Date: March 10, 2006

Prayer Requests

1. Gary has proposed some significant changes to the way MTW has trained Latin Americans to be church planters and pastors. Many of our teams and national associates throughout the region are asking for his help in implementing these changes. Pray for these teams as they seek to make their training design more Christ-centered. This is one of the top needs in Latin America.
2. Some teams have also asked Gary for help in contextualizing the gospel. How to you communicate it in a way that doesn't sound more North American than biblical? How can it reach the heart of the people of a given culture?
3. Pray for more people to join Gary on this Latin America Resource Team. We lost two good men to other important ministries. Right now there are three, and a fourth thinking about joining during the summers. The need and demand are already more than the team can accomplish. We need some full time missionaries who are committed to our vision. We could also use people who share our vision and can help on a short-term basis, or periodically.
4. Pray that Gary will soon finish the transcription of interviews from his first three research visits to a church-plant in Latin America. There are about 8 hours of recorded data left. This data will need to be analyzed before a fourth and fifth visits. Then the last two chapters of the dissertation need to be written. Finally, he will need to defend the thesis. Hopefully this will be done by next fall.
5. Pray for Gary and Phyllis as they begin the nomadic life next year (after the dissertation is defended). They plan live and work with different MTW teams throughout Latin America, for periods of a month to 8 months at a time, depending on the need. In other words, they will not move in to any one place permanently. The idea here is to not be absorbed into any one place, and be free to move around. On the other hand, we want to stay long enough that we can get somewhat involved in the minsitry in a given place in order to understand the situation better.
6. This itinerate ministry will require temporary housing wherever they stay. This is not always easy to come by. It will also require an increase in their support since more travel will be involved.
7. Pray for Audrey, the youngest (17) who will be entering Covenant College just about the time Gary and Phyllis begin this itinerate lifestyle. This could be a difficult transition. Micah (23) is looking for a better job (hospital translator) to be able to pay off his college loans. Seth (21) is planning to go to grad school at Washington University in St. Louis (in physics) in the fall of 2006. Andrea (20) will be a junior next fall at Covenant College.
8. This weekend Phyllis and I will travel to St. Louis to visit a supporting church (leaving Saturday AM).

G.T. Waldecker