Honduras

Day 7 (Saturday):
We had a great day with our friends at Point of Impact Ministries.

Sunset last night from the back of the truck:

Honduras

Day 5 (Thursday):
Today was a full day of teaching (8:30am - 9:00pm with regular breaks).  We were thankful today for all of you that have invested in us and trained us.  We have really enjoyed our time here in Siguatepeque.

Seeing the men and women soak in and take notes from all that was taught was encouraging.  Today probably felt like drinking from a firehouse, but giving these good folks tangible, teachable lessons on discipleship will hopefully have a multiplying effect throughout their country.  They were so receptive and appreciative, even when they were given an exam at the end of day!  From the Thessalonian Legacy and Multiplication to How To's and Qualifications of a Disciple Maker, they received great lessons on the Master's strategy for reaching the masses.  We are all humbled by their willingness and commitment.

View from where we are staying:

Pepper teaching Multiplication:

The gave us a special gift for coming:

 Jeremy teaching with Marco translating:

Brad teaching with Marco translating:

Chris teaching with Marco translating:

 New friends!

Marco teaching Vision and Strategy:

Honduras

Day 4 (Wednesday Dec. 4):

We made to Siguatepeque today.  Pepper taught tonight on the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).  The team is healthy and doing great!

Pepper teaching on the power of multiplication through discipling:

A seminary is hosting the training here.  They grow stuff to sustain the ministry.  These are coffee bean trees that they will sell in the future.  Love it!

Where we are staying (building on the left) and the chapel at the seminary.

Honduras

Day 3 (Tuesday):

Thank you all for the prayer and support.  This morning we were able to spend time praying and prepping for the next few days of teaching.  This afternoon and through the evening we spent time in a local village working with a ministry that consisted of a group of local pastors working together.  This was an outreach event that was and will be memorable.  Our team left there speechless to say the least.   We will be pondering on, reflecting on, and strategizing on the events from this night for some time.

For the outreach event, the ministry uses a medium sized cargo truck that has the back converted and decorated to look like a large present.  The side of the truck folded down which converted the truck into a stage that they use to play worship music and preach from.  They also use this truck to host events and build relationships in areas of the city where they want to plant churches.  Before they started the evening event with the truck, they invited all the locals starting around noon to come to two of the local churches to have beauty care services performed.  The ministry partnered with a local beauty school that provided free services as part of their training.  This gave us an opportunity to spend time sharing the gospel with both the women and men who were being served, and with the women from the beauty school. 

Please lock arms with us in prayer as we head to the next place tomorrow morning (Wednesday).  We will be training a group of youth pastors in disciple making tomorrow night.  Pepper will be teaching the Great Commission and Vocabulary.  Marco will be teaching Vision and Strategy.  Thursday the group will all be teaching on disciple making from morning to evening.  We are praying for this group to see the Master’s plan to make disciples to all nations.  This group of youth pastors/leaders will be the next generation of leaders in this country and beyond.  The potential influence the Lord may give them is huge.  Pray for them to see the vision and for the vision to hit them from their mind to their feet.

Picture before heading to a local village:

Squeezing in (fun in in the back around the mountains!)

Picture at a local village (Lost in translation was the type of smile Marco was supposed to do):

 Brad sharing the gospel with new friends:

Marco sharing and listening:

Precious children:

 Beauty salon / outreach at church.

Pepper sharing:

Honduras

Day 2

Tonight God sent us to a group of pastors/leaders here in Tegucigalpa with whom we enjoyed great fellowship.  They were incredibly hungry for the Word.  We completely shifted our teaching overnight from what we had planned.  Marco and I taught the Old Testament portion of Bible Overview (we did not plan on teaching Bible Overview on this trip).  Marco did a great job translating.  He has been an incredible blessing the team, not just for teaching, but also for conversations as we talk about life with everyone we meet. 

After we did the Old Testament map, we had four different people come up to do the map.  It was a blast.  To see them reteach it immediately with excitement was really encouraging.  It is a joy to see God at work and to see the hunger they have for God.

Tomorrow we will be going out with the same group of pastors to share the gospel in various areas.

Pastor reteaching the Old Testament map:

Marco and Jeremy teaching tonight:

 Late dinner tonight with Bolivar at Power Chicken:

Quick video of the teaching tonight:

Honduras

Day 1
Greetings from Honduras.  Marco came from Guatemala and met Pepper, Brad, Chris, and myself (Jeremy) here this afternoon.  

We are all doing great, but are very tired.  But I do want to tell a quick story.  After Chris walked through security this morning, he shortly thereafter realized he did not have his wedding ring.  I've been there.  That quick look of distress when everything stops as your mind starts tracing every recent step.  He went back to the security check point and thankfully a good samaritan turned it in.

God reminded me of something foundational with Chris' wedding ring.  His wedding ring is symbolic of his marriage.  It is symbolic that he is taken.  He and his wife now submit to each other and serve one another.  This reminded me of the mission we are on and what binds us together.  The gospel has bound us together.  I thought about what it would be like if we left out the gospel in our teaching.  Without the gospel, there be no hope in this broken world.  Without the gospel, we would try to find hope in ourselves or something else in this fallen world.  Without the gospel, there would be a huge gaping hole remaining in our heart.  The gospel is our only lasting hope.  Hope brings new life, new purpose, new desires, etc.  The old life, the old purposes, and the old desires die when we trust in Christ and receive new life.  Thank you Lord for doing the work to rescue us.  

View from the rooftop:

Zambia Update Saturday

From Dave Clark:

This week has been a special week of ministry here at Northrise University in Ndola, Zambia.  Our discipleship conference concluded yesterday.  It was a memorable and life impacting four days for all those who were involved.

