Breaking News: LAM Merging with UWM

The following letter was written by Latin America Mission President Steve Johnson for all LAM partners:

Dear Friends,

A new day is dawning for Latin America Mission! I am excited to announce that, on December 31, 2013, LAM will formally merge into United World Mission (UWM), an inter-denominational mission organization, based in Charlotte, NC. We sense this is God’s clear direction. This merger will strengthen the ministry of your LAM missionaries and partners, it will reduce costs and enhance the strengths of the combined organization.

LAM and UWM have much in common. Founded in 1946, UWM’s mission is to “serve with Christian leaders globally to plant, nourish, and reproduce churches that delight God and surprise the world.” Together UWM and LAM share key core values, which include the church, integral mission, the spiritual formation of leaders and most importantly for LAM, partnering. We are convinced that our combined efforts will allow us to build upon LAM’s 92-year legacy and dynamically advance Christ’s Kingdom work in Latin America and around the world. John Bernard, President of United World Mission, believes, “Latin America Mission has a strong history of innovation, integral mission, and partnering with the Latin American church. Their ministries have been exemplary and their models are needed as North Americans learn to serve with the church and mission movements around the world. United World Mission is overjoyed to have LAM join forces with us to meet the challenges of God’s mission in today’s world.”

When the merger is complete, UWM will have a staff of more than 350 missionaries serving in 42 nations. Coming together, we will better steward Kingdom resources while also providing enhanced ministry support to LAM missionaries and ministry partners, as well as excellent service to donors. Latin America Mission will continue to function under the LAM name as “a Ministry of United World Mission.” The merged organization will operate out of UWM’s office based in Charlotte under the leadership of United World Mission.

I personally want to encourage you to stand by your missionary, partner and/or project in a special way during the transition to UWM. While the organizational structure is changing, the missionaries and partners you support will continue to count on you as they press forward faithfully in their ministries for Christ’s sake. We will keep you apprised of coming changes but until notified otherwise, please continue to either mail your generous support to the LAM address (P.O.Box 52-7900, Miami, FL 33152), or give online through the LAM website (www/lam.org/give). Giving through automatic withdrawal will also continue uninterrupted. Every effort is being made to minimize any changes to the manner in which donors have been giving.

Finally, I want to say thank you for giving so generously and faithfully to the work of LAM in Latin America. We truly consider you our ministry partners. Please pray for the families of LAM and UWM as we enter the dawn of a new day together.

Serving Together in Christ’s Name,

Steve Johnson
President / Latin America Mission

Music to Mobilize

Check this out! Thanks to our friends in Miami at the Latin America Mission for a creative idea to mobilize resources for God's work in Latin America!  http://allforasong.com/index.html

Upcoming Service Leave (Aug 1 - Feb 1)

The Latin America Mission, similar to other missions, suggests its missionaries spend the equivalent of six months to one year back home for every four years of service abroad.  The purpose of this service leave is to reconnect with friends and churches back home.

Rocio and I feel now is the time to spend an extended season in the USA.  We feel La Fuente Church is now in a position to stand on its own, and even to flourish, during our time away.  And we're excited about reconnecting soon with many of you!

Let me share some of the details...

We will be based out of our lead supporting church in Des Moines, Iowa.  Sara and Daniel will attend school in the area so we'll be pretty settled in one location.  We already plan to visit North Carolina and Ontario, and might be passing through other areas as well.

Our primary purpose during this extended six-month leave from Mexico will be partnership development, strengthening existing relationships and inviting new friends and churches to participate.  We will trust God to raise the funds for our next season of ministry in Mexico.

While we hope to have some down time, these six months will likely be pretty busy.  We are particularly excited about the opportunity to volunteer with our church in Iowa in its outreach to the Hispanic/Latino community.  More than anything, we look forward to catching up with many of you!

We will continue to receive salary from the Latin America Mission during this time, so we greatly appreciate your continued financial support during this season.

Thanks so much for your encouragement, prayers and generosity that make this ministry possible!