Often, pastors are called to serve God in ministry while also holding a full or part-time job in the secular world. These pastors struggle to