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The Baileys in
Argentina
Aftershock Gram
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Dear Grammars,
I wanted to get off a quick note to you guys asking you to pray for my
trip tomorrow to visit our church plant in
Curicó,
Chile. As you
know, a couple of weeks ago they suffered a very devastating earthquake
and one of the areas most affected was the area where our church plant
is located. Thankfully, no one on our team or in the church there
suffered injuries or serious structural damage to their homes – although
there were definitely deaths in Curicó as well as many buildings
destroyed. I do know that some of the families of the church folks had
their homes destroyed.
There continue to be frequent and strong aftershocks and this continues
to affect the people there. Children are scared and many people are
understandably very nervous. Just today they had three aftershocks and
one registered over 7 on the Richter scale.
-
Pray
that our church there would know how to effectively share the love
of Christ and the hope and peace found only in Jesus during such a
difficult time.
-
Pray
that I would be able to minister to our church planting team and to
the developing church there in ways that would encourage, comfort
and give hope.
-
Pray
that I would have eyes to see and wisdom to discern practical ways
that we – and you – can help the people in
Chile
as they recover from what has been called one of the strongest
earthquakes anywhere in recorded history.
-
Pray
for protection for me as I travel. There is no way I will suffer in
such a few days what these dear folks have gone through. However,
strong aftershocks are predicted for the next few days so…pray for
safety in travel (by plane and bus) and peace of mind and heart – to
be able to focus on the hurting people there and to find ways to
minister to them in Jesus’ name.
I need you guys now – just like I always do – to be
faithful in prayer for me as I travel. In a very real way I represent
you and you go with me as you intercede before the Father. I love and
appreciate so many of you who faithfully ‘wrestle’ in prayer on our
behalf – whenever we ask for it and often when we don’t as well.
Thanks to those who prayed for the three big requests I shared in the
last Gram. God answered prayer giving us …great mission leadership
meetings, a significant and valuable time of study on my
doctoral degree and wonderful fellowship and spiritual unity in the
first-ever gathering of Latin American Regional Leaders.
YOUR PRAYERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
PLEASE DON’T STOP NOW…
Your fellow servant of our Great God,
Steve – for Wilma, too
The Baileys in Argentina
Important Summer in the City Gram
January 15, 2009
Dear Gaucho Gram Reader,
Greetings from hot and humid
Buenos Aires! Its 7:30 in the evening as I write
this and my office window is open wide. I’m wearing only shorts and
flip-flops and we’ve still got an hour or more of daylight. It is warm,
to say the least! We’ve been in general enjoying the summer so far but
sometimes the heat and humidity here in the city gets pretty nasty. I
know I can count on the sympathy of you folks in the north!
J
I wanted to share with you three important prayer requests for
the months of January and February as it relates to the ministry here in Latin America. One thing I’ve learned in my missionary
career…if it’s important…I gotta’ have people praying. That means YOU!
Important Meetings:
January 19-22 I’ll be at the GBIM Global Leadership Team retreat in Angola,
Indiana. As to the importance of this particular
set of meetings, I can’t really say it any better than my European
colleague Paul Klawitter did recently in a letter to those who pray for
his ministry, “In ways that took us by surprise and reminded us that He
is the One who gives us the growth, God realized GBIM’s
beginning-of-the-twenty-first-century objectives. Next week, therefore,
the leadership team will pray, reflect and dialogue about, around, over
and through the question, “What is God’s direction for us as a mission
for this new decade?” So…I really need you guys to pray for wisdom,
direction, unified insight and sensitive and listening hearts for all of
us during these meetings.
Important Study Time:
From January 25 through February 15 I am
taking what amounts to a mini-study sabbatical in Winona Lake, Indiana.
This is a first for me and it’s for the purpose of beginning serious
work on the final project for my Doctor of Ministry degree at Grace
Seminary. As many of you know, I’ve been chipping away at this for
several years now – taking isolated classes here and there when I can
fit them in. Now I’m at the point where I’ve finished my classes and
it’s time to crank out the final project. Also…as many of you who know
me best, sitting and studying for eight hours a day, every day, goes
waaaay against my natural inclinations so…I’d appreciate your prayers –
for perseverance and faithfulness. I really want to be done with this
thing by the end of the year.
