El Salvador Wednesday

Wednesday

It was strange to say good bye so quickly tonight. For the people of the church, it was our last time to be together. We gathered tonight for Wednesday Night Worship, and continued with discipleship training from Monday and Tuesday Nights. The thing that continues to be such an encouragement is how grateful they are for us coming. Each and every member of the church (or close to it) came and gave us each a hug to thank us for coming.

We spent some very strategic time this morning with some lay leaders in the church. JB and Ken taught, and JB said that this was by far the most hungry/motivated groups we have had so far. At the end, the group from Nicaragua and the group from Santa Ana each were asked to have a volunteer stand up to be accountable to gathering the group for further discussion on disciple making. It was cool to see them step up, step out in faith, and think about leading like this. Among those being trained in our sessions this week were groups from all over El Salvador and a group from Nicaragua. Tremendous potential for influence.

Dr. Dick has been spending some very intentional time with the doctors in the church, learning about their medical system, building relationships, and just encouraging these doctors in their work. There has been a special bond made with Dr. Alex, who is a pediatrician and a pastor. He works in the hospital all day, and then has been coming at night for discipleship training!

Tomorrow we are gearing up for our pastors conference. 200-400 pastors are expected. Please pray that these men catch the vision for disciple making, and this kind of strategy to reach the world for Christ will begin infiltrating El Salvador and Central America.

Tomorrow (Thursday) night we will head to a hotel near the airport. Not sure if we will have internet or not. If not, we will try to update this one last time to give a recap on Thursday’s pastors conference at some point. We’re packing our bags, and are a little sad to start heading home, but have a huge mission tomorrow. An added prayer request, Tim has a great opportunity tomorrow morning to meet with a group of business leaders in Santa Ana who meet together weekly. This group is very influential! We are praying Tim’s testimony will make a great impact.

Good night.

El Salvador Team (JB, Ken, Dick, Tim and Danny)

El Salvador Pictures 3

Church Gathering Wednesday Night



Guards outside the neighborhood that we stayed in



Driving Through Santa Ana


Driving Through Santa Ana


Driving Through Santa Ana



Driving Through Santa Ana



Driving Through Santa Ana



Smal Group of Leaders Wednesday Morning


Pupulsas Tuesday Night (cooked over the open fire)


Pupulsa-Chefs Tuesday Night

El Salvador Tuesday

Tuesday

Today, was another busy day.

To give you a little overall perspective, we are trying to do several things while we are here:

1.) Continue discipleship training with leaders of Oasis Church, helping them spur on their leadership to begin discipling, answer questions and struggles they have had over the past few years, etc.
2.) Cast a fresh vision of disciple-making to the pastors from around the country, who have been gathered for this teaching this week.
3.) Be an encouragement (as always) to the Christian School at Oasis Church, equipping and training teachers, teaching classes in the upper school, and spending time with the kids.

Discipleship Training with Leader of Oasis Church:
Saturday Night with 15 lead pastors from all Oasis Church Plants
Sunday Morning Preaching at all Oasis Church Plants
Monday Morning Training with Deacons from Oasis Church
Mon, Tues, & Wed Nt Discipleship Church Conference 6:30-8:00pm (Oasis & Plants)

Fresh Vision for Disciple Making to the Pastors from around the country:
Thursday Pastor’s Conference (expecting 200-400 pastors from El Salvador)

Be an Encouragement to the Christian School at Oasis Church:
Monday Afternoon Encouraging Teachers to Invest Spiritually in Students
Tuesday Morning Teaching High School Students in Chapel
Tuesday Afternoon Training Teachers & Administration in “Family Ministry” Model

Tonight, Dick & Ken got very practical by giving the “9 Qualifications” and the “10 How To’s” respectively. We spent much of the day at the school with the students, teaching at chapel, and Danny spent an hour doing a workshop on the family ministry model. We continue to be blessed by these people, and their generosity, compassion, and general desire to grow and learn. But we are also praying that they put action to this! Because of the layout, we do not eat dinner until 9 or 10pm. Tonight, we went out for famous “Pupulsas”, which is like a cheese tortilla. It was fun to be with our friends and enjoy one of their traditions.

Early morning tomorrow. Danny will be teaching The Doctrine of Salvation in the upper school, and we will be doing discipleship training in the morning with 20 leaders in the church, and at night as part of the conference once again. We’re all getting tired, but it seems like we’re getting little jolts of energy from conversations with people here, from each other, and from the Holy Spirit. Thanks for your prayers. We are constantly talking about the blessing of our families and friends who support us in this.

