Anderson Update

A new virtual meeting room

2011-10-26T16:59:00.000-05:00

I guess it's been a few weeks (or, er, months) since I last commented on our blog. But, getting our prayer letter out yesterday reminded me that it has been a while since I've written anything here. But, if you'd like a copy of our prayer letter, here is a link where it can be found (Most recent prayer letter).

We are getting excited as ProMETA's virtual meeting room gets close to being completed. Three different churches, each donating for a unique piece of the project (construction, technology, equipping). I'm excited because once this room is complete, we will be able to use if for many different purposes. We've already used it for our very first virtual team meeting with team members from as far away as Spain, Minnesota, and Peru participating with us in Costa Rica. It really was a wonderful experience. We envision this room being used for recording training DVDs, training webinars, face-to-face training classes, meals, and fellowship. It really can be a multi-purpose room. Thanks to those churches who helped make this possible.

Summer 2011

2011-08-18T17:34:00.000-05:00

Summer 2011 will go down in our K & J Anderson history as one of the most up and down summers of all time! Beginning with ProMETA leadership team meetings in Colorado (notice the serene and peaceful picture of Bear Lake) Judy and I flew to Boston and went on a 1,550 mile trip down I-95 from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale in a 16 foot rental towing a Dodge Caravan (notice that we had to work on it because the wheel straps came off!) followed by the "white coat" ceremony of Hanjo, our daughter-in-law at Nova Southeastern University, a very special and meaningful event. The summer also included a 10-day trip back to Costa Rica where I needed to give a workshop to 35 leaders of the Costa Rican Christian Missionary Alliance denomination. We also added activities

such as a trip up to Rockford for a missions conference. And as if that weren't enough, the "virtualness" of ProMETA does not allow one to ever get away from the office! But, these are not complaints - I'm just reporting on how things went this summer. Oh, I forgot to mention that there is one more trip to Tennessee for a week of ReachGlobal meetings as we map out ReachGlobal's strategy for the next 10 years in Latin America (lots of prayer needed here!) So, the summer has turned out to be a very "active" one for us! But, overall, it has been so good to see family, even if briefly at times. Judy has been able to spend significant time helping Kris and Hanjo take care of the girls as they have needed to focus on their transition from living in Boston to Hanjo beginning med school at Nova Southeastern University. We head back to Costa Rica within the next two weeks, Judy will leave a week before I leave.

So, how would we evaluate how our summer has been? It has been one of our most difficult summers logistically, but certainly one we will look back on in the future with grateful hearts, thanking God for all He did protecting us, providing for our needs, and watching over each one of our adult children these past months. God is good!

Great time with family over Christmas

2011-01-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

As you can tell, it's NOT Costa Rica! Actually, the picture was taken at Chicago's Daley Center just after Christmas. Judy is the one on the far right. On the far left is Alexandra, our daughter-in-law and between Alex and Gregory (right behind Judy) are Alex's two brothers. It was their first time to be in cold, really cold, weather and see snow for the first time.

We had a great time in Chicago from the 20th until we returned to Costa Rica on the 30th. Being with both Judy's and my side of the family was the best Chrstmas present we could have ever wanted! We were able to be with all members of our immediate families except Kris, Hanjo, and the girls as well as Judy's youngest sister and her family. We were able to stay with Jonathan and Karen, so that made our time even more special. Thaks for your prayers.

December events

2010-12-12T19:52:00.001-05:00

December has been a great month in many ways. ProMETA is going to finish the month in the black (financially), Judy finished the fall term successfully with only one second grader not returning next month, and, on the 14th we will be leaving for the States for two weeks with family in Chicago and Ft. Lauderdale. Unfortunately we won't be able to see Kris, Hanjo, Kyla and Kiara so that visit will need to wait. But God is good and we look forward to our time with family.

We've had a few inquiries regarding personal support. Honestly, we're more concerned about ProMETA's financial status, but I did notice that December has not been a good month for either ProMETA or our personal support. Because our support figures are based on 12 month averages, this month looks rather meager as we have dropped to a little over $1,000 per month in support lacking. We'll see how the month finishes, but it looks like we will probably end the year around $600 a month lacking. It's been an interesting year support-wise since we'veactually been totally supported for one month (September) and never more than $292 per month lacking until December.We pray that 2011 will be a great year for both the ministry and personal support as we press on with equipping Latin America's leaders.