Important Regional Leadership:
February 23 – 26 were having our first-ever
Latin American Regional Leader’s Retreat. This is really exciting
because at this encounter we’re gathering my ‘main-guys’ from all over
the region, guys I’ve asked you pray for in the past – Walter Testa who
works in Mexico and Central America, Bruce Triplehorn from Brazil and
Eduardo Pizzi, who is taking more and more responsibility in the
Southern Cone. Gary McCaman (leadership training), GBIM Executive
Director Dave Guiles and myself round out the list of those who’ll be
present in nearby
Pilar, Argentina
during those days. We want to talk about the vision each one of these
men has for Latin American and map out some future, unified direction
for the ministry in this part of the world. Please pray that we might
experience real unity of spirit, of purpose and of vision. God has moved
and continues to move in our midst – moving Latin Americans out on
ministry to reach their own countries for Christ as well as sending
their own to other places in the world to make disciples. What is the
role of GBIM in this movement? What can we do to cooperate with the Holy
Spirit of God as He does his work of calling out a people for His glory
in this part of the world? How can we best spend our time, energy and
resources to make the biggest impact for Christ that we can - in and
from
Latin America – before Jesus comes to take us home? We plan
to pray a lot, dream a lot and plan a lot. We need your prayers. God
hears the prayers of his people.
I am so thankful for your prayers and so honored and
privileged to serve together with you in His mission.
Steve
Christmas Gram
December 20, 2009
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Dear Gauchos,
Greetings from warm, sunny and very green
Buenos Aires! It’s hard not to brag this time of
year – especially with the snowstorms for you in the eastern U.S. Don’t
worry, you’ll have your chance to brag next June or so – which is the
equivalent to our December here in the Southern Hemisphere. Here’s
what’s happening with us these days:
Anticipating the Holidays
The Baileys are thankful this year that our daughter Erin and her
husband Chris are going to be with us for the holidays. As usual, we’ll
have all of the Americans on our missionary team here in
Buenos Aires over for Christmas Eve. We’ll have a
late barbecue (asado) and then set off fireworks with all of our
neighbors at midnight. It looks like we’ll have 16 adults and 7 children
here at our house so…it should be exciting! Next week for New Years
Eve…it’ll be the same ‘drill’ – only we’ll have some 20 or so dear
Argentine friends celebrating with us. I know…rough life. J
It’s all about Jesus. Everything we do, all year, should be with Him in
the center but…especially at this time of year I’m reminded that He is
the God who became man. He did it to die and pay the price for my sins,
the price I justly deserve to pay. His death and resurrection not only
provide me with forgiveness of sins but also give me hope and purpose
for this life. An eternity together with him (and with all the ones who
are His – that’s you!) await us. This should be a time of year like no
other – when heaven is flooded with the praises of His redeemed ones.
May that be the spirit he gives us this holiday season!
A heart full of praise and thanksgiving should always lead to a life of
obedience, of service to the One to whom we owe everything. In that
spirit I wanted to share with your Gaucho Grammers a few key…
Ministry Opportunities
In Chile
they’re having their Christmas program in the neighborhood community
center tonight. Pray with us that the Lord will give them good weather
and excellent opportunities to sow the gospel seed in the hearts of many
there in Curicó. Pray that our missionary team – Silva, Saez, Sepulveda
and Rebecca Wright – would be united in love and encouraged in spirit as
they serve Jesus there.
In Corrientes
the news is that the Kevin High family is now in the States for their
Home Ministries. Rejoice with us as they recently had their first
baptisms in the work there. Pray that the Lord would continue to build
His church in this needy city in northern
Argentina. Pray also for the High
family as they have a lot of new financial support to raise and not much
time to do it. They need to raise it before school starts in the fall
for their children here next March. Please pray with us for people to
join the Corrientes
team through their financial support. If the Lord speaks to your heart
about helping to shine the light in that dark place – I’d love to hear
from you and I’d be glad to tell you how to do it!
