Prayer Needs for Mission Partners

12/14/2025: Please pray for Carlos and Suzanne Tejada who are serving in Cartago, Costa Rica with ReachGlobal. Carlos leads a program which teaches hermeneutics to pastors and church leaders, working closely with indigenous pastors who are planting churches among their own people groups. Many Cabécar pastors have little to no formal theological training, and Carlos believes healthy churches can only grow when leaders are first equipped. In 2025, he trained eight pastors and leaders from different villages, and in 2026, the program will continue with hopes of training four more. Suzanne primarily serves at home with their family while also connecting with local pastors to promote Casa Viva, a Christian foster care agency.

• In October, Carlos joined the EquipLAC team in Uruguay for training and meetings with local pastors, exploring ways to support them. Uruguay is considered the least religious country in Latin America; over a century ago, the government removed religious references from holidays—Christmas, for example, is now celebrated as Family Day. While there, Carlos led a workshop on contextualization and preached at a local church. Pastor Daniel encouraged him to return to speak more on contextualization and to connect with additional pastors from Montevideo.
• Alesa smoothly transitioned to a new school and celebrated her 14th birthday, while Elijah finished 6th grade and turns 12 just two days after graduation.
• Praises for the opportunity to share about Casa Viva at our church. 
• Our faithful group of partners who support us through prayer, financial partnership and encouragement are a blessing to us.
• Pray as Carlos passes on the responsibility for the ministry in the indigenous region of Nimari to a local church in Cartago, may they will be effective in making disciples.
• Pray for a good family time over the kids' school break.

11/9/2025: Please pray for Keith and Judy Anderson. The Andersons are “retired staff” of EFCA ReachGlobal and ProMETA who equip Spanish speaking leaders around the globe. The programs include both formal and informal training using both online technologies and face-to-face teaching methods. The majority of the students study in one of the two master’s programs: Biblical Theology or Christian leadership. Leaders in the program live in 24 countries around the world. Please pray for:

• Ministry leaders who are searching for a ProMETA type equipping experience.
• Current students (time, finances, ministry, family).
• Strength and stamina in the coming weeks.
• Preparation for the upcoming doctoral module (Nov 2025–May 2026).
• Fruitful connections in upcoming church visit.
• Wisdom and grace for Dr. Javier Sepúlveda as he leads ProMETA and adjusts to life in Ecuador.
• Growth in Javier’s financial support (currently just over 50%).
• Guidance for us as we plan ministry opportunities in 2026.

11/2/2025: Please pray for Francesco and Manuela Grassi. Francesco and Manuela are missionaries with Mesa Global and are serving at the Italian Evangelical Bible Institute (IEBI) in Rome. As a missional scholar for the Theological Education Initiative (a branch of the UWM), Francesco is involved in the ministry of theological education, both residentially as well as in the various decentralized schools around Italy. Together with Manuela, they also serve as mentors, providing counseling and hospitality to students living away from home. Their passion and prayer are for Italian believers to recover the importance of a sound and holistic biblical formation for the life and witness of the church in Italy. IBEI (Rome) is intentionally and concretely invested in this regard. Here is an update and prayer requests from the GrassisPraise God Francesco successfully defended his dissertation at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on October 6th via zoom. 

• Praise the Lord for God’s work in Sofia’s and Naomi’s lives and their decision to be baptized.  
• The last week of June, the Grassi's were able to hold a day camp at IBEI with about 27 kids. It was a blessing to do this as a family.
• Please pray for these children from day camp and their families—for the seed planted in them be protected from the evil one, and in due time it may grow and bear fruit.
• Praise God for a second successful “study vacation.” As a more educational experience, this year we chose to explore the figure of The Apostle Peter in Scripture, memory, and art. Study sessions alternated with historical walks in the heart of Rome and Pompei, group discussions, and daily meditations. It was a “family experience”—a multigenerational camp where young and older people, singles and couples, shared, prayed, and studied alongside one another. 
• Pray for Francesco as he continues to be involved in several teaching trips throughout Italy.
• Francesco's recent meeting with other church leaders wasn’t very encouraging. The leaders want to consider several things before starting a new project. They have another meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Please pray they will reach an agreement on how to take the next steps.

10/19/2025: Please pray for Cheque and Hope Garcia. Cheque and Hope spent 9 years working in Monterrey Mexico with Back2Back Ministries. Back2Back Ministries is an international Christian non-profit organization dedicated to being a voice for orphans. In 2018, they began the process of setting up a Back2Back presence in the Dominican Republic.

