TRUST IN TRANSITION
I want to begin by expressing my deep gratitude for your prayers and financial partnership with us. Your support has been a great encouragement to our staff team, especially in a year marked by significant change.
This past year brought major transitions for Servant Partners. After many years of faithful service, Derek and Lisa Engdahl and Henry Williams* stepped down from their executive roles. Jennifer Blue, Daniel Groot, and I became the new executive team following a long season of prayer and discernment for our board and staff as we sought God's direction and blessing. While the transition has been smooth organizationally, this was a huge shift for our ministry. The outgoing executive team spent several months passing on institutional knowledge, and we were grateful for time to celebrate their long leadership with us. We are also thankful they have sensed a call to continue with Servant Partners, now leading in our national movement department.
In this transition, we believe God is leading us into a new season with a prophetic promise from Deuteronomy 11. We have been seeking the Lord and asking Him to “let it rain,” a sign of His provision and blessing for His people in the passage. We hope for a season of fruitful expansion and trust His work will deepen and widen among us.
In response, we have entered into a year of prayer and fasting as a ministry. Each staff member is joining at least one other person to fast and pray one day per month, so that every day in 2026 is covered in prayer as we seek God's blessing in this new season. We want to trust God in the change of leadership and in the change of seasons.
As we continue, we invite you to join us in prayer and fasting for this new season in our ministry and for the leadership of our new executive team. We hope and pray that the Lord might build on all He has already done.
In Hope Of His Coming,
Kevin Blue
General Director, On Behalf of the Executive Team
*Names changed for security and privacy reasons.
2025 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
_____
Samuel Awosanya
Senior Software Developer for California Department of Health Care Services
Tom Hsieh
President of New Pacific Airlines
Verónica Torres McLane
Assistant Director for Professional Learning Center for Equity for English Learners
Loyola Marymount University
Kevin Rhodes (Chair)
Managing Partner for Epiceutical Labs LLC
Sandy Lee Schaupp
Spiritual Director, Pastoral Care Provider, & M.A. Student in Chaplaincy, Fuller Theological Seminary
Kevin Walton
Senior Pastor Emeritus
Community of Nations Church
Andrew Wong
Ph.D. Student, Clinical Psychology Fuller Theological Seminary
Seeking Restoration with Dignity & Love
The launch of the Global Partnership for Urban Transformation (GPUT) to support and multiply indigenous, national movements dedicated to church planting and urban transformation worldwide
Latin America
"...But if we came
here, the LORD
would provide
for us."
Álvaro Silva
Álvaro and Irene Silva met Jesus in 1998, beginning a new life together that would eventually lead them into one of the most challenging neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile.
While praying as a young couple, they sensed God giving them a promise from Matthew 16:18: “The gates of hell will not prevail against the church.” At the time, they did not fully understand what that meant.
In the early years, Álvaro and Irene served adults struggling with addiction and homelessness, helping them enter rehabilitation and rebuild their lives. But over time, they noticed a troubling pattern...
So That All May Hear
CTC participants discovered God at work in their midst and were equipped with a new skill for transformational Kingdom ministry.
Asia
"I found myself reciting the stories in my prayers, that’s when I realized how deeply they had shaped my own spiritual formation."
Suzy Triplett
In Thailand, stories carry meaning in ways that lectures cannot. “Thailand is an oral culture,” explained Servant Partners staff Suzy Triplett. “Information is passed along through stories, proverbs, and songs. No matter their socioeconomic class, that’s how people store information in their minds.”
During her first two years in Thailand, while searching for ways to share the gospel more effectively, Suzy attended a storytelling workshop in Chiang Mai. Participants spent days memorizing and sharing Bible stories aloud. At the time, she wasn’t sure how impactful this method would be. But months later, something shifted.
Joe Maye
Where Leaders Rise
New site leaders rely on prayer as they establish Jesus communities in their neighborhoods.
North America
“Many of the skills D may have used negatively in the streets—his networking, his courage, his boldness—God is now using for
His glory.”
Long before it became a Servant Partners site, the work in Waughtown on the Southside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had already begun. The neighborhood still bears the effects of redlining and disinvestment—historic homes with little upkeep and limited public resources—yet for Joe Maye, Brandon and Salem Ortiz, it’s a place of deep relationships, resilience, and hope.
In 2014, Joe felt a growing conviction. Though he took his youth group on mission trips every summer, he felt they should minister in their own city. Even when they ran week-long Bible clubs in Waughtown, he felt unsettled. “It didn’t sit right with me,” Joe said. “It felt inappropriate to tell kids that we and Jesus loved them, and then not see them again for a year.”
That conviction pushed Joe to invest more—coming once, twice, three times a month—yet the feeling remained...
Financials
Movement as Consolation
Visit our Youtube channel to watch personal stories of God’s transformative work through Servant Partners in urban neighborhoods in the US and abroad.
NEW FROM SERVANT PARTNERS PRESS
Vision For Spirituality & Rule Of Life
Vision for Spirituality and Rule of Life is a bilingual edition (English and Spanish) which shares Servant Partners’ spiritual vision and practices, inviting and inspiring partners to follow Jesus on this journey of hope in the midst of poverty.
Ministerio Encarnacional
Ministerio Encarnacional is a Spanish translation of selected chapters of Aaron Smith’s groundbreaking book, Thriving in the City, which shares a vision for sustainable incarnational ministry. We are excited to equip partners with Aaron’s inspiring stories and insights as they minister incarnationally throughout the world.
