Jason & Norah Skipper

United States

La Hora ha Llegado (Anuncio)

Date: June 17, 2011  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Buenas Tardes a todos!

Saludos desde Santa Cruz de la Sierra!  Es difícil creerlo, pero ya van más de dos años desde que nos venimos con Norah y los niños a vivir en este paraíso tropical!  Durante estos dos años Dios ha sido muy bueno con nosotros.  Al principio nos costó mucho acostumbrarnos al calor y también a la cultura que es totalmente distinta que Sucre… pero la verdad es que cuando Dios te llama a hacer algo, Él también te ayuda en todo.  Él ha puesto en nuestras vidas un amor y una pasión para Santa Cruz y la gente que vive aquí.  El año pasado logramos ya arrancar con MCC Santa Cruz, el cual está avanzando con mucha fuerza.  Sabemos que Dios va a hacer maravillas aquí, y también en toda Bolivia durante los próximos años!

Esta carta tiene el fin de anunciar oficialmente un cambio radical en nuestras vidas y ministerio.  Hace tiempo anunciamos esto a las iglesias de Sucre y de Santa Cruz, y los que saben Inglés también deben saber algo ya que lo anunciamos hace meses en el Facebook.

El Anuncio:

Para llegar directo al punto, en Julio, Norah, los niños y yo nos estamos yendo a los Estados Unidos para plantar una nueva extensión de nuestra Iglesia.  Esta decisión fue hecho en el mes de febrero de este año, después de mucha oración y luego confirmación clara de Dios.

¿Como Fue Todo?

Yo (Jason) creí que probablemente íbamos a vivir toda la vida en Bolivia.  Hace años, en un momento de pelea con Dios ;-) , sentí que Él me dijo “Jason, yo te traje a Bolivia con un propósito, y no te irás de aquí hasta que Yo te diga”. Creí que eso significaba Hasta la Muerte.  Peor, después de venir a Santa Cruz, creí que la única manera que nos iríamos de Santa Cruz sería si el gobierno me bota por ser Americano (ya que no somos tan queridos por el gobierno).  Por mi sopresa, en diciembre del año pasado mientras yo oraba, sentí que Dios me decía… “Jason, ya es hora”. Lo único que pude decir es “Eso es imposible Dios!”.  Yo veía la Iglesia aquí en Santa Cruz y sentí que era imposible que lo dejáramos, porque sin nosotros moriría rápidamente.  No estaba lista la Iglesia.  Faltaban líderes, y peor no había quien toma cargo.  También me preocupaba mucho la Iglesia en Sucre.  Los pastores Joel y Verónica Cuellar están trabajando de manera excepcional allí, pero tenía mucho temor que la iglesia podría estancarse y no continuar adelante hacia el sueño que Dios nos ha dado.

Después de casi un mes de constante oración y lucha con Dios, decidimos con mi esposa que nos iríamos a los Estados Unidos SOLAMENTE si estuviéramos SEGUROS que las dos iglesias no solamente seguirían adelantes, sino que seguirían adelantes con MUCHA fuerza.  Fue en ese momento que todas las puertas empezaron a abrirse milagrosamente.  Hasta mediados de febrero vimos soluciones claras y ideales, y pudimos ver claramente que Dios tenía TODO bajo contról!  Hoy estamos 100% confiados que estamos dentro de la voluntad de Dios, y que el sueño que Él nos ha dado para Bolivia y para las naciones recién empieza!

El Plan
  • Para Las Iglesias:

Nuestra mayor preocupación era que las Iglesias no mueran o estancan.  Para nosotros, eso sería lo peor.  Después de dedicar 15 años al ministerio aquí en Bolivia, no era una solución aceptable solamente levantar las manos y decir… “ojalá que les vaya bien, chau!”.  Tenemos un sueño para Bolivia, y no era una opción dejarlo así.  Como hace años tenemos una amistad muy cercana con los pastores Osvaldo y Alejandra Carnival y también con Gustavo y Susana Rossi de la Iglesia “Catedral de la Fe” en Buenos Aires, Argentina, decidimos escribirles a ellos y pedir su consejo.

