Greetings from Lima!


First of all, thanks to all of you who are part of the Peru team through your prayers and financial support. I can always tell when the prayers of the saints are being lifted up on our behalf as we minister here.

I had some travel challenges on Tuesday. Because of the snow in Dallas, American Airlines flights to Dallas were cancelled or delayed to the point that I would be unable to make connections in Miami to my Lima flight. AA’s immediate solution was to delay my arrival in Lima until Wednesday. I explained I was doing a conference and needed to arrive that day, so they booked me on a Delta flight through Atlanta. Not only did the flight itself work out well, but I wound up with empty seats beside me on both legs of the flight, giving me room to stretch out and sleep, at least a little. I was bringing a keyboard for Pastor Jose Navarro, and had some minor difficulty at customs, but it is amazing what traveling in a clerical collar will do to facilitate things. I was passed through with no import duty on the keyboard.

Waiting to greet me at the airport were our Peru kids, the Mecas and Maria Momojara, and Pastor Julio Romero, our host on this trip. Pastor Bill Rogers’ flight was delayed, and once he arrived we loaded up and headed for the hotel, arriving about 2:30 am, in bed about 3 (yawn).

Wednesday Pastor Bill and I spend the afternoon with our first Peru kids, Jose and Raquel Vicente and grandkids Jose Andres and Maria Angelica. Went to the mall so Raquel could do a little shopping, and then chilled at Chili’s for a couple hours. It was great being with them. Raquel left Thursday for the US. (Hope her itinerary can include a trip to AR.) Then Wednesday night the conference ministry team attended the service at Comudidad de Fe (Community of Faith), where John Croissant spoke on tapping in to the cross to receive all that God has promised. John is from Tulsa, where he teaches at Victory Bible Institute. His son-in-law, Josh Waggoner is the fourth member of the team. Josh brings an extensive background in youth ministry to the table. Together the four of us are making a great team.

The conference began at 3:00 yesterday. Josh ministered in the opening session on three things you can do to take your church or ministry to the next level. Those are: 1)overcome fear; 2) train up the next generation of leaders; and 3) stay focused.

I followed in the second session with Overcoming Challenges in Your Marriage. The number one challenge: remembering your ministry is not more important than your marriage…in fact your first ministry after God is your spouse, then your children, then the church. There was a significant response at the end, with many coming forward, including several who confessed they had made ministry their number one priority over God. Most acknowledged that they needed to reprioritize and put their families ahead of their ministries. One prayed to receive Christ, which of course, is the number one ministry in the universe!\

Last night was graduation for the first year Victory-Peru students. John Croissant’s graduation message was from Ephesians 1, and challenged the graduates to hook up to the power of God to fulfill the ministry. Sixteen first-year graduates received their diplomas. Following graduation ceremony the ministry team laid hands on the grads and prayed over them.

Today Pastor Bill and John will speak in the afternoon session. I’ll bring the graduation message for the second-year Victory-Peru graduates.

Pastor Bill and I have known each other and have been friends for nearly thirteen years, but we’ve never had as much time together as we are getting this week. It’s great having this week with him as we work toward strengthening the bond that now exists through the mergers of Destiny Church and Word of Life Fellowship. God orchestrated this time together before we even thought about merging. He’s so good!

Again, thanks for partnering with us. More later.

Living His Destiny,

Jim