Although I've not been able to confirm the report yet, I was told that we've had over 70 applications for the January term. Although most of those applications will not materialize for this next term we are always encouraged by the many leaders who do begin the application process because some of those applications are kept on file and eventually materialize as ProMETA students.

Busy November

2010-11-07T21:13:00.000-05:00

November is setting up to be quite a busy month, as if last month wasn't busy enough. In October we invested a great amount of time working on budgets for ProMETA, hosting a faculty rep from BIOLA University, gearing up for some promotional initiatives for the coming months, and four days of ProMETA strategic planning meetings as we look toward the next five years. And of course, Judy keeps busy with her passion: teaching missionary children at the MK school. On top of those activities, as a member of the ReachGlobal team, I have virtual meetings twice a month with the area leadership team with the concommitant responsibilities produces by those meetings, frequent meetings with various team members, etc., etc. In November, we'll be spending nearly three full days in a team spiritual retreat with ReachGlobal veteran missionaries, George and Donna Warren. Also, we're gearing up for presenting ProMETA to nearly 1,000 leaders at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, Nov 19-20. And, the office here in Costa Rica is getting ready for the next quarter that begins in January.

Back in Costa Rica - Sabbatical was wonderful!

2010-10-02T17:15:00.000-05:00

We returned to Costa Rica a little over three weeks ago after having been blessed with an extraordinarily great sabbatical. Even though we did not accomplish all our sabbatical goals, we certainly accomplished the ones that were "musts" for us (re-energize, re-focus, and establish a sustainable "rhythm of life") that will help us do ministry and life in a more balanced way.

What did we learn while on sabbatical? Well, much more than we would be able to put in this blog, but certainly one of the main areas to which we gave focus was understanding how to balance our responsibilities with other needs such as rest, renewal, and similar priorities that have not been priorities. So, during these first three weeks back, we've been sensitive to what a good balance should be. We may not be there yet, but we do sense that we have been able to do better in this area. That has been good.

So, in the spirit of taking some meaningful time off, about two weeks ago, Dr. Enrique Fernandez and I took advantage of a national holiday and drove into the Costa Rican cloud forest, and with the help of a guide (whom we met "by chance") were able to walk into the mountainous area and take pictures of the elusive Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. Dr. Fernandez (Quique), himself a Guatemalan, commented that he had never seen a Quetzal in his own country. It truly is a beautiful bird.

Sabbatical and family

2010-07-06T07:59:00.005-05:00

These past six weeks of the sabbatical have been focused on family. We've spent the month of June as well as the first part of July with family in the Chicago area. The picture of our granddaughters, Kyla (right) and Kiara (left) was taken on the banks of the Mississippi river in Dubuque, IA about two weeks ago. Kris, our oldest son, and the two girls came over from Boston to spend two weeks with us along with my (Keith's) parents and siblings in Dubuque. Hanjo remained in Boston during that time to prepare for a major exam she will be taking at the end of this month (we will be going to Boston on the 16th of July for nearly three weeks, so we look forward to spending time with the whole family). Although we would love to spend more time with family, it has been so good to have some time with all members of our immediate family (parents and siblings) during the past six weeks. This afternoon we travel to Ohio to see Judy's youngest sister, her husband, and another one of Judy's sisters and her husband who are traveling back from their family vacation. It's been so good to reconnect with family members these days!

Sabbatical continues.

2010-05-03T12:03:00.002-05:00

How boring of a title - "sabbatical continues." Yet, as we move through our sabbatical, with minimal contact with the team back in Costa Rica (yes, I have had some contact on a few issues), we need to remember that this time is designed to be rejuvenating, relaxing, refreshing, and a few other "re's" that will enable us to return ready to get back into the harness and work with the team. There have been a few things we have done that were not part of a sabbatical activity. For example, we participated in a missions conference recently at the Glenview EFC in Chicago. Next week we will be driving up to Chicago for a family wedding and then will head down to San Jose, Costa Rica for faculty meetings (training) and a greatly anticipated team spiritual retreat with Jim and Leta Van Meter of Paraclete Ministries. So, the sabbatical continues and we're thankful for this period of "not-too-many-exciting" activities.

The sabbatical begins!