La historia es larga, pero básicamente después de un viaje con el pastor Joel a Buenos Aires en febrero… decidimos entregar el liderazgo de MCC Santa Cruz a esa iglesia.  Ellos tomaron la decisión de mandar una pareja de misioneros desde Buenos Aires a Santa Cruz para continuar la obra aquí!  Ellos también comprometieron ayudar con todo lo que podían a la Iglesia de Sucre para salir adelante en todo lo que hacen!

Daniel y Claudia Damico, Joel Cuellar en Catedral de la Fe Argentina.

Los nuevos Pastores Daniel y Claudia Damico juntos con el Pastor Joel Cuellar en Catedral de la Fe Argentina.

El día 9 de julio, los pastores Daniel y Claudia Damico de la Iglesia Catedral de la Fe llegarán a Santa Cruz y tomarán cargo de la Iglesia. Tenemos programado una campaña de evangelismo grande que marcará un nuevo lanzamiento de “Catedral de la Fe (MCC)” en Santa Cruz.  Todos los líderes y asistentes de la Iglesia aquí juntos con muchos líderes de la Iglesia de Sucre estarán en esta campaña que creemos que impactará de gran manera a Santa Cruz.

En la Iglesia en Buenos Aires hay mas de 800 Bolivianos y un total de 25,000 miembros quienes se han puesto en oración y ayuno, clamando y intercediendo para su Bolivia y para estas Iglesias!

  • Para Nosotros:

Nosotros viajaremos, si todo sale bien, en mediados de julio a la casa de mis padres en los Estados Unidos.  Estaremos allí en Maryland hasta diciembre donde visitaremos a todas las Iglesias y personas quienes han apoyado a nosotros y a las iglesias durante los últimos 15 años.  Después de navidad vamos a mudarnos a una ciudad importante y estratégica de los EEUU donde nos prepararemos para plantar esa nueva iglesia al año.

Al principio levantaremos dos equipos… uno en inglés y el otro en español… y con esos equipos haremos lanzamientos grandes para iniciar la obra allá.  Esto tomará un tiempo, pero nuestro sueño es de levantar no solamente una iglesia allá, sino una red de iglesias alrededor de todos los Estados Unidos.  TAMBIÉN, nuestro plan es de trabajar junto con nuestras iglesias en Bolivia y también Catedral de la Fe en Argentina para plantar iglesias alrededor de toda Bolivia.  Viajaremos continuamente para hacer congresos, con equipos de evangelismo y construcción entre otras cosas para apoyar a la obra aquí en Bolivia y para ayudarla expandir como Dios nos llamó hacer hace mucho tiempo.

Conclusión

Este anuncio es agridulce para nosotros.  Hace 15 años que yo estoy en Bolivia.  Hace 13 que nos casamos con Norah allá en Sucre.  Crecí ministerialmente aquí en Bolivia, y literalmente yo he vivido casi la mitad de mi vida aquí.  Es muy difícil dejar todo esto atrás para empezar una nueva etapa en nuestras vidas y ministerio.  Para Norah y los niños, este paso es aún más grande… siendo que ellos han vivido todas sus vidas aquí!  Duele!  Les vamos a extrañar MUCHO!!!

Al mismo tiempo es algo hermoso.  Podemos ver como Dios está moviendo todas las cosas. AHORA, y RECIÉN AHORA podemos entender porque muchas cosas pasaron en Sucre y también aquí en Santa Cruz.  Entendemos que Dios nos estaba enseñando y preparando para lo que Él tiene para nosotros.  Nosotros seguiremos trabajando en Bolivia de gran manera.  El sueño perdura, y habrá mucho fruto!  Nos toca a nosotros serle fiel y obedecerle en todas las cosas.

