Liberia Dec. 2018

Hello praying friends,

Thank you for your prayers and financial gifts, and because of them, I have returned from Liberia with tales of adventure! On December 6-15, 2018, I travelled to Liberia with 5 other trainers from Training Leaders International (TLI) to instruct pastors how to teach and preach Old Testament narrative. The goal was that they will transfer their newly acquired skills to additional narrative passages in the Bible, and will train other leaders and pastors to use the same methods.

On Wednesday of the training week, one of my nine students, in the middle of classroom discussion, announced spontaneously in a loud voice, “I get it.” We were discussing how to understand the biblical author’s intention in writing and then translating that understanding to the sermon. I asked him to explain what “getting it’ meant, and he proceeded to relate some very important principles to the rest of the class. That, in a nutshell, is why I go – so the untrained will receive instruction, be more effective in ministry, and then be able to train others.

This coming March 14-23 I will travel to Liberia again to teach principles for understanding and preaching the gospel of Mark. Please pray for my students, that they “get it.” Liberia is a difficult place in which to travel and teach for a week, but a much more difficult place to live. Please pray for the students: that they learn the material and then are faithful to their ministries.