2010-03-23T20:40:00.005-05:00

Judy and I have been in the US for two weeks now and are getting settled in for what we hope will be a wonderful time to refresh, re-energize, study, and prepare for our return after Labor Day. Our itinerary is still being developed but we anticipate some travel, much time in libraries, time away from the office in Costa Rica, and a break from my ProMETA emails (one of our staff members is monitoring and filtering all my EFCA emails and forwarding only those I must receive (like sales announcements - just kidding!) . As you may have noticed by our lack of entries in this blog for nearly three months, the schedule has been incredibly full, but these next few months should be incredibly refreshing. Would certainly appreciate your prayers.

2009-12-27T22:28:00.004-05:00

Notice the picture (how can you miss it!). I thought I'd include this picture as an example of how important it is to make sure you are standing in the right spot in terms of the background! It reminds me of one of those costumes worn by the Carnival dancers in Rio de Janeiro! Judy is beautiful, but my headgear is something else!

I hope writing once every two months on this blog is not a chronic disease! Well, a New Year's resolution for next year will be to do the blog thing at least once a month. But, the lack of writing is not due to lack of things to write about! There's a lot...for example, this week I "enjoyed" some time in the hospital for what was to be an angiogram (as a follow- up to my annual physical exam) and turned out to include an angioplasty. These last few days have been spent resting at home and enjoying the Christmas season.

Since the robbery, insurance covered some of the loss and donations from individuals came close to cover the rest. The greatest losses were the personal items such as keepsake jewelry.

November was a rush of activities with a team spiritual retreat, a Church Planting Coach clinic, a Willow Creek Leadership Summit, and various meetings and planning sessions as we look to next year in ProMETA. And, it looks like we are going to have our largest enrollment ever in terms of students beginning a new quarter. God is so good!

Robbery, Strategy, Networking

2009-10-25T17:26:00.010-05:00

Well, as you can see, the last entry was nearly two months ago. But, so much has been going on that I keep delaying uploading a post. We will be getting a prayer letter out the beginning of November but thought I'd just post a few things here.
On the 27th of September we were broken into here in Costa Rica. (Notice the new "razor wire" protection on the wall we recently installed!) Although the losses were not heavy, certainly not as bad as our colleagues in Peru who also lost musical instruments and passports, knowing that someone broke into our house while we were at church is rather unsettling. The hardest losses were the laptops.
The week before the robbery we spent five days in strategic planning meetings for ProMETA. Ted Kautzmann, ProMETA's academic dean flew down from Minnesota and the three of us who live in Costa Rica went over an agenda that, even with five days set aside for strategic planning, we still did not finish! Not sure what that means!
The week of October 12th, Ted and I met in Puebla, MEX for two reasons. We needed to meet with the vice-rector and the academic dean of a major university and we attended a four day conference on "spiritual formation in Christian universities and seminaries" for seminary and university presidents and academic deans. Other than catching a stomach virus (fortunately not the H1N1 type!), it was a great time. Now to recover!

Back in CR after two long months!

2009-08-31T09:10:00.005-05:00

The summer was a metaphorical whirlwind of activities. We kept trying to get our summer prayer letter out between trips and as of today, it is still only half finished! Judy and I left Costa Rica together on June 24th and returned a week ago today. In between those dates we traveled from Miami to Chicago and then Keith went back to Costa Rica for nearly a week and then to Venezuela for nearly two weeks returning to Chicago to rejoin Judy and then go to a family reunion in Dubuque, IA for three days. That was followed by meetings in San Antonio, TX and then on to Florida where Alexandra and Gregory were (finally!) married. The picture to the right was taken a couple days before the wedding. Both are still in school and felt like it was time to tie the knot - they've known each other since the late 90's. Now Judy and I are back in San Jose, CR and are glad to be able to schedule a routine. Once again we realize the incredible value of prayer and how praying for one another is such a key to carrying out God's desires. We hope to have our next prayer letter out soon before the end of the week!

We begin two months of travels

2009-06-25T20:50:00.002-05:00

These next two months, Judy and I will be doing a great deal of traveling. We will be visiting nearly a half dozen supporting churches while mixing in a four day trip back to Costa Rica for a very important meeting and then two weeks in Venezuela. So, this summer will be quite busy. We also plan to be at an Anderson family reunion the last week end of July prior to leaving for meetings in San Antonio, TX. Then, the summer will be capped with the wedding of our youngest son, Gregory, to his sweetheart of the last eight years, Alexandra. August 22nd is the big day. We return to CR on the 24th.

