How Your Prayers Were Answered

IBAC PLANNING MEETING – Praise God For Two Great Days!

Thanks to so many of you who prayed for our meeting on September 13 and 14.  God heard your prayers and we had two full days of enjoying God’s presence among us as we discussed how we might improve and expand the ministry of IBAC.

On Friday, our attention was REFOCUS.  We spent time evaluating what God has allowed us to achieve over the last several years and how we can improve what we do.  Part of the work for the day was developing a more clarified ministry focus for IBAC.  We realize we cannot do everything, but what God has called us to do, we need to do with excellence.  Here is our Ministry Focus:

To Provide Broad Biblical/Theological/Pastoral Training For Central American Church Leaders

through a Mobile/Modular Bible Institute which mobilizes U.S. Churches and Latin American Leaders

With the purpose of producing...

Servant-Leaders Who Handle God’s Word Accurately

Servant-Leaders Who Embody Authentic Spirituality

Servant-Leaders Who Foster Healthy Churches

From left to right:  Jim Wilson, Tony Blanco, Melvin Loza, Francisco Avendaño, Cairo Fariñas, Jerry Vickers, Robby Richard, Stefán Feliz-Kent and via Skype, Don Wager – see below) 

On Saturday, our attention was REORGANIZE.  We made significant strides forward in division of responsibilities, use of technology to facilitate communication, ideas for fund raising and other organizational improvements.

One of the best parts of the meeting was the sense of brotherhood that was felt among the team.  The discussions were open and honest but always positive and encouraging. 

Thanks for being part of the meeting through your powerful prayers.

Chinandega, Arkansas, Interns, Hope, and the Holy Spirit

The IBAC Bible Institute in Chinandega (June 17-20) was filled with God's goodness and power.  

Fellowship Bible Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas, led by pastor Chris Moore, 

brought a great team of teachers.  

During this week, we taught The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. 

There is a wide variety of theological diversity on the Holy Spirit - and Nicaragua is no different.

 We intentionally focused our attention on the areas where believers are in agreement 

in regard to the Holy Spirit.

We also made a deliberate effort to teach and answer questions with clarity and humility 

when we encountered points of controversy.

The Holy Spirit, Himself, was present and empowering us and by the end of the week

we left with people from both pentecostal and non-pentecostal traditions excited about the course.

We were blessed to have two interns working with ReachGlobal on this trip.  

Kim Gomez, a recent graduate from Biola University and Kalli Thommen, a current student at Biola

are both Journalism majors and spent six weeks with our team in Costa Rica.  

They travelled with us to Chinandega to write some stories on the work of IBAC.  

The story on the Bible Institute in Chinandega can be found here:  

http://reachglobalnews.org/bible-training-strengthens-churches/

Another blessing was that our daughter, Hope, 

was visiting us during this time and she made the trip to Chinandega.  

Here's a picture of Hope and one of her new friends.

We've Got A Name

The ministry of training pastors and church leaders began 

with an exploratory trip to Corinto, Nicaragua in 1998.  

Since that beginning 15 years ago, God has blessed and expanded our work 

in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. 

During all these years, we referred to our network of training centers as "the Bible Institutes."  

Now we have an official name - IBAC.

Thanks go to Dave Ziel, a member of our San Jose City Team, who designed the logo.

We're using the logo to identify our training materials, and we also have IBAC shirts and caps.

EXCELENTE

Good participation.  Deep questions.  Great trip.  That's how I would describe the latest trip to Algorrobo, Panama.  Algorrobo is a village in the mountains of Chiriqui, Panama.  We began our pastoral training ministry there in 2010 in partnership with E3 Partners, and the Vega family.  The Vegas have been working among the Gnobe indians for several years and it's a joy to partner with them in the work of equipping this indigenous tribe to reach their own people with the gospel.  We will be training pastors and leaders in this village three times per year.  For me, it's a fun trip - no electricity, very remote.  There is water - but for us, it's not potable - AND it's VERY cold when taking a shower. So... during our 4 days in the village, I took one (frigid) shower - the other days, I took a "Wipie Bath" which is refreshing if you have Wet Wipes with a Citrus odor.  Not bad.  We had some up close experiences with two scorpions - but thankfully no one was stung.

Culturally, the Gnobe people are very timid and hesitant to initiate conversation or speak in public.  That's one of the first things you notice when you spend time with them.  However, those cultural barriers were broken down and our students were open and active and the questions they asked demonstrated a deep desire to learn and a deep understanding of what we were teaching.  The course we taught was Reading The Bible For Understanding and Impact, which is a course on the various genres (types of literature) in the Bible and how to read and interpret them appropriately.  My favorite word for the week was EXCELENTE - excelente pregunta (question); excelente respuesta (answer). Please continue to pray for these wonderful people as they eagerly receive training and embrace the responsibility to take the gospel "further up the mountain" to those who have yet to hear the good news that Jesus is the Savior.

Below are some pictures from the trip...

JIM TEACHING
I mentioned there is no electricity in the village...
We use a gas generator for power.

STEFÁN FELIZ-KENT
Stefan is a pastor in Costa Rica who has become an integral/invaluable part of our Bible Institute Ministry.
What a blessing to have gifted men share the joy of equipping others. 

What a joy to wake each morning and find the Gnobe students already studying their materials and full of questions.

The man in the middle is a Gnobe man named Benjamin.  He has attended all our training events.
The man with the Arkansas cap is Reid Pfifer, the worship pastor of Crosspoint Church in Cleveland, OH.
Crosspoint is providing financial support for this Bible Institute
and it was a joy to work with Reid and the Senior Pastor, Todd Calaway, who joined us on this trip.

This is Pastor Simon's horse.  
He slept outside the building where we slept each night and made lots of noise.

Articles in ReachGlobal News About Some of Our Ministries

Bible Institute in Potosi
http://www.rglatinamerica.org/2012/09/04/hungering-for-sound-bible-teaching/

Melanie's Ministry with a Team in Guarari
http://www.rglatinamerica.org/2012/08/07/phototou-bringing-smiles-to-a-slum/

Ocotal Bible Institute 2012

Jim joined a team from Summit Crossing Church in Huntsville, Alabama to teach a course on Bible Study Methods. The pastors responded with enthusiasm about the material and the necessity of solid, biblical teaching for their ministry and their churches.

Jim joined a team from Summit Crossing Church in Huntsville, Alabama to teach a course on Bible Study Methods. The pastors responded with enthusiasm about the material and the necessity of solid, biblical teaching for their ministry and their churches.

Joelene Vickers, a ministry partner and dear friend, spent the week visiting several ministries and exploring options for future teams. She met Amalia who welcomed us with open arms (literally) and a treat every day.  Amalia met with the team on Wednesday and by Thursday had a group of children's ministry workers in Ocotal organized and waiting for future training.  It's humbling and challenging to see how grateful and dedicated church leaders are in this culture.

I cannot imagine the struggles these leaders have ministering with so little while trying  to meet needs that are so great.

Another place we visited was a private nursing home. The rooms are bare with old beds, and although the staff is doing everything possible to make the elderly comfortable, they are limited by having few resources available.

 

 

 Evelin and Freddy are a delightful couple we met.  They both work full time jobs so they can each give 50% of their income to fund an evangelistic ministry they have for children in poor neighborhoods.  What an amazing testimony for a young couple!

 We are also grateful for the opportunity to work with Chico, Cairo, and Melvin who serve as our Nicaraguan ministry partners.  They have blessed the lives of all who work with them!