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The Mission of God
- If mission flows from the character and nature of God, it cannot be neglected by the church.
- Since the mission is of God, God will equip people for the task.
- The “Mission of God” enables Christian missionaries to understand themselves under God’s sovereignty. (Phil 2:3, Jn 7:18)
- The “Mission of God” implies sacrifice.
- This perspective enables the Christian communicator to recognize that because the mission is God’s, it will succeed.
pg.19
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October 2025 Prayer Letter
Imagine never having seen a Bible in your own language. How would that affect your faith? This was the reality for the Amahuaca people. Our dear friend and partner, Wilber Huillca, labored among them for nearly five years so they could finally receive God’s Word in their mother tongue.
Recently, we had the privilege of receiving two large boxes of these newly printed Bibles along with a visit from Wilber. Together, we traveled by river to a native village and experienced the joy of presenting the Scriptures to them for the very first time. It was an unforgettable and deeply moving moment for everyone involved.
Meanwhile, Abigail and a friend took to the streets to sell salchi-papas—a popular Peruvian dish of hotdogs and fried potatoes—to raise funds for a Peruvian missionary family serving in a restricted-access Muslim country. I’m so proud of our teens! So far, they’ve raised nearly one thousand soles—about two weeks’ wages for a local worker.
Speaking of our youth, one college-aged young man named Harry has been a wonderful testimony of God’s grace. Coming from a broken home, he faced many struggles when he first began attending church a few years ago.
Yet, the Lord has transformed his life. Now, Harry brings visitors to church almost every week and recently shared that he feels called to ministry. May God continue to raise up faithful laborers for His harvest.
In early September, we welcomed a litter of puppies into our home—only to face tragedy the very next day. A worker accidentally disturbed a bees’ nest, and in the chaos, the bees stung all of us. Sadly, our dog and her pups suffered the worst, as they were confined and couldn’t escape.
We lost the mother dog and several pups, but we’re thankful no human lives were lost. Moments like these remind us how fragile life is. Are we truly living for the Lord?
Shortly afterward, I traveled to Cusco to teach once again at the Bible college. Enrollment has been declining, and we are praying earnestly that God would raise up a new generation of leaders for Peru —where the spiritual need remains great.
While in Cusco, I also had the opportunity to preach a special service where several people expressed their need for salvation.
Back home, we’ve seen encouraging growth: several new members have joined the church, others have been saved, and baptism classes are about to begin. We are also thankful for progress on our house construction, though it has come with challenges.
After pouring an expensive concrete roof—hoping for something durable and low-maintenance—we were disappointed to discover major leaks with the first rains. Please pray that we can resolve this issue, complete the remaining work, and move in within the next month.
Pray with Us:
- For the salvation of souls
- For the Lord to raise up a national pastor for the church
- For the unreached peoples of Peru
- For long-term teammates to join the ministry
- For continued progress on doctoral thesis work
Praise with Us:
- For new believers
- For new church members
- For an encouraging doctoral class
- For a growing teen ministry
- For continued progress in church planting
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Exciting progress!
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Is ministry getting harder?
Here are a couple of important questions, with my personal responses. What would you say?
1. Do you think ministry is getting harder, and if so, why do you think it is getting harder to serve as ministry leaders today?
I believe that social media has caused greater numbers of extremely shallow friendships. It is possible to have thousands of online “friends” but not a single one who is close enough to talk to. I believe that men in general currently have a warped view of male friendships, exacerbated by the profligation of LGBTQ thinking, which has in some sense wrecked healthy male love (think David & Jonathan).
Additionally, I note that the internet has made it possible for anyone and everyone to hear “the best” speakers and pastors today, which pushes the average pastor to unfair comparisons, and feelings of inadequacy.
I think that the idolization of money and things pushes people to work more hours than necessary and spend less time with people who matter.
I see that the instant gratification of access to millions of videos on netflix, dish tv, youtube, and twitch etc. has made entertainment, amusement, and relaxation a greater and easier priority than ever before.
At the same time, one can learn nearly anything online, requiring almost no mentoring or “late-night appliance emergency” call to a friend or relative.
I also believe that the “snowflake” generation is a real phenomenon, in which younger people don’t have the fortitude built by doing hard things.
2. What can we do to help leaders who are struggling?
We need to look for, teach, and encourage strong, healthy, christ-centered friendships. These should occur within a minister’s church, and with other ministers in distant areas.
We need to “check-in” with our friends on a regular basis, and find others who will do the same for us.
We can work on writing more biblically sound resources, and make sure that they are widely available.
We need to have the mindset: Everyone needs a Paul (mentor), Barnabas (peer/friend), and Timothy (disciple)
I would like to share a couple of links to my friend, Dr. Daniel Berger. He has both psychology and Bible degrees, but does not promote integrationist ideas. He came to Peru and spoke for us a few months ago. He has a number of books and podcast episodes.
