No trips, Now what?

The virus has changed things! Many of us are at home. A blessing and yet challenging – an introvert’s paradise, an extrovert’s prison. Wow, do I miss our church family, and my buddies at the gym, and time on the road (cycling)!

You can see the screen shot below of our Wednesday morning Zoom prayer with TLI trainers and staff. We meet to pray for each other and our families and our partners oversees. It is small to keep identities confidential.

Here’s how the suspension of oversees trips has affected my work.

My new duties:

• I will begin developing relationships with diaspora (immigrant) pastors and influencers in Southern California. TLI has a whole division devoted to helping leaders/pastors who are here from other countries but have little or no training. Additionally, this region of the U.S. (Southern California) is without a representative. For the short term I will attempt to fill in the blank for Orange County. I will work diligently on making contacts and referring them to our Diaspora Director, Eduardo. If you know of someone who might be interested in being trained, or facilitating a training site, or might just want to know more about the diaspora. Let me know! Thanks.

Pictured below are three students in Tanzania. An aspiring to be an elder – young man, a women’s ministries director, and a pastor.

• TLI has excelerated the timeline for our training. We are meeting to better understand the the course material and the intricacies of the teaching process. This morning I read for several hours in preparation for a group discussion with other TLI trainers via Zoom next week. It is excellent material!

• Personal/professional development: I am immersed in studying Job and the Psalms. I will present a short paper to TLI to aid in our prayer preparation when we travel and train. Book suggestion: buy anything Christopher Ash writes, especially on Psalms and Job – excellent resources!

• I am working on a project addressing the evangelism crisis in the US. It’s been on the back burner for a couple of years and it needs to be finished up.

Pictured below is the TLI team – March 2020 – Liberia. They are a wonderful godly group!

These are changing times! Whatever God has planned, it will be better than before the virus, of this we can be assured, Romans 8:28, 32. Looking forward in hope and expectation.

Bob

Attached below is a link to a TLI document outlining our plans for the coming months.