the one who hobbled into the church courtyard in great pain. The team prayed for him that day, and Pastor Hamer reports that he remains healed to this day! God is showing His power here in many ways.

The other has opened his home to host a cell group.

The last witch doctor in the neighborhood never accepted Christ . . . but God answered their prayers for he moved out of the neighborhood. It is now a “witch free zone”!

But there is even more good news. Since Pastor Gary and his daughters helped Pastor Hamer plant that new church in July (No. 1), they have planted two more new churches and are working on a third!

Paster Hamer said that it was the new believers from July who planted the new churches. As they went through the discipleship lessons, some new believers led some family members to Christ in Santa Cruz. But they lived a long way from the church . . . so Pastor Hamer started new church No. 2 where they lived. 34 people now attend regularly.

Then some other new believers did the same in a village called Yapacani about 90 minutes from Santa Cruz. So they started new church No. 3 there. It is very new, and has 16 people who are involved.

And they are working on No. 4. Another new believer that Pastor Gary led to the Lord in July began to grow as he was discipled. He went back to visit his family in Beni, which is another province an 8 hour bus ride away. When he came back to Santa Cruz . . . 15 newly saved family members came with him to ask that a church be started for them. So in February Pastor Hamer and some leaders from church No. 1 plan to go to Beni to officially inagurate No. 4.

God is bringing glory to Himself as he uses the new church started in July, which now runs about 70 in attendance, to multiply itself as disciples make disciples who make disciples.

This Campaign Begins

Yesterday we started our e3 Mission Trip here in Montero, Bolivia. We are working with 3 mother churches in 4 areas where they are starting new churches or cell groups. Sunday morning our teams worshipped with the mother churches. Sunday afternoon we did the “Vision” and “Pray” sessions of our First Steps church planting training. Then our teams went out to those 4 areas to apply what they learned by prayer walking the areas. Or in one case “prayer driving” their huge area (see picture below).

We are blessed to have 16 pastors and leaders from other cities here as potential “church planting coaches.” At the end of the week we hope they will commit to train others how to do evangelism and church planting using what they learn this week.

Please continue to pray for God to use this week to expand His kingdom in Bolivia.

Birthday Boy

Today is our son, Philip’s, 16th birthday (on left receiving a Bolivian "Happy Birthday"). Please pray that God will bless him in a special way this week.

By the grace of God I get hit with a stomach bug only about once every 30 trips. Unfortuantely, this is one of those trips. Please pray for Jehovah Rapha to heal me, and for continued good health and strength for the rest of the team (both Bolivian and US).

Thanks for standing in the gap for us!

e3 Team Heads to Bolivia

Recent Headline: “European immigration plans spark Bolivian exodus” (Read the article here)

As the situation in Bolivia deteriorates, more and more people are leaving. Churches are losing members as they head to Spain or other countries in search of work and stability. Families are torn apart as parents go abroad to look for work, leaving kids with relatives. We've met kids who have not seen their parents in years.

In the midst of this exodus, our e3 Mission Team heads to Bolivia Friday (Nov 17). During Thanksgiving week we’ll train about 30 Bolivians how to equip their countrymen to use the EvangeCube and plant new churches. Part of this Train the Trainer event will be "practicing" in several communities. As we do "lecture" and then "lab," pray that many will trust Christ and several new churches will be planted.

Please also pray the God will use this conference to provide hope to Bolivia, and to ignite a church planting movement there.

Jesus is The Answer, for He transform communities by changing hearts and then lives.

Click here for a prayer calendar to print and pray through.

Click on the link below to see a slide show that you can pray through, too.

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Thanks for standing behind us in prayer.

My "Plan B" is God's "Plan A+"

Plan A was to do an eye glass clinic in Bolivia over Thanksgiving. We thought it was such a great plan! Our son, Philip, was diligently collecting eye glasses for his Eagle Scout project. Over 1,000 came in. But no eye professional signed up for the trip. So we had to go to Plan B.

But Plan B appears to be just what God wanted all along! Over the past few months Bolivia has continued to slide toward socialism and political chaos. So we changed the focus of the Thanksgiving trip. Now we will train Bolivian trainers to do what we do. They will train churches in evangelism and church planting. Whether or not we can take teams in the future . . . they will continue the work.

Last week we received an exciting email from Pastor Enzo Saavedra. In it is a list of 26 Bolivian leaders who want to be trained! We will challenge each of them to train one church and 50 people each month for the next year. If all of them were to be faithful in this, 1300 people could be trained each month, or over 15,000 in the next year. That would be many multiples of what we could do with US teams. Hallelujah!