Jesus Muñoz, who lives in the Tampa, Florida area is now officially a part of our GBIM team in
Latin America. This is a brother who has been
used of God to plant some 17 Hispanic churches in the States. He is
without a doubt an extremely effective church planter and we’re thrilled
to have him on the team. He also is in need of increased financial
support to be able to support his family in a way that is worthy of a
servant of the Most High. Pray that the Lord would raise up more team
members for him – people who understand the strategic ministry
opportunity that so many Hispanics in the U.S.
represent for the people of God. The American church is not merely
sending folks (like us) to impact Latin America for Christ but…the
United States is rapidly becoming, and many would say already is PART OF
LATIN AMERICA. Will Christ’s church make the sacrifices necessary to
reach these folks with the gospel? One very tangible way to do it is to
become involved in Jesus’ ministry in South Florida.
If you are interested in knowing more about it – I’d love to tell you
how.
Please accept the Bailey family’s wishes for a merry Christmas and a
wonderful New Year as we continue to serve Him together. As always, we
love hearing from you and knowing how we can pray for you as well. We
are so thankful for the great team the Lord has given us. We are
thankful to our great God for YOU!
Love in Jesus,
Steve, Wilma and Melanie
Buenos Aires
Springtime Gaucho Gram
Dear Praying Friends,
Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere where Spring has most definitely
sprung! The trees and flowers are blooming, everything is turning green
and folks are spending much more time outside. I realize that for the
majority of you it’s exactly the opposite this time of year but…hey, you
gotta’ let the missionary brag once in awhile, right? There is a lot
happening these days– in a lot of different places – with a lot of
different people but it all has to do with our ministry together in
Latin America. That is, impacting Latin America for Christ
and eventually, the world from Latin America. Here’s a quick rundown of just a sampling
of significant ministry happenings and how you can pray:
Brazil
Wayne and Ellen Patton are
working hard as they seek to start up a ministry to reach the river
communities of the Amazon Region of northern
Brazil. They are seeking to use Bible
storying to reach these folks, the great majority of whom either do not
read or have difficulty absorbing written information. Please PRAY that
the Lord would prosper this ministry and that many would come to Christ.
You can check out a video having to do with this at
http://pattons.org.
Central
America
This month Walter Testa (National Ministry Partner
from Argentina serving in
Mexico) is leading a multinational team of
missionaries on an investigative and leadership training trip to
Nicaragua,
Honduras and Costa Rica.
We are excited about the opportunity the Lord has opened up for us to
work with some young, sharp key leaders in these countries. Please PRAY
that the Lord would give them a fruitful trip and that we’d soon be able
to report that new churches are being formed in
Central America
through the efforts of our teamwork, together with the power and grace
of our great God
Argentina
PRAISE the Lord with us for
the wonderful 100th anniversary celebration we had in Argentina in October. What a
fantastic time we had as we celebrated the Lord’s work over the years
and were challenged as to the responsibilities and challenge that the
future holds. You can see some pictures of this event at
http://ihra.org.ar
.
Bailey Family
It’s been awhile since I’ve
updated you on our family, so here goes: Wilma and I are doing well and
looking forward to traveling together to our works in
Uruguay and Chile
in the coming weeks. Please PRAY that we’d be an encouragement to these
dear folks. It is great when we get to travel together and I feel my
work as mentor of these teams is greatly enhanced by my wife’s presence.
We also hope to squeeze in a couple of weeks of vacation after
Thanksgiving. Melanie continues to work and study here in
Buenos Aires
and lives at home with us. It seems hard to believe…but our ‘baby’ just
had her 24th birthday. Tim and Casie are still in
California
and Tim is about halfway finished his training at the
Police
Academy of the
California Highway Patrol while Casie is coaching the High School
cheerleader team. Chris and Erin look forward to graduating this next
year Erin from Medical school and Chris with his degree in
Graphic Design. We’re excited to have them visiting us this Christmas
and New Years.
What’s new with you guys? We’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for praying.
Steve and Wilma
August Gram
August 24, 2009
Dear Grammers,
I trust things are going well where you are. It was good to see many of
you at EQUIP ’09 and it was good to celebrate 100 years of GBIM’s
ministry in that country together with you.
This has been a busy season of work and traveling for us here on the
field. I know that for many of you it has been vacation time but for us
in the Southern Hemisphere it’s been anything but a vacation! Here are
some highlights of what the Lord’s been doing in some areas of
Latin America, along with how you can pray:
Chile
– Paperwork has been completed to officially recognize our work in
Curicó before the Chilean government. This is a BIG DEAL as the church
continues to grow and – by God’s grace – multiply in coming years.