10/5/2025: Please pray for our Youssouf and Awa Dembele. The Dembeles are contributing to the work of the church in Bamako, Mali and throughout the world through leadership in the local church, seminary, evangelical associations, and bible translation projects. Youssouf shares the following: 

• In May, Youssouf taught the topic: Who is Jesus Christ to a Women Camp that gathered more than 1000 Christian women.
• Awa was able to attend the graduation ceremony of their daughter Eliette. Many thanks to the Petersons and the Turners who visited Awa and Eliette and to all the community of the Church for your token of love Awa received. She stayed with Eliette for 2 months.
• They are very grateful to the Lord for the coming of Pastor Luka and Jemima Traore and their family. He is a very young Pastor. The Church Counsel wants Youssouf to mentor him beyond 2026.
• Thankful to the Lord for the two books Youssouf wrote and published this year: A commentary on the Book of Ezekiel and a Summary of major theological themes. The Bible translation ministry continues with the plan to complete the first Parkwa Bible in Cameroon in early 2026. The revision of the Bamanan Bible in Mali is getting close to completion. He continues to work with the Konabere and the Maninka, both teams working on the Old Testament.
• Youssouf’s assistant, Pastor Etienne Diarra, is still unable to walk after he went through surgery in October 2018. Please continue to pray for healing.
• Continue to pray for their kids that they may walk with the Lord and be His witnesses.
• Pray for Youssouf as he is currently in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He will be attending the United Bible Societies Global Ministry Team’s Meeting.
• Pray for Youssouf as he was chosen to be the keynote Speaker at the General Assembly of the Association of Evangelicals of Mali on October 28-31, 2025.

9/28/2025: Please pray for our missionaries Wayne & Barbara Brink and Gerry Buchholz, who work with Cru and the Jesus Film. Since the Jesus Film was created by Cru in 1979, the film has been translated into over 2,100 languages around the world and continues to play a key role in fulfilling the Great Commission. You can view the Jesus Film HERE for free. It is also available in different languages. Pray through people you know who might be interested in seeing the film and have them over or share the link letting them know the film is available in their language (if applicable). Please pray God would guide ongoing translation projects and continue to use the film to communicate the gospel to those who have not yet heard. We have two Mission Partners involved with the Jesus Film in different roles of support.

• News from Wayne and Barbara Brink:
  • Four men came to disrupt a Jesus Film showing. They sat through the whole two-hour film, but instead of disrupting the film at its conclusion, they took off their vests filled with explosives, walked forward, kneeled, asking Jesus to forgive them and wanting to become new believers in our Savior! These kinds of stories are very frequent showing God is truly desiring to reach our lost World.
  • Praise God Wayne and Barbara are doing very well. Pray they continue to grow in their thankfulness to everything God is doing in their lives.
  • Fall is always their busiest time of year. Pray they stay healthy, focused, and for God to give them insight into doing their best and not just good things.
• News from Gerry Buchholz:
  • Pray God will continue to lead and show the doctors the answers and give complete healing and protection from the enemy for the husband of a couple Gerry has been coaching.
  • Praise God Gerry was asked to briefly coach a young Taiwanese graduate from the U of TX who was attempting to raise support to be an intern on their digital innovation team. She is now fully funded and has moved to Orlando to begin her internship. 
  • Praise God both of Gerry’s hips are doing very well after replacement surgeries this year.

8/10/2025: Please pray for Mike and Ann Wheeler. The Wheelers continue to serve with Serving in Mission (SIM) as part of the US Home Based Team and continue their international ministry from Wascea, MN. As of May, they have been in the US for two years! Occasionally, Mike will travel to Cochabamba, Bolivia or Latin America to work with the seminaries and pastors.

• Mike's ministry has become totally virtual except for when he attends a conference or travels to visit a seminary. He misses teaching and interaction with students but is grateful he can still touch base with his previous Seminary colleagues from time to time.
•  A lot of Mike's time over the last several months has been focused on preparing or adapting manuals and other documents for the new regional theological education association, AFTH. He hopes to have a draft for approval by the AFTH board soon.
• A team visited the Bible Seminary in Cochabamba, Bolivia in April. The Seminary still has some work to do, but it might be done in a couple of months. The written report from the other seminary in Santa Cruz, Bolivia is being reviewed, and if Mike and the others are happy with it, they can schedule an on-sight visit in a few months. Please pray for the preparation and the actual visit. This will be the first time Mike has led an accreditation team.
• Ann is teaching English to Latinos. While teaching English has been fun, it is also challenging. Having learned both Spanish and Quechua, Ann knows how important it is to have "safe" opportunities to practice and make mistakes. So, she has focused more on helping them practice English and less on the grammar. It has, however, provided opportunities to witness to those who do not know the Lord and to mentor those who do. There may be an opportunity to teach English in a more formal setting; we will know more in September. Please pray it will be clear if this is something from Him.
• Ann oversees one of SIM's Home-Based missionary teams, but she has not yet met any of her team in person. Please pray for her as she adjusts to what the Lord places in front of her.
• In the Latino ministry at our church, we have been encouraged to see some new people begin to attend the Sunday evening Bible study which is studying the Gospel of Luke. Please pray for this study as we try to reach out to those who have previously attended sporadically and to develop new relationships.