Surprises! 
Do you like surprises? If you’re a detailed planner, maybe not? But what if it is God doing the surprising? One of my favourite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 16:9, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (NIV) This year has again taught us to hold on to plans lightly because God might have a surprise in store.
A Surprise Blackout
The most recent experience of this was on our trip to Latin America (Oct. 14-22). I (Bill) had planned for three days of meetings with about 30 pastors. The first day was just informal introductions. The second day was a full of productive training and planning time. Praise the Lord!
The next morning Coralia and Haydee, the denominational leaders, asked to meet privately. Their question? Is it OK if we send all the pastors home? The government has asked that all school and university classes and all cultural activities be canceled to ease the strain on the power grid, and there’s a possible hurricane coming.
After a quick emergency meeting most of the pastors headed for home—hoping to make it before the hurricane hit. Shortly after, the whole power grid collapsed anyway. There was nothing to do but sit in the dark. But were we defeated? No! Haydee invited everyone left to meet for a time of worship, singing, prayer, games, and laughter. People’s stomachs hurt from laughing so hard.
It was a drastic change of plans, but what a blessing to be there with our brothers and sisters in Christ, experiencing their life and reality. What an encouragement to experience joy despite circumstances and find strength in unity. We went to teach but learned something new.
Surprising Interest in Missions
I was surprised this summer when Wolfgang Binder called from Lacombe Baptist noting that the church is taking a renewed interest in missions. They had created a Missions Committee and were asking how they could pray for and support us financially. I replied, “We can do better than that. We can come speak in your church.”
It turned out we were available on the only Sunday that they needed someone. We had a great Sunday—I was surprised by how full of questions, youth, families, and seniors were about missions. 
The invitation to come to Latin America was a surprise in and of itself and allowed us to arrange to travel through Toronto, which gave us the opportunity to visit supporting churches: Yorkminster Park, Mississauga City Baptist (MCBC), Wyoming Baptist, and John Chan. Again, there was surprising interest in missions. About 30 people showed up at Yorkminster Park for an evening meeting full of questions. MCBC had Sheldon Dyck in El Salvador even as we were visiting Richard Root and his church in Mississauga. In Wyoming, we were able to reconnect with “short termers” who had visited us in Indonesia: Daniel and Miriam Konzelmann, Frank and Gail Gustin. A surprise bonus was that Joe Bridi was able to accompany us to share personal news about the war in Lebanon and what Baptists are doing there to help.
Upcoming Surprises?
Right now, I’m making plans for an upcoming summit on Discipleship, March 25-28, 2025, in Bogotá, Colombia. I’m not the key organizer but CBM has created a project that gives me some funds to help my key leaders in Discipleship and Pastoring of Pastors (DPP) to attend this summit. This summit is looking to bring together 1000 leaders from 20 countries, representing youth, women, denominational leaders, leaders of discipling organizations, funders—all who are involved in discipleship and in positions of influence to advance of movement in discipleship in some way. I’m helping my top leaders in the five countries I’m working in to attend.
A lot of planning is going into this, as you can imagine, but what I’m looking forward to is God’s surprises that come out of the summit. It should generate an incredible amount of networking and inspiration, and I’m looking forward to what God will do when that number of “disciplers” get together in one place for three days of interactions.
Surprises for Janice and the Emmanuel/Children with a Future Ministry
I am more the extrovert than Janice—it’s usually my job to write these updates, and I can report on numbers of countries, pastors, and meetings, etc., but people are generally more interested in what Janice supports. I’m not surprised—she supports Goretty’s ministry with children and mothers in the “red light” district of Cochabamba. It has a proven track record of giving children from a rough part of town a better future, along with giving parents support in finding new work.
In a recent letter to Janice, Goretty wrote, “The children receive health support (medical, dental, ophthalmological care), daily meals, support in education and in Christian principles and values. They also receive complementary support that consists of learning music, sports, painting, gastronomy. This support is therapeutic and very necessary in the lives of children and adolescents because of everything they experience. The most important thing in the Foundation is that the children hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and know the Lord through his Word and the experience in the Foundation.”
The Foundation has acquired a new property, and the team have begun construction. Key prayer concerns revolve around increasing costs due to inflation and the health of Laurita who has been battling leukemia.
Pray For: 
- Pastors in Latin America, specifically Haydee, Coralia, and others who press on, hoping in the Lord, supporting each other, and rejoicing in every blessing. Pray for circumstances to change for the better in the country and with other countries, so that people have electricity, water, and adequate food. Pray for the three new groups planning to form Pastoring of Pastors groups, that conditions would allow for their formation.
- Goretty at the Emmanuel Foundation as she continues to look after the operations of the daily activities as well as overseeing the development of the new property. Pray especially for Laurita, who continues to battle leukemia, and is getting discouraged after such a long battle.
- The CBM Global Gathering of all staff and associates in Frankfurt, Germany, from November 25 – December 1. Pray for team building, networking, and inspiration that can emerge from this special gathering. Pray for myself (Bill) as I speak in a local church (in English translated to Chinese) on the Sunday.
- For Canadian Baptist Ministry’s 150th anniversary celebrations, happening throughout this year.
- For our financial support. It doesn’t look like we’ll be retiring any time soon, so with the passing of some key supporters, we’re needing to top up our support.
