— Updates —

OCTOBER 2024

Please read their recent newsletter for a complete update: On the Road Again: Marty & Jeanette Windle with BCM International (campaign-archive.com)

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for Marty & Jeanette’s health as they are traveling. They are quite exhausted from a busy schedule.

• Pray for safe travels as they are on the road before and after they visit us.

• Pray for their spirits as they finalize their messages for us on Missions Emphasis Weekend, as well as their multiple other speaking engagements.

• I (Jeanette) will be heading to Mexico City with a BCM delegation to Littworld next week. Please pray with us that God would provide the visas needed by BCM Peru team member and computer/graphic design artist Ricardo Grandez.

• We will be rolling out new curriculum in three languages along with other projects and presentations. Please pray with us as we prepare both publications and workshop presentations.

• Please pray for safe arrival of all five BCM team members flying from various countries to Mexico City.

• Please continue in prayer for Michael as his medical team is weighing the best long-term options for his ongoing care as he continues to struggle with complicated health issues.

• Pray for safety as Marty and Jeanette drive home to Montana next week so Jeanette can get ready to leave for Mexico City.

 ——-/—/——-

JUNE 2024

Marty has recently returned from visits to the Philippines and Northern France where he was privileged to speak at BCM church plants and meet with BCM leadership. Praise God for safety, health, and making all his travel connections with his luggage!

While Marty was traveling, Jeanette met a book deadline (more when it reaches publication) and other publication deadlines as well as completed the new BCM magazine issue.

They are now back at their home base in Montana gearing up for a busy season of ministry on both coasts – including joining us for LTCC’s Missions Emphasis Weekend in October!

• Pray that God will give Marty and Jeanette ongoing strength, health, and energy as they continue to serve in old and new roles with BCM International.

• In November, Jeanette is on faculty at the Global Christian Publishing Conference in Puebla, Mexico. Pray for her this summer as she spends the summer putting together presentations, videos, workshops and displays for that event.

 ——-/—/——-

JANUARY 2024

We so appreciate your prayers and look forward to being at Lake Tapps this coming year for the mission’s conference next fall. 😊. Please check out our latest ministry update (subscribe to their newsletter at the top of this page). It tells all about what has happened after we returned from Poland and finished our stateside travels.

Here are the latest prayers and praise updates we have:

• Please continue in prayer for the Ukraine team as they are back in the conflict zone and our three team leaders especially (director Tima, missionary and army chaplain Anton, and another missionary whose name escapes me) as they are doing bi-weekly aid runs and gospel evangelism into areas devastated by missiles.

• We are done traveling for the year, thankfully, though working full time at home in our separate home offices, Marty doing much Zoom conferences, advising of new president, meeting together with Rick and global ministry leaders in strategizing for future of BCM. Jeanette just finished next BCM World magazine issue, which will be coming your way next week, and remains busy with various editorial projects along with a new book deadline. That said, we are already scheduling next year’s travel, which looks at moment to include ministry trips to Philippines and South America and for Jeanette preparations for Littworld 2024, which will be in Spanish language country for first time—Mexico City. She will be teaching various workshops along with helping with translation for delegates from around the world English-Spanish and vice versa. A number of other trips are expected within North America and Christian writer training events by webinar.

• We got a call in mid-December from Michael. He was back in the hospital due to bleeding (the reason he was back in when we were out there in August); they had to give him three transfusions. He was in hospital and then in-patient physical therapy for most of October and in fact hasn't been out of the hospital more than 2-3 weeks at a time in last six months now. We are deeply thankful he is in a program in Olympia, WA, that is working with him and helping him be as independent as possible. 

  (Thank you for praying for the following request in late December! Praise God, our sons did make it to us in MT!!)

• A small request that is still very important to us is that our son Steve is flying into Seattle December 29th to pick Michael up and come to MT for belated family Christmas, flying back out on Jan. 2nd. This time last year a blizzard shut the region down for a week and there was no passage to this part of MT over those days, so please pray with us that weather will permit our sons to make it home. Also that Michael’s health will permit the trip. I know this will over by the time the spotlight is posted, but would appreciate prayer from missions committee, etc. 😊

Blessings, Jeanette for the Marty Windles

AUGUST 2023

Please pray for upcoming trips to UK/Europe (Sept. 21-28) and Poland (October 20-30). Both will involve traveling with new president Dr. Rick Rhoads as part of the presidential transition as well as leadership meetings and determining the future/new vision for various regional ministries.

The Poland trip is also the bi-annual BCM Europe conference. We would ask for special prayer as this has been on schedule as to location since before invasion of Ukraine (i.e., two years ago at the end of last BCM Europe conference, which is when next location is announced as like the Olympics it rotates host countries). We will have BCM missionaries and volunteers attending from across east and west Europe and UK, including 22 Ukraine missionaries hoping to be there and hopefully our Russian director (currently the most difficulty for travel visa). That said, the last couple weeks have seen the situation heating up with Belarus/Wagner Group incursions. Please pray for protection and wisdom in the final plans and conflict situation.