Please pray for God’s wisdom as to where/when and with whom to start our
next work there.
Argentina
– Last weekend we held our annual Southern Cone Church Planter’s
Conference and it was a wonderful success. Approximately 70 church
planters and leaders of churches who want to plant new churches from Argentina, Uruguay,
Chile and Paraguay gathered near Buenos Aires for a weekend of challenging
messages and precious fellowship. Here’s how our teammates Dave and Ruth Ann Martin summed up the weekend:
Logistically, things went well.
Arrow prayers were shot up and answered when we hit snags. The
weather was unusually pleasant for this time of year. God kept
everyone safe in their travels and helped them arrive at hard-to-find
Parque Alianza. (And we think everyone has arrived back home
safely!).
Most importantly,
God was there!
We sensed His Spirit moving during the worship times, informal sharing,
and especially through the teaching.
The theme was Serving Faithfully in the midst of
Suffering and Crises, and it was clear that many were experiencing the
hard realities of the topic. In addition to trials in their
families and ministries, several had encountered obstacles as they
prepared to attend the Conference. We heard comments like,
“The effort to get here was worth it. I needed to be here.”
PRAY that we all continue to lay hold of the
principles shared: to accept suffering as from God’s wise and
loving hand; to cling to the stabilizing and unchanging truth of His
Word; to recognize crises as opportunities for personal purifying
and spiritual growth, and even as doorways to new initiatives in
ministry.
Mexico
– I’d like you to pray about an important meeting I’ll be involved with
on the Mexican border THIS WEEK with many key leaders and ministries. It
has to do with a joint effort among many like-minded folks to work as a
team to establish a Bible Institute in Ensenada. Without going into details and
without assigning blame…as you may or may not know, there are many
churches and ministries that get involved in ministry along the
US/Mexican border due to the geographical closeness. Unity has not
always characterized the way things work there and we believe that for
the Lord to be really honored, it must. PRAY for this significant
meeting – for wisdom, unity (within diversity) of purpose and spirit and
for the Lord to be glorified as His children seek to work together in
harmony. I really need your prayers on this one….now, fervently.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Well, that’s a brief update and some fresh ‘prayer
fodder’. Thanks for standing with us as we serve Him here. I’d love to
hear from you.
Steve – for Wilma, too
6-25-09
Dear Gaucho Grammers,
Thanks so much for praying for my time in Mexico. The tacos were great
but…no…they weren’t the highlight of the trip – contrary to what those
who know me and my love for food might think!
I had a great time with our missionary team there but without a doubt
the highlights had to do with all that happened at the
Mentor’s Retreat and Leader’s Conference.
Below I’ve translated and copied Walter Testa’s
letter to his supporters and I’ve also sent along some pictures.
Enjoy and rejoice with what God is doing through you in Latin America!
Steve
Dear Fellow Missionaries in
Mexico,
Thank you for your prayers.
On June 10-12 we had our first
Mentor’s Retreat.
This is the
vision of this team of
Mentors:
Serve
in unity with the purpose of starting new churches that multiply and in
which leaders of impact will be trained. From these churches we will
seek to send committed workers to impact Latin America for Christ and
the world from Latin America.
This is the
commitment this team
of mentors is making:
We will seek to recruit, train, send and shepherd
missionary teams to work in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Our focus is to establish new churches in major
cities as well as in small communities, and our priority will be to do
this among the least-reached.
On June 12-14 we had our
Fourth Latin America Leadership Conference. These men and women are
focusing on starting new churches that will in turn multiply themselves.
There were 65 leaders from 12 different locations in
Mexico,
United States,
Honduras
and
Guatemala.
(See five photos above)
During
these nine (almost) years that we’ve been in Mexico,
you folks have been by our side, supporting us in so many different
ways.
Today, with this new vision the Lord has given us, we
want to keep counting on that same support and hope for even more
because those words of Jesus: “The harvest is great but the workers are
few…” see more real now than ever.
On the side of victory,
Walter Testa
Grace
Brethren International Missions
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