April 2012 James Update

Download our April 2012 Update with photos here.

Hello from Bolivia!

Thank you for your faithful prayers for the ministry here in Bolivia and as we expand in South America. We continue to see God work in the lives of pastors and church leaders, moving many away from self-centered thinking, to really want to honor Christ by being true to His Scriptures. This month's Update features our ESI (Equipping Servants) national leadership team retreat held the last week of March.

A quick update on our citizenship process -- this is now month 28 waiting to receive our dual citizenship. According to the govt officials we've been in communication with this week, it looks like the process may be close to completion. Which would be great, so that Debbie can visit her dad who is 91 and quite unwell in a nursing home, and so that Kep can visit ESI Expansion in Mexico and Ecuador. Please pray with us for this important matter!

Thank you for standing with us before the throne of grace!

Kep and Debbie

James' Family April 2012 Prayer Requests

• Pray for the ESI (Equipping Servants Internship) participants throughout Bolivia, in Loja, Ecuador, and in Oaxaca, Mexico. Currently we have 614 active participants involved in weekly training, and 456 graduates since we started ESI in 2002. Please pray that churches will be transformed as pastors and church leaders learn to honor Christ by being true to His Scriptures, and as they learning to rely on the sufficiency of God’s Word.

• Please pray for Kep and Debbie’s dual Bolivian citizenship process. The Bolivian government has had our passports for 28 months now. We received confirmation last week that our process has moved into the final level – please pray for a speedy conclusion to this process.

• Please pray for ESI Expansion as we continue to start ESI in different places around Bolivia and South America. Our prayer is to start ESI expansion in 5 new countries in the next 5 years, Lord willing starting in Huánuco, Peru in 2013.

James' Family March 2012 Update

Download the James' March 2012 Update here.

Hi from Bolivia!

We appreciate your prayers for our ministry. Attached is a pdf of our recent ILC Church family camp at Camp Yungas. Also a photo of La Paz at night as a reminder to please keep praying for the salvation of many in this important city of two million people.

Please pray also that the Bolivian government will grant us our dual-citizenship. We applied 29 months ago, and we still have no promise that this will happen anytime soon. Since they hold our passports, we cannot travel -- and we really NEED to travel in 2012 to oversee ESI (Equipping Servants) Expansion, and to visit Debbie's dad, who is 91 and his health is failing.

Thank you for praying!!

Kep and Debbie James

James' Family February 2012 Prayer Requests

• Pray for Debbie as she trains a team to help carry the heavy load of evangelism and discipleship among women in La Paz. She continues equipping key women in how to communicate God’s Word effectively to women.

• Pray for Sami and Heather working in the city of Santa Cruz in a Biblical counseling outreach to young people called Café Alfarero. They are seeing good fruit in evangelism and discipleship.

• Pray for Katie in her life and work at the Cleveland Clinic.

• Pray for Andrew working with Samaritan’s Purse in Bolivia. He continues seeing God open doors for the gospel through his ministry. Pray for his MA studies by extension at Trinity Seminary.

James' Family January 2012 Prayer Requests

• Pray for the ESI (Equipping Servants Internship) participants throughout Bolivia, in Loja, Ecuador, and in Oaxaca, Mexico. Currently we have 614 active participants involved in weekly training, and 456 graduates since we started ESI in 2002. Please pray that churches will be transformed as pastors and church leaders learn to honor Christ by being true to His Scriptures, and as they learning to rely on the sufficiency of God’s Word.

• Please pray for Kep and Debbie’s dual Bolivian citizenship process. The Bolivian government has had our passports for 25 months now, and there is still no end in sight for this process to finish. Please pray for favor, so that we can be granted dual citizenship to be able to continue ESI Expansion oversight in Latin America. Also Debbie’s dad is 91 years old, and is not well – it is important for her to be able to visit him.

Happy New Year from the James Family

In these last hours of 2011 it is our hope and prayer that God will encourage you and use you for His glory in 2012. We thank God for your partnership in the gospel with us.

