Stepping Out Sooner Than Expected: Why We Moved to the Field Before "100%"

I don’t typically write blog posts, but this has been on my heart lately. Our family has currently been on the field for almost 2.5 years and our church plant will celebrate 2 years in September of this year!

When we started deputation in May 2022, we had no idea just how quickly God would open the door. However, after seven months of deputation we boarded a plane to Chile with 2 young kids and my seven month pregnant wife. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t perfectly planned. But in January 2023, we believed the Lord was leading, and we knew we had to go.

We didn’t have every detail figured out. But we had what we needed:
✔️ Enough monthly support to provide for our basic needs and ministry.
✔️ A clear calling.
✔️ A peace in our hearts that God would take care of the rest.

A few months later, we welcomed our third child, (Isabella) here in Chile. And now, almost 2.5 years into the work, we’re watching God build something we could never have orchestrated on our own.

When the Door Opens… Walk Through It

I’ve always loved the moment in Acts 16 when Paul gets that midnight vision — a man from Macedonia crying, “Come over and help us!”

What did they do?

“Immediately we endeavored to go…” (v.10)

They didn’t wait for more security. They didn’t form a long-term budget plan. They went because the door was open. That was our story too. God opened the door just seven months into deputation. And we are so thankful we didn’t wait for everything to be “ready.”

There’s No Perfect Model — But Faith Will Always Be Part of the Mission

Let me be clear: I don’t believe every missionary needs to follow our exact path.

Some families may truly need more time to prepare. Some may carry unique needs or responsibilities that require a longer deputation. There’s no shame in that.

But here's what I do believe:
At some point, every missionary will have to walk by faith.

We’ve learned that it’s nearly impossible to know exactly what 100% support really looks like until you’ve lived on the field for a while. After a year or two, you begin to see where the real needs are — and often, they’re different than what you expected during deputation.

Even the Apostle Paul adapted as he went. He learned to be content with both abundance and lack (Philippians 4:12). Ministry needs change. Cost of living fluctuates. Unexpected doors open.

You simply can't anticipate every future:

  • Rental hikes

  • Ministry expansion (starting new programs, outreach, printing)

  • Health costs

  • Inflation or currency drops

  • Vehicle breakdowns or property needs

Living on the field reveals real needs, not just projected ones

We Planted First, and Grew Support Later

From the beginning, our goal was never to “arrive and rest.” We wanted to plant — to start serving, discipling, preaching, and building immediately. And that’s what happened. By September 2023, just 8 months after arriving, we officially launched Iglesia Bautista Esperanza here in Valdivia (my hometown). Since then, we’ve seen God change lives, raise up faithful families, and begin preparing future leaders.

We plan to return to the States for just two months in 2026, not to restart deputation, but to share the fruit of what God has done and finish raising the rest of our support, now that we actually understand what’s needed for the long term.

To the Missionary Wrestling with the Timeline...

If you’re sitting in a sending church, praying about the future…
If God has started opening doors…
If you feel a holy discomfort with waiting too long…

Friend, don’t ignore that. God may be calling you to step forward in faith, even if everything isn’t perfectly in order.

Yes, be wise. Yes, get counsel. Yes, count the cost. My wife can tell you that I am a numbers guy and my nature is to meticulously plan everything to even the most minute detail. However, living on the field, especially here in Chile has taught me to be more flexible and truly live by faith.
But don’t be so afraid of the unknown that you miss out on the open door.

We didn’t come because we had it all together.
We came because God was already here at work.
And now, by His grace, so are we.

Luis and Gretta Reppert, along with their 3 kids (Gabby 7, Liam 5, Isabella 2) are a church planting missionary family in Valdivia, Chile. They are sent from DaySpring Baptist Church in Pewaukee, Wisconsin where they served and worked full-time for nearly 8 years. The church, Iglesia Bautista Esperanza (Hope Baptist Church), has 75 growing regular attenders on Sunday mornings along with a growing Friday Night Addiction Recovery Program.

We Started an English Program

On Friday, January 5th we started a new ministry of the church “Speak English”. On the first night we had over 30 adults and 18 children! This is a lot of work as we are developing a program specifically for our city and using faith based principles throughout the course. Please continue to be in prayer that we will be able to have a conversation with each attender and share the Gospel.

We Have a Church Location!

We have an exciting update regarding the church plant, Iglesia Bautista Esperanza.

Today we signed the lease to start services on Sunday, September 3rd at 11am. Would you please be in prayer for the preparations and invitations we will be handing out/posting on social media. There’s a lot of work to do and in addition we will be moving to Valdivia. Currently we are living in Osorno, Chile where we have been learning the language and working with an established missionary family.

5 Months on the Field!

Wow, it’s hard to imagine it’s already been five months since we’ve been on the field. Time is really flying by and we are learning new things every day. Please pray for us as both Gretta and I are taking Spanish lessons daily and learning the language this year. We’ve been blessed with our third child, Isabella, born here in Osorno, Chile. Gabriella, our oldest is picking up the language quickly and making friends in her Christian School she attends. Liam is just happy to be wherever we are and is doing a great job with his new little sister!