"Ustedes pueden hacer discipulos por la fuerza de Dios"

The El Salvador Team (JB, Ken, Dick, Tim, and Danny)

El Salvador Pictures 2

JB "Great Commission" Monday Night


Danny "Key That Hangs" Monday Night


Breakfast at Pastor Mauricio's Tuesday Morning



Soccer with the Students Tuesday. Grengos 2 Estudiantes 8


Soccer with the Students Tuesday. Grengos 2 Estudiantes 8



Chapel From the Back



Chapel From the Front


Praying to Begin Teaching Time w/ Dick & Ken Tuesday Night


Pupulsas Tuesday Night with DL Team & Oasis Team

El Salvador Monday

Today, we woke up early for a 3-hour training session with the deacons at Oasis Santa Ana. There are 18 young leaders in the church who were present with us. Since they have heard so many of these teachings over the past four years, we are trying to reinstill vision, but also be very practical. JB revisited Great Commission and quizzed them a bit with multiplication. Then Danny taught on the potential of one man from “The Key That Hangs at the Front Door of Church History,” and then Ken taught on the “10 How-To’s”. Mauricio explained that this is such an important group. They are the future leaders of the church. One of the most encouraging things about this gathering was that the leader group from Nicaragua (and their pastor) was present, and have been present at all of our teaching sessions. They are listening extra carefully because they will be taking this to Nicaragua.

In the afternoon, we are spending time with the teachers from the Oasis School which was started by the church. It is similar to a Christian School in the states, trying to give the kids a biblical worldview while providing great academics. We are spending two afternoons speaking with them about the potential they could have if they engaged in their students’ spiritual, family, and social lives, serving as a mentor and spiritual influencer in their lives. We are also incorporating some teaching on Family Ministry, incorporating parents, as the primary faith trainer in the family, into the mission of the school.

Tonight will be our first night of the church conference. We will be laying the framework once again for disciple making. And each night, we will build on this teaching by getting more practical.

Our team is doing well, and we are enjoying our time here, and our time together. It is a joy to be appreciated. There is much “life-transference” that happens even when we are not teaching from the front. We are learning much about their culture, and they are asking some very practical questions about discipling in their contexts. If you were to look around each meeting space after any one of our teachings, you would see each of the 5 of us “grengos” spread throughout the room engaging in discussions with the Salvadorans about disciple making, about life, about faith. We are certainly busy, and Pastor Mauricio is putting us to work. We’re not complaining, because each of us misses his family very much, and we want to be busy and strategic while we are here.

It looks like we will be able to update this blog at least every couple of days. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Be sure to look at our previous post. We posted some pictures.

The El Salvador Team (JB, Ken, Tim, Dick, and Danny)

El Salvador Pictures

La casa de Tim y Dick




JB Teaching Oasis Pastors Saturday Night




Oasis Pastors Again (We met outside in a pavilion)




Worship at Oasis Main Campus Sunday Morning




Worship at Oasis Main Campus Sunday Morning




Worship Team (with overhead projector) in Antiquizaya (Where Tim Preached)




Danny & Tim on the way to Country-Side Church La Magdalena




Danny & Tim on the way to Country-Side Church La Magdalena




Gathering to pray for an elderly woman of the church




Teaching the Oasis Teachers Monday Afternoon

El Salvador (Hacer Discipulos)

Thank everyone for your prayers.

Saturday, our flight to San Salvador was delayed a bit, but we made it in ok, just a couple hours late. We met up with "hermano Tim" from DownLine NWA, and our team of 5 arrived in San Salvador about 2-3pm Saturday. We had a quick lunch, and headed to our host homes. This year, we are staying with members of the church. It is a huge step in our relationship with these people.

Saturday night was a very strategic gathering. For the first time since DL has sent teams down here, we gathered with all of the Oasis Pastors from throughout El Salvador. We met in a church member's back yard, and 15 pastors and their wives showed up. We began teaching at 8pm, and finished at 11 or 1130. These pastors have been exposed to the idea of disciple making in a few other contexts over the past few years, but this was 3 hours of trying to put a clear vision in front of them. JB taught Great Commission, Ken taught Vocabulary and Danny taught Thessalonians. Afterwards, the pastors wanted to continue talking. It was about 65 degrees, and they were freezing (we were loving it) and they wanted to continue to discuss and ask questions. Many pastors were saying that after 4 years they "finally see the Savior's strategy". Three in particular vocalized that their "eyes had been opened" that night. And of course, from Ephesians 1, that was our prayer. So we went to bed exhausted, but thinking about the tremendous potential for kingdom impact that was in that gathering.

Sunday:
We got up bright and early. Most of us ate a traditional Salvadoran breakfast with our host families. Some eggs, some ham... but the staples: bread and beans! Then we split up to preach at several different church plants within an hour or two of Santa Ana. Tim preached in Antiquizaya to about 30-40 church members, and then spent some time discussing disciple making with folks from the church at lunch. His comment was that he wanted to bring some of the Antiquizayans back to the US to show some of our churches how to worship. JB spoke at Oasis Santa Ana, and Ken went to a local church plant, pastored by Pastor Mauricio's son. Danny went to Chalchuapa, where he preached four years ago. And Dick went to Brother Alex's church a little farther out. They have an interesting bond, since they are both Pediatricians.