The apostle Paul's experience in Acts 28:15, when he met the believers in Italy after his faith-challenging experiences in Jerusalem, imprisonment in Caesarea, and subsequent shipwreck in the Adriatic Sea -- it says that " on seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage" ESV. In the midst of great opportunities and challenges in ministry here in Bolivia in 2011, we feel the same way about you, knowing that you are praying with us that the gospel will advance in Bolivia and throughout Latin America for the honor of Christ. Thank you!

Serving God with you,

Kep and Debbie James

James' Family December 2011 Update

Download the James' December Update with photos here.

Merry Christmas from Bolivia! Attached is our December Update, including photos of recent ESI (Equipping Servants) graduates. Please keep praying for our dual-citizenship process -- we have now been waiting 24 months. The main complication is that we're not able to travel until this process finishes -- and we really need to be able to travel since Debbie's dad is 90 and is quite unwell, and I need to visit our ESI groups in Mexico and Ecuador.

We would like to make a need known: Rilda is a young woman in our church who has had a very difficult life. Although her parents are probably still alive, she never knew them. As long as she can remember, she was bounced from one orphanage to another. She studied only through the eighth grade, since the orphanage forced all of the older children to work to earn their keep.

James' Family December 2011 Prayer Requests

• Pray for the ESI (Equipping Servants Internship) participants throughout Bolivia, in Loja, Ecuador, and in Oaxaca, Mexico. Currently we have 614 active participants involved in weekly training, and 421 graduates since we started ESI in 2002.

Please pray that many churches will be transformed as pastors and church leaders learn to honor Christ by being true to His Scriptures as they dedicate time to study God’s Word. We are experiencing GREAT opposition from one important denomination in Cochabamba, Bolivia that values tradition above the Bible – they are forcing the pastors of their denomination to leave ESI. Basing their attack on rumors and mis-information, they are closing the door for pastors to study the Bible with us, and the attack has become extremely personal. Please pray for open doors to continue to study the Bible with pastors in this denomination.

 • Please pray for Kep and Debbie’s dual Bolivian citizenship process. The Bolivian government has had our passports for 24 months now, and there is still no end in sight for this process to finish. Please pray for favor, so that we can be granted dual citizenship to be able to continue ESI Expansion oversight in Latin America. Also Debbie’s dad is 90 years old, and is not well – it is important for her to be able to visit him.

James' Family November 2011 Update

Hello from Bolivia!

Thank you for your prayers. We're seeing a lot of good growth with the ESI (Equipping Servants) pastoral training process around Bolivia, as well as advancement in the ministry of the ILC Church. Tomas and Nancy Diaz report that they are making good progress with ESI in Loja, Ecuador, and Tomas hopes to launch the first 2 groups of 15 pastors each in January. The pastors in Oaxaca also report many evidences of God's grace there. We value your prayer that the gospel will continue to impact the lives of many pastors in Oaxaca, Loja and Bolivia, as we seek to honor Christ helping pastors and churches be true to the Scriptures.

Please keep praying for our dual citizenship process. We still have heard nothing, and we've now been waiting for 23 months. We are confident that the Lord has a good and perfect plan even in this!

We have a new phone number 216.452.5443. From the USA this is a direct line to Bolivia.

Thank you for praying!

Kep and Debbie

James' Family November 2011 Prayer Requests

• Pray for the ESI (Equipping Servants Internship) participants throughout Bolivia, in Loja, Ecuador, and in Oaxaca, Mexico. Currently we have 628 active participants involved in weekly training, and 421 graduates since we started ESI in 2002. Please pray that many churches will be transformed as pastors and church leaders learn to honor Christ by being true to His Scriptures as they dedicate time to study God’s Word.

We are experiencing great opposition from one important denomination in Cochabamba, Bolivia that values tradition above the Bible – they are forcing the pastors of their denomination to leave ESI or be kicked out of their denomination. Please pray for open doors to continue to study the Bible with pastors in this denomination.

 • Please pray for Kep and Debbie’s dual Bolivian citizenship process. The Bolivian government has had our passports for 23 months, and there is still no end in sight for this process to finish. Please pray for favor, so that we can be granted dual citizenship to be able to continue ESI Expansion oversight in Latin America.

• Please pray for ESI Expansion as we continue to start ESI in different places around Bolivia and South America. Our prayer is to start ESI expansion in 5 new countries in the next 5 years.