WPNow 9•16•2026

Europe: Please pray for a WP missionary who will teach in an Arabic-speaking church this week. She will also be grounding some newly baptized believers in some foundational truths about their walk with Jesus.
 
South Asia: Pray for WP missionary Shaun Futch as he travels in Indonesia to encourage new networks of disciple-makers. Ask the Lord for a strong sense of Jesus’ presence and refreshment as they labor in a difficult context.
 
Cyprus/Turkey: Pray for two WP missionaries who are teaming up to meet international students in the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus to talk and pray about what it means to be the Church in more restrictive contexts.
 
Taiwan: Pray for a new disciple connected to a WP missionary. Pray for this disciple to overcome cultural barriers preventing his baptism.
 
Venezuela: Pray for WP workers Nat Brown and Miguel Arias who will soon be leading meetings with members of the new Venezuelan Missionary Church. Pray for the outcomes of these conversations to be a Holy Spirit–driven unity with a focus on making disciples for the glory of the Father.
 
Nepal: Continue praying for our partners in this region who are tirelessly working to serve communities and churches devastated by recent unprecedented floods.

One afternoon, something very special happened with our host dad.

His wife was in another room showing some of the others a beautiful painting of their severely handicapped son, whom they had lost two years ago. While she was doing that, I was sitting with our host dad, and our conversation turned to his son and to heaven.

He told me that he thoroughly believed his son was in heaven. But as we talked, I realized that he had no idea how he could get there himself.

So I began explaining the plan of salvation to him—how God loves us, how sin separates us from Him, and how Jesus made a way for us to be reconciled to God.

I told him that perhaps there was a reason God had put us in their home at that very moment.

Then I said something that I will never forget.
I suggested that perhaps his son was tugging on God’s sleeve, saying, “Please, send someone to tell my family how they can get to You, too.”
It was simply a thought that came to my heart in that moment. I had no idea how significant those words would become.

Later, I told our host mom what I had said. She looked at me and explained something I hadn’t known: their son had been nonverbal, and when he wanted something, he would tug on their clothes to let them know.

I don’t know everything God was doing in that moment, but I know He had a purpose in it, and I know it stopped me in my tracks.

It was one of those precious moments when God gives us a glimpse of what He has been doing all along.

I am so grateful that He allowed me to be there.

by a Regional Strategy Coordinator

It was the final Women’s Ministries meeting of the year.

Knowing how the French interpretation of secularism and separation of church and state has infiltrated the Church, I put together several scenarios of how we can love our neighbors and had groups of women act them out.

They ranged from an elderly lady helping to look after her neighbor’s kids and being a surrogate grandma to a woman offering to pray with a co-worker going through a divorce. At the end of that one, I heard several woman whispering, “Oh, I couldn’t do that. I’d get fired.”

You see, French values call for public religious neutrality. There are laws against openly sharing your faith or proselytizing. Even wearing religious jewelry or symbols is frowned on. France is proud of being the most secular nation in Europe.

A year later, one of those women, “Mary,” gave a testimony in church about a stressful situation at work and how she had begun praying for a difficult co-worker. One day, after she had responded with kindness to a particularly nasty comment, this co-worker came into her office,

shut the door, and began to tell her about some hard things he was going through. Mary asked if she could pray with him. He agreed and in her little office, she did just that. She did not get fired and her relationship with this co-worker improved immediately.

Across Europe, Christians are a very small minority in highly secular environments. Like Mary and the other women in my church, they struggle with how to be a disciple of Jesus in a society that teaches them that to be good citizens, they need to keep their personal faith restricted to home and the church building. They are even told that teaching their own children to follow Jesus is subversive to the State.

The high social and professional cost of following Jesus can be paralyzing to some. However, many believers are waking up to the importance of seeking first the Kingdom of God in every aspect of their lives, including at work and in public. Join me in praying for a spirit of missionary zeal and boldness in World Partners missionaries and those disciples they invest in, like “Mary.”

Matt & Angela are focusing on disciple-making and micro-church planting in New Zealand.

Since 2010, Matt and Angela have been living and serving in New Zealand, following God’s call to make disciples.

What began as youth ministry in local churches has grown into a broader mission of disciple-making and micro-church planting in their community and beyond. In January 2025, after much prayer and discernment, they stepped into a new season of ministry as missionaries with World Partners.

Their heart is simple:

• Build relationships with those who don’t yet know Jesus
• Walk with them as they grow in faith
• Equip them to make disciples who make disciples

They live this out through hospitality, counseling, marriage coaching, youth and leadership training, and by inviting people to discover Jesus in the rhythms of everyday life.

How You Can Join Them
They can’t do this work alone. Your prayers, encouragement, and financial support make this ministry possible.

• Pray for open doors and strong relationships
• Partner with them financially
• Connect with them through video calls for disciple-making, marriage ministry, or cross-
• cultural training
• Explore bringing a short-term mission team to New Zealand

Email: MattandAngela@swank26.com
You can keep up with their ministry and prayer needs by requesting to receive regular email updates.

CenterPoint Church
Duane Hunt, Lead Pastor
6950 Eloise Loop Road
Winter Haven, FL 33884