Can you believe the final visiting team for the summer of ‘21 has come and gone? Neither can I! It’s like they always say, “Time flies when you’re not the one in charge of preparing for visiting teams.” What??? Surely, someone says that. Anyway, the last team was small, yet mighty.
This small but mighty team consisted of Clay Powell, the former teacher and administrator of Pastor Training School, Dr Rick Brodie and Randy Bennett from Kingsland First Baptist Church.
During the early days of COVID, Clay and his family moved back to the U.S. for various reasons. Besides the obstacle presented by Clay leaving, the school was also forced to close its doors due to COVID restrictions. It has been a year and a half since Pastor Training School was last in session. While regulations haven’t lifted to the point of reopening the school on a more permanent basis, the three-man team held a Pastor Training Conference a few weeks ago. Super exciting!
The invitees include about sixty people who were enrolled in classes when the school closed for COVID. They are each allowed to bring a “plus-one” with them. The only problem with that is communications aren’t the most reliable and RSVPs are virtually unknown in Honduras. So, the conference started not knowing how many people would be present. Anything from 120 attendees and down was possible. That makes things like meal planning a bit of a challenge!
Guests were set to arrive around lunchtime on Wednesday, so eating was one of the first things on the agenda. Fortunately, this wasn't quite a loaves and fishes situation. There were people on standby to make a quick emergency food run into Gracias just in case. Kim and Jonathon helped out during this time, running errands and moving team members and students to and from the campground where the conference was held. Of course, the hope was the more the merrier, but at meal time they only ended up feeding 50 people.
The students in attendance stayed over for a couple of nights and left Friday at noon, and they didn't pay to attend. The event was free for the pastors and their guests. Fundraising was a joint effort between the team's church, and Sowers4Pastors. Thanks to Kingsland First Baptist to helping make this first conference after COVID a reality!!
This was at least partially meant to be a time for students to reconnect. Remember that the pastors were right in the middle of their several-year training when it was halted abruptly. No one knows how long it will be before Pastor Training School can reconvene on a more permanent basis, so this is an opportunity for students to ask questions they may have come across in their studies, and to refresh the materials in their minds, besides learning new stuff.
The need for a Pastor Training School has been evident to Allen since he and his family first arrived to the Lempira area. Rural areas of Honduras have particularly undereducated pastors, and even now new pastors are continuing to feel called to the ministry, but they come equipped only by their desire to serve. This means that a program to train these servants is still desperately needed. This is an important part of Sowers4Pastors goal of empowering pastors.
While the immediate future is unknown, Sowers4Pastors asks that you add Pastor Training School to your prayer list. As Allen said, “We’re in a period of waiting for God to bring just the right person.” And of course the ongoing pandemic still presents an issue.
Please pray with us that God will provide a way to reopen the school. We also thank Him that a session was held recently despite the obstacles. It is very exciting to see Pastors' Training School up and running, even if it's just for one conference at the moment! If it is His will, God will provide a way towards doing more. In the meantime, a special shoutout to Clay Powell, Dr. Rick Brodie, Randy Bennett, and Kingsland First Baptist Church, for making this happen!! Clay also wanted to say a special "thank you" to the Hall family for helping support the team during the conference.
- posted by Christi
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