DAY TWO

On Wednesday when we first arrived at the Green Hills, I did not mention that Anne aggrevated an Achilles Heel injury and has been limping since then. She has really been a trooper on this trip--putting up with four guys, an injured leg, and not being able to talk to family. (She was able to talk with them on this evening)

Joseph continued his teaching on 2 Timothy 2. Again he did a great job and a great time of discussion was mixed in to his teaching. The church leaders have really enjoyed Joseph being here. Joseph has done a great job of talking with them at breaks and sharing with them. One interesting discussion that revealed a great deal about culture in teaching was should a pastor give a woman a ride who is not his wife?

I had the second session on a definition of the church, the function of the church, relationship of local and universal church, and biblical basis of church governance. I went through the biblical and historical development of the understanding of church governance and structure. For many of the church leaders it appeared that this was new to them.

Adrian concluded the conference general session on practical matters related to leadership development. He really got the questions: Should a man with two wives or more be a church leader? Should a women who is the wife of a man who has two or more wives be a church leader? Should a single mother be a church leader? Bernard spent some time working on some issues that came up during these discussions. Adrian did an outstanding job of handling these difficult and “new” issues for him. One funny thing happened during Adrian’s teaching. The rain came like a monsoon for some time. You could not hear for the rain hitting the tin sheet roof. Even with a speaker turned up, you could barely hear Adrian and his translator, Peter (tall thin Peter). The same thing had happened at last years conference—same time of day, same type of rain, and Adrian had said, “If you want rain just ask me to speak.” Rumor has it Adrian is starting a new ministry instead of drilling wells for water—he is going to teach for rain.

Not surprising, Anne children’s leadership workshop grew in number. She spend most of her time just showing how to use the materials that she brought and distributing them. I finally was able to lead a men’s conference on effective involvement of men in outreach and ministry. After sharing for a few minutes with various examples, the discussion turned to the relationship of older men and younger men (same discussion that I had had with the women on the previous day.) It was a great time of sharing. The best part was all I had to do was facilitate with an occasional comment.

The conference was great. We are still waiting on the final numbers.