Queremos darles las gracias a TODOS ustedes por estar con nosotros siempre, por ser nuestros amigos, apoyarnos y dar lo mejor para nosotros.  También queremos pedirles que por favor nos apoyan en oración mientras que seguimos adelante en este gran desafío que Dios nos ha dado.  La verdad es que aunque Dios se está moviendo de gran manera en nuestras vidas, también estamos recibiendo mucha resistencia espiritual (ataques).  Por favor apoyanos a nosotros, a las Iglesias y a los nuevos Pastores Daniel y Claudia en oración y en todo lo que Dios pone en su corazón!  Que Dios les bendiga grandemente!!!

Un abrazo ENORME…

Jason, Norah, Erynn, Jordan y Derrick Skipper


Back in Bolivia – Update!

Date: May 5, 2011  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Northern Iowa April 19, 2011

“Jason, be careful, slow down!” Norah yelled as she was filming an overturned tractor trailer that was one of the 12 vehicles we saw off the road in the snow while traveling south from Minneapolis to Fayetteville, Arkansas.  We were trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a place that still gets such snowstorms on April 19th!  What a great experience we had on this 21 day, 5,300 mile trip around half of the USA!  We got a real feel (literal) for the different climates, cultures and types of places that we could plant as we visited Maryland, Minnesota, Arkansas, North & South Carolina, Florida & Virginia.

Overall, we feel so much better about this next chapter in our lives.  We have no doubts about God’s guidance in planting this church (and network of churches in the longrun) in and throughout the USA.  He has showed us clearly what we need to do, and how we need to do it.  The conference in Orlando was an amazing experience and tool in preparing us mentally and spiritually for this upcoming adventure.  We also were able to talk there extensively with Craig from ELI (Emerging Leadership Initiative), who will be coaching us.  He helped us get a clear feel for the timeline and understanding of all that we need to do.  Our only doubts right now continues to be where.  We’ve seen a lot, and we hoped that God would just kind of hit us over the head and tell us WHERE, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  So… we’ll see.  Keep us in your prayers as we sort though it all.  We’ll figure it out soon enough.  :-)

We have so much to do here.  Prepare our things, sell most of what we have, find a new place for the church to meet and prepare everything for the pastors that will be arriving from Argentina.  It seems impossible, but it’s not… God is on our side!  Our Goal is to move back to the USA on the week of June 6th.

(IMPORTANT)  Prayer Requests!!! (IMPORTANT)

  • Please keep Norah & the kids in your prayers as we navigate through all of this change.
  • Pray for wisdom for the decisions we have to make yet.
  • Pray that God would help us find the place that he has prepared for the church in the next two to three weeks.
  • Pray that God would prepare the couple that will be coming from Argentina, and that they can arrive before we leave from here!
  • Pray that we can get everything done, sold off, and prepared so that we can travel the week of June 6th!

We’re Going Home!

Date: April 6, 2011  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Hello! Greetings from beautiful, finally cooler (after the hot summer) Santa Cruz, Bolivia! As we head into fall here in the southern hemisphere, we know that you are heading into spring! What a wonderful time of year spring is, with the vegetation and the birds returning… I haven’t been home in the spring since I came to Bolivia 15 years ago! This year, though, we will be home! We have big news to share with you in this letter!

Our Burden: For many years now, Norah and I have discussed the possibility of some day returning to the United States to live and to plant a church there. Every time we travel home, I feel a large burden for the people of our country. We are sent from the USA, working so hard to reach and impact the people of Bolivia for Christ… BUT the truth is that America is just as much of a mission field as most of the rest of the world is. Statistics show that in 2010 only 16% of Americans attended ANY type of church on a regular basisThat percentage is even lower among younger generations. The church is losing ground fast! In 2007, before moving to Santa Cruz, we almost took the plunge to move back. We even announced it to quite a few people. After returning to Sucre though, we felt that God told us “not yet.” Later when we felt God calling us to plant a church in Santa Cruz, I pretty well gave up on the idea of ever again returning to the USA to live.

The Announcement: Amazingly enough, here we are today announcing the following… The time has come! After 15 years of ministry throughout Bolivia, we will be moving back to the United States in June to continue our call to expand God’s kingdom through church planting there. God has opened all of the doors and has resolved all of the problems of our leaving Bolivia – in an astonishing way!