My application question for my minister friends: How do you personally seek out and cultivate strong friendships with church members, neighbors, or others in ministry?
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Q & A with the Fitzgeralds
Yes, that is our two story house in the picture, but that is not really the main subject of this post. I want to share a few questions that we recently received from a ministry in the US, and the subsequent answers we gave. So here goes nothing!
If you made it this far, you are to be congratulated! What further questions would you have asked? What else would you like to know?
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Far Up-River
We affectionally call this trip the BRT – this was a name given by one of our faithful medical professionals. I was trying to come up with a catchy title, and he said this was his normal moniker, simply meaning: Buddy’s River Trip. To be honest, the trip is not about me, it is about King Jesus. We want Him to be known and worshipped, and we push hard towards that goal with these expensive, difficult, and tiring trips. The work begins months in advance and continues long afterwards.
This year was just as difficult as always in regards to getting the authorizations. This year was different, however, because for the first time we had a Peruvian doctor with us. She “supervised” all of the medical activity, and was a great blessing to us!
This year we had big plans to begin our big river trip first thing Monday. However, we ended up having two major issues: One of our doctors was delayed, and the boat had motor-issues. This reminded us that our God often gives us “curve-balls” with the purpose of driving us back to Him. He wants us to depend on him, and not on ourselves.
We ended up going to the closest village first, using a different rented boat. God gave us a great day trip with 11 professions of faith!
We were loading vans and a 4×4 truck the next morning at 5am, and left shortly afterward. We had nearly an hour on a nice paved road and then turned onto a gravel trail which eventually lead us to the “port”.
This term must be used very loosely, because it is just a wider spot in the river where boats are tied, which happens to have a few buildings there.
We had hoped to make it to the top of the river, where the last village resides, but the boat was weighed down, and the river was fast. We ended up staying once again at a small settlement perched high on a hill overlooking the river. If you look closely you can see our 60 foot boat far below.
We held the medical clinic there that night, and saw several professions of faith, in addition to the gator meat that some of our team enjoyed.
The following days sort of blurred together, as we spent hours on the river, showed the love of Christ through medical attention, set up and took down our camps, and enjoyed good Christian fellowship.
Our last day was especially memorable however. The motor began to overheat due to a dying water-pump. It finally failed in a random place along the bank of the river. Imagine our surprise when Segundo, our boat-driver and church-member, announced that we were just around the bend from our port, and there was actually a trail!
Forrest and I leapt off the bow, and began jogging back to the port with the goal of finding someone to come tow our boat back. Thankfully it was less than 2 miles, and we were blessed to get a boat. To lighten the load, I had everyone else begin to walk back.
We really enjoyed seeing the sights and the wildlife!
We enjoyed our time together immensely, and had a great team dinner and team breakfast upon our return.
Our highlight was the support of our church-members serving as the evangelistic team, and the dozens of professions of faith during the week. May the Lord be praised!
Thank you for your prayers and support.
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Early Risers
The slight glow at the edge of the horizon quietly began to announce the soon-to-be apparent brilliant rays of the sun. The slow rotation of the earth on it’s axis gradually brought into view the ever brighter, ever warmer day in the jungle. This day was like many others in the jungle, as it appeared to have all intention of baking the local inhabitants in a sauna like steam bath, complete with a tremendous variety of plant life and an unparralled variety of insects.
The Amazon jungle is truly one of a kind. However, this day was different, because during our week long medical trip into the remote tropical river basin, it was the only day that did not begin with ominous clouds and/or steady rain.
Our family has been hosting medical campains in the Peruvian Jungle for over 15 years now, and each one of them has been special.
However, this has become our yearly winter-time clinic, and has been a great blessing not only to the people we visit, but to our own family.
Many of the members on this trip have come back over and over. We love them and they love us. This year one of our regulars was unable to come, and he was missed greatly!
The main purpose of the trip, however, is not to experience the vast quantity of beautiful flora and fauna, take an amazing jungle cruise, or see the Fitzgerald family. So why do we do this trip? There are several reasons:
- Most of the tribal peoples do not yet have access to good medical care
- This is an opportunity to see God answer prayer first-hand
- The trip is a unique path to disciple a Christian group
- It is an outlet to use skills and abilities for the kingdom
- The fellowship is a personal blessing and encouragement
- God could use it to call more laborers into His harvest
- Most importantly: many tribal peoples do not yet worship Jesus Christ.
Our kind and loving Savior gave us answers to prayer in each of the above areas. May the Lord be praised for His work. One day the brilliant rays of God’s grace will reach farther and brighter than any sunshine ever could!
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November 2024 Prayer Letter
Peru Jungle Missions 