Please continue to pray for us as we are planning on starting Bible Studies in Valdivia in the next month. We have the materials, but are looking for a meeting place near the central of Valdivia. This is posing to be a challenge as prices to rent a location even once or twice a week can be expensive. Our other idea is to simply move to Valdivia within the next couple months to hold the Bible Studies in our home.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support as we are sharing the Gospel here in Chile. We don’t have concrete plans yet, but we plan to return home in the summer of 2025 for a couple conferences and will likely spend a couple months raising more support if needed.

On the Mission Field!

We are excited to announce we are currently on the mission field in my home country of Chile. Currently, our main tasks are to get acclimated to living in a foreign country, finish citizenship status for the kids, learn the language, and prepare for our 3rd child to arrive in March.

Many prayers have already been answered and God has provided us with the right tools and resources to reach people with the Gospel. Thank you to everyone who is praying for us, we really appreciate you.

In total, we brought 13 suitcases from the United States to Chile. This meant leaving many of our material possessions either behind or donated. Life is really put in perspective when you can sum up everything you have into several suitcases. The move took a total of 36 hours from the time we left to O’hare and arrived to our new apartment in Chile!

God has directed us to spend our first year in Osorno, a city an hour south of Valdivia where we plan to start the church. We are currently being mentored by a veteran missionary family in the language, customs and essential “must knows” when living in Chile. We appreciate the LaRue family and their willingness to guide us along the way this next year.

A Trip to the Chilean Consulate!

Last Monday my wife and I took a trip to the Chilean Consulate in Chicago to sign some important paperwork.

First we signed the application to receive our Gabby and Liam’s Chilean Birth certificates. This should take about 6-8 months to process in Chile, then they will be able to receive their Chilean Passports and ID cards. This will be important as we won’t have to worry about them receiving Visas then. Gretta will have to apply for her Temporary Visa prior to us leaving for Chile and will have to renew after a year of being in the country. Then she can apply for her permanent residency.

The second document we signed was our application for our Chilean Marriage License. We had to fill out the application and give them our Apostilled Wisconsin Marriage License so Chile can process. This will help Gretta with her Visa applications.

Even though my two children and I are Chilean Citizens, there are still several hurdles to jump. Please continue to pray for this process and even a small miracle that Chile can process the kid’s paperwork before we leave in January.

We have a busy next few months visiting churches on the weekends and working full-time at our church! God is providing and we are excited as we start really transitioning to Chile soon.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”
— Ephesians 6:10

Pressing On

It’s July, which means our journey to Chile has been ongoing for roughly 7 months now. Both my wife and I are blessed to still be working full-time for our sending church DaySpring Baptist which keeps us plenty busy during the week.

On the weekends, we have had the privilege of traveling to various churches and missions conferences and are working on filling up the remainder of our year with meetings and opportunities. Pray we can fill up the rest of our calendar year, August/October are fairly full, and a couple meetings lined up in September/November. We’ve been blessed by the many people we have met that are faithfully committing to praying for our family, move to Chile and future ministry. We do all of this for God’s glory and are committed to using our lives to be a witness and testimony of God’s grace.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.- Galatians 6:9

Keep Your Gospel Message Clear!

One of my favorite passages from the Bible is found in Acts 16. In Philippi, Paul and Silas were imprisoned for being a public nuisance. While completely innocent, they were able to find reason to rejoice and sing praises to the Lord. Probably unaware, they had an audience. The fellow prisoners listened in, who knows maybe they simply woke up because this occurred in the middle of the night. However, there was someone else listening to their worship, the Lord.

Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, the floor, walls, ceiling of the jail were literally shaking, then the doors open and every one’s bands were loose. Not just Paul and Silas, but it says all the prisoners were loose! Understandably, the jailer was devastated, how will he explain this to his employers who would likely execute him? Believing Paul, Silas and everyone likely escaped, he was ready to take his own life by sword. Just at the moment of sure death, Paul cries out to the jailer and says we are here, we are ALL here! Believing that he was seconds from death, the jailer takes a deep breath of relief knowing he will be okay. All he can do is tremble and fall at the feet of Paul and Silas and says the famous line “Sirs, what must I do to be saved”?

Think about this plea from the Jailer, how would he have heard the phrase “to be saved”, how did he know he needed to be saved from something? For the same reason Paul and Silas ended up in prison, for being a public nuisance, for preaching deliverance of the people, freeing people from demons, flipping cultures and tradition upside down. They were preaching salvation, they were likely using the phrases “to be saved” in their public preaching.

What would you say to someone who was seconds from death? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou should be saved”.

Keep the Gospel Message Clear. Keep your terminology clear.

Romans 1:16a "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;”

Missions Support Video Completed!

Excited about our Missions Support Video!

We are currently in the process of scheduling churches to visit in the short time we have left in the United States. Currently, the plan is to move in January 2023. First, we will help our current church, DaySpring, finish Phase 2 of the building project. Then work to train up a replacement for the responsibilities I hold at DaySpring. Please pray God will send more workers to DaySpring this Summer!