What are you doing again?

‘What are you doing again in Panama?’ Is a question we get asked, and we are happy to share! In this update we will talk about the three ‘rocks’ of Word of Life Panama, and how our unique role is kind of like bumper-bowling supporting the bigger picture.

The ministry of WoL Panama can be separated into three main areas—Evangelism (camps, schools, and local communities), MIL which is local church ministries, and CDI which is the discipleship training school.

And these three areas are interconnected. Even with the image in Spanish, you can see how the different rocks work together to accomplish the over-arching goal of helping every young person take their next step with Jesus.

So where do we fit in? It’s kind of like bumper-bowling…

We got to go bowling with my brothers’ families when we were home for a brief visit this summer.

Do you remember going bowling as a kid and you got to use the ‘bumpers’? (If you still use the bumpers, no worries, have fun!). The bumpers become the support pieces that keep the bowling ball going down the lane to reach the goal of knocking over some pins.

What we are doing down here is kind of like that. Our work becomes the ‘bumpers’ on either side of these main rocks of WoL Panama. And our focus is to help support the bigger picture in the unique roles we get to play.

The first ‘bumper’ are the INTERNS. Through the Cross-Cultural Internship (CCI) program of Word of Life Bible Institute, as well as the Launch program, Marcela and I will be overseeing American, college-age young adults, who sign up to serve from 1-3 years here in Panama.

This missions experience includes cross-cultural training, discipleship, language learning, and overall what Kingdom ministry looks like, and their role in it. The interns serve in a variety of ways, but their goal is to be a support to the bigger picture of WoL Panama and to discern what their next step is in serving the Kingdom of Jesus.

2026 Interns

The second ‘bumper’ are SHORT-TERM TEAMS. Throughout the year there are a number of churches and groups that come down to serve with WoL Panama. Student teams, work teams, women teams, young-adult teams, family teams, etc… and they serve in a variety of ways. The other major part of our role is to be liaisons and help facilitate and develop our relational partnerships with short-term teams.

As one who brought teams to Panama for over nine years and also helped other churches send teams, I like to say when teams from the U.S. come down and serve, they bring energy, excitement, resources, and opportunities to the missionaries serving here in Panama.

And now, as a missionary living here, I have now experienced the other side of when short-term teams come, …they bring encouragement.

You are receiving this update because you are a part of our ministry support team, THANK YOU! We could not do this without you, and you are a part of this mission with us!

And every single one of the missionaries here needs that same kind of support team. Those relationships develop through the short-term teams that come and experience what God is doing in Panama.

A Chinese Church from MN came down on a vision trip to explore sending a future team and just announced they will be sending their first team next summer!

This church plant from PA came down for the first time this summer! They have already made plans to host WoL Panama missionaries in the U.S. We are excited to have them return again with another team in the future.

So that’s more of the picture of what we are doing down here in Panama.

Every illustration falls apart, but to stretch the ‘bumpers’ a little further… bumpers are usually used when there are a variety of skill levels involved, but also used when there is a group doing something fun together. And isn’t it true, even with bumpers, that there is more cheering and celebration, when we are doing that experience together?!

With the interns and short-term teams, we are seeking to support the special work God is doing through Word of Life Panama. God has done amazing things over the past thirty years, and there are VERY exciting things coming on the horizon!

We have sensed God’s call to be a part of it. And we want YOU to be a part of it too!