Timothy Leadership Training in Kaberamaido - Manual 1

On September 16th - 20th, I kicked off Timothy Leadership Training in Kaberamaido.  World Renew works with the PAG (Pentecostal Assemblies of God) pastorate and development organization in Kaberamaido.  At this first manual of TLT we had 67 pastors, leaders, and development staff at the training.  We mostly met outside, and had to split into two groups because of the great number of people.

The first manual is about "Caring for God's People" which covers topics like pastoral visiting, guidance, healing, and reconciliation.  It was a very great week, and we even started on time!  Every day we began with beautiful worship as you can hear in the video below.

I did not go to lead this training alone.  I took three people with me who have been going through TLT in Soroti.  They are almost ready to graduate from the program.  It was a real joy to lead with them and not do it on my own.  And they were able to learn more about what it takes to lead and grow in their ability to facilitate TLT.  I had Pastor Moses from the main PAG Soroti church, and two members from his church, Agnes and Betty.  In the picture below is Betty with the red glasses.  Then Pastor Moses and Agnes are in the picture with me.

It is a good thing that I did not go alone because the morning I left to travel to Kaberamaido, I woke up with a sore throat.  But through the prayers of many of you as well as Ugandan friends, God gave me extra grace.  It was the strangest flu I have ever had.  Every evening at the guesthouse I experienced all the flu symptoms like sore throat and nose running like a faucet and exhaustion.  But I never had any problems during the training itself besides a little fatigue.  God is good.  All the time.  Also, it's fun to note that I stayed at the guesthouse for four nights and had eight meals there, and the total bill was only $60!

Everything was translated, but the translating was complicated because there were four different languages represented - Ateso, Kumam, Luo, and English.  We mostly got by using Kumam (their local language) and English, but had to use the others once in a while too for certain people.  This video gives you a little feel about how the group discussion goes.  Sorry that it is quiet.

We had some interesting discussions around the topic of healing.  We discussed for a long time until we could all agree that God does not heal every time we pray, but that it depends on his will and his plan.  I was encouraged to hear that everyone in the group believed it was okay to use medication and that we can still thank God for healing us through those means as well.  We had a discussion about using traditional medicine which I found interesting.  One pastor participant is the son of a witchdoctor.  He and others agreed that some of the traditional herbs do really work, and that they are the very plants that scientists use to make pills.  But many people were saying we should exercise caution, because even though we pastors know it's okay to use such plants for health reasons, others still associate them too closely with witchcraft and it could lead them astray.  As a missionary I might want to jump in and tell people it's okay to use such herbs, but I have to take the wisdom of these pastors and be cautious about being a stumbling block like 1 Corinthians 8 talks about.

Action planning is the most difficult and unique part of TLT.  We force them to have very careful, detailed, and specific plans.  Below is a picture of all of the participants getting ready to hear me teach about action planning.



I really enjoyed using the natural environment for putting up my teaching papers!



And here they begin to discuss and write their action plans.

On the last day, we took time to pray over our action plans.  It was a very holy time.

This video gives you a little flavor of the prayer time.

Part of the prayer time was especially moving, as the prayer was a song, and each person prayed for their own action plan through the words of the song.

There were over 65 actions plans for me to read over and edit and pick apart.  Some of the members had to go back and rework their plans four times.  But by the end we had some very exciting action plans and I am so excited to see what God will do.   There were action plans about reconciling marriages and reconciling people who had left their church.  There were many plans about teaching TLT lessons or the whole first manual to other pastors and church leaders.  Increasing pastoral visits was another big theme.  Honestly, the plans that were most exciting to me involved courageous plans for evangelism.  The bishop's plan is to do evangelism in one neighborhood with the help of many of his Christians.  He hopes to have nearly 2000 people hear the Gospel at their homes, and he is expecting and hoping many of those to come to Christ and join their churches.

One unique plan involved caring for communities suffering from lack of food by doing Farming God's Way trainings at several churches.  Another unique plan was a pastor wanting to help his community dig 15 new latrines.  Below is most of the group holding their action plans.

I was also able to give the pastorate some of the theological books that all of you supporters donated!  They are going to stay at the center church for pastors to check out, or come to the church to read as they study for their sermons.  It is a tremendous blessing for them as most of these pastors own no books other than their Bible.

Testimonies from the Participants:

"TLT has changed my life, just to forgive people, I was bitter a lot."

"I have been having a heart of reconciliation but I have been missing the method on how to handle this subject.  But through the manual I have got an easy and simple way to handle it and I know God will guide me."

"I have been challenged to know that being a shepherd - pastor - is not a small thing in the way I have been thinking, but the pastor should be able to take care of the flock just the same way Jesus did thus he was able to call himself a 'good shepherd.'"

"TLT training was encouraging in the group discussion.  Everybody got to participate in answering questions and asking questions."

"I discovered the importance of time management."

"Caring for God's people needs you not to be a 'big person' and [not] 'selective.'"

"Concerning health, we should go for tests in the hospital."

"The training has helped me to learn the importance of drawing a work plan for every activity and kingdom goal leading to the successes of both our family and church ministry."

"Before TLT, I seemed to be over loaded at times or under worked because I had no work plan to follow.  As a result, I failed in many areas several times to do certain important issues as I found myself doing the less important programs yet leaving or forgetting the most important activities."

"The teaching also was balanced not only siding on spiritual aspects, but also on physical aspects of life like good health."

"The way you Anthony as a facilitator correct is by suggesting rather than forcing, an example to emulate."