And of course, please do continue praying for the Ukraine situation which has heated up again as you will have seen on the news; most of our women and children had been able to go back home a few months ago, but now a number have had to be evacuated again, especially in the eastern Ukraine and Kiev/Bucha regions. The male leadership is heavily involved in the aid runs, as quickly as it is possible to bring more aid to the border and fill up the BCM van, they take it to conflict areas, most recently the flooded region resulting from Russia's destruction of power dam. A praise is many who have come to Christ through this time and their ministry in the conflict zones.

Please continue to pray for our oldest son Michael as well; he is currently in a longer-term facility in Tacoma for a six-week stint as he caught a very serious and drug resistant streptococcus virus during his last hospital stay (late May) which necessitates quarantine and IV antibiotics for six weeks. We are traveling to see him this week between speaking at churches in western WA.

 ——-/—/——-

March 2023

Update from Mary & Jeanette:

1.       BCM is transitioning to a new president. Marty will continue representing BCM in North America and internationally where needed along with leadership teaching/training, both virtually and in person, and in general supporting the new president any way possible.

2.       Marty recently got back from India/Sri Lanka where he traveled with new BCM president, Rick Rhoads,  to introduce him to our field leadership, do some leadership training events, etc. He returned quite sick and was finally diagnosed with pneumonia. He is now on the mend but would appreciate prayer, especially for his voice as it has been badly strained and he has a lot of speaking engagements.

3.       Pray for our own upcoming travels: Marty will be flying to Lancaster next month for formal installation of the new BCM president; he is currently very active through Zoom meeting with the incoming president and field leadership and working out all the details of passing baton of ministry of 880 missionaries on five continents and all involved ministries and leaders smoothly to the next chapter of mission leadership.

4.       We will both be flying with new president and wife to Peru/Ecuador (May 19-June 5), first to Lima, Peru, BCM’s headquarter base and biggest camp in Latin America, again to introduce new president to Latin America ministry leaders, strategy/leadership meetings, and then on to Ecuador to open a new field there.

5.       Pray for BCM workers in Ukraine: At this time our missionaries there have been safe, a number still in Kiev area, others sheltering in Germany and other countries while their menfolk remain in Ukraine ferrying aid and doing ministry. Please pray especially for their land travel as they continue bringing aid donated by our other BCM fields into Ukraine to those in need in very dangerous areas.

6.       Our son, Michael has continued to do better health-wise since his recent surgeries and is currently in Seattle staying with various friends as he begins a job in social services (one he held there before during the years he was completing an undergraduate degree at Seattle Pacific University and law school at University of Washington). Please pray for long-term healing and a return to independence and self-support.

——-/—/——-

NOVEMBER 2022

Overall, BCM is back to full in-person ministries globally, which is an exciting development. This summer’s camp season was maxed out at all of our camps with most setting records for registration, undoubtedly because parents are so excited to get kids out of house again. 😊 The Ukraine crisis remains a major need for prayer. An answer to prayer is huge growth in church attendance and many who have come to Christ during this crisis. In India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Nepal, where there have been major economic and political crises, two years of Covid restrictions as well as persecution, it has also been exciting to receive reports of renewed in-person ministry, salvation, and baptisms. In the last year, there have also been three major missionary candidate orientations with dozens of new confirmed missionaries.

One concern is definitely a gradual loss of support over these last few years as long-term donors are retiring, moving to heaven, or some churches have closed or shut-down mission programs especially with Covid (Hot Springs Bible Church being one such), which has added up to about 700 a month support loss just this year. We were already below minimum. That said, God has consistently met our needs, and we are trusting He will continue to do so.

Beyond the needs and requests from the fields, our biggest ongoing prayer request is Michael’s health and a long-term solution for his situation. If you’ve followed our latest updates, you know he was in the hospital again twelve days these last two weeks. He is home but still very weak and brain remains fuzzy. Every time he hopes to improve enough to pursue returning to normal life, he has a relapse that puts him back in the hospital.

——-/—/——-

MAY 2022

Marty and Jeanette Windle, serving in leadership of BCM International, continue to ask prayer for the crisis in Ukraine where BCM has extensive ministry.

Please pray for safety of BCM Ukraine ministry personnel who are ferrying aid donations into various cities in Ukraine. Pray that they would be able to find enough gas, currently in short supply, to be able to take aid where needed, especially Bucha, which has been so much in the news for massacres there. The camp there where BCM Ukraine had planned many camp programs for this summer was mined by Russian soldiers, and homes of our BCM leadership were destroyed by missiles as much else in town.

