The James Family
Christmas Greetings from Kep & Debbie James
Hi from Bolivia!
We hope you’ll be able to take time this Christmas season to reflect on the grace of God in the Incarnation & experience the joy of Christmas. For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; & the government shall be upon His shoulder, & His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
I returned to Bolivia this morning after a wonderful 10 day visit in Chile meeting with our ESI (Equipping Servants pastoral training) groups in the Temuco region. We have over 200 people studying Romans with us. What a wonder God is doing transforming lives and churches – in fact it’s making such an impact that other cities want to start ESI. During my time in Chile I met with key pastors in Santiago, Concepcion (Chile’s second largest city), Villarrica and Vina del Mar. We have decided to do an ESI Facilitator training April 12-14 in Concepcion, and are expecting perhaps as many as 60 people to take this training and become Facilitators for new groups in Chile. We value your prayer for the local coordinators as they organize this event. I thank the Lord for SAMS missionaries Russ and Heidi Smith, for their tireless effort encouraging, helping and moving the work of ESI forward in Chile.
Then in January I’ll be visiting Paraguay (Asuncion and another city in the Guarani region), Brazil (Sao Paulo) and Argentina (Salta) with Parkside Executive Pastor Jeff Mills -- we’ll meet with key pastors who have expressed interest in starting ESI. Pray that the Lord will give us at least one key coordinator volunteer like Russ and Heidi in each of these cities – we need this local coordinator to bring people together for the Facilitator Training – otherwise ESI can’t really start or spread at a grass-roots level in these new areas. Also please pray for the Lord’s supply as we expand beyond the limits of our current financial base, moving into new strategic cities across Latin America!
Thanking God for His indescribable gift in sending Jesus to save us from our sins!!
Kep and Debbie