God has infinite ways of accomplishing His will, and sometimes saying “no” to our prayers is how He does it. Our Plan B turned out to be His Plan A+.

Would you pray for one of these Bolivian trainers? Please email me at mike.jorgensen@e3partners.org and I’ll send you one of their names to pray for during the next 30 days.

You probably are wondering “What about all those eye glasses?” They will go to good use . . . on a future trip.

Bolivia Home Run

What happens when a pro baseball player hits 12 for 12? Bats 1000? He gets lots of attention, and if he keeps it up he gets a big raise!

What happens when God enables a church to bat 1000?

Pastor Gary Willett asked me to speak his weekend (10/21-22/06) at Potomac Heights Baptist Church in Indian Head, Maryland. Pastor Gary and many in their church have been with us to Bolivia. In fact, they are the first church to adopt Bolivia as one of their strategic missions projects.

I asked Pastor Enzo Saavedra, our Bolivia e3 leader, to check back with all the new churches PHBC members have worked with during their 3 campaigns.

What Pastor Enzo learned astonished me, and also challenged me to continue to develop the work in Bolivia. God enabled them to bat 1000! Here are the stats—

12 -- New churches planted by PHBC members
12 -- Areas still active! (although one has moved to another location)
44 -- Average attendance
150-180 -- Attendance at largest new work
10 -- Attendance at smallest new work

I’d call this a spiritual “home run.” But not a “Grand Slam.” For in addition to this great news there also is sobering news to share. One area has kept going, but experienced a split. Another area continues even though the pastor moved to Spain to find work. Many are experiencing difficult economic conditions. Several are looking for new places to meet because they have outgrown the home or other place where they meet. All need more encouragement and equipping to continue to reach out to their communities.

--Please pray for the God to strengthen the leaders and churches with whom we have worked.

On Saturday we teach their ministry leaders our First Steps church planting curriculum. While they plan to focus on planting churches in Bolivia, Pastor Gary wanted their leaders to learn the ministry multiplication principles in First Steps. Then on Sunday I’ll be sharing this glorious good news with the congregation. Please pray:

--For God to multiply ministry as He challenges His leaders at PHBC
--For God to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” through these sessions (Eph 4)
--For God to raise up more laborers, prayer warriors and financial partners for the work in Bolivia

From Lonely to Unity

Thanks for praying for our trip to Peru last week. Sorry I wasn't able to send back "on the field" reports--my laptop crashed. But your prayers were answered in powerful ways.

“I feel so alone.”

This was the most consistent comment as we began our Leaders Summit. It was shared by several of the e3 country leaders. Even though ministry was going well in every country, many shared how they felt they were going it alone, trying to organize campaigns, cast vision and grow into a larger e3 ministry. But by the end of the trip what we heard was . . .

“We are together. I now know the other e3 leaders, and we are going to work together and help each other.”

By the grace of God, He took away the sense of loneliness that some of the leaders came to Lima with. They laughed together, prayed together, worshipped together, and heard testimonies of how God is at work in the e3 Latin America countries. Each also shared the struggles they have. By the end of our time together we signed a covenant of cooperation, which was an exciting end to a very productive Summit. Picture at left is of all the e3 country leaders praying for the implementation of the covenant of cooperation.

Some more highlights:

In Peru they now have 40 "mobilizers" who are leading church planting campaigns of only Peruvians (no North Americans). They now are doing almost twice as many without us as with us! That's an big answer to prayer. God has used Juvenal and Katty Bejar and Alejo and Dorothy Quijada to accomplish this major milestone.

In Venezuela Omar Piña has developed a similar network of Venezuelan e3 trainers, along with excellent training for them. Another great example of taking the ball and running with it.
Omar also offered to send one of regional coordinators to other countries to help them develop their organizational structure and ministry strategies. These "coaches" probably will be going to Bolivia, Costa Rica and Panama in the near future.

Diego Trujillo from Ecuador shared how he has been asked to be the director of evangelism for a a national association of pastors. This is propelling our evangelism and church planting tools and methods to new prominence nationwide.

In addition to our Leaders Summit, we also did a leadership conference. The primary purpose of that conference was to model how to do a nationals’ only First Steps LDC for the 40 people who now are e3 mobilizers in PE. But 340 people showed up!

All our national e3 leaders shared at the leadership conference about how God is working in their country. So the conference turned into a giant pep rally for missions outside Peru. Many people indicated an interest in going to one of the other e3 Latin American countries on short term mission trips.

Thanks for praying for this trip, Pr-Air Force. Our work in Latin America took a huge step forward last week.