Teaching in Guatemala

2009-06-25T20:28:00.006-05:00

Lately, I've not had much of an opportunity to travel, so last week end's trip to Guatemala was a special time for me as I traveled with Dr. Enrique (Quique) Fernández to Sumpango, just outside of Guatemala City. Ten churches were invited by the "Los Olivos" Free Church and nearly all of them responded by sending their pastors, elders, deacons, and deaconesses. It was very special to be in the home country of Dr. Fernández and to be given a special tour of the various areas where he did ministry prior to joining the EFCA. The teaching on leadership was shared by four of us with four different areas emphasized: Dr. Fernández taught on strategic planning, Dave Christianson focused on trust and empowerment, Oscar Chiquitó (an elder from the host church and recent recipient of a masters in International Economics) on leadership and community development, and my area was shepherd leadership. The response from the church leaders was quite positive and we sensed God's leading and presence during the entire week end.

Great spiritual retreat!

2009-05-05T20:59:00.007-05:00

The final days of April the ProMETA team had two wonderful events, one of them being a spiritual retreat. Jim and Leta Van Meter led our three days with the theme "Come away and be with Me!" And, it was incredibly restful. Times of worship, prayer, bible study, personal reflection, and long periods of rest in the afternoons all were bundled together resulting in us returning to the office with renewed strength. In the picture you can see Judy participating in a late-afternoon event. We enjoyed moments where we gathered in smaller groups for games, study, prayer, etc. and relished one another's company! The retreat was held at a Catholic retreat center about a 30 minute drive from our house in San Jose. Because we were the only group there, it was very quiet and peaceful.

Meetings in Bangkok

2009-04-02T02:55:00.004-05:00

Greetings from Bangkok. I have been in ReachGlobal meetings for 3 1/2 days now with another 1 1/2 days to go. Once a year all the global leaders meet together for fellowship, training, networking, and strategic planning. Because it's always difficult to find a place that is centrally located to all staff, the venue changes every year. This year the meetings are in Bangkok (next year in California). The flights totaled nearly 36 hours of travel (either Costa Rica is at the end of the world, or Bangkok!) I leave for CR on Saturday and then fly with Judy to Florida on Monday for visa work and a couple days of R & R during Holy Week. I've been able to stay in touch with Judy daily via a webcam and Skype - hurray for technology! One of the strangest things while here has been my email correspondence. All my e-mails arrive during the night because of the 13 hour time difference so I have an entire day to answer them before the next wave of mail rolls in! Thanks for your prayers.

Parents visit us!

2009-03-22T22:36:00.005-05:00

It was wonderful to have my parents and Judy's mom with us for nearly a month. They arrived on Feb. 21 and left on Mar. 20. We kept very busy with my dad preaching two Sundays and leading a men's breakfast. We also had all of them be in two of our ProMETA team meetings and even asked them to share experiences with the team. The wealth of Christian ministry experiences was something worth sharing with the rest of the team. We also asked my dad to help us record the audio portions of one of the ProMETA courses, one that had nearly 45 Power Point presentations to go with the content of a new course called, Old Testament Backgrounds. So, my dad spent nearly two weeks at the office recording the audio tracks to go along with the visuals. That was quite special.

A wonderful week in Boston!

2009-02-19T08:29:00.007-05:00

What a wonderful time! Because I (Keith) needed to be at a conference the week end of February 20th, Judy and I spent nearly a week in Boston with Kris, Hanjo, and our two grand daughters, Kyla and Kiara. We took a day trip to the beach and "enjoyed" being there in below-freezing temperatures! Not much like Costa Rica! But, the week has gone well and tomorrow we head out of Boston, Judy back to Costa Rica and I travel down to San Antonio for the conference. A highlight for us here was our visit to their church plant and preaching with Hanjo translating into Korean (the church plant is primarily focused on Korean students in the Boston area - the church planter is a Korean student at Gordon Conwell Seminary). Next week I'll be headed back to Costa Rica arriving on Wednesday. Thanks for your prayers.

LATN Team Retreat

2009-02-07T15:04:00.006-05:00

It was great for the entire LATN team to be together in January. All ReachGlobal missionaries from Latin America had just meet for one week in Costa Rica (Jan 14-21) and because all our LATN/ProMETA staff were in country, we took advantage of the ocassion and added three more days to our time with our own retreat, Jan 22-24. Staff from Spain, the US, and Peru were able to join those of us living in Costa Rica. The primary focus of our time was spent on spiritual formation issues, but we also spent a few hours on the implications of becoming accredited. In this particular picture, Dr. Ted Kautzmann, ProMETA's academic dean is sharing with the team some of the implications. We are planning on having at least two retreats each year for the purpose of spiritual formation. We will also bring the team together once a year for a week of working together face to face. As you can well imagine, these tend to be busy, but great times together.