God’s Ideas: Let me explain. In December of last year, as we were praying and making our plan for the churches in 2011, we felt God tell us that the time had come for us to go. We wrestled with the idea for awhile, thinking that it was just our ideas or emotions; but we finally came to the conclusion that God really was speaking. Our biggest worry was leaving the churches. Although we have progressed a lot since we began here in Santa Cruz, we felt that leaving the church right now would be murder. We also felt that, although the church in Sucre is doing very well, they could easily veer off track without our close supervision. We have put so much time and effort into the work here and in Sucre, and so many of you have given so much, that allowing those things to happen wasn’t an option. I told God that if he really wanted us to go, then he would have to give us a viable option that would not only allow the churches to continue forward, but to do so very strongly! Honestly, that looked grim. I finally wrote the pastors who have worked with us for years from the church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After several weeks of contemplation, they finally asked that Joel (the pastor in the Sucre church) and I travel to Argentina to talk to them in person about it all. What happened there just blew us away! After our trip, we know 100% that God was behind all of this, and that He has everything under control.
What’s Going To Happen With the Bolivian Churches: Basically, the church in Argentina is going to take over the leadership of our churches in Bolivia. They are going to send a couple as missionaries to the Santa Cruz church, and they will be guiding and helping Joel & Veronica in the Sucre church. This church in Argentina has more than 25,000 members in their congregation, and of those over 500 are Bolivians. These 500 Bolivians are uniting to pray and fast for the Bolivian church and to give towards our two churches. They have set a $5,000 dollar monthly budget to help rent better, more visible, centrally located places and to reach out to the cities through advertising and evangelistic campaigns! The pastor of that church said,

“God has called us not to just plant another church. When we go to a city, we have to impact that place for Christ. We have to touch all parts of society: the rich, the poor, the government, etc. The churches in Sucre & in Santa Cruz must become ‘THE’ church for that city. When non-Christians think of a church, they think of that church.”

All that we could say was “Amen!” We are now preparing the Santa Cruz church for our leaving and the new couples arrival. We have announced this to them, and although many are sad, there is a great deal of excitement also.

What We Will Be Doing: Over the next year to year and a half, we plan to plant a church in a small to middle size city somewhere in the USA. Norah and I will be traveling home next week (on April 11th), to do a road trip to visit several possible plant locations. We will be traveling up to Minneapolis, and down through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North & South Carolina & Georgia. We will also be attending a church planters conference in Orlando Florida from April 26 – 29. After that we will return to Bolivia through May to finish selling off all that we can and then we’ll head back north with the entire family in June.

It may take quite a while, but once we are able to plant this church, we plan to continue working in Bolivia. We plan to use a percentage of all income in the church to help the Argentine church plant new churches all around the country. We also want to set up teams to travel there to help in building, evangelism, and anything that can possibly help advance the gospel in Bolivia.

Lake Titicaca, Island of the Sun, Bolivia w/ Norah's Family. Left to Right. Derrick, Jason, Norah, Rosemary (Norah's sister), Efrain (Rosemary's husband), Silvestre (Norah's dad), Susana (Norah's sister), Richard (Susana's husband), Caleb (Rosemary & Efrain's child), David (Norah's brother)

Our Current Situation and Closing Petition: We’re a little nervous about how all of you, our supporters, are going to take this. We know that you have given so much, and it’s very important to us that you know that what you have given has not been in vain. God has, is and will continue to do so much in Bolivia, and it wouldn’t have happened without you. This, although very exciting in some ways, is very scary for us. We are basically starting over. We have nothing in the USA. Both Norah & I are 34 years old with three children, and we don’t have a house or a car or a bed. Of course, we are trying to sell our things here, and plan to buy a few things there. We’ll be able to sell our car at a good price, but most of what we have will not sell for much money. (Even the car isn’t ours; it’s the Hand of Hur’s vehicle!) We’ll only be bringing luggage home. We have no insurance and the income that we receive here will not reach living back there. It’s scary, but even so, WE BELIEVE GOD and with pleasure we are taking this step of faith!

