Kep & Debbie March 2025 Update

Download Kep and Debbie's March 2025 Update.

Thank you for praying for the work of Equipping Servants (ESI). This month, hear the history of ESI, what we hope to do, and where we are working. We VALUE your prayer! Please pray for us next week leading an ESI Facilitator Training with 50 pastors and church leaders in northern Italy. We know that God is answering your prayers!

Thankful for your partnership in the gospel with us,

Kep and Debbie James

Kep & Debbie February 2025 Prayer Requests

* Pray for the African missionaries we will be training in March and April with the Egyptian based ministry “Streams of Living Water” in 3 Training Centers in Senegal, Burundi and Rwanda. Pray for these committed men and women as they prepare to go out and plant churches in Muslim communities. Pray that the Lord will use them to see a rich harvest for the gospel as many gospel-churches are planted.

* Pray for the Italian pastors we will be training in Florence in early March to become ESI Facilitators. Pray this month as they prepare for this training by doing Bible studies in Romans 1-3. Pray that the Lord will use the 4 days together to challenge and encourage each one to experience deep gospel transformation in their lives.

* Pray for Boris and Marco as they lead ESI groups of Spanish speaking pastors in Virginia and South Florida. Pray also for Jose leading ESI groups of Spanish speaking pastors in Los Angeles. Pray that each participant will grow in their understanding of the gospel and their love for Jesus, that they will live true to the gospel, and that they will teach and preach God’s Word faithfully in their local churches.

* Pray for the 3 groups of African pastors meeting weekly in ESI groups in London, also for 3 new ESI groups meeting in Paris. Pray for the ESI groups planning to start in Holland in July.

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New Year's Greeting from Kep & Debbie

Staying on Track with Jesus’ Purpose

 As we bid farewell to 2024 and step into 2025, our prayer for you—and for ourselves—is that the Lord will renew in us the urgency to fulfill His call: “Go and make disciples.”

Being Disciples

Before we can make disciples, we must first be disciples. That’s why committing ourselves to the study of God’s Word is so vital as we move forward. To “rightly handle the Word of Truth” means to correctly understand and live by it. Walking in Christ is a life full of the Bible, where the Holy Spirit shapes us by God’s Word to be more like Jesus (John 8:31–32). May 2025 be a year where we delight to draw closer to Him! Making Disciples In a world that often pressures us to conform, sharing the good news of Jesus can be daunting. Yet, understanding the distinction between our role and God’s role brings clarity. Evangelism isn’t about coercion or results—it’s about faithfully declaring the truth of Christ. The results are God’s alone. Our calling is to share His message with love and truth, trusting Him to convict hearts and draw people to Himself. This reliance on God reminds us not to depend on human strategies but on His power alone (1 Cor 2:5).

God’s Part; Our Part

Evangelist Rico Tice captures this beautifully in Honest Evangelism:

“The problem with our evangelism is that we cannot produce results! No one can bring another person to Christ—that is not our calling. Our task is to proclaim the truth about Jesus and His gospel. God takes His Word and uses it to convict, convince, and draw people to Himself. When we grasp this, it is incredibly freeing. It reminds us to rely on the Creator of life—who spoke the world into existence and continues to create spiritual life today.” (paraphrase)

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Our responsibility is to share the gospel and pray fervently for God to work the miracle of salvation.

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Christmas Greeting from Kep & Debbie

Merry Christmas 2024 from our family to yours!

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love … that He sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” (I John 4:9-14 ESV)

Our heartfelt prayer for you this Christmas is that you are filled with the deep joy and peace that comes from trusting in our loving and gracious Father. May we embrace the gift of His Son, Jesus, who came into the world to save us from our sin, reign in our hearts, and help us live for His glory – that we might experience each day His unfailing love through the transforming power of His gospel and share His truth with the world that so desperately needs Him.

We are thankful that all our whole family will be together with us in Cleveland this Christmas!

With much love,

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie January 2025 Prayer Requests

• Pray for the African missionaries we work with in the Egyptian based ministry. Pray for these committed men and women as they plant churches in very difficult and resistant communities across North Africa. Pray that the Lord will use them to see a rich harvest for the gospel, and that many gospel-churches will be planted across this entire region that needs Jesus.

• Pray for the Liberian pastors we worked with in Monrovia as they plan to begin ESI (Equipping Servants/ Disciples Making Disciples) groups. Pray that each one to experience deep gospel transformation in their study through Romans.

• Pray for Boris and Marco as they lead ESI groups of Spanish speaking pastors in Virginia and South Florida. Pray also for Jose leading ESI groups of Spanish speaking pastors in Los Angeles. Pray that each participant will grow in their understanding of the gospel and their love for Jesus, that they will live true to the gospel, and that they will teach and preach God’s Word faithfully in their local churches.

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Kep & Debbie December 2024 Update

Greetings from Cleveland!

We are deeply grateful for your committed prayers as we train and encourage pastors and church leaders in Africa, Latin America and Europe. Please continue praying that the Lord will help many of these men and women to honor Christ by being serious students of His Word, to understand it clearly, to live it truly, and to teach and preach it faithfully in their local churches and outreach.