A hearty lunch of "Pollo Campero", and an hour to rest, and now we're off to preach at some afternoon services in Texis and La Magdalena.

Thanks for your prayers. We continue to pray for these people to really catch the vision for multiplicative disciple making. Also pray for us, that we stay healthy and energized, as it can be very draining interacting and teaching in another culture. This trip is so strategic in so many ways. Hopefully we will find time to update this again soon. And Tim has been taking some awesome pictures we're going to try to get up here as well. We will see. So far, we're off to a great start.

Blessings.

El Salvador Team (JB, Ken, Dick, Tim, and Danny)

Comments on the Ghana conference

This is an email we received from a participant in north Ghana conference...

Dear Brethren,

Joseph, an evangelist of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in DOWNLINE MINISTRIES America and faithful in Jesus Christ.

Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear brethren in the Lord l don't know how to express myself to you all am so grateful for all the days we have time with your team in the disciple training and the evening services in the church, God has use all of you to bless the Pastors in the Land of Bolgatanga and the order Region of Northern Ghana.

So I stand on the behave of the Bolgatanga Pastor's Fellowship, and World Gospel Missionary ministry- as a senior Pastor and say God blesses you all and your families whatever that has gone out of you may God replace it in hundred fold in Jesus Name. Amen. And a big thanks.

Brethren l will not stop praying for DOWNLINE MINISTRIES and his vision l can promise you people that the eye of God will never go deem on your vision plans He will always open doors for the disciple training to go all over the world. You people must know that there will be challenges but the Lord will make away for you to overcome.

God Bless

Joseph Bolgatanga.

Ghana Update - Tuesday

Michael say... God continues to Glorify HIs Great name here in Ghana. The conference is really going well. When Chris gave the illustration of Jesus going up, Holy Spirit coming down, and the Church going out, the entire conference cheered. The men seem to be understanding the teaching and several are already making disciples. God is working here far more powerfully than we would expect in the US. God continues to add new believers here. The annointing of the Holy Spirit blew our minds when two people eaves dropping on a conversation with a believing security guard, wanted to accept Christ in the eyeglass clinic with Rick and Chris.

Tomorrow, God has added 34 more seminary students to the conference. Previously ordained, and us unaware, we saved the Multiplication talk, to be given by Benjamin for this day. These students will get a review of the Bible, discipleship principles also to conclude the conference.

Each night we are peaching in churches all over Bolgatanga., some lit only by starlight. The landscape here is amazing, there is a mango tree every 100 feet. People here believe to their marrow, it is transformative.

Ghana Update - Monday

This is from Rick Lundgren:

We are here in Bolgatonga at the north of Ghana. Yesterday, we arrived in Accra about 11pm. We got to talk to the Wrights (our host family in Accra) for about 30 min before going to bed. We got up this morning at 4am and connected with our coordinator Benjamin and one of his disciples. The team caught the 6 am flight and them took about an 1.5 hr drive to the city of Bolgatonga. The drive was very similar to Disney's animal kingdom. The main differences were it was the real thing and there was a mosque every other block. It is really striking seeing the Muslim influence in the North of Ghana. We went to church this morning and Micheal had a chance to share spiritual vision. Along with our daily conference, we will have an opportunity to teach the people of the church of our host pastor, Joseph, at night. We had a great afternoon at the open market. We were able to do some evangelism with several sweet Ghanians coming to know the Lord ranging from 7 to 50 year olds like Joshua, Farcie, Joquiem. What an opportunity to share in the fields of God's work.

Please pray for :
1. continued fruit with the people of Ghana
2. Effective teaching for the discipleship conference
3. World impacting disciple-makers come out of the conference.
4. For our personal families as we are away from our wives and children.

Quick update from Pepper

Pepper says, "We made it so far and getting ready to go through security. I shared the gospel on the plane with a guy named Pascual a Dutch man. I'll write as soon as I can when we arrive in Accra."

Ghana Team - March 2011

DownLine sent a team of four men to Ghana, West Africa. The team will be training at least 50 pastors and church leaders in disciple-making. The team will be covering topics like the Great Commission, Vision and Strategy, Multiplication, the Ten How to's and much more.

The potential is huge! If a few of these leaders "see it" and begin running with it, many people in that region will be transformed by the grace of God.

All is vain unless the Holy Spirit does what only He can do. He is the one who will give spiritual illumination for them to see and understand.
The Holy Spirit is the real Teacher behind all of this.

Would you make a concentrated effort starting today until the end of the month to pray that God would raise up producers of reproducers of Jesus Christ. That an ever enlarging network of multiplying disciple-makers would spread throughout West Africa with the good news and the strategy of Jesus.

The team will also be doing some medical evangelism.