My Apprentice

Usually when I travel to other countries, I go with James, but this time I decided to bring another of the teachers in IGSL's Partners in Ministry program. My traveling companion was Michelle, who is from the Philippines and has been a precious sister and colleague for more than 15 years. She has a passion for training others to teach children about God, and that passion led to a special opportunity at this conference.

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Most of the believers who attended the conference do not come from organized churches. As I mentioned before, they are from small house fellowships, and they have never heard of Vacation Bible School or even Sunday school. The conference organizers recruited 11 young adults from the fellowships to be trained to handle the kids' track at the conference. Michelle worked closely with a Bangladeshi children's ministry to help train these 11 volunteers.

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It was fun for me to see Michelle help the volunteers blossom into teachers, and to see her pride in them as they did a great job caring for the kids.

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The kids had a wonderful experience and were eager to join their kids' program each day. Michelle fell in love with all of the kids. And she fell in love with the volunteers she trained. And she totally fell in love with her translator.

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And now she is more excited to train more workers at IGSL so the name of Jesus will be known all over Bangladesh. Which was my objective all along.

Seeing the desperate situation in the home countries of our students is one of the things that fuels my passion for training leaders who will train more leaders. The population of Bangladesh is less than 1/2 of one percent Christian. Or to put it another way, 99.5% of the people of Bangladesh don't know Jesus. I'm sure that what we did at the conference was a helpful drop in the big bucket. But we believe that the greatest impact will come when our IGSL students from Bangladesh do the work in their own country. More about that tomorrow.

Teaching in a Different Way

The reason we went to Bangladesh was to speak for a couples conference sponsored by Isai Fellowship Bangladesh. IFB is an organization that exists to encourage and assist fellowships of Muslim background believers (Mbbs). I taught in the women's track and my colleague Michelle trained the childcare workers. I will tell you about Michelle tomorrow.
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For me this trip was totally different from last year's Bangladesh trip. Last year we worked mostly with women from Christian backgrounds. In Bangladesh they are referred to as "traditional Christians". Most were living in cities and were were somewhat educated. I was able to teach in a style similar to our Partners in Ministry program at IGSL. It was not too difficult.
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As I learned more about the Mbb women attending this IFB conference, I found out that the situation here was totally different. The majority of the women are illiterate, most don't have bibles, and many of them are very young believers. So . . . I threw all my lesson plans out the window! As I prayed and thought about what to do, I felt I should simplify the lessons and focus on memorizing the related scripture passages. I taught one lesson on God's love for us, one on showing God's love to our kids, one on forgiveness, and one on discipling other women. It's hard to grow without God's Word, so I thought the best thing I could do is send them home with God's Word in their hearts. We had a great time together!
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The thing that touched my heart the most was that after each session, a few women would come and ask my translator to help them talk to me. They would tell me their stories and ask me to pray for them. I had been told the first day by the IFB director about a family that had been experiencing heavy persecution in their village after they became believers last year. The villagers would not let them use the well, and a few times they were stoned. But they believe God wants them to stay there and try to be a light in that community. The mother's heart aches to see her children endure the abusive language and insults hurled at them every day. I had already heard their story and had been praying for them. After my first message, this mother approached me and shared her story, and as I prayed for her, she put her head on my shoulder and sobbed. In God's eyes. . . maybe hugging her was the most significant thing I did all week.

We're Back!

Our week in Bangladesh was wonderful. Highlights included
*ministering to a community of believers who have endured much persecution
*meeting many of the key Christian leaders of Bangladesh
*getting to know this country better. Obviously I am not an expert after only two visits, but I learned a lot.
*seeing our former students. Beautiful glimpses of what God is doing.
I will share more photos and stories in the days to come. Just want to thank you for praying.

On the Road Again

I am packing my bags again! I am leaving tomorrow morning for a week in Bangladesh. I will be traveling with Michelle Agustin, one of my favorite colleagues at IGSL. We will be speaking to women at a family conference, and also visiting a few of our graduates. The conference is sponsored by a local organization called Isai Fellowship. This organization partners with our school to provide seminary training for Bangladeshi pastors and leaders. Pray that Michelle and I will be good teachers as well as good learners.