Steve's Report from the February Pastor Training Trip

We had a great week in Guyana with Jai, Tony and Alex (our Guyanese team) and Pastor Carl, Chase his intern and me.

We had a worship service in the prison on Monday with twenty-five men indicating that they accepted Christ. We distributed Bibles to the men that did not already have one. The Officer in Charge then took our team on a tour of the new prison that is being built to replace the one that burned in Georgetown several years ago. The new prison should be completed this calendar year. The Government had requested that our ministry build a Chapel at the new prison site. The Officer in Charge showed us the location for the chapel and it is in the center of the entire compound. The other chapel we built in the New Amsterdam Prison seats about 100 but the request is that this new prison chapel seat 300! We have already raised $10,000 for this project but that was when we thought it would  be a 100 seat chapel. We will have to reprice the materials needed. The labor to build the chapel will be provided by the prisoners. The chapel will be a concrete construction structure. Our team will use this new chapel three times per month for services.

Tuesday was a travel day. We took our 15 passenger van loaded with our supplies for the week and our temporary kitchen and headed out for the ferry. After about two hours we arrived at the terminal for the ferryboat and got in line to wait. The ferry was on time, amazing. We drove our van onto the ferry and had a two hour ride to our next offload point. Then we drove for another two hours to a marina in Charity where we met Rodney, our speedboat captain and his father. We loaded our gear and set off on a 4.5 hour speedboat ride. We went by river into the Atlantic Ocean and then back into the river system. Then we entered a creek that is is called The Ninety Nine because there are 99 turns until it merges back into another main river where our conference church was located. There are floating islands of vegetation along The Ninety Nine and sometimes they block travel and you have to force the boat though these passages. Other boats had already been on his passage and had cleared the way for us thankfully. We arrived at the Church and set up for our training sessions. There was no electricity at the site because the Chruch’s generator was on the blink. We had flashlights and and an LP two burner cooker (that Jai had made) and it worked great. Who needs electricity?

Wednesday morning we began the pastor training, three sessions each day. We had 35 people including our team of six, the 13 pastors and other leaders from the churches. Carl did a masterful job in teaching the pastors. We introduced them to the teaching aids from ICM and how they can be used in both small groups and worship services in their churches. To say they were excited would be an understatement. On Thursday, Chase taught them the three circles as a method of spreading the gospel and I taught them the five bead bracelet method we have historically used in Guyana. The pastors asked for the bracelets for their congregations so they can teach each member how to share their faith in their communities and we showed them how to download the three circle app for their smart phones. They are looking forward to training their members.

Friday Carl asked them about any issues or questions they had. Through this conversation we discovered that some of the churches did not have the Lord’s Supper (Communion) because they did not understand the significance and were concerned about the warnings in the New Testament about this ordinance in the church. Carl went thought the scriptures and taught them the background and explained the way this should be done with their congregations. We then had communion with loaf bread and orange drink. The video (I snuck and took it) of their prayers out loud confessing their sins was so moving. This was a real highlight of the trip.

The relationships being developed between our team and these pastors will pay significant benefits for the expansion of the Gospel in Guyana for years to come.

On Saturday, we repeated the trek back to Georgetown and returned home on Sunday.

I was thrilled to get to be with our Guyanese staff and see how dedicated and effective they are. It was the first time I had met Alex and am so thankful to have him as part of our team.

Thank you for praying for this trip. We are grateful for your partnership with God’s ministry in Guyana.

Steve