Category: Stefan

Exciting news: Stefan and Marie are coming to South Africa at the start of June. We can’t wait to reconnect with you and our family. 

It will feel very different: Kenneth is now employed at a surveying company in Florida and Monica is doing an eight-week summer outreach project with our organization in California. 

Here is our tentative plan:

News From America:

Since both of us had some life-changing experiences at Student conferences, we find this news encouraging. From the end of December through the beginning of February, our ministry hosted 6,809 students at 12 Student Conferences. 

The attendance of these conferences was up by 32% from previous years. The Northeast conference (includes Boston where Monica is studying) hadn’t happened since 2010. Our staff members made a faith decision to restart the conference and planned for 250 students to attend. They had to use additional hotels and an overflow room when more than 650 students attended!

Praise the Lord!

Prayer Requests:

1. Pray for our trip to South Africa – for all the details to fall into place.
2. Pray for Stefan’s Mom. She had two bad falls and two surgeries in April. We hope to be of help when we are in South Africa.
3. Pray for Marie as she leads the project of moving our 16,000 staff members onto a new communications platform this month.
4. Pray for Stefan, he is the conference director for our global church planters conference next year. There are a lot of details to keep track of, and he needs a good team to assist him.
5. Pray for Kenneth and Monica to walk closely with the Lord.

Celebrating Monica’s birthday at a Mexican restaurant.

Going on a mission project during our student years was instrumental in cementing our callings into full-time missionary work. Stefan went to Botswana and the Caprivi Strip in 1991, and Marie to Bulgaria in 1992. Trusting the Lord to provide for those trips gave us a good taste of the Lord’s faithfulness and how He uses other people as part of that journey. 

It is fun to see students still learning that lesson. Naomi, a student involved with our ministry here in the United States, talked to a friend after his mission outreach. She saw he was noticeably changed and thought, “I should consider this.” But when she found out she would need to fundraise for it, the fear was just too much. 

Later, she heard another student sharing about one of her own fears. Instead of giving up, this girl leaned into her fear, saying, “Jesus is worth it.” Naomi decided to trust God in the face of her fears. This past July, she did her first mission project. During a recent student conference, Naomi passionately challenged other students to invest their summer in missions: “Go! Even if you have to do it scared…because Jesus is worth it!”

May her challenge also motivate us to “Go! Because Jesus is worth it.”

Prayer Requests:

1. Praise the Lord for thousands of students preparing for mission projects this year.
2. Marie is attending our Global Executive Team meetings in Panama this week. Please pray for good meetings, stamina, and good health. She is feeling a bit under the weather.
3. Stefan’s Mom needs to move out of her current accommodation, and we are praying for a place in a retirement village.  Please pray for a solution.

Enjoying an African sunset

Greetings from South Africa!

Since 2000, we have been serving in various operational and administrative roles to accelerate the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Sometimes, the work required is to improve the communication system or the finance system to get money to our missionaries or to help train our missionaries to incorporate digital tools in their day-to-day ministry.

Last week in Johannesburg, we had the wonderful opportunity to join 60 of our missionaries from around the world who are involved in operational and digital strategies for a leadership conference.

There were several “wow” moments for us:

• Reunion with leaders we have relationships with dating back to 2005.
• In 2019, Marie was part of a leadership development cohort of 12 women working in digital ministry. Six of the ladies were at this meeting, and several of us met face-to-face for the first time. 
• Meeting new leaders in person who we have only seen in Zoom meetings
• Over the years, we have been involved in several digital initiatives to help the gospel spread. It was a blessing to hear reports of the impact and how our work’s training and examples have helped several countries start their own initiatives.
• This is the first time Marie is back in South Africa in summer – seeing the Jacaranda trees in full bloom and the agapanthus flowers starting to come out is a treat!
• We visited our South African office and recognized that Stefan was instrumental in recruiting and training several staff members still serving in operational roles.

