Partner Spotlight: The Waterman’s
Over the past couple of years, I have been serving with T-Net International, where I currently serve as Director of Latin America and Director of Curriculum. T-Net is working in more than 40 countries, with around 10,000 pastors and leaders in training. Our ministry focuses on equipping pastors and leaders to revitalize churches into disciple-making churches and to initiate church-planting movements around the world.
My work originally began with translating T-Net’s pastoral training materials into Spanish for Latin America. Through that process, however, I began to see ways the curriculum could be strengthened for broader international use. Because of my years of overseas ministry experience, our president asked me to work directly on revising the English curriculum, which serves as the basis for translations into other languages. My focus has been to make the material more biblically inductive, culturally transferable, and reproducible. We want pastors not simply to receive conclusions, but to discover principles clearly in Scripture and learn to pass them on to others.
Our training involves gathering pastors for intensive training every four months over a period of about three and a half years, along with monthly coaching. During those coaching times, we help leaders apply what they are learning, implement changes in their churches, and develop pathways for making disciples who make other disciples. The goal is not simply to provide information, but to see lasting change in churches and communities.
The revised curriculum is currently being piloted in Southeast Asia, where we have completed five of the ten courses. In September, we plan to return to train Course 6 while also helping leaders in the northern part of the country launch their own second-generation training center. This is an important step because our goal is not to remain the primary trainers indefinitely, but to equip national leaders who can train others and eventually see the ministry become fully indigenous and sustainable.
Right now, much of my ministry is focused on curriculum revision, pastoral training, coaching international leaders, and preparing T-Net for future expansion. I continue to serve as Director of Latin America, but before we can fully launch there, we need to complete the English curriculum so that it can be translated and multiplied effectively throughout the Spanish-speaking world. In many ways, this season is foundational. We are strengthening the core curriculum so that pastors around the world can be equipped to train other pastors.
Growth I Am Seeing in Leaders
Over the past two years, I have been coaching five church leaders in Southeast Asia on a monthly basis. One of the greatest areas of growth I have seen is a renewed understanding of the mission of the church. In many traditional churches, members can become passive and dependent on church leadership rather than seeing themselves as disciples who are personally called to participate in the Great Commission. The leaders we are training are increasingly seeing that the whole church is called to make disciples, multiply leaders, and reach their communities with the gospel.
One leader serving in a university ministry has learned to multiply herself into others and now has seven student disciple-makers reproducing the ministry she has modeled for them. As these students make disciples, graduate, and return to their home communities, local churches have begun inviting her to train them in disciple-making and Discovery Bible Study methods.
Another leader is a rural pastor whose church had only seven members when he began the training. He has faithfully implemented a disciple-making pathway and has seen both spiritual and numerical growth as his congregation has become more engaged in God’s mission. The church has now grown to around 20 members.
The greatest growth I see in these leaders is growth in obedience. They increasingly understand the Great Commission not as something optional or reserved for pastors and missionaries, but as something Christ calls all His people to actively pursue. As they step out in faith and obedience, they are seeing the Lord produce fruit. That fruit strengthens their faith, deepens their trust in the Lord, and increases their desire to make and multiply disciples.
One Story of Impact
One story that especially encourages me is that of a Hmong brother I have coached for the past two years. When I first met him, he was very quiet, timid, and unsure of himself. He serves as a youth pastor in a mountainous region and comes from an ethnic minority community that has often experienced marginalization.
Despite his initial lack of confidence and some language challenges, he has been extremely faithful in putting the training into practice. He began by forming a “Follow Me” discipleship group using Discovery Bible Study to train leaders to become disciple-makers. Rather than continuing to lead everything himself, he gradually handed leadership to those he was discipling. As they began facilitating Bible studies themselves, he saw their confidence grow.
About six months ago, members of his discipleship group launched an evangelistic “Come and See” Discovery Bible Study and began inviting non-believers to study the Bible with them. Through this process, he has seen people come to Christ, new leaders emerge, and additional groups begin. One of the most encouraging things for me has been watching his own confidence grow. Someone who initially seemed timid and unsure is becoming a multiplying leader who is equipping others to make disciples.
Looking Ahead
One of our primary goals for the next season is to complete the revision of T-Net’s curriculum. We still have about two years of work ahead of us. Our goal is to ensure that each course is biblically faithful, inductive in its approach to Scripture, culturally transferable, and easily reproduced from one leader to another.
We are intentionally connecting the revision process with our training in Southeast Asia. We revise each course, send it for translation about a month before the training, teach it with local leaders, and then make final adjustments based on what we learned. This allows us to test the curriculum in a real cross-cultural ministry setting rather than developing it only from an American perspective.
As national leaders continue to grow, my hope is to gradually step back from some direct training responsibilities and allow them to take increasing ownership. T-Net’s goal is to equip and empower local leaders so that, by the fourth and fifth generations, the ministry can become fully indigenous and sustainable.
We are also praying about what the Lord has next for Latin America. One lesson I have learned through our work in Southeast Asia is the importance of serving as part of a multicultural training team. Our team includes leaders from several Asian cultures, which has made our training stronger and more culturally aware. As Director of Latin America, I see tremendous opportunities for expansion, but we also need the Lord to raise up qualified trainers who can serve alongside me.
For this next season, our focus is to build a strong and reproducible curriculum, continue equipping leaders who can multiply disciple-makers, and trust the Lord to provide the people and opportunities needed for the next phase of ministry. We are also evaluating how best to deliver our training in the future, whether through our current accredited programs or through more flexible training models that could allow us to reach even more pastors and leaders around the world.
How You Can Pray
First, we would appreciate prayer for our family as we continue through a season of transition. Moving from the Dominican Republic to Texas was a significant adjustment, but the Lord has been faithful. He has provided wonderful friendships, a church family, and a great team at T-Net International. We are deeply thankful for the support and encouragement we have received.
At the same time, our family is entering a new chapter. Benjamin is starting his second year of college and is now living away from home, while Andrew has become increasingly independent through work, tennis, and involvement in high school ministries. We are grateful to see both of our boys growing and maturing, but we are also adjusting to a new rhythm of family life, sometimes feeling a little like empty nesters! Please pray for wisdom, unity, and grace as we navigate this transition together.
Second, please pray for T-Net International as we enter a season of ministry transition. Several newer staff members bring significant cross-cultural ministry experience from places such as Asia and Africa, while some of our older generation of leaders are beginning to retire. We are asking the Lord for wisdom as we evaluate our curriculum, training methods, and future direction. Pray that He would give us wisdom, unity, and discernment and help us remain faithful to our mission while developing training that is biblically grounded and highly reproducible.
Finally, please pray for the pastors and church leaders we are training in Southeast Asia. Many serve in difficult circumstances and face varying levels of opposition and persecution, particularly in rural areas. Pray for their protection, encouragement, and perseverance. Pray that the Lord would bless their efforts as they step out in faith to make disciples and reach their communities. Pray that they would find receptive people, develop faithful disciples and leaders, and see multiplying disciple-making movements spread throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.
– Watermans
