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Calling to Serve through New Life Network in the United States:
It has been quite a year. We came back in December of last year for a year long home assignment, with the full intention of returning to Guatemala at the end of this year. But God is redirecting our steps. (In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9) We were invited by the president of our network to consider taking a role here in the USA of Country Coordinator. This is the same role I had in Guatemala. After much prayer, fasting and counsel, we decided that this was the direction that the Lord was leading us as a family. This was not an easy decision and still there are days in which we struggle with this, but we know that ultimately in this season the USA is where God wants us to serve.
Work in Guatemala:
What does this mean for the work in Guatemala? Last year, I completely transitioned out of Love Guatemala as director and that work has been going amazing under the leadership of Katy Lopez. They are going to have the largest graduating class ever this year and have a goal of 400 students next year. They finished up this year with just under 300 students. Ben is continuing to serve on the Board of Directors and giving ongoing coaching/suppport to Katy.
The work in the network has been led by Carlos Lopez in our absence and he has done a great job in leading and continuing the work and even improving it in our absence. He and the team have planted our first daughter church this year, and are preparing 3 more communities for church plants in the next couple of years. His leadership and development has helped in making the decision to stay here in the U.S. possible. Ben will continue to travel back and forth for a while to Guatemala as we take a year to transition Guatemala to the leadership of Carlos Lopez. Please pray for both Carlos and Katy and their teams and ministries!
Our New Role:
As mentioned above, Ben will continue to serve with New Life Network as a Country Coordinator. What does this mean? He will serve the existing 4 churches that we have in the USA through support and coaching. He will look for new church planters and opportunties to plant churches amongst the Latino Population. There are over 60 million Hispanics in the USA so the opportunities are enormous. The goal is to expand the work to 150 disciples in our discipleship route, 20 leaders/church planters trained, and 10 churches in the network in the USA over the next 3 years.
Ben will also serve as director of global missions for new life network. He will work to mobilize and train those within New Life Network Global. The goal is to mobilize and train 100 missionaries over the next 10 years. We hope to start at least 1 missionary training center in the next 3 years.
Family Transition:
As you can imagine this transition to live here in the USA is a challenging one, after living abroad for over 10 years. We still need to find permanent housing, vehicles, decide on education for kids etc. Please pray for these decisions and for our family as we process this big change.
Support Raising:
The role Ben has in the USA is still a role in which we will need to raise our own financial support. The cost of living in the USA is significanly higher so please pray and consider supporting our family if you can. We need to raise an additional $2500 per month for housing, insurance, vehicles, food and other ongoing monthly needs. You can set up a monthly gift here if you desire: www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben or mail checks to this address: Red Nueva Vida Inc., 7010 East Thompson Rd., Indianapolis, IN 46239 (Attn: Ben Kunkel Support)
Thank you so much for your ongoing prayers and support for our family! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions: benjamin@rednuevavida.org
