This is the global Church, transformed by the power of the Gospel (Rom. 12:2), equipped “for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up,” eager to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).

And these are “the good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10) as an EA family.

As we find ourselves in the closing days of 2025, EA’s 13th year of ministry, and the final hours of our matching campaign, I am reminded of the following encouragement from King David in Psalm 27:14, urging us to seek the Lord and take courage in Him.  

 Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!

The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, offered the following exhortation from this passage:

“Wait at his door with prayer; wait at his foot with humility; wait at his table with service; wait at his window with expectancy.”

 Let this be our posture, both individually and collectively as the EA Family, as we reflect on 2025 and contemplate what the Lord has in store for us in 2026.

As we celebrate the incarnation of Christ this Christmas, let me offer up a Christmas hymn hidden amid the pages of Paul’s letter to Timothy, in which he tasked his protégé with setting things aright in the Church in Ephesus. In doing so, he stresses the mission and message of the Church in 1 Timothy 3:14-16:

The Mission:

“I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”

 William McDonald states, “A pillar was not only used to support a structure, but oftentimes a pillar was set up in a public marketplace and notices were posted on it. It was thus a proclaimer. The Church is the unit on earth which God has chosen to proclaim and display His truth.”

 The Message:

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: ‘He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.’”

MacArthur captures the weight, brevity, and clarity of this theological statement:

“You have a hymn, six lines, that sweeps from incarnation to glorification, all the way from the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to His eternal glory. In six short stanzas, this hymn summarizes the gospel. God became man, died for our sins, triumphed over death, was honored by angels and feared by demons, and ascended into heaven. This message was preached all over the world and many believed and were saved. That is the heart of the message it is our mission to proclaim to the world.”

 Indeed, and this is what we celebrate at Christmas: Jesus Christ was born to die to “save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

Merry Christmas!

I had the privilege this week of participating in a graduation ceremony for our Panorama of the Bible course. I shared the story of how I was deeply impacted by Max Anders’ book 30 Days to Understanding the Bible many years ago, then took a seminary class on the subject, and was subsequently presented with the opportunity to work alongside friends Jim Battle and John Slye in developing a Sunday School Curriculum on the topic. Jim went on to write his doctorate on the subject and worked alongside EA’s Raydel Riquelme to develop the curriculum as part of our Church Network Development Program.

I was deeply moved, as I heard one of students describe how the course’s impact was reminiscent of Jesus’ interaction with two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, where “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures,” with their response being “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us?”

As we together serve Christ’s Church, the sufficiency, necessity, and authority of Scripture are foundational beliefs, echoed in the conviction of the reformer Martin Luther, who said, “I could not live in paradise without the Word of God, but I could live well enough in hell with it.”

Please continue to pray for these students, all of whom indicated a commitment to continue their involvement in EA discipleship, as well as for this vital season of year-end giving towards such impact.

We have arrived once again at that all-important year-end giving season in the life of the typical non-profit, and historically an instrumental means by which the Lord has provided financial provision for Empowering Action throughout its 13 years of ministry.

Nineteenth-century theologian A.T. Pierson stated the following, reflecting on God’s provision in the life of George Muller,

“As faith was exercised it was energized, so that it became easy and natural to ask confidently of the Lord.

After confidence in God had been strengthened through discipline, and God had been proven faithful, it required no more venture to cast himself on God for provision than in the earlier periods of the work to look to Him.

For only by using faith are we kept from practically losing it, and, on the contrary, to use faith is to lose the unbelief that hinders God’s mighty acts.”

And so, we again cast ourselves upon the Lord in providing the financial foundation for another year of serving Christ’s Church.

Please join us in prayer and financial partnership, as you feel led and are able.

And join us in praising the Lord for “His mighty acts,” noted below, that He has graciously permitted EA to play a role in this year.

The late bible teacher J. Vernon McGee stated, “There is a brotherhood within the body of believers, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the common denominator. Friendship and fellowship are the legal tender among believers.”

Carlos Pimentel recently returned invigorated from spending time with church leaders in Nicaragua, noting their passion for Christ, hunger for His Word, and their desire to be equipped for greater biblical fidelity and effective ministry.

The Apostle Paul challenged the church in Thessalonica to edify one another:

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thess. 5:9-11)

As we enter the year-end giving season and mark Giving Tuesday today, thank you for your support, which enables our ministry to encourage and edify Christ’s global Church.

As we prepare to celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, let me encourage you to reflect on the words of Psalm 95.  In his book “Your God is Too Small,” theologian J.B. Phillips submits that, while there are many reasons for the deterioration of Christianity, the chief cause is the worship of an inadequate god of our own making.

Conversely, Psalm 95 summons us to the true God, worthy of our humble and obedient worship, by highlighting the What, Why, Way, and When of worship*.

The What of Worship (vs. 1–2): The psalmist calls for God’s people to sing and shout to the Lord.
Oh come, let us sing for joy to Yahweh,
Let us make a loud shout to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us make a loud shout to Him with songs of praise.

The Why of Worship (vs. 3–5): Believers should worship God, who is the great King over all.

For Yahweh is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
In whose hand are the depths of the earth,
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.

The Way to Worship (vs. 6–7b): Believers should humble themselves before God in worship.
Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before Yahweh our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

The When of Worship (vs. 7c-11): The psalmist calls for God to be worshipped now—today!
Today, if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
“When your fathers tried Me,
They tested Me, though they had seen My work.
For forty years I loathed that generation,
And said they are a people who wander in their heart,
And they do not know My ways.
Therefore I swore in My anger,
They shall never enter into My rest.”

Commenting on the closing warning to those who reject God (vs. 7b–11), commentator Derek Kidner states, “By ending on this note the psalm sacrifices literary grace to moral urgency. If this is a psalm about worship, it could give no blunter indication that the heart of the matter is severely practical: nothing less than a bending of wills and a renewal of pilgrimage.”

Accordingly, this Thanksgiving, let us renew our pilgrimage to humble, obedient, and warranted worship of God.

* Source:
Lawson, S., & Anders, M. (2004). Holman Old Testament Commentary – Psalms. B & H Publishing Group.

Here is a brief update regarding the impact of Hurricane Melissa on our ministry partners in the Caribbean. Churches in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti were largely spared the brunt of the storm.

However, we are working to assist our regional coordinators in Cuba in providing much-needed assistance to their communities.

Please continue to keep praying for our church leaders and their families during this difficult time as they seek to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).

As we witnessed during the pandemic, the Lord in His sovereignty and providence has a way of redeeming such situations for our good and His glory. And He has proven gracious in using our programs for both short-term relief and long-term community transformation through the local Church, by the power of His Word.

Writing to encourage Christians living amongst persecution in the Roman Empire, the Apostle Peter urged that they “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

F.B. Meyer recognized that the absence of the desire for or faithful provision of biblical truth is the cause of many problems in individual Christian lives and in congregations:

“The sickly condition of so many Christians sets forth a lamentable complaint of the food with which they are supplied. To say nothing of strong meat, they do not even get milk. Hence the church of God too much resembles the wards of a children’s hospital.”

In contrast, I am pleased to report that during his recent visit to Nicaragua to launch the K2:42 program, Raydel was overwhelmed by the participants’ hunger for Scripture. We praise the Lord for the 30 churches EA is now ministering to through our local church partners, and pray that they too may “may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

Thank you for your faithful ongoing prayer and financial partnership with us.