Final day with the pastors

Today was our final day with the pastors. Myself and another member taught the sessions today. I spoke on the high calling of preaching and a model for how to preach. I was very surprised and humbled by the pastors response afterwards as several of them stood (they always stand when they have something to share) and expressed how helpful the lesson was.

After the lessons we took some time to listen to their feedback about the last 3 days of teaching and everyone of them expressed the most heartfelt and simple gestures of gratitude. These are the most humble men I have ever encountered. Every morning that we arrive at the church they rush to the doorway like little kids anticipating mom coming home with presents. Because we wanted to discover what would be beneficial for them in the future, we had to ask them to please keep the thank yous short and express their desire for future training. Of course they wouldn't stand for such and proceeded to lavish us with thanks (about a 3 minute diatribe of gratitude) before offering their requests for future training. By the way, you should have seen their faces when Jason, the CRI leader of the trip, told them he would be returning next year with another team...have you ever seen a grown man giddy...incredible!

We then passed out our gifts of umbrellas, tambourines, and bibles to the pastors, and again they were like kids on Christmas morning. After passing out the gifts, one pastor, who we call the little firecracker (70 years old, about 4'10', with more spunk and energy than most children), began leading the group in a Christian Indian folk song. Their music is very upbeat and they sing with a cross between yodeling and Native American chanting...a captivating sound, especially when 11 men are singing and clapping in unison. We also sang some American praise songs for them, as Chris, one of our team members, brought along a guitar.

Our time with the pastors concluded by all of us praying over each of them individually. This was a really humbling and meaningful time for us as we all felt the weight of responsibility for caring for our newly discovered brothers. It was almost like saying goodbye to a close friend who was going off to war, not knowing if you'd ever see them again in this lifetime but hoping that you would.

I have been so challenged by the unwavering commitment these men have to their calling as pastors. That they would walk, some for over 2 hours everyday, just to come and hear some teaching about the Scripture and theology. That they would endure ridicule from their communities and even family members for believing in the one true God. That they would stay firm in their faith in the midst of an environment that constantly asks them to demonstrate that their God is real (for example, most people in their villages will not believe in Jesus unless they witness a miracle like a healing from a disease). That they would have such compassion on their people to continue showing them unmerited love through praying for them daily and helping with their physical needs. And finally, that in the midst of all of this, and this is just a very broad brush stroke of the full picture, that they would exhibit an immense amount of joy.

May God give me the grace to be like these men and may he give them the grace to continue running the race.