01/06/2020 Kick off 2020 with Liberia

Today we began our eighth Liberian classroom.  It remains one of our most vibrant and exciting classrooms globally.  We have been anticipating anywhere from 65 to 100 pastors from all over the country and won’t know our total until Tuesday at day’s end.  As we taught Pastoral Leadership and Church Administration today, I was reminded at just how much these West African pastors have learned in the last three years of training.

It is evident in their questions, discussions,  and their ability to synthesize new information. My most gratifying part of the day was my meeting with the trainers who were chosen nearly two years ago to represent the continuation of training beyond this classroom into the other areas of the country which they represent.  I was thrilled to learn how they have initiated classes in their churches, begun their own church planting efforts, and concentrated on raising up new leaders in their own churches since their own training began.  We have set the God-sized goal of seeing 500 new church plants by the end of 2021, and the heat is on!

If you are a supporter of GBTF around the world, let me ask you to stop and pray today for this great group of West African pastors committed to serving Jesus in a difficult environment.  Today in the capital of Monrovia, many of the pastors planning on being here were detained by protests and demonstrations which could eventually lead to more civil unrest. Some of them are fearful of traveling at this time and were not present today.

 The country is descending into what was known in the Old Testament period of the Judges as

 “when every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

However, we see God at work in the midst of the potential chaos!  Pray for us that God would give us all a great week of moving and multiplying the gospel forward by training nationals!

From Gbarnga, Liberia

Video: Pastors singing “Where Could I Go But To The Lord?”