Great Pastors Conference in Uganda!
We had a great conference in Uganda! We had 400 pastors sign up, though only 340 total made it to the conference due to some bad weather. Regardless, this was a fantastic time of training and equipping.
The north of Uganda was devastated by rebels for over twenty years, and only in the last decade has peace been secured there. Therefore many of the pastors have no training at all; many of them do not even have Bibles. So when I was asked to come I was more than happy to make the trip.
In the end we were able to provide over 200 Bibles to pastors, 300 New Testaments to new Christians, and sandals and carrying bags to pastors in need. Some of these pastors do not have shoes, and many get little or no pay. One I heard about was a subsistence farmer who got paid the equivalent of $6 a month, which is only enough to buy one bag of sugar, just to put things into perspective (food has gotten very expensive in Uganda over the past six months). Therefore, we also provided all the meals for the conference.
Due to the poverty, many of them have gotten discouraged having no shoes to walk from village to village with, no bag to carry their Bible and papers, and often no Bible either. Thus I feel very good about FMI’s contribution to this area, and I hope that we can do far more for these people in the years ahead.
The training itself also went very well. Their sound system and other equipment worked flawlessly, and I was able to teach for about ten hours total with translation, plus preach on Sunday.
After the conference we received very positive feedback. As a way of letting you know your prayers were effective and your financial support was well used, I want to share the following excerpts from a letter one of the pastors at the host church wrote to me after the conference:
“Concerning the teachings, the leaders remarked that they were very informative, clear, and full of truth; and they were full of impact. Some remarked that they had never experienced any leadership training like it. We were really empowered and blessed by your teaching.”
“The ministers are also very appreciative for the gift of bags and shoes they got. This was a great encouragement to us too. These however were enough, no one missed.”
“The leaders here have loved your coming so much. They have uttered countless positive comments about your teachings which I can’t express all in this letter. They just want you to come again.”
I would love to go again, but we will have to see what time allows for. In the meantime, please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Uganda, that they would continue to have peace in their country, that God would raise up mighty spiritual leaders, and that the government would continue to show the churches favor and give them freedom.