Six of the Digital Dames

Explaining our work group’s findings

Praying together

Taking our friends from Panama, Philippines, Trinidad and Tebago, East Asia and USA to Nando’s

Most days, we are in the trenches, solving problems and helping support our missionaries worldwide. Last week provided a rare opportunity to look back on many years of service and experience the impact of our work. You have made it possible for us! Thank you for your part in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Your missionaries

In nearly 30 years of ministry, we have rarely seen this level of commitment to discipleship and spiritually building into the lives of others as we witnessed in Finland. 

A quick photo with Anni and Pyry. Marie is wearing a marino wool jersey knitted by Pyry’s sister for her.

Fifty Finns, mostly under the age of 30, gathered for the Easter weekend to learn skills to help others grow in their faith and multiply their lives into more people. They are the leaders of small church communities from around Finland. 

Although we were there to lead two workshops – which went very well because of your prayers – we felt like we were there to learn from them. Here are a few things we learnt:

1. “Tell me your Jesus story.”

Every conversation started with, “Tell me your Jesus story.” Immediately, each conversation went to a profound level of sharing and learning how God had intervened in each person’s life. It was also a celebration of God’s miraculous restoration of people – some coming out of very dark backgrounds.

2. Be fully present

We hardly saw any cell phones; we learned that before the weekend, they had decided to put their phones aside to be fully present with one another. It was so refreshing!

Marie leading her workshop – look at the beautiful ocean view in the background.

3. Ask good questions to grow.

The Finns take their meals seriously, we had five a day, but they consider two as snacks. At every meal, participants came up to us and asked questions. They wanted to grow in their faith and help others grow. They even made notes while you were answering.

4. Sauna and Splash

Sauna time is an essential part of Finnish discipleship. Deep conversations take place while sweat is pouring down your body. The retreat center had two saunas, and every night the men gathered in one and the women in the other. The fact that everyone is nude may contribute to the openness of the conversations. The sauna next to the sea also has the added benefit of cooling you down in frigid water when you get too hot. Monica received high praise for staying in the freezing water for 45 seconds! Her mother only got knee-deep.

We left Finland so encouraged! We know the Lord is raising people from every nation to bring the gospel, and witnessing these fifty people in action, we have great hope for a large harvest from Finland.

It was beautiful but freezing! Imagine how cold the sea felt.

Please pray for the following:

1. Pyry and Anni Winter as they lead this movement in Finland.
2. That the Finnish leaders manage their time well, having full-time jobs and leading their churches.
3. Monica as she makes her final university decision. She has narrowed down her choices between two universities.

Retreat center close to Turku

Easter greetings from a beautiful and freezing Finland!

This Easter weekend, Stefan is returning to the gorgeous retreat center pictured above with Marie and Monica. 

Stefan wrote in our November 2021 newsletter, “A personal highlight was visiting a young pastor couple in Finland that we have been coaching over the past few years but have never gotten to visit. Stefan meets with the husband, Pyry, and Marie with the wife, Anniina. They are experimenting with a model of church planting that is attracting young Finns who are church-less, but looking for authentic faith. It is exciting to see young families finding Jesus and being obedient to His call to make disciples.”

They invited us to join them as speakers at their retreat this weekend.

They expect about 50 participants. Each participant will have the opportunity to choose 1 of 3 workshops on Friday and from another 1 of 3 on Saturday. Stefan is presenting his workshop on Friday, and Marie on Saturday. These participants are members of the 15 churches planted in the last few years. 

It will be the first time Marie will meet Anniina in person, so exciting.

Freezing in Finland

Prayer Requests:

1. For each of the workshops that we will present during the Easter retreat. Pray for a good connection with our audience and that the lessons learned will accelerate the spiritual growth and fruitfulness of the participants.
2. For safe travels while we are in Europe. Next week we will visit Marie’s sister and her family in England before our return.
3. For Monica as she decides which university to attend. She was accepted at eight and will visit one offering her a good scholarship from 16-18 April in Chicago. She needs to make her final decision by 1 May.