My dear friend Jonathan Hanegan, missionary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, invited me to teach the first formal course his workshop is putting on. Two weeks ago today we started with the first of eight 2-hour sessions that I get to teach on my favorite topic of all time: The Mission of God. This is a virtual course, and the students are incredible: 40 students from 14 different countries in Latin America. Men and women who are servant-leaders in their churches, some who are preachers and ministers and others who serve as leaders, always wanting to continue learning and deepening their understanding of who God is and how we can be a part of God’s mission.
Most of the time over the last several years I’ve read the Bible with friends and neighbors who have little experience with the story of God beyond what popular culture shares and the movies that have been made based on the Bible. With this group, I can speak of the God revealed to Abraham and Sarah’s family as “Yahweh” and know that people have a general sense of who I am talking about :).
I was floored by the response and am deeply grateful to Jonathan for the opportunity to be a part of this course. God has given him deep connections with churches of Christ all over Latin America through many years of living and working in Venezuela and Argentina, and having 40 sign up for this course is evidence of that. I’m having a blast with this and I ask for your prayers. Jonathan and I both share a desire for this course to be a means of the participants falling more in love with the God who wants to bless all the families of the earth. Our prayer is that deep, theological study will inspire even greater participation in God’s mission of filling our spaces with life, love, and the presence of God. If you’re willing, would you set an alarm on Monday evenings for the next 6 Mondays and pray for this group? And while you’re at it, pray for my Internet on Monday nights too? Thanks :)
