Mid-Year Ministry Report 2026

It is hard to believe we are past the middle of the year already. It has been a good year so far but with some challenges both in the family and in ministry. As Jesus promised, "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) 

(some of the pastors and families in one gathering we had in May)

I love to set goals and plan out what I hope the Lord will do through the ministry I am leading. Usually, the Lord's plans are different as Proverbs 16:9 says, "We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." NLT

Here is the 2030 vision I set for the ministry I am leading: By the end of 2030, the New Life Network in the United States will have 554 disciples actively engaged in discipleship, 35% of whom will reproduce. We will have 26 churches—7 of which will be newly planted—and 104 leaders actively undergoing training (Institute and Leadership Training), and we will establish a solid leadership team for RNV USA.

Here is where we are at as of right now: 84 disciples active in discipleship, 7 churches or churches in the process of being planted, 8 leaders in training.

Here is where I hope we get to by the end of this year: 125 disciples active in discipleship, 9 churches, 25 leaders in training, and develop a leadership team.

(Paola and Oliver who joined the network this year)

Here are the advances and the challenges of this year: Oliver and Paola from the Reflejo de Cristo church joined RNV. We also had one church that decided they could not continue the process of planting a church. We trained all pastors in the 2026 version of the discipleship program.We trained the leaders of Esperanza Viva in the 2026 version of the discipleship program and will soon train another church with goals of both of these churches launching new groups this year. Several groups and churches are completing the discipleship track for the first time. We had one of our pastors decide to officially become part of the leadership team of RNV USA. We also have signed an agreement with one of our churches to help them start a pastors school using our Bible institute material. (see picture below)

Here are some more pictures of some of our pastors and their families:

Socrates and Alexanda and family

Leslie and Yuri and kids

Abraham and Amanda and their kids

 Harol and Kathy and their boy Jonathan

Jose Juan and Maribel and their family

Here is a video testimony from Amanda and Abraham and how RNV has served them.

Thanks so much for supporting us so we can serve these pastors and their churches!

Prayer Time with RNV USA Pastors

 

We had a beautiful gathering with some of our pastors a few weeks ago. It is hard to get everyone together but we try and do it as often as possible. We ate, worshipped, learned and prayed together.

We did some videos and everyone thought we were doing a video but it was a picture ;-)

Thanks for supporting and praying for us as we serve these pastors and their ministries!

How's the Ministry with RNV in Guatemala going?

 

Each month our global team made up of all the country coordinators meets to pray for one of our countries where we are working. They report on their work and we pray for that country. This month it was Guatemala and I was so encourage about what the Lord continues to do with Carlos Lopez and his team so I wanted to share it with you all. 

This is where the work is currently at. Keep in mind we started a small church in our apartment with 10 people. As RNV Guatemala, we are discipling 72 people across 7 different communities; we are training 13 individuals in local leadership; we have 2 students enrolled in the Bible Institute’s course on pastoral care and church leadership; we have planted 2 churches, with two more currently in progress; and we have one pioneer church. (Pioneer church is an existing church that enters the network)

Here are a few pictures of their discipleship groups.

Below is one of the churches in process of being planted in Santa Maria. They had a major earthquake last year and from the ministry and evangelism they did there a church has resulted.

This is their vision over the next 5 years:

To have 300 people active in discipleship groups. To plant 10 healthy churches in Guatemala by intentionally discipling their members through the Discipleship Route.

And 2 training centers:

A Bible Institute

A School of Missions

A Pastoral School

5 pioneer churches driven by a passion to make disciples who make disciples.

150 leaders undergoing training at the Bible Institute.

(Carlos has never lacked for vision ;-)

Here are some of the prayer requests he shared so you can join me in praying for them:

• Resources for the pastors and their families.
• Resources for transportation to reach the communities.
• That God would raise up a prayer leader to share with each of the pastors and community leaders.
• For the discipleship leaders, that they may attend to the needs of every discipler.

I hope this encourages you as it did me! May God be glorified and all of Guatemala discipled!

2025 Ministry Report

I am giving thanks to the Lord for another year of ministry. This is our second year serving with Red Nueva Vida in the USA. It has been a time of learning and growing in different ways that I didn't expect. The challenges of ministring here in the US amongst hispanics are unique. I am grateful for this opportunity.

When I first began in 2024 I had set the goal of having 10 churches in the first 3 years of ministry and we are slowing but steadily moving in that direction. We are serving 7 pastors and churches or new works moving towards becoming churches. I am working with another church now to hopefully bring them on board in early 2026. But more importantly we have 114 disciples in disicpleship. Praise be to God.

But one of the things I have grown to love the most of my role is the pastoral care aspect. Most pastors have no one to love on them, pray for them and ask how they are doing. I love do this for the pastors I serve.

Here is a picture from a retreat we did for the pastors and their wives we did in October. This is one way we serve the pastors that are part of our network.

