Training to Train:
I heard it said once, that you don’t really learn something until you teach it to someone else. This can be seen clearly in the ministry, and specifically in missions. Our ministry verse is 2 Timothy 2:2, which shows us that our goal has to be to train up leaders with the goal that they will in turn train up more leaders. Especially at this stage in our ministry, I can see the importance of not only trying to reach new people, but to also continuing to prepare and train the men and pastors that are working with us. That is why we are planning a couple times a year, a pastor’s and leaders training time to help continue their preparation. This past month we had a pastor friend of ours come and visit that has a ministry called ENW “Equipping Nationals Worldwide”. During the week, he taught for four hours each day on Church Administration, focusing on having biblical goals, managing the pastor’s time, and how to identify and organize leadership in the church. I believe it was a very profitable time with the men in the ministry here and will help them to be more prepared to teach the next generation of leaders. Since we had the classes, I have heard several of the pastors talk about planning their schedule or teaching on leadership to the people of their church. This is truly a great joy to see them putting into practice what they are learning. Please pray for these pastors and that the Lord will continue to raise up leaders here in Bolivia.
Using What God has Given You:
When you speak of missions or ministry, many people automatically tune you out because they think that they are not equipped or that it isn’t for them. Often the idea is that if you are not a “missionary”, or “preacher” per se, that you can’t really do much for missions except give and pray. Now, don’t get me wrong. While I believe that those two things are vital to missions and very important, I am convinced that you can use your gifts and abilities to serve in missions in many different ways. We were able to see this first hand this past month when we had a group come to help with the construction on our first churches building. We had a total of six that came and four of them that helped specifically with the construction. One of the men had more than forty years of experience doing drop ceilings and two of them have been in construction for most of their lives. The encouraging thing is to see how that these men are using their talents to serve and help in missions. There were three main areas that we were able to work on while they were here. One was putting the drywall up to cover the metal structure that the church is made from. The other was to put in a drop ceiling to help with the sound and heat from the metal roof. The third project was to put a metal roof on the educational building to have more classrooms for the children’s ministry. In the seven days that the group was here, we were able to get all the drywall put up, all the structure for the ceiling and half of the tiles put in and put up the roof on the educational building. This was a huge blessing and savings for the church because it would have cost three times more to pay for the material and installation if someone else would have done it. Not only was the group able to help on the building, but each one was able to give their testimony in the different churches and share how the Lord has blessed them. This was very encouraging to the people to here how God had not only saved them but also has given them the opportunity to serve in missions. We want to say a special thanks to James Smithey, Steve Moore, Joey Lyon Sr., and Joey Lyon Jr. for all their help and sacrifice. Also we would like to thank those who gave special offerings to help cover the cost of materials. You might not be able to do construction work, but I bet that you have a talent that could be used to help in missions either where you are or even visiting a mission field and helping in the ministry there.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for the community where we are starting the new church. A teenager was killed a block from our church.
2. Pray for me as I travel to the jungle city of Cobija to teach on the family. .
3. Pray for our family and safety while here on the mission field.
4. Pray for our upcoming youth conference in June.