Kep & Debbie April 2026 Prayer Requests

* Pray for our time in Africa April 6-25. Debbie and I will be visiting ESI groups in Lusaka, Zambia with Artis and Ruth Powell. Following that, Paulo will visit ESI groups in Harare, Zimbabwe. Debbie and I will go on to Senegal to train Fulani church planters. We will be studying the book of Romans with that group in Senegal. Pray for gospel impact in their lives.

* Praise for the two ESI groups that have begun meeting together in San Jose, Costa Rica after our February ESI Facilitator Training there. Pray that these 30 pastors and church leaders will experience deep gospel transformation studying through Romans, and that this will impact many local churches across that country.

* Praise for the many pastors and church leaders we spent time with in Brazil in February. We are encouraged after hearing so many testimonies of how God is growing them up in grace and to experience real changes as they apply Scripture in their personal lives, marriages, families, and the way they preach and teach in their local churches.

 -Kep

Kep & Debbie March 2026 Update

Download Kep & Debbie's March 2026 Update.

Thank you for praying for our latest ministry trip into Costa Rica and Brazil. Attached is our report about what we saw the Lord doing. PLUS a peek into pastor Elias' most recent ESI initiative into Guyana.

Kep and Debbie James

ESI Trip...Checking In

We are half way through our ESI visits in Latin America. Last week in Costa Rica was amazing. Of the 80 participants in the ESI Facilitator Training, 30 have committed to studying Romans with us. Please pray for Jose Gutierrez and local pastor Luis as they organize these pastors and church leaders into 2 ESI groups and take them through Romans 1-3 over the next 3 months. Pray that their time digging into the depths of Scripture will draw them closer to Jesus to experience deep gospel transformation in their lives and marriages. Pray that the discipleship process will grow them deeper in the grace that is in Christ Jesus to redirect their ministries in their local churches.

We paused for a few days to visit Andrew and Angie who are planting a church in Uruguay. Our next stop is Rio de Janeiro to visit our ESI leaders for Brazil, and then on to Rondonia and Vilhena in the Pantanal region where we will visit many ESI participants there. I will be preaching and teaching 2 Corinthians during our week there before returning to Cleveland on February 25.

Thank you for praying for the Lord to impact many lives through His Word. When you pray you are here with us. Thankful for your partnership in the gospel,

Kep and Debbie James

Kep & Debbie February 2026 Update

Good morning from cold and snowy Cleveland!

Debbie and I are wrapping up a refreshing time with our church and family before heading back to South America. This Sunday, February 1, we fly to Orlando to meet Brazilian church leaders who want to start ESI groups there. Then February 4 to San José, Costa Rica to help our ESI Central America leader (Jose Gutierrez) lead an ESI Facilitator Training with 80 pastors and church leaders. Then to Brazil to meet ESI leaders and groups in two places (Rio de Janeiro and Pantanal) -- in both places ESI is active and growing. Then back in Cleveland Lord willing on February 25.

I’ll do my best to keep you updated as the trip unfolds.

Please pray for…

* Pray for deep, vibrant gospel transformation throughout Latin America.

* Pray for our brothers and sisters in Costa Rica, that they would commit themselves to studying Romans with us and to participating in ESI’s three-year, mutual discipleship process. The church in Costa Rica followed prosperity heresy during the past 40 years, which of course has had a devastating effect on gospel integrity (2 Timothy 1:13-14).

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Kep & Debbie February 2026 Prayer Requests

* Pray for Kep and Debbie Feb 5-7 leading an ESI Facilitator Training with 80 pastors and church leaders in San Jose, Costa Rica. The church in CR drifted away from Christ many years ago. The absence of true Bible teaching and discipleship led to spiritually and morally weak believers. Pray that the 80 participants in our 3 day training will see the horrible consequences of Christianity without Christ -- that they will repent, and make a commitment to study Romans with us in small groups over the next 3 years in ESI's mutual discipleship process.

* After Costa Rica, we will spend the rest of the month of February in the Pantanal region of Brazil, where ESI is growing rapidly. Many pastors and church leaders are studying the Bible with us. Pray for the meetings we will be involved in, and pastors conferences we will lead, that the Lord will use our time with these brothers and sisters to encourage them to experience real and deep gospel transformation in their personal lives, marriages, families, and the way they preach and teach in their local churches.

Thank you!

Kep

Kep & Debbie January 2026 Update

Read Kep and Debbie's January 2026 Update.

Kep & Debbie December 2025 Update

Read the December ministry update from Kep and Debbie.

Greetings from Cleveland!

 Attached is our December Update. We hope the reflection on growing in Christ will be an encouragement to you.

Thank you for praying with us—that the Lord would continue to deepen pastors and church leaders in Christ as they commit themselves to studying and living His Word by His help.

Wishing you a joyful and Christ-filled Christmas,

Kep and Debbie James

Kep & Debbie October 2025 Update

Hello from Colombia, as we wrap up several weeks of meetings with our ESI (Equipping Servants International) country leaders.

We started with an amazing week in Fortaleza with the ESI leaders from all over Brazil. Then 2 weeks in Uruguay and Bolivia meeting with our ESI groups and the church we planted in La Paz. After that a week meeting the southern South America ESI leaders, and today we finished up meeting with the northern South America and Central America ESI country leaders. We are encouraged to see how God is working in many lives and local churches -- helping pastors and church leaders honor Christ by being true to His Scriptures.

Tomorrow, Debbie flies back to Cleveland while I head on to Rwanda for a week of meetings with ESI pastors in Kigali. We will give you a more complete report later, but for now -- thank you for praying! God is answering your prayers, and we are truly encouraged,

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie October 2025 Prayer Requests

Greetings from Cleveland!

Would you join us in prayer today for our ESI Colombia leader, Pastor Sebastian? He is in Caracas right now leading 50 Venezuelan pastors through a 3-day ESI Facilitator Training. The hope is to see ESI launched in this city where the gospel need is so great.

Tomorrow afternoon Debbie and I fly to Brazil, beginning six weeks of ministry across South America and Africa. We’ll be leading a Facilitator Training in Fortaleza, Brazil, meeting with ESI leadership teams regionally, and encouraging pastors through conferences in places like Rwanda.

Please keep Debbie in prayer October 10–12 as she teaches at the women’s retreat of ILC Church in La Paz. And together, October 6–8, we’ll be leading a marriage conference at our Bolivian church.

Thank you for standing with us. When you pray, you go.

Grateful,

Kep

Kep & Debbie September 2025 Update

Download the James September 2025 Update.

We thank God for your partnership in the gospel with us in Equipping Servants International (ESI). Attached is our September 2025 Update, including the link to our ESI Website where you can hear testimonies of how God is transforming lives through the study of His Word, as He promises in John 8:31,32.

Thank you for your prayers, especially as we leave for South America on September 14,

Kep and Debbie