Earthquake in Costa Rica

2009-01-11T08:37:00.002-05:00

We thank God that our LATN team is doing fine and that as far as we know, there has been no damage to our offices as the result of Thursday's 6.2 earthquake. The epicenter was less than 30 miles away! The earthquake struck at 1:21 pm and our building shook back and forth for about 20 seconds. Over 1500 aftershocks were reported as of yesterday. The death toll last night was at 15 but there are still 100s of people missing, so we're not sure what the final count will be. As far as churches are concerned, many of the churches with which we have contact were far enough away from the epicenter to have suffered damage. I am still waiting to hear from a Free Church pastor regarding the dozen or so churches he works with. We are looking at various options were we as a team can help out (it may be giving donations through one of the local churches), but for the most part, the government and the Red Cross are the ones handling rescue operations. We would certainly appreciate your prayers.

Christmas and New Years!

2009-01-04T15:04:00.004-05:00

Christmas and New Years are always special moments of the year, and this year was no different! New Years in Latin America is unforgettable. This year we watched fireworks from the balcony of our house - spectacular! As you can see from one of the many pictures we took, we were treated to a beautiful 20 minute demonstration of colors and sounds in the sky so typical of Latin America!

And for Christmas we were able to take advantage of some bargain airfares to Ft. Lauderdale to be with Gregory, his fiancé, his future in-laws, friends and supporters. We also did some paperwork on our resident visas for Costa Rica, although less than what we had wanted. The picture to the left shows Judy, Gregory, Alexandra (his fiance) and Doris (her mother) making Venezuelan hallacas much like the Central American tamales. Making " hallacas is a tradition at Christmas time and we were thrilled that even during our short visit we were able to make over 50 of the banana leaf - wrapped delicacies!

Another note on the retreat

2008-12-03T17:14:00.004-05:00

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.

2008-11-25T21:19:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-11-10T16:41:00.005-05:00

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

2008-11-10T16:05:00.012-05:00

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!

2008-10-06T08:14:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-09-07T19:12:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-08-07T22:31:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-06-30T16:17:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-11T09:58:00.003-05:00

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

2008-06-11T09:49:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-16T23:37:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-16T23:11:00.007-05:00

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

2008-04-17T06:42:00.004-05:00

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

2008-03-17T11:26:00.005-05:00

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

2008-03-08T15:26:00.003-05:00

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

2008-02-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-10T17:27:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-05-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

It was wonderful to have our son and daughter-in-law with the twins visit us from Boston for a week. We accepted this gift from God with grateful hearts and enjoyed our time with them. God is leading Kris and Hanjo into a full-time missions ministry as they look into further schooling and opportunities.

LATN vs. ProMETA

2007-04-23T00:14:00.000-05:00

You may notice in this and other related blogs, websites, and literature that it appears that the terms LATN and ProMETA are used interchangeably. Here's the scoop: the Latin America Training Network (LATN) is a ministry of EFCA ReachGlobal which is in the process of giving birth to "Programas de Maestría en Estudios Teológicos Accesibles" (Masters' Programs in Accessible Theological Education) of ProMETA. Thus, the two terms overlap significantly and at times may refer to the same thing. However, in the future, the term ProMETA will refer exclusively to the academic institution.

A significant step forward in partnership

2007-04-22T23:59:00.000-05:00

This past week (April 16-17) we hosted the visit of three faculty members of the largest evangelical seminary in Latin America. After a great deal of significant dialogue, it was clear that a partnership between the two institutions could be highly synergistic. Thus, after two days of discussions, an agreement was reached where the two institutions will proceed with the idea of working together, primarily in the sharing of master's level courses (as well as bachelor's level courses for the purpose of meeting pre-requisites). This is a significant step forward for ProMETA as the ministry continues to grow.

Meetings in Lisbon, Portugal

2007-04-22T23:56:00.000-05:00

From March 25-29 Judy and I attended ReachGlobal meetings in Lisbon. It was great to be with friends and colleagues from around the world, spending time in prayer, fellowship, training, and good interaction.