Global Advance's vision is to provide training and resources for one million pastors and church leaders in needy areas of the world. (Photo: Global Advance)
International (MNN) ― Despite the threats of a witch doctor, Seogo tried to plant a church in a town unreached with the Gospel. The witch doctor incited a riot, and the mob stoned Seogo. As he lay bleeding, he said, "If I die, my blood will only testify to you how Jesus loves you."
"Seogo did not die, he recovered, and he stayed courageously in that village," said David Shibley, president and founder of Global Advance. "[He] brought his family there, and the Lord has given them a tithe of that city. Ten percent of all the people in that town now are members of Seogo's church, and he has planted ten other churches out of that single church."
This pastor in Burkina Faso is only one of thousands of "hidden heroes" or "Frontline Shepherds" who receive training from Global Advance every year. Many of the pastors "are under suspicion by the government or by some other group," Shibley said. They risk their lives and travel great distances to attend the conferences.
"It's literally not the highlight of their year but the highlight of their life in ministry, those few days that someone comes from the outside and says, ‘We care about you,'" Shibley said.
The pastors receive practical tools to help them in their ministries, instruction in growing their churches spiritually and numerically, and training in basic Scriptural doctrine.
"Only eight percent of pastors in developing nations have any formal training for ministry," Shibley said. "And so 92 percent of them are out there just slugging it out as best as they know how, often in a climate of very serious hostility against them, against their families, and against the Gospel."
Many pastors employ a mix of biblical doctrine and heretical doctrine in their work, not by choice but because they have not received any training. They are eager to purify their understanding of the Christian faith, Shibley said.
"We address simply the basics of the Gospel, making sure that they are correct on the basics of how a person comes to a living faith in Christ. When they come into contact with the Scriptures, being taught them in a reasonable and practical way, they immediately come to a very clear, evangelical faith."
Global Advance has already held 50 Frontline Shepherds Conferences this year and plans to hold about 50 more. Two conferences in the next few weeks will be held in restricted access nations.
"We need prayer that there will protection for our teams, for the pastors whom we serve," Shibley said. "And we certainly need financial support in going onsite to these men and telling them that they're not forgotten by the rest of the Body of Christ and what they are doing has enormous impact for the fulfilling the Great Commission."