Please pray for the Mariupol orphanage children, now evacuated and being cared for by BCM Germany field, as they deal with ongoing trauma from shelling and continued upheaval. Pray for our Mariupol orphanage director Ruslan and wife as they care for remaining refugees inside orphanage, which is also damaged by shelling.

Pray too for the relocation of BCM’s historic Camp Streamside, which ministers to thousands of inner-city children each summer for more than seventy years, as current site in PA’s Poconos mountains has been sold and new site needs found to keep program uninterrupted.

Pray too for adequate camp personnel for all BCM camps across USA and Canada this summer as registrations are breaking all records with the relaxing of Covid restrictions.

Pray for BCM Latin America missionary candidate orientation being planned for August in Bolivia with delegates from at least five countries (many missed the Peru CO last year due to Covid restrictions) as well as BCM Europe candidate orientation in Spain next September with candidates from several European countries.

We also give praise that despite Covid and all the resultant downturn in giving to ministries, BCM finished 2021 in the black, and already in last two months, over $240,000 has been raised for Ukraine aid. For more information, visit BCM website at bcmintl.org or the BCM International FaceBook page.

——-/—/——-

December 2021

Feliz Navidad!

2021 has been another unsettled year for our planet and for ministry worldwide, but the darker the night, the brighter shines the Light of the World.

For our ministry, it has been a great joy and blessing to see in-person ministry return despite continued Covid restrictions in many countries where we serve. Summer camps able to open had maxed out attendance, and BCM’s oldest flagship camp, Camp Sankanac, in central Pennsylvania recorded its highest attendance in over 75 years of camp.

Please pray for God’s continued working in the hearts of thousands of children who have received Christ and heard the gospel through BCM summer camps and Christmas children’s outreaches these last few months.

A return to in-person regional missionary candidate orientation has also been an exciting blessing. Marty traveled to South Africa in October to participate in candidate orientation there. Those who attended came from South Africa, Uganda, Swaziland (Eswatini), Zambia amongst others.

Please pray for an upcoming BCM USA candidate orientation in January 2022 and BCM Europe in Spain February 2022. Please pray above all that travel remains open for candidates and for Marty and other headquarters leadership traveling for these events.

Pray with the Nepal field for God’s provision and continued government permission to complete the new church building.

Pray for our BCM missionaries, church leadership, and the body of Christ facing a difficult Christmas season in these countries.

Please pray as well for God’s financial provision as we come to the end of 2021.

Please pray for healing for our family member from various surgeries and illnesses. 

——-/—/——-

August 2021

 
Personal Update

 During the months of April and May we put somewhere between 7000-8000 miles on our Class B 19-foot camper. We had a wonderful time of fellowship at churches in MT/ID/WA as well as with the Windle family. All of Marty’s siblings, wives, and some grandkids and great-grandkids were able to be up together at the family homestead in Trout Creek, MT, for the first time in over a decade.

Along the way, we enjoyed stopping at some national parks and monuments. We then traveled to central California to visit our middle son Josh and his family.

This summer Jeanette will be on faculty at two conferences. While our BCM International Ministry Center in PA is now back to normal, Marty is still spending much time on Zoom and WhatsApp with BCM leadership globally as overseas trips remain on hold until regions are open again to travel.

• Praise God for safe travels throughout and no major technical difficulties with our 1998 van or IT at church presentations.

• Michael was doing really well recovering from his brain injury, but had a major relapse and was in hospital for six days two weeks ago. They put him on a bunch MORE new meds that have made it hard for him to function well, so please keep praying. He’d hoped to be back to normal life and even finishing his PhD by September, which is definitely not going to happen.
  

Ministry Update

A major blessing is that many of our BCM summer camps are open in-person again across the United States and other parts of the world. Most camper slots were pre-registered to full capacity as children (and parents!) are excited to return to live camp.

• Please pray for the thousands of campers hearing God’s Word and receiving Christ’s love at BCM camps this summer.

• Please pray specifically for the children of inmates, at BCM’s Camp Streamside in Pennsylvania Poconos.

• Please pray too for camps and children’s ministries in Canada, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and other nations where COVID spikes are still preventing a return to in-person ministry.

On the COVID front, the pandemic continues to rage in Africa and South Asia, where vaccines and health care remain scarce.

• Please pray for God’s protection over our BCM missionaries in countries where they are battling both COVID and persecution.

• A special praise for BCM Madagascar’s children’s feeding programs that are reaching 3000 kids a week. Pray that the funds needed will continue to be supplied.

• Praise that the BCM Myanmar team has remained safe and able to communicate; continue to pray for restoration of peace and religious freedom.
  

