Tommy’s Scouting Report
Several of us have been exploring opportunities for Compassion Ministry while here on this trip. Our primary focus in Nicaragua has always been The Bible Institute but we discovered long ago that bringing larger teams to do other ministry in the cities we are coming to is a very good thing. It provides opportunities for more of you to come, and also opportunities to build broader relationships and have greater impact among the cities we are working with in Nicaragua.
This week the Compassion Ministry focus has been a Christian School. We have been able to start a relationship their with the faculty and students that I believe we can continue for as long as we come to Puerto Cabezas. We have taught them a little conversational English and today four of us shared our testimonies with all the older kids. We also got a list of physical needs (maintenance projects) that we might be able to help with at the school.
In addition to the school we have been discussing other opportunities with Pastors Horacio and Tommy. Pastor Tommy and his wife, Lourdes, have a lot of experience in working with teams from the US. Several things have emerged as needs for strategic impact.
- Evangelism efforts in the neighborhoods near the Bible Institute as well as others of Pastors who are students at the Bible Institute.
- Sunday School Teacher Training for some of the local churches.
- Medical Mission Team with evangelistic follow-up.
These 3 areas seem to be the most promising. The neighborhood evangelism is one we hope to be able to do in October. So if you have a passion for Evangelism, please start praying about the possibility of coming to be a part of this team. We will also plan to work at the school again in October so that will also be an opportunity for some of you to come.
The other 2 areas may take longer to develop but hopefully some of you will see them as opportunities for you to come and make an impact. I can assure you that for anyone that comes, it will be rewarding work and very appreciated by the people of Puerto Cabezas.
Final Day at the Bible Institute
Our final day at the Bible Institute was jammed packed and rapid paced. I know no one will believe it but I had gone a little over time with my message on Interpreting the Proverbs from the previous day, so I quickly finished that first thing in the morning before jumping immediately into teaching principles for interpreting the Gospels. One of the principles that were most important was showing how the Proverbs are guides for daily life that any wise person will follow even though they are not a guarantee. The gospel section was fun as Jim and I were able to give the principles for interpreting and then I followed it up with a summary of each of the four gospels (my charts are not translated into Spanish yet but we are working on it.). Jim taught next on interpreting the parables. It’s still amazing to me to see my brother teaching in Spanish. I concluded the teaching time by giving principles for interpreting the Epistles. This was followed by Luke Ferguson demonstrating the principles I had just taught using the book of 1 Corinthians. Luke taught in Spanish and did an excellent job. I am very anxious for Luke to come back and spend more time at the Bible Institute.
After the teaching was over we were flooded with photo requests (sometimes using our own cameras) and a constant stream of people telling us how helpful the training was and that they are looking forward to us coming back. One lady in particular made it very clear that this is the best training they have ever had and that she wanted our church to know that they want us to keep coming back for a long time. So, thank you for allowing us to come, praying for us, and being such an equipping minded, mission oriented church.
We travel back to Managua today and then home on Saturday morning. Who’s coming with us in the fall? Start praying about it. Below is Luke teaching and Michelle coloring with some kids at the Bible Institute.
For the only cause that matters.
Ken
