Colombia (MNN) — Global Advance's David Shibley took a
Frontline Shepherd's Conference into a former drug cartel region of Choco
(cho-KOH), Colombia.
Shibley says up until now, there had never been any kind of
pastoral training in the city of Quibdo. "During those days, not
only were we able to conduct this pastor's conference with some 1400
pastors and leaders who came from all over that region of Colombia, but also
there were thousands of people who attended an evangelistic event at night, and
hundreds of people gave their lives to Christ."
All of this happened during Carnival, when police were
expecting riots and drinking. Instead, says Shibley, many of those who would have been carousing in
the streets were found in the evangelistic meetings, hearing about the
life-changing Gospel of Christ. Pastors
excitedly told Shibley that this was a first for them not only in unity, but in
community impact.
Aside from the isolation, Shibley describes one of the
discipling challenges facing pastors in Choco. "There are few Bibles that are readily
available in the remote area. Even though there is a pretty high percentage of
illiterate population, we were able to partner with YWAM in getting hundreds
and hundreds of Bibles to those pastors for them to distribute to their
members."
Once the team is gone, the work of discipleship begins. Global
Advance strives to leave each frontline shepherd with a vision in their heart
and tools in their hands. Pastors can
access more training through the books and CD Virtual Institute GAM provides, as well as through their website: http://www.2tim2.org.
Shibley explains that no matter how primitive or remote an
area is, an internet café can almost always be found. Pastors can download other materials they
might need off the Web site as they continue to grow the church.
One way it helps pastors is detailed in the following
story: Church planter Pastor Jorge
traveled two days by boat to get to the conference. Although he's planted four churches, he was
in need of refreshment. He also was
equipped. Pastor Jorge said, "For the
first time in my life, I've received training on how to be a better pastor, on
how to plant new churches, on how to do evangelism and mobilize my people for
evangelism."
As a result of this, he goes on to say, "Now, I'm ready to
plant more churches than ever and to reach farther than ever into the
interior."
The
purpose? Shibley says to make sure every Colombian village has a life-giving Christ
exalting church. Pray for the protection of Colombian pastors, that they
would continue to exercise zeal, faith and the intelligent advance of the Gospel.