Each day of the week (Monday through Thursday), we met from roughly 10am to 4pm.  Although we anticipated equipping college students, we ended up primarily teaching and training church leaders.

Our team of ladies (7 of them) built some great relationships with the approximately 15 women who attended the conference.  The Zambian group of women included pastor’s wives, ministry leaders, and women wanting to grow in their service to Christ in their local communities.

Our men’s team (4 of us) had a great time with the approximately 35 Zambian men who came for the conference.  The majority of the men were pastors.  It was a great group of godly, gracious men, who were eager to learn.

Collectively we enjoyed amazing times of worship together.  Many times we sang in Bemba, the native language in this area of Zambia.  Although, we couldn’t understand the words, it was an amazing experience to hear our brothers and sisters sing and to worship with them in our hearts.

We also had an encouraging time in the Word together.  All of the sessions we taught focused on growing as disciples, and making disciples of Christ.  The sessions included:  The Great Commission, Vision & Strategy of Disciplemaking, Discipleship Vocabulary, Thessalonian Legacy, Multiplication, Profiles of a Disciple, Qualification of a Disciple Maker, Bible Overview, The Importance of Quiet Time, and The Master Plan of Evangelism (among others).   Both the men and women listened attentively, asked thoughtful questions, and shared encouraging insights from what they were learning.   I believed we all left compelled to give our lives to being and making disciples of Jesus!

We were all humbled to stand in front of such high caliber men and women.  We were honored to worship with, learn alongside, and share meals with such a precious group of believers.

We are all different because of the things that we saw, learned, and experienced together this week.  God is a faithful & gracious God!

More pictures from Wednesday

Zambia Pictures from Wednesday

Below are some pictures from today.  Elizabeth, Sabrina, and Kristen all ate caterpillars for lunch.  

Second Day of Teaching in Zambia

Our team is learning that in Zambia when things are supposed to start at 9 am that really means 10 am.  Though we have had to adjust our schedule a little due to the late start and a longer lunch break this was actually anticipated.  We have been encouraged for the devotion of the 30 pastors.  Everyone of the men attending is a pastor!  It is amazing to think of the impact that can be had upon these 30 congregations as their pastor begins to live a disciple-making lifestyle.

Both the men's and women's conferences have been going really well.  The hunger and maturity of so many in attendance is very encouraging.  We taught till 4 pm and then visited with many of the staff of Northrise University.  The team enjoyed a dinner at restaurant with our host.  

We are thankful for the fruit as a result of the conference, the wonderful men and women we are meeting, how God is working in Zambia, the kind host we have, the unity of our team, the health of our team, and most importantly our Lord Jesus!  Keep us in your prayers!

First day of Teaching in Zambia

From Jana: 

What an amazing day it was!! From beginning to end, it has been a wonderful day!! We started early this morning with a full breakfast and prayer. Jet lag wasn't really a problem for most of us because last night's rest was so peaceful and refreshing. The place that we are staying at is called Kaps Villa and Lodge. We were all awakened a little earlier than scheduled because there are turkeys, chickens and roosters walking freely around the property and roosters actually begin crowing waaay before sunrise! None the less it was a very peaceful night's rest that led into a great first day here in Ndola.

After group prayer together and a little praise and worship led by Dave Clark, we loaded up on our bus and headed to the school. The day started a little slow as many of the folks arrived late.  Though the day began slowly I was reminded how God was still the center of the trip. We had a wonderful group of women attend.  Disciple-making is about the "FAT" men and women (Faithful, Available, Teachable). As the day went on more people began to trickle in. And with the women in our sessions we had pure worship and great classroom participation. They were older than I expected but their maturity in the faith and hunger for the word is inspiring and encouraging to simply be a good steward of what we have been given.  These women were pastors wives and church leaders.  As we engaged with these wonderful women I realized how much expectations can hinder us and keep us from seeing the better thing that God has!

When we finished teaching at one of the satellite locations we drove to the main campus of North Rise University to see what the university looked like. It is on a huge piece of land that they are still planning on developing and growing to be greater. They have a banana plantations and there are also mango trees everywhere. We got to see the beautiful sunset in the west which reminded me of home being westward and how God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). I'm so thankful that we made it here safely and that God's faithfulness is evidently here with us. There's beautiful people and sights everywhere and God made them/it all. I'm thankful to be His witness from Memphis to Ndola to Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth!

Zambia - Monday

Today was our first day of training.  The men taught a group of pastors from around Ndola and the women taught local church leaders.  We have started a Facebook page for the group to put pictures on and you can link to it here https://www.facebook.com/groups/138080753057305/

Arrived in Zambia

After over 40 hours our team of 11 made it to Ndola, Zambia.  Everyone is doing great!  We had a 12 hour layover in Amsterdam and got to explore the city.  We are settling in today and tomorrow we start day one of a four day conference.  Pray for our team!

More pics from Poland

Poland Pictures

We've had a great time of training and teaching here in Poland. 

Top Picture: Our team and hosts in Poznan at a fort from World WW2 that has been turned into a museum.

2nd Picture: Our farewell at the train station on our way to Warsaw.

3rd Picture: David having some roundtable training in Krakow with some local pastors.

Bottom Picture: Bryson, David, and Jeff touring the town of Krakow.

Poland - Day 2

Today we finished up our 8 hours of teaching at Genesis Church. Everyone the team had an opportunity to teach. Most of the people at Genesis were first generation Christians and loved hearing about Jesus strategy of disciple-making!