In this update: Life Principles Training in Costa Rica, baptisms in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the joy of pursuing Christ
There’s a tendency I’ve battled all my life.
Sometimes I focus more on the requirements of following God than on my relationship with Him. Why does this sense of duty lure me away from the simple joy of knowing Jesus?
Photography by Ben Rollins
This struggle recently came to mind again after I heard about a contented elderly man in a bucket hat, rocking happily as he listened to the Scriptures.
We sent a team to the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica for a Life Principles Training. In Touch trainer Joel Zaldumbide and Nicolas Durate, our regional leader, equipped 29 pastors and church leaders in Dr. Stanley’s 30 Life Principles curriculum.
Costa Rica provides day homes for its elderly population along with free transportation, activities, and health check-ins. In addition to the conference, our team visited two of these homes to distribute the In Touch Messenger—our solar-powered audio discipleship tool.
One of the participants was the man wearing the bucket hat. My colleague, Sarahi, observed: “He immediately put in his headphones and started listening to the Word. Meanwhile, everybody else was figuring out how to work it. But he was rocking in his chair, just so happy. And a couple of us—I won’t name names—got choked up.”
She was talking about her father, Joel.
“It was my allergies,” he quipped. “I went up to the delighted man to ask about his experience, and he told me, ‘I used to hear God’s Word only when I got to the church because I didn’t know how to read. Now I can listen to God’s Word anytime I want.’”
The way Sarahi and Joel tell it, the reaction to the Messenger was like watching people win the lottery. Though Guanacaste is an area that draws tourists, many locals live in poverty, and a new Bible is hard to come by.
The conference is a difficult journey for the leaders who sacrifice to attend. Those traveling to Guanacaste must navigate mountains, volcanoes, rivers, and temperamental pavement often blocked by road crews. Without the help of our local organizers in each region, we couldn’t serve the hundreds of men and women who desire training in disciple-making.
In 2025, this totaled 3,500 people in 11 languages over five continents—over 400 conferences since the program launched in 2012. Australia is next, with a Life Principles Training scheduled for 2026.
A Closer Walk
The core lesson of our Life Principles Training is how to develop intimacy with Christ. Recently, I asked Bill Loveless, another of our Atlanta-based trainers, about cultivating that closer walk with Jesus.
“Your grace is entirely necessary, O Lord, for a good beginning, good progress, and a good completion of life.”
—Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
“How do we build intimacy with Christ? Through prayer. Spending time on your knees, reading the Word of God, praying the Word back to Him, asking, ‘Lord, what are you saying to me in this? What do you want me to do?’ We want to learn to trust Him with all our heart, abide in Christ, and walk in the Spirit. We’re used to going to God and saying, ‘Hey Lord, this is Bill. I need this, this, and this. Thank you very much. Amen.’ But it doesn’t work that way. God wants to say something to us.”
Tireless Evangelists: The Impact of In Touch Messengers in Congo
For 18 years, Don and Jenya Foster have served the Bantu people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eager to obey Jesus’ charge to serve “the least of them” (Matt. 25:40), the Fosters live among some of Africa’s most underserved communities—wounded soldiers, prisoners, and the 30 African Pygmy children now in their care.
I always enjoy catching up with Don when he visits us in Atlanta.
John: Don, you didn’t move to Congo planning to parent this big group of kids, but it happened, nonetheless.
Don Foster: In Pygmy culture, there’s an appalling malnutrition problem. The Bible tells us that if you see your brother or sister naked and destitute of daily food, and you say, “Be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” (James 2:15-16). So, in seeing the sad state of these children who are near death, that’s how my wife and I became mother and father to so many children.
John: What’s the age range of your kids now?
Don: Our youngest is 5, and the oldest one at home is 18. We’ve had several kids who have graduated. One recently got married and she has a child. And my concern in prayer—I know everyone can relate—is to see these children grow up and get married and not go the wrong way.
John: As you raise this large family and rescue these children, what do you see as your larger role in the community?
Don: My call is to “go lower still” to the least of these. And working with Pygmies is a specific call. It’s understanding poverty and a lot of medical and educational issues. But on a larger scale, we’re reaching our town, our region, and we want to go into other nations with a discipleship-making movement. We started with one person; her name is Confi. She’d been arrested four times, had extremely high blood pressure, and was on her deathbed. My wife Jenya went and prayed for her, and she was healed. Jenya told her, “God loves you and He will forgive you.” Confi was born again and baptized. Jenya discipled her in prison, and when she was released, Jenya trained her. Today, this discipleship movement has over 6,000 disciples.
John: What role has the In Touch Messenger played in this ministry?
Don Foster: I'm so grateful to In Touch for providing these solar-powered audio Bibles that change the world. Jenya and I use them in two languages—Swahili and Lingala (a Bantu language). We’ll give it to one person who is a Swahili speaker, and somehow it gets into the hands of someone who's a Lingala speaker. This device is a tireless evangelist that never stops talking.
They are helpful for both oral learners and poor readers. To hear the gospel in the New Testament over and over in audio just makes a gigantic difference.
I work with profoundly injured soldiers—many with amputations, others blind from war injuries. We give them Messengers because they’re sitting in their beds all the time. These disciples are now making new disciples. With a Messenger, they can listen to the Word and back it up to hear a chapter again and again. Sometimes I get back these damaged units that have been in prisons, and the buttons are worn off because they’ve been listened to so much.
John: I want to ask you about the incredible number of baptisms you’ve seen in your ministry. Over 500 in one month? You’ve even built a portable baptismal unit to keep pace.
"We have the same Holy Spirit in us who raised Jesus from the dead."
Don Foster: I may be sitting in a chair, but I'm really dancing around. I am so excited! It does my missionary heart good. 509 baptisms—I am just so stunned. We're growing exponentially, and one day there'll be 5,000. Someone may not believe me, or not understand it, but I'm excited.
When new believers start making disciples, we encourage them with training and bring them a baptismal unit so they can make and baptize disciples on their own. They’re made of PVC pipe, can be set up very easily, and travel wherever a leader wants to go. You can put them on the back of a motorcycle and get around. There's even one in prison. When someone accepts Christ, we usually baptize about 30 people at a time.
John: God is at work in Congo, and you have a contagious witness. How is God working in your life these days?
Don Foster: I have been profoundly affected by understanding the full work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He’s the Conqueror, our Redeemer and Savior now. And we have the same Holy Spirit in us who raised Jesus from the dead. I wonder what it’s like to walk with Him and not be limited?
He went all the way. So, what would it be like for certain people if you went all the way? I want to be an example of someone who gave all I had. I sold everything and left the United States 18 years ago. I’m still here and I want to go until I die. I want to go because we’re making so many disciples. I know the difference we’re making. I can see it in the number of people who are being baptized. Go all the way—that’s my motivation and message.
John: Thank you for joining us, Don. It’s such a treasure and privilege to talk with you.