We ask that during this time, you would PLEASE continue to be faithful with your gifts and support. This move is going to cost a lot of money, and we don’t have all of that money at this time. (By the way, we’ve never had all of the money BEFORE we decided to do what God tells us to do! ☺) In June we will begin fundraising for the new church plant, and we will talk individually with you about continuing your support for the first stage of the planting process. But before that, we ask that you would help us in any way possible to make this transition smooth for our family. I HATE to ask for personal help, but we’re at a place right now that we have no other option! Please pray for us too!!! Thank you once again for everything, and may God bless you abundantly!!!

Love,

Going Back to Bolivia – Heroes & $28,000 So Far

Date: October 29, 2009  Author: Jason 1 Comment

Good Morning Everyone!

What a great trip this has been. I’m heading back home (Santa Cruz) today. I’ll leave from Pittsburgh at 3:00 PM, arriving in Bolivia at 5:30am tomorrow morning after a layover in Miami. Santa Cruz sure seems closer than Sucre always has! This is definitely a very short trip.

I’ve learned something important during this trip. Many times we have felt so alone in this work that we do there. Almost as if nobody really cares. Well, I WAS WRONG. It’s true that many have been disconnected because they are busy, and I wish that I could somehow get them interested in what we are doing. At the same time I have found that SO MANY here really do care about winning the lost in a faraway land, and they do care about us and our work. It’s been such a joy seeing some people work harder than I probably did to raise support for us. We’ve seen people give sacrificially, even to the point of some considering getting a loan to help more. I consider these people “God’s Heroes”. It’s been and continues to be a humbling experience.

As I return today, we are at $28,008.22 as of right now, but we WILL reach our goal. I have that promise (and more) from God. You can continue to send. Remember that the Hand of Hur, our sending organization is a non-profit 501©(3) tax deductible institution. All gifts can be sent to:

The Hand of Hur, Inc.
293 Bray Hill Lane
Oakland, MD 21550

You can also give online through our website… http://www.hohnet.com (We prefer that larger gifts come through check because of the percentage that paypal takes off of the gift).

Our goal is $36,000, and we are very close! If you haven’t been able to help yet, please do! Also, don’t worry if we go OVER our goal… for two reasons. 1) Our original budget was over $50,000, but I ended up having to take many many things off of the list to make it a truly reachable goal. The budget that we have now is MINIMUM for us to really be able to get things going there. 2) We were behind paying several things, having to send in payroll taxes and salaries out of the first several thousand that came in. That was not budgeted in this money, but it was an urgent need at the time, so we had to use it. Sooooo…. I’ve asked God for a little bit more. ;-) No need to worry about going over.

Please pray for my trip home. Keep in touch by writing or calling! Remember that we have a Vonage phone number, so you can call us locally, and it’ll ring down there. It is not an international call. The phone number is: 301-859-4401. We’ll answer in English… don’t worry :-D. We love you all, and we thank you for loving us! Have a great day and GOD BLESS!

WOW! $24,383.22… I Believe!

Date: October 26, 2009  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Good morning everyone. As I said that I’d keep you up to date, things are going VERY well. Last night I received a check from a church for $12,000! That puts our total at $24,383.22. Will we make it? YES! We have put this in God’s hands, and he is moving. Many people are becoming a BIG PART of what God wants to do in Santa Cruz. I believe that THOUSANDS will find God through this church plant. Will YOU get in on it too?

Love,

Over $12,000… God’s Moving Now!!!

Date: October 24, 2009  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to continue to update you on how things are going with the fundraising. I’ve wrestled with my faith and feelings a lot, but I’ve come to a conclusion. We are doing this because God called us to do it AND we ASKED him for all of these things that we TRULY need to take off with the church. SOOOOOO…. I’m laying all of my faith in HIM and we WILL reach this goal of $36,000. I won’t accept coming up short! I’m resting on his promises!!!

You can see that we’re over $12,000 now! I’m keeping the website updated daily. We thank all that give and pray so much! At the same time, I send this letter out to over 350 people, so many have not responded either (Only 20). Would you?

(For more details on what we need click here and read our Santa Cruz Church Plant Proposal)