Getting the New Leaders Trained

 Training New Leaders Through An Orality Conference

Some of the leaders from the San Francisco church attended this conference

Since most of the women in the villages where we work do not read and many of the men who do read do not read well, Bible storying has been a strategic way to teach the Word of God. This past August I sponsored three people from our first church plant of San Francisco to attend a Bible storying conference in the capitol city of Lima, to give them the opportunity to meet other national ministers working with this technique so they could see how it works.

L to R: Nilton, Dolibeth (Nilton and Richar's niece), Sharon, Richar (Nilton's brother)

Richar with his certificate

It was their first time going to the capitol (28 hours by bus) and the first time attending a conference like this. It was wonderful to see them interact with the other attendees from different parts of Peru to hear about their ministries and how each are ministering to their people. Each attendee then got a certificate of completion at the end of the conference (Richar is shown above with his).

The most important thing that came out of this conference was the three people I sent got the vision for this ministry to use in their communities. In fact next weekend Nilton, and hopefully Richar and Dolibeth, will be coming to the other river we work on to teach the Shawis there how to use this method since most of the people in this village do not read. This is a huge step towards getting the San Francisco church leaders to see how to reach the Shawi communities with the gospel and how to disciple them so they can grow in their faith. We have done things before to help train the leaders how to minister but this will be the first time they are going outside of their area to minister and so this is an exciting event.

Training My Local Church

Sharon doing a deliverance training workshop

One of the needs in the local church in my area is the need to know how to pray for deliverance in a healthy and biblically balanced way. Due to the high level of demonic involvement through witch doctors and superstitions many people are greatly oppressed (not possessed) by unwanted "intruders." This is especially prevalent in the village communities where going to a witch doctor is the norm even among Christians. Animism (the belief that everything has spirits) is the common world view and so many people open doors to the spirit realm that should never be opened. 

While the non-indigenous have less issues with superstitions many still go to witch doctors whenever they have health problems or anything else they want resolved. Once they come into a relationship with Christ however, they cease going to the witch doctor and go to Jesus for their needs. 

In doing this training with my local church it opened people's eyes to realize the authority that each one of us has in the name of Jesus Christ as believers. The classes dealt with the authority of the believer, forgiveness, and prayer for deliverance in a biblically balanced way. This training became a need when three youth from our church started to manifest during the worship at different times over several months. Added to that, two women in a village where we are planting a church also started to manifest during a simple worship time. Gloriously, all of these people were set free through the power of the blood of Christ and their lives have been significantly changed. Just giving people the understanding of what the enemy does and what they can do about it in Jesus' name brings a huge amount of empowerment. It encourages them to realize that they can take back areas of their lives that was dominated by the enemy due to a lack of knowledge and authority. Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

My plan is to also do this for the believers in the San Francisco church to help them realize the power of the cross in their lives and the victory they already have in Jesus' name.

I want to thank you so very much for being such a vital part of this work through your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. It is because we, as the Body of Christ, are able to link arms in reaching the unreached and discipling those who have come into the kingdom that the Lord is able to move in such mighty ways to bring transformation to people's lives. Many blessings to you in every way as you serve the Lord in all the ways He uses you.