CLEAR Conference in Soroti

By Anthony:

In August 2022, a Resonate partner called LEMA hosted a theological conference in Soroti where we live. LEMA has a school in Nigeria and partners with Resonate there, and they have just started a school in Uganda as well. Joshua Amaezechi who leads LEMA was a classmate with us at Calvin Seminary. Resonate partnered with LEMA for this conference and it was a joyful time of reunion, fellowship, and teaching. Here is Josh on the left with me.

The conference was a big success with around 250 pastors and leaders present. There were plenary speeches and then breakout workshops. We were grateful that LEMA invited Mary VandenBerg from Calvin Seminary to teach at the conference. We know Mary and had her as a teacher, so it was great to have her and her husband Skip visit us. They were a great encouragement to us personally in our ministry and a joy to spend time with. Mary led a workshop on the Kingdom of God which is a very important topic here, one that is not talked about much. Thank you Skip for your photography! The good photos in this post are from him.

 

The conference was held at Soroti Secondary School which has a large number of classrooms and halls.

I led a plenary on God's sovereignty and the problems of the prosperity gospel. Pastors found it to be a very new teaching and very challenging, but it was warmly received and many people told me how much they appreciated it. I decided I should try to wear my suit at least once every three years, so I took it out for my plenary. And then Sara convinced me I should wear my clerical collar. I have never had so many of my friends needing to take my photo, haha. Now I know that people think I generally dress like a too casual American.

Many of our Resonate colleagues were able to lead workshops. Jonny Kabiswa led a workshop on community development, Stephen Omoko led a workshop on pastoral care, Barbara Kakembo taught about caring for people with disabilities, and I taught about setting up a local church's benevolence ministry. My friend Bishop Okwalinga Emmanuel led a workshop on preaching Christ in the Old Testament. We also had a fascinating panel discussion on the state of theological education in Africa. 

Emmanuel during his plenary:

 

Mary VandenBerg with Barbara Kakembo from Resonate.

 

Me with Jonny Kabiswa, my Resonate colleague and Helping Without Hurting in Africa co-author (center), and Stephen Omoko (left) who works on Timothy Leadership Training with me.

 

Mary, Emmanuel and his wife Joyce, Jonny, and us at our home.

Other facilitators were from the US, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya from various theological colleges and organizations. Since the conference was such a big success, LEMA is planning to do another one in the coming years. Here are two photos of the facilitators and conference planners.

Permit me to share a bunch of photos of me teaching because it's rare that I think about having someone take photos of me in my work.