Fall 2025

Parrita hosting pastor

Baptisms and preaching the gospel in Costa Rica

Ministry to Diego, the CR director of Young Life

Scoliosis healing at Honduran pastors’ conference!

CANOPI’s 1st trip to Honduras

Pastors’ Marriage Conference in Honduras

CANOPI Podcast coming in January!

As autumn rushes to a close, we’re thrilled to share a tiny snapshot of the things the Lord has accomplished over the past few months. Since our June update we’ve experienced milestone moments in every area of our lives.

CANOPI News

July was a standout month for 2025. Our CANOPI team had the privilege of sharing at a small, half-day pastors’ conference in Parrita, Costa Rica, during which pastors and leaders were challenged to intentionally unify for the sake of building the Kingdom outside the walls of their individual churches.

At the conclusion of the conference, we welcomed an outreach team from the US made up of participants from Arizona, California, and Minnesota. This team hit the ground running with fire in their hearts, having seen God working mightily from the moment they converged at LAX! We spent the next week together training in supernatural ministry, canvassing the streets of Jaco and Quepos to share the love and power of Jesus, ministering in a local church, working alongside a Young Life team based in Parrita, and worshipping with local leaders. The Lord moved in amazing ways: supernatural healing, deliverance, salvation, baptisms, prophetic ministry, transformed lives, and so much more! Fun fact: one of our baptisms happened spontaneously at a nearby river. As we waded into the waters, a local called out, “You should get out of there quick—that river is full of crocs!” We dunked the new believer in record time!

The past quarter has been a beautiful season of growth for CANOPI. In August we added our newest volunteer staff member, Aleen Suárez. Holding an MBA in Business Administration, Aleen has taken on the role of Operations Manager and has already brought tremendous perspective to the team. We’re so grateful for her willingness to serve CANOPI with her cheerful expertise and powerful prophetic voice. She’s amazing!

In late August we held our third annual CANOPI fundraiser in San Juan Capistrano. We were particularly honored to have CANOPI’s cofounder, Judi Hertzog, in attendance, as we brought our report on the past year. It was a beautiful night of food, fun, fellowship, and giving glory to the Lord for all that He has allowed CANOPI to accomplish.

In September, we headed to the stunning nation of Honduras for both a pastoral training conference and a pastoral marriage conference in Comayagua. This was our inaugural visit to Honduras, and we were thrilled to see the Holy Spirit move in such a beautiful way! As we cast vision and released encouragement, we watched Jesus equip leaders to expand the Kingdom in their nation.

The entire CANOPI team, along with their spouses, wrapped up the fall quarter with our first-ever CANOPI staff retreat at the end of October. We gathered in Sedona, Arizona for a weekend of gorgeous scenery, fellowship, worship, and strategy, seeking the Lord for His direction for 2026 and beyond.

Here are some important announcements for CANOPI:

• In January we’re releasing a video podcast of our foundational teaching. Both Spanish and English-speaking pastors and ministry leaders will have free access to the training library.
• In February we’re launching our own exclusive brand of gourmet coffee! We’re excited to bring some of Central America’s best flavor directly to your door. Click here to get on our pre-subscriber list.
• In the Spring, we’re taking a small team on a short outreach trip in Guatemala, March 24-30. Space is very limited, so please let us know immediately if you’re interested in joining us.
• In the Summer, we’ll be returning to Costa Rica’s west coast for a week-long missions trip, August 1-9. Check out testimonials here, and let us know if you’d like more info.

NewSong News

During the CANOPI outreach to Costa Rica in July, we celebrated the official launch of the first Newsong Costa Rica house church. The local shepherds, Daniel and Chloe Murdoch, have sown into the community surrounding Esterillos Oeste for over a decade, building relationships, discipling, and cultivating community. We are thrilled to partner with them as they intentionally pursue raising up a community of leaders who will transform the region.

We launched August Newsong’s first annual camping trip—a gathering of the house churches from both California and Arizona. In spite of spending three noisy nights at “Crampland” (San Diego’s “Campland at Mission Bay”), we had a fabulous time in the sun and had the privilege of baptizing two new believers in the ocean (this time with no threat of dangerous amphibians!)

Soon after, Chris had the privilege of baptizing the wife of his life-long friend and auto mechanic, RJ Blickhan. It was the fulfillment of his prayers as his wife Aura publicly declared her decision to follow Jesus. Just as he had done with RJ in January, Chris walked Aura into the waves and shared with RJ the joy of raising her up into new life in Christ!

Speaking of baptisms, we’re overjoyed to share that, community-wide, Newsong is experiencing the joy of baptizing new believers virtually every Sunday! We’re praising Jesus to be living in a time like this!

Fall finished strong in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where we spent the first three weeks of November partnering in ministry with Jonathan and Janae Kirchner, the local Newsong shepherds. The Kirchner’s kept us on our toes, having setup a women’s event, a marriage worship, a men’s discipleship group launch, and a microchurch Q and A workshop, as well as 3 eventful Sunday gatherings and numerous other ministry opportunities. It was a fast-paced, beautiful, and fruitful time, as we watched Jesus raise up leaders, heal relationships and stir hearts toward MORE. It brought us so much joy to see how God has been moving in hungry hearts in this region!

Publishing News

Now that Streamroots publishing is selling direct, we’re able to do things like offer special pricing for Christmas! Now through December 12, all Streamroots titles are 20% off when you use this code at the bookstore: 20underthetree

Personal News

In the midst of all the summer travel, Chris planned a day for Tiffany in the same location where he proposed 37 years ago, and then he re-proposed! After having lost her original wedding ring early in marriage, Tiffany was content to wear “loaner” wedding bands for decades. Imagine her delight and shock when Chris gave her a new rock (on his knees, of course)! You’ll have to ask her what she answered…

We have another significant personal announcement: after having lived for the past nine years in San Clemente since our return from Costa Rica, we have finally been priced out of the rental market. Because of that, we packed up our home during October and moved into a season of running on a new track as we seek the Lord for His direction and provision. Over the next season we’ll visit the various Newsong house churches, strengthening and encouraging the leaders to run the race with endurance” in each region.

The next few months will include Tucson, Arizona, Southern California, and Esterillos, Costa Rica. We’d love to see you at a house church gathering in any of those locations — give us a shout if you’ll be close!

Lastly, we believe it’s time to overhaul the way we communicate these updates, and are considering everything from frequent video reports delivered directly to you, to (gasp!) social media posts and stories. If you’ve made it this far in this newsletter, you’re opinion matters to us tremendously, so please take a moment to respond and let us know your ideas and suggestions.

Prayer requests:

• For guidance and fruitfulness during our season of living on the road.
• For favor as we launch CANOPI’s podcast and subscription coffee.
• For wisdom and for harvest workers as we raise up house-church shepherds within Newsong.

Ways that you can help:

• Support CANOPI with a year-end tax-deductible gift.
• Sign up to subscribe for CANOPI Coffee! Get on the pre-sales list here.
• If you feel called to ministry but are unsure as to how/where to serve, we would love to chat with you.
• Purchase a book from Streamroots.
• Partner with us personally.