July Trip to Train Village Pastors and Prison Ministry

             REPORT FROM THE PASTOR TRAINING AND PRISON TRIP

Now it is time to expound on the short report I sent about this trip. I needed time to hear back from the Five Guys (US team members) and learn some stories and victories. It will be in two sections, the Village Training and the Prison Ministry. I will tell you that one team member said that those were the five most impactful days of his life. That is an amazing statement. Also, Pastor Carl said that because of your prayers, he sensed the power of the Holy Spirit while teaching in the village and also that the freedom he felt while preaching in the prison was a phenomenal experience. Thank you so much for praying.

                           PASTOR TRAINING IN THE VILLAGE

There were supposed to be 13 pastors in the training but one sadly couldn’t make it because he was coming by trail rather than river and the very heavy rains made the trail impassable. The twelve who did come have sent reports back already saying how much they learned and asking for more. What a blessing that they can put in practice what they learned and better lead their churches. 

Five of the church leaders traveled together in a very small boat. Jai said when the boat pulled up, he couldn’t believe they came such a distance in such a small boat. It had a 15 horse-power motor and they had to come out of their river and go into the Atlantic for a short distance and then back into the river to get to Canal Bank for the training. It took them over 11 hours and the rain was falling very hard much of the time. Can you imagine how uncomfortable that must have been? Jai reported that with the five of them and their load, there was only about six inches between the top of the boat and the water. They were determined to get there for the training! What dedication that took and what a hunger they had for the Word of God and a desire to learn how to lead their churches.

Our US team unloaded their gear up a slippery bank and into the very small church to set up what would be their bedroom shared by the American team, Guyanese staff and the 12 pastors. There was a combination of blow up mattresses and hammocks. The same small church was also their kitchen and classroom. 

For the first session, Carl started by getting to know everyone, hearing each pastor’s story, their life with Christ, their struggles, about their families, churches and villages. They told of God’s redemption and provision in desperate times and how God’s love had been poured out on them. One team member said they showed a vulnerability that created a faith-filled and open atmosphere. Carl had them sit in a circle so everyone could see each other and he moved around the circle and sometimes even got down on his knees to listen and interact. Carl

encouraged them to stop him anytime if they had questions or comments. There was a lot of discussion and sharing.

Carl hammered home the importance of shepherding their people. He made sure they understood that their responsibility is to God because their church members are God’s, not theirs. 

He taught them these subjects: basics of the Bible, how to study it, leadership and how to train disciples, what makes a healthy church and Body of Christ, how to identify false teachers, how to put a sermon together, how to apply Scripture to their lives and how to evangelize. They were each given a study Bible and taught how to use it with the references and extra materials. 

There were different levels of education, some even being unable to read but they were all treated as equals and shown respect. Carl used lots of stories from the Bible to teach truths. When asked if they needed a break from the lessons, they all asked for Carl to continue. Jai said that he has never heard anyone who could explain the Bible truths so clearly and our staff learned a lot as well. When the teaching was done, the pastors asked for the team to come back sometime because they wanted more! There were deep theological discussions and one of our team members said it was transformational for him.

The rains fell a large portion of the time and on the tin roof of the church, it is hard to hear people’s voices. It was reported that, MIRACULOUSLY, it would be pouring until Carl started teaching and the rain would stop until the end of the session. We serve an awesome God and it was very evident that HE wanted Carl’s teaching to be heard. Carl reported that there was a great unity of the four groups, the Americans, the Guyanese staff, the pastors and the people of the village. He said there was a camaraderie between them that was wonderful.

The children of the village had a grand time. Between sessions, there were many soccer and cricket games on what was reported to be the most slippery field ever. There was joking and swimming in the river. When our guys were resting, the kids would come to the open church windows and chant for them to come out to play. I am sure those kids will never forget those Christian men spending time with them and loving on them. They also saw Pastor Carl and Ned insisting they be the ones to wash dishes down at the river. The kids saw humility and a servant’s heart. They also saw Jai doing all the cooking, another great lesson for them. It was reported and I can tell you from past experience, Jai is a fabulous cook and our team bragged about having three big, delicious meals a day. They said they didn’t get much sleep but got lots of great food.

                                         PRISON MINISTRY

The last ministry opportunity was in Lusignan Prison where 700 men are housed, not in a building but in makeshift cells surrounded by fences and barbwire at the top. There is a roof overhead. Guyana is building a prison to house them but it isn’t finished. They live in these conditions because the largest prison in Guyana burned down several years ago and there was no place for these men to be housed. This is called the holding bay. We rented 150 chairs and put up our ministry’s large tarp that stays at the prison as our staff goes once a week to do services even though it is two hours away. They disciple those who were already Christians or have accepted Christ through our ministry. They always explain the plan of salvation each time they go since there are new prisoners coming in all the time. Before the service began, our guys had time to mingle with the prisoners who were chosen to come out into the courtyard where the tarp and chairs were. The courtyard was adjacent to the living quarters. These men were chosen to attend the service because of good behavior. There were conversations about their lives, families, hopes and some about faith. They shared and prayed with some. All the other inmates were close by and could hear the service.

The service started with praise and worship songs. Then two of our guys gave their testimonies that let the prisoners know they had struggles as well and could identify with life lessons that had to be learned and dealt with. They explained  how a relationship with Jesus was the way to handle hard life issues. Pastor Carl then brought a challenging and encouraging message. Jai explained how they could have a relationship with Jesus and have their sins forgiven. When the sinner’s prayer was offered, 25 men raised their hands to indicate that they each had prayed and received Jesus as his Savior to start a new life with Him.  There were already some new Christians there who were waiting to be baptized and several of these men who had just made this decision decided they wanted to be baptized to publicly declare Jesus as their Savior. The blow up pool had been filled with water and Tony and Carl took turns baptizing the prisoners. There were 30 men baptized. Praise God for this blessing. The men who were behind the fence wanted Bibles, too so our team took them over.

This is what one team member said about the prison ministry:

It was almost like it wasn't even real. like something you'd see in a movie. There were men climbing up the fence, reaching through barbed wire so we could hand them Bibles. Dozens of men were running to where we were handing the Bibles out. Carl would hand me a Bible and I'd look up and just see dirty hands reaching over the fence.

I know this report was long but I wanted you to be able to get a good feel for the powerful work of God that took place. May the Holy Spirit bring to mind all the

teaching that the village pastors received and the words that the prisoners heard from song, testimony, preaching and a friendly conversation. Let the Body of Christ continue to draw more people to faith. We pray that Guyana will be saturated with the Word of God.