I also served the pastors and churches through trainings, regular meetings to pray and share, preaching when needed at their churches, and providing whatever resources are needed.

Other ways I have served through New Life Network is through teaching in our Bible Institute, teaching in the missions school in Guatemala, coaching missionaries with Red Nueva Vida and many other ways. We are grateful for all the ways the Lord used us in 2025.

We had a focus on fervent prayer in 2025 and we started an early morning prayer time in addition to our monthly prayer time. We also saw these groups multiply and now 3-4 of our churches added prayer groups that meet regularly.

In 2026, we hope to move to serving 10 churches, build a team to help lead the network, grow our discipleship groups, provide more training and support for our churches and pastors.

Thanks for all your prayers and financial support that make it all possible!

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge. 1 Corinthians 1:4-5

Red Nueva Vida Pastors Retreat 2025

 

Our 2025 Pastoral Retreat is in the books. This is an important time of connection and growth for all of us. I love the privelege of getting to lead this group. Please continue to pray with us for all the Lord has done and will do through the ministry of Red Nueva Vida in the USA. Check out more pics and info about the retreat below.

We started our time sharing together about praises and challenges in ministry and prayed for each other

We had some time of worship together too

Pastor Jonathan shared the word with us and talked about fervent prayer which was our theme for the retreat.

Of course we had a bonfire together and shared.

More prayer time early Saturday morning.

Pastor Randy Spacht shared with us Saturday morning. He is a great expositor of the word! He talked about how Christ is building his church and what the statement, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of heall shall not prevail against it" from Matthew 16:18 means and its implications for us as pastors.

This was a workshop we did further building out and applying the message on fervent prayer on Friday night. Pastor Daniel Godbey led us in this workshop.

I got to finish our time with a conversation together about what it means for us as a team to form and execute the vision God has given us as a hispanic disciple-making network in the USA. We will continue to work on this in the weeks and months to come.

A Special thanks to Daniel, Jonathan and Randy for sharing at the retreat. Also a big thanks to Piedmont Church who helped sponsor part of the retreat!

New Life Network USA Vision for 2025

Ben learned a lot during 2024. There are a lot of challenges facing our hispanic brothers and sisters. It has been a joy for Ben to serve them and learn from them. New life network focuses on forming and reproducing discipeles, forming leaders and planting churches. Here are some things we saw God do in 2024:

• Started a monthly prayer time with our pastors.
• Started monthly coaching with each pastor.
• Started an annual retreat with the pastors and wives. (See pic above)
• 4 new churches or churches in process of being planted, entered the network. (6 churches in total now) (See pic at bottom which shows one new church signing)
• 2 new discipleship groups started. (See pic below of one of them)

The vision for 2025 is to continue seeing growth and implementation of our processes in the churches we have, grow in prayer, build a team to help lead the efforts. In addition this is what we are praying the Lord will do in 2025:

• See our churches grow from 6 to 10 in total.
• See our discipleship groups grow from 3 to 15, with 75 total people in our discipleship route.
• Have 10 leaders formed through our leadership training.
• Plant one new church.

Thanks for praying and supporting us which allows us to do this work of serving the Hispanic Church in the USA. 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20

Ministry Trips and Advances with Red Nueva Vida (New Life Network) in the USA

 The last month has been a busy one with Red Nueva Vida. The Lord has been opening many doors for us to serve churches in discipling hispanics, planting churches and training leaders. We have 2 new churches that have come on board and we have helped with a retreat and launching our discipleship in a few other churches as well. There are other opportunities in the works as well. Thanks for praying and supporting us so we can help build God's kingdom amongst the Hispanics here in the US.

Did you know there are over 63 million hispanics here in the USA? There is still a great need for more disciplers and church planters to reach this group. We are excited to see what role the Lord has for us and New Life Network in this work. See some of the pics and more information below:

This was a retreat I helped with at one of our churches north of Chicago called, Jesus the Good Shepherd.

This is a new church that is becoming part of New Life Network.

This is a new discipeship group forming in one of our churches.

This is a discipleship group that I lead every Monday in which we are preparing pastors and leaders from 3 different churches.

Pastoral Retreat

 We had a great Pastoral Retreat a few weeks back with the pastors we have the priviledge of serving. The theme was united in the mission of God. We really wanted to help foster strong relationships between all of us and I think we took some good steps toward that goal. I had my friend from Colombia, Remberto and also Daniel Godbey another friend who serves with the network share with the Pastors. Check out some pics of our time together below.

At our first session Jonathan Morton our president shared with the pastors too.

We had a beautiful time of sharing and prayer around a campfire.

Pastor Remberto sharing with us on how to heal from ministry hurt and to last in ministry.

Ladies and guys had some prayer and sharing times together.

We did a workshop on creating a culture of discipleship in our churches.

Heres the whole group minus Daniel who was taking the picture.

Lots of time in prayer together!

Thanks for those who prayed and supported this retreat!