——-/—/——-

April, 2020

From the Windle’s February newsletter:

“A Bible passage that keeps coming to mind as we move further into 2021 is the assurance Jesus gave His disciples His last night with them before going to the cross: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) We are not promised peace through peaceful circumstances. On the contrary, Jesus makes clear trouble is the norm in this world. But peace is still available through keeping our hearts and minds focused on the One who is bigger than this world’s troubles—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

You may have seen the news of Myanmar’s military coup alleging ‘election fraud.’ The army overturned election results and arrested the prime minister, president, and many elected officials, including at least one family member of our BCM ministry. Earlier the country had returned to democracy and made great strides in religious freedom, however they don’t know what the future holds. They were able to confirm the safety of all BCM Myanmar ministry leadership. PLEASE PRAY for their continued safety, for peace to be restored, and for continued freedom to share the gospel.

A BCM Peru missionary went home to be with the Lord after a very fast-acting case of COVID. He wasn’t able to get into a hospital or receive medical treatment or oxygen until it was too late. A reminder that the virus is running rampant through general populations in so many of our ministry fields where there is little to no available medical care, little hope of vaccines any time soon and far higher COVID deaths than those being reported. PLEASE PRAY for God’s comfort to the family of the missionary and for God’s protection over our 800+ missionaries and 10,000+ volunteers in many COVID hotspots across the planet.

As the pandemic enters its second year, we are asking when and how to reopen in-person ministries across our ministry fields, especially BCM’s year-round camps and retreat centers in North America, Europe and Latin America. As camps and events were cancelled, God blessed greatly in providing for needs of both the camps and their personnel. PLEASE PRAY for wisdom and guidance as leadership makes plans for the coming camp season. PLEASE PRAY as well that in God’s will, vaccines will be made available and camps will be able to open fully again.

——-/—/——-

November, 2020

MINSTRY REPORT AND PRAYER REQUESTS

• We finished up the summer camping season where we could do so live (largely North America and Netherlands), with packed out camps, but arranged a bit differently. In that most places camps had to be done in modules of 25, so that 25 campers with their counselors and staff rotated through activities and speaking each staying within their “pod” to prevent contamination. It worked out well, but we are hoping it won’t be necessary again!

• We’ve had a fair scattering of ministry leaders, families, and church members dealing with Covid, but God has supplied and answered, and I don’t think we’ve had any deaths within BCM, though some really sick leadership. One, Dr. Joseph K, from India was in the hospital very ill, finally recovered and home, and just tested positive AGAIN and had to go back into quarantine, so is asking for prayer. It is so hard where there are no social safety nets. Outreach programs to get food and basic medicines to a lot of our national missionaries and pastors has been a big priority in India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, especially, as many were left destitute with churches and jobs all closed.

• The situation is also very difficult in many Latin American countries because of Covid, lack of testing and people not being able to work. Please pray for God’s protection and provision for our ministry leaders and body of Christ in these hot zones and for God’s sovereign will to be done regardless of how the pandemic plays out.

• As to our own work, the mission headquarters is open with normal Covid health policies, and thanks to Zoom and WhatsApp, we have been able to carry out the normal communications of global mission surprisingly well, though we are missing the face to face. We are hoping and expecting that next year’s various leadership conferences on different continents will be back to normal. I (Jeanette) in turn am able to do virtually all my work, whether BCM communications or independent edit/writing projects and writer training, quite easily from my desk, though I am still not too comfortable with Zoom sessions.
  

ON THE HOMEFRONT

• We ask for continued prayer for our oldest son Michael, who has now been home with us for several months. He takes two steps forward and one back but is overall MUCH better. That said, he is coherent and functional at home, but not yet capable of going back to work (the long-term damage from the gang attack have proved far worse than doctors at first hoped; check out symptoms of post-concussion syndrome). At this point he is not able to return to his PhD program or work, which of course means no income. We are very thankful he has healthcare. Steve has been a rock in coming up every weekend to be with Michael and following up on his medical care (since he was a combat medic in the Marines, he is pretty savvy). Steve will be finished and off elsewhere with graduate school the end of this school year, so we are praying again for God's direction with his future and with Michael, who has come to depend on him. We are still praying for full recovery and are just thankful he is home safely with us, and his siblings try to spend time with him as much as they can visit. Please pray for God's intervention and will for his future.

• We are praising God that Josh and Ellie and their spouses are doing well and attending church.

• We had planned to be out west in our Montana churches for a month this fall and be able to visit Marty’s parents, but Michael had a major relapse that made it clear we couldn’t leave him alone so had to cancel that, but Marty was able to go. His parents are starting to show signs of slowing down, forgetfulness, etc. We are hoping to be out there in the spring to speak at our churches and spend more time with them; praying Michael will have improved enough by then. Pray they will be able to go in the spring and minister to Marty’s aging parents.