Through your prayers, we have witnessed the lives of individuals changed, and local churches built up as He works to transform lives through the power of His gospel. Your partnership in prayer is so important -- thank you for walking with us.

With a grateful heart,

Kep and Debbie James

Kep & Debbie Mid-Trip Report 2

Thank you for praying for our time in Brazil two weeks ago with the ESI leaders in 7 Brazilian states. Then this week we met in Colombia with 20 South America Spanish speaking ESI leaders. We thank God for the committed people He has given us to work with. We heard many reports of how the Lord is using the study of His Word to move pastors and church leaders to experience deep gospel transformation in their own lives, and how this is impacting others leading local churches.

Please pray for the flight tomorrow to Liberia to work with Paulo training 100 pastors and church leaders in Monrovia. We VALUE your prayers that each one will experience gospel transformation as they commit to study God's Word,

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie Mid-Trip Report

Thank you for praying for us during the past 2 weeks.

Debbie and I have been in Brazil for the past 2 weeks visiting ESI (Equipping Servants International/ Disciples Making Disciples) groups in Rio and Sao Paulo. We helped with pastors conferences that Billy King (Christianity Explored) led on the topic of Evangelism. We are deeply encouraged seeing the impact that the study of God's Word is having on so many pastors and church leaders in Brazil. Please keep praying as they study Romans in this 3-year ESI process! ESI is currently in 7 of the 27 States of Brazil.

Our next stop is Colombia. Debbie and I will be there with 20 of our Latin America ESI Country leaders for a week (October 22-26) of meetings to plan and pray and evaluate how to better help local churches and church leaders to honor Christ by being true to His Scriptures and to experience deep gospel transformation in their lives.

Please also pray for our trip over to Liberia, West Africa after that. We'll be with Paulo October 28- November 1 in Monrovia taking 100 Liberian pastors through further training that we have designed to help teach how to effectively study the Bible to understand it more clearly, to live it, and to teach and preach it more effectively in their local churches.

We sincerely value your prayers for this work to impact lives for Jesus. When you pray, you are there with us! Its an amazing truth!! Colossians 4:2-4

Love to each of you,

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie October 2024 Update

Gospel Drift – a shift away from the message of the whole gospel. This happens when people stop reading their Bible, understanding its true message, and living according to it. Focus gets distracted away from Jesus and onto worldly pursuits (self). The resulting spiritual slumber puts Jesus in the back seat and changes His message -- often imagining that Jesus came primarily to make our personal life more pleasant, or to strengthen our position in the world – rather than to save us from our sins and reconcile us to God so that we would be more useful instruments for His purposes. Gospel Drift leads to a life of unbelief (doubting God), or bitterness of heart, or infighting with fellow believers over non-essential differences. The end is our spiritual coldness and a life that dishonors Christ.

Everywhere we go in the Americas, Africa and Europe, we meet pastors and church leaders who come to recognize how far they have fallen into this – straying away from Jesus and His Word.

The Bible warns against drifting away from our relationship with God and His gospel! Hebrews 2:1-3 urges, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For since the Word proved unalterable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

Please pray for Equipping Servants/ Disciples Making Disciples as men and women in North and South America, Africa and Europe set time aside to study the Bible to understand the Bible and to live the Bible, so that they can faithfully teach and preach the Bible in their local churches. Pray that the Lord will help each of us experience deep transformation in our lives through the power of the gospel.

Pray that God will keep us vigilant and alert to the wiles of the Devil and to every current straining against God’s work:

 • Through prayer, talking to Him honestly and earnestly, pouring out our hearts, and seeking His guidance and presence.

• Through reading and meditating on His Word, allowing His truth to permeate our minds and hearts, and applying it to our daily lives.

• Through fellowship with other believers, walking humbly together with Biblical friends and holding each other accountable in love.

• By seriously and intentionally living out our faith every day, aligning our lives with the reality of who Jesus is.

Ministry Travel plans October/ November

• Oct 3 – Kep and Debbie to Brazil (ESI pastors conferences Rio and Sao Paulo with Elias and ministry partner Billy King – GET his newly released book The Gospel Uncompromised – it will seriously encourage and challenge you in your own walk with God)

• Oct 13 Kep to Uruguay ESI; Debbie to Bolivia for Women’s Conference

• Oct 22-26 – ESI Latin America country-leader meetings in Colombia

• Oct 27-Nov 2 – Kep to Liberia with Paulo for ESI Facilitator Training in Monrovia

• Nov 13-16 – Kep and Debbie to Cowen, West Virginia to lead first-ever English ESI Facilitator Training in USA

Thank you for praying!

Kep and Debbie

ESI (Equipping Servants International/ Disciples Making Disciples) is a ministry of Parkside Church, 7100 Pettibone Rd, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023.

Kep & Debbie September 2024 Update

Download Kep & Debbie's September 2024 Update with photos.

Thank you for praying for the three weeks we spent in Egypt and Portugal. We arrived back home last evening. Attached is our Update of what we saw God doing, including photos. God worked in such amazing ways! We know you are praying, and that He is faithful to answer your prayers!

Our love in Christ,

- Kep and Debbie James