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.

James' Family October 2011 Update

Hello from Bolivia! Thank you for praying for us and the work here. This pdf includes an update on recent pastors conferences around Bolivia, and how our ESI (Equipping Servants) Expansion in Ecuador is going.

God is changing lives!

Kep

James' Family October 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.

It has been encouraging in recent weeks hearing testimonies of pastors who even after years in pastoral ministry, recently have come to faith in Christ as a result of studying the book of Romans and understanding the truth about Christ’s work on the cross!

• Praise for the 530 pastors and church leaders in the 3 ESI regional pastors conferences we held in La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.

• Please pray for Kep and Debbie’s dual Bolivian citizenship process. The Bolivian government has had our passports for 22 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.

James' Family September 2011 Update

Hello from Bolivia!

We appreciate your prayer for our ministry here. A lot is going on. We just finished a 3-day pastors conference in La Paz with pastor Jonathan Holmes (pastoral team Parkside Church) training on the topic of Biblical Counseling (How People Change, Tripp and Lane). We had 250 in attendance, and it was a very important time to learn Biblical principles of how to help people in their walk of faith and obedience in God's grace.

Pepe Rocha and I leave this afternoon for Santa Cruz. We will be holding the Santa Cruz pastors conference Wednesday through Saturday. Dr Roger Smalling (leader MINTS Seminary -- Miami International Theological Seminary) will be teaching on Biblical principles of leadership.

Next week (September 8-10 we'll be in Cochabamba for the same conference). We value your prayers for impact in the lives of many church leaders in Bolivia as we study God's Word in these conferences, as well as for safety as we travel around Bolivia.

James' Family August 2011 Update

Faith Tested

We have now been waiting one year and eight months to receive our dual citizenship here in Bolivia. Since the Bolivian government has our passports, it means we cannot travel. It is important for me to be able to travel to develop & oversee ESI (Equipping Servants) Expansion outside Bolivia.

In the early months we received hopeful indicators that they would grant us citizenship quickly. But as the months now turn to years, we find ourselves wrestling in the reality of faith between trusting God’s sovereignty and doubting if we will ever receive citizenship!

Our recent study through the book of Genesis has been a great encouragement to us, seeing God’s sustaining hand in the life of Abraham — even when he at times slid into discouragement, God was faithful to complete His purposes in his life. God is always faithful, and He WILL ALWAYS accomplish His work in His time. That Biblical confidence is a source of great peace to us.