Amuria TLT Graduation!

By Anthony:

In January, Sara and I had the joy of attending a Timothy Leadership Training graduation in Amuria town, at Amuria PAG church. From 2014 - 2016, I led a group of church leaders from Amuria district in TLT. After that group graduated, some of those leaders teamed up together to start a new training group for other Christians who had missed out on the first training. They did the trainings over the two years we were in Kenya, all on their own with no financial support. They finished just recently when we returned to Uganda. I am so proud of this group. It is like my grandchild, a fruit from my earlier ministry. I am especially proud of Egwalu Andrew in the photo below who was the lead trainer and organizer of this group. He really persevered and did a great job even though I wasn't around to help him until near the end.

I'm excited to report that we now have many such grandchild groups starting up around Uganda, being led by people who I trained in TLT. But this is the first such group to complete the whole program. Well done to Andrew and his team! After the graduation, Andrew has been getting tons of requests from other people who want to begin TLT. He plans to start a new group soon.



There were 8 people graduating as advanced trainers, and 5 graduating as basic trainers. Basic trainers completed only the first three of six manuals. Here is a video of the graduates marching in to the church:

In this video below one of the graduates, a pastor, is giving a testimony. He was saying that they used to sing a lot of songs in worship that did not have meaningful words. But after TLT they learned about the importance of carefully planning worship and they trained the choir to sing songs with more theological depth.

Not all TLT action plans are about church ministry. This group made a lot of great action plans focused on being better stewards of their personal resources and the development their families. Daniel was able to plan and build a new house for his family. He has gone beyond what is shown in the older photo below, and the house is almost finished. Grace was able to start a piggery project and make good money from her pigs. Michael was able to plant a whole orchard of citrus trees. This is Daniel's new house, halfway built, in the photo below:



Grace with her pigs she is keeping:

The only unfortunate thing about this graduation was that two people of the training group passed away before completing the program. But they had been committed members. It is very sad, but at the same time, it's inspiring to think of them learning God's Word and trying to serve God's people right up to the end of their lives.

I was invited to be the preacher at the graduation. It all took place during the church's worship service on Sunday morning. But since most of the graduates were from this local church, the church members did not mind joining in the long celebration. I preached on John 13 about Jesus washing his disciples' feet. I talked about servant leadership and challenged both pastors and church members to go against the leadership culture of the world, and humble ourselves. Too many church leaders in Africa (and the US) act like dictators, not tolerating other opinions, and they chase after titles, money, and honor.



I also explained why foot-washing was going to be a part of the graduation ceremony. It was a new thing for the church and the people graduating. The foot-washing was to be etched in their mind as a reminder to think about Christ and his service to us, especially our salvation. And the foot-washing was to be a reminder of how their trainers sacrificed to serve them and teach them in TLT. In the same way, we called them to go out and teach what they have learned to others, whether by starting a new TLT group, or just teaching what they learned to neighbors, family, and friends. We gave them a towel with the TLT logo printed on it as a gift and as reminder of their calling. The trainers washed the feet of all the graduates.

Here are some videos of the foot-washing. The graduates found it extremely meaningful, and there were tears.

Standing joyfully with their certificates:

One fun surprise was that the cakes for the graduation were made locally by some of the graduates. And who taught them how to make cakes? Sara did! She had a training that involved a couple of the same people last year. We were both very happy to see them putting into practice what she had taught them. Making these themselves must have saved them tons of money.

You might wonder why there is a photo of a petrol station below. One of the graduates, Michael, made a TLT action plan to start a petrol station in Amuria. (There is only one other station in Amuria to our knowledge). In August 2018, he and his wife started it as their family business. He has a partnership with an oil company, and he is able to buy drums of petrol and bring them to Amuria. There were many motorcycle drivers purchasing fuel when we drove past. Michael is very grateful for the TLT program. He has also been able to do a lot of family counseling programs through what he learned in TLT. 

Thank you for your support to Timothy Leadership Training. Keep praying for Andrew and other trainers as they lead more groups, with my guidance and encouragement.