January 2026 Update

Greetings! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the new year. Thank you for your prayers and support. They are greatly appreciated. Thank you for praying for the displaced indigenous work in Bogota. Please continue to pray that the Word of Christ would speed ahead and be honored and that the gospel would advance unhindered among the people groups of Colombia and throughout the world. Our Lord has promised to be with us as we go to the nations. And we trust that He is. We also trust that God will use His Word to change lives as we proclaim the gospel to people. Our desire is that those who walk in darkness would see a great light and behold the beauty of the gospel and believe in Jesus for salvation and the forgiveness of their sins.

My team in Colombia focuses on the displaced indigenous peoples. They are from a region of the country that is dangerous. So they have moved into the cities. Many of them live in shelters and parks. Some live in cheap apartments in sketchy parts of the city. Pray for us as we visit these places where they live. Pray that we will have many opportunities to proclaim the good news of Jesus. Their lives have been very difficult, and they live without hope. May they find true and abiding hope in Christ.

This year, different members of my team will be focusing on a specific location. We each have a site that we plan to visit three to four times a week and will then visit one of the other sites once or twice a week. Having a location to focus more of our time and energy will enable to have a greater presence and to build better connections with the people at that site.

I will be focusing on the park that’s just outside of the city. Part of my time there each week will also be devoted to learning one of the indigenous languages. Please pray for me that I may learn the language well so that I may communicate the gospel in their own language. Sometime this month, I should be getting a car. That will make travel out there a lot easier.

Another thing my team is endeavoring to do is mobilize national partners and national churches to join us in the indigenous work. Please beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. Pray that more Colombian believers would come to faithfully and consistently work with us. Pray that we can effectively train them for the task, helping them better understand the issues involved with indigenous work.

Please continue to pray for my other visits as well. Pray for my visits with “Silas” and the Wounaan. I was able to make two visits with them in January. Pray for the Wounaan church in Bogota that it would grow to become a strong healthy church that disciples believers and seeks to reach the other Wounaan with the gospel. Pray also for my visits with the Puinave family (“Mike”). This past month they have been traveling. But pray that I can pick back up with him when he gets back. Pray that I can walk him through passages of Scripture and pray with him. Pray that he and his family come to know Jesus.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support. Pray that God will open up to us many doors for the word so that we may proclaim the Christ clearly, boldly, and unhindered.

Paul’s approach to missions involved opening the Scriptures and preaching Christ. That is what we see him do in at Thessalonica in this passage. He opened the Old Testament and just like Jesus on the road to Emmaus he explained Christ to them how it was promised that he should suffer, die, and rise again. That is what we must do in missions and in the church. We should walk people through all of Scripture and explain who Jesus is and what He has done for us. The Word of God has the power to change lives, and we must trust the Word to do so. And in our preaching of the Word, we must proclaim Christ from it. It is the preaching of Christ from the Word that the Spirit uses to cause people to be born again, and it is the means for spiritual growth in the Christian life.

As we preach the Word, some will believe and trust in Christ. They will see the beauty of Jesus in the gospel and be saved. In this passage we see that some Greeks also believed. The gospel is for all people, both Jews and Gentles. The Father sent the Son to be the savor of the world. Luke also mentioned that a significant number of women believed (cf. Luke 8:1-3) also. A variety of people received the message and came to believe.

But there was also strong opposition. A mob was formed that stormed Jason’s house to attack Paul and Silas calling them troublemakers and forcing them to leave the city. And today, we too will face opposition because of the gospel. Such opposition may take various forms. Natural man hates God and the gospel. So we can expect such opposition. But we know some will believe. So we must continue on preaching Christ and making Him known regardless of what persecution we may face.