Category: What’s New?

Big event in Bolivia!‏

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While most of the world fixates on the Winter Olympics and its many controversies, there’s another event about to quietly take place just outside of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It will not make international news. Yet the significance is enormous in terms of the Great Commission in the Amazon Rainforest. I am right now on my way there (writing this from the airport in Panama) where I have the privilege of joining some of today’s most active and strategic leaders in Christian missions across the Amazon. A very diverse group reflecting the evolving and future face of world missions, I will… Continue reading

The drive north

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We are now back in Florida. And far from a leisurely joyride, the drive from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Texas was nothing short of an adventure! It certainly showcased God’s grace and protection, for which we are so thankful. While reviewing our ‘exit plan’ out of Mexico a couple of months ago, Megan and I debated whether or not she should travel by road with me. Anticipating difficulties on the road in light of her going into the third trimester of our pregnancy however, we felt it best that she fly back in advance to Florida. I have driven in many countries. Few match… Continue reading

Heading north towards the border – Please Pray!

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Quick update: Megan has been in Florida the past couple of weeks searching for a doctor to deliver our baby there. Drake has meanwhile been finishing up work in Oaxaca while preparing to drive from Oaxaca to the States – where he can’t wait to see his wife again! Drake plans to make the 5-6 hour drive to Mexico City on Saturday. There he will meet his dad who’s flying in from Germany. From there they will make their way north towards the US border, which they plan to do over two days. Please pray for safety on the road… Continue reading

A wonderfully eventful summer!

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The past few months have been incredibly busy ones for us and our ministry, with our time divided among many dear people and ministry partners – in Mexico, the United States, and South America. In May, Megan traveled to North Carolina where she underwent several weeks of intensive field medical and health evangelism training. The practical knowledge she acquired during that time is vital to our ministry, not only in terms of first-aid for unforeseen medical situations we may encounter in the field, but to equip others: training field missionaries ministering to remote people groups who lack not only access… Continue reading

A Glimpse into the Mixtecs of Mexico

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Imagine, almost every town within your own home state speaks a completely different language. The country at large speaks a common national language, you’ve heard it but are suspicious of those who speak it. Few people in your own community really know it, or even care to. You speak the tongue of your ancestors, why give that up? Imagine…no two neighboring towns get along. Confrontations over municipal borders, religions, ethnic pride, even sporting rivalries, frequently result in deadly armed skirmishes, or ‘range wars’. Imagine, your town demands your complete unwavering loyalty. You have mandatory community workdays; if you ever leave… Continue reading

…welcoming a New Year of faith and trust

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Reflecting on the past year, I’m amazed by how incredible it has been for us. 2011 arrived in an unusual way, under rather bleak circumstances that God ultimately used to radically refocus us on what matters most – Him – for the year ahead. I spent the final hours of 2010 in a U.S. military medical facility near Schwedelbach, Germany, incredibly sick with pneumonia. From the hospital bed I heard nothing in the way of fireworks or celebrations outside in the cold as midnight, and the New Year, gradually approached. The hours passed and my condition only worsened, with declining… Continue reading

Training missionaries among the Tarahumaras!

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The beautiful, vast Copper Canyon (Barranca del Cobre) wilderness of western Chihuahua state contains canyons deeper than any found in the United States.  Its native inhabitants, the Rarámuri (or Tarahumara) Indians, sought refuge here from Spanish invaders in the sixteenth century.  Today they number from 50,000-100,000, although no one really knows. The Tarahumaras typically live in small earthen dwellings scattered over hundreds of miles of some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain. Though collectively known as ‘Tarahumara’, they actually span a vast cultural landscape with numerous distinct languages and ethnicities. The Tarahumaras have gained much renown worldwide for their near-superhuman ability to… Continue reading

Pray for the Tarahumara Indians!

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Dave and I will be working this week with Tarahumara Indian believers, teaching them methods for conducting field surveys and research into unreached people groups. Praise God, there is a growing missionary movement among the small Christian Tarahumara population, and we have the privilege to work with them! We board a bus tonight from Oaxaca that will get us into Mexico City by early Sunday morning. From there we fly to Chihuahua state, followed by another day of ground travel through the Copper Canyon wilderness. Please pray for these tribal believers, that God will impart wisdom through this training.  Pray that… Continue reading

A six-month update from the field…

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The middle of August marks our 6-month anniversary working with Etnopedia in Mexico!  Your prayers and financial support continue to help us move forward and accomplish much with this ministry.  As indicated in our last post, we recently made a huge breakthrough in our research of Nepal’s ethnic people groups.  Having this information gathered in one location provides a common ground from which missionary movements in all languages from around the world can collaborate towards reaching the hundreds of nations within Nepal, many of whom still have no access to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Very little is known… Continue reading

Chiapas – Part 3

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After completing our first week in eastern Chiapas our investigation of the Gospel among the Zoque Indians continued in yet another region of the state.  The Zoque people are descendents of the Mayans who inhabited much of present day Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula.  Today the Zoques are divided into numerous ethnic groups throughout Chiapas each with distinct variations in their language and culture.  Dave and I gradually made our way back to Tuxtla Gutierrez after many hours in ‘colectivo’ taxi-vans winding through the jungle and mountain roads.  I was very pleased to hear from Megan that she would be… Continue reading