November 2004 News

November 29, 2004

Vol. 2, Issue 2

Greetings once again from LATN. Although much water has gone under the bridge (or, many bytes through Internet routers!) since the previous issue,
the LATN ministry has been pulsing with activities these last few months.
We are grateful to God for His continued leading, guidance and provision as
we forge ahead in launching a ministry designed to "equip the equippers of
Latin America's church planting movements." We trust this brief note will
encourage you to continue praying for the LATN ministry as well as bring you
up-to-date.

 

  1. Two courses being taught and three in development.
  2. Strategic planning meetings.
  3. Curriculum development.
  4. Arrival of the Flachs.
  5. Visit of “EFCA-IM Brass.”
  6. Travels.
  7. AETAL meetings.
  8. Meetings with MAF.
  9. Pikes close to full support.
  10. LATN web site.
  11. Prayer requests.

  1. Two courses being taught and three in development. As LATN 
    continues to prepare for its official launch in 2005 (no fanfare please, it needs to be low-key for now!), we continue testing and developing courses. The online course in hermeneutics (Biblical Interpretation in the Postmodern World) is being taught by a Latin American. This is the second time it is being facilitated by a Latin American! The other course being taught this semester is Discipleship Paradigms . These courses have completed their testing phase and are now ready to be offered in the LATN program. Three courses are in development for next year: a course on Biblical Worldview (being prepared by Enrique Fernández), one on Teaching (prepared by Mark Hendrickson and two Costa Rican educators), and the third on the Reformation (by Jon Nelson). And how did things go with the first two courses this year? We’re excited that one of the courses taught by Gene Wilson on Church Planting the beginning of 2004 resulted in the development of various church planting projects! That is exciting and encouraging.
  2. Strategic planning meetings. Earlier this fall, LATN consultant 
    Mike Bridwell led the Servants Council in nearly three days of planning,
    primarily focusing on 2005. As a result of those meetings, plans for 
    next year are taking shape. We look forward to sharing those with on the new web site (see below).
  3.  Curriculum development. The first draft of the Biblical Theology
    program has been handed over by the subcommittee to Ted Kautzmann, LATN’s academic dean. The proposal includes a suggestion for all the courses in Bible a LATN student should take. The proposal will be presented by the dean to LATN’s Servants Council for approval. A big thank you to John Lilley for serving as the chairperson of the committee.
  4.  Arrival of the Flachs. On August 19th, Mark, Sherri, Casey, 
    Jesse, and Brandon Flach arrived in San José, Costa Rica to join the LATN family, begin learning Spanish, and start their orientation to Latin America. 
    They have adjusted well (not without some cultural surprises and a rather strong earthquake on November 20th!) and have made amazing progress with Spanish.
    We look forward to the ministry skills and expertise Mark and Sherri 
    will contribute to LATN. They are already a welcome addition to the LATN family!
  5. Visit of “EFCA-IM Brass.” We were pleased that the first orientation
    trip made by our new EFCA-IM Executive Director, was to Latin America. He was accompanied by Tom Cairns, the Associate Executive Director, and Tim McIntosh, the Latin America Area Director. Although this does not imply that Latin America is the most strategic region of the world (although we could make a good case for that!), it was encouraging to have the Executive Director visit us and affirm the ministry by stating, "LATN is in total alignment with where we're going as a mission." (Regarding the “Home Office Brass” reference: our leaders are anything but top-down executives. They are very down-to-earth and are characterized more by their servant leadership style and humble submission to our Lord. The reference was merely to catch your attention!! Did it?)
  6.  Travels. The last few months have been very busy travel months 
    for LATN personnel. Mark Hendrickson went to MAF headquarters in July (this resulted in an invitation to visit us in Costa Rica - see below), LATN consultant Mike Bridwell traveled to Costa Rica for strategic planning meetings, Ted Kautzmann hopped a plane to Peru to participate in regional accreditation meetings sponsored by AETAL (he also gave a workshop to the delegates) and was recently in Brazil teaching his course on hermeneutics to Evangelical Free Church pastors, Gene Wilson traveled to Costa Rica to evaluate his church planting course and to meet some of his students, Jon Nelson flew to Costa Rica to work on his Reformation course and also went to Spain to prepare for the family move in the near future, and Keith has made
    various trips to Costa Rica for meetings. We thank God for his protection for the many trips staff have made (and thank God these were not all traveling at the same time!)
  7.  AETAL meetings. Ted Kautzmann was able to represent LATN at the 
    AETAL meetings in Lima, Peru in the month of October. AETAL is a regional Latin American accreditation organization (http://www.worldevangelical.org/aetal.html). We were pleased that LATN was invited to give a workshop on distance learning to many representatives of Latin American institution (Ted’s presentation was well attended). As you know, one of LATN goals is to not only serve our EFC church planting movements, but to also serve as a catalyst for distance learning in Latin America for those who do not have quality, accessible equipping programs.
  8.  Meetings with MAF and partnering institutions. Some of the most
    productive meetings we’ve had all year were the recent meetings held in Costa Rica with Missionary Aviation Fellowship. MAF has developed a distance education department and was instrumental in developing a consortium of mission organizations and institutions for implementing distance education in Russia. MAF offers a wealth of expertise in technology as well as experience and knowledge in distance education theory and models. If MAF is able to move ahead in a partnership with LATN, this has the potential of relieving us of doing everything ourselves. MAF will be able to offer help with software, technology and expertise in strategic areas. Along with MAF, there are excellent possibilities of working with other institutions in Latin America who would also develop and distribute courses. Were looking forward to seeing what God will do. 
  9.  Pikes close to full support. Gordon and Norma Pike are at the 
    point where they are able to plan for their move to Costa Rica in January! They are close to having received 90 percent of their full support amount and have been given the green light to set dates! Praise the Lord! The sooner the Pikes get to Costa Rica, the sooner Gordon is able to work on his dissertation so that he can graduate in September 2005. And once Gordon finishes his dissertation, he will be needed to begin writing courses in counseling. We need to be praying that the last ten percent of their support materializes as quickly as possible so that they can devote their attention to LATN.
  10.  LATN web site. LATN web site is almost ready for public viewing!
    Really! We mean it! We’re not getting kidding! Actually the new web 
    site ( http://www.latn.org ) lacks a few details before we open it to the public. We had hoped it would be ready by this summer but that wasn't possible. We trust you will be pleased with the new site and find it helpful. It has been completely revamped and will be available for viewing within the next week or so.
  11.  Prayer requests. Please add the following to our prayer list and 
    pray for:
    • The courses in development for next year.
    • The final 10 percent remaining for Gordon and Norma Pike’s
      support.
    • Mark and Sherri Flach as they learn Spanish and slowly assume
      ministry.
    • Please pray for restoration of health and strength for Bev
      Gorbett, who just had an operation on Nov. 17th to remove uterine cancer.
    • A growing need for administrative funds as we increase our Costa Rican help base.
    • Our preparations to launch LATN in 2005.

 

"Pray for LATN as we seek to make quality theological education accessible to Latin America's evangelical leaders."

 

 

The LATNewsbytes is produced by Keith Anderson and the LATN missionaries of the EFCA International Mission. You may contact Keith at

KAnderson@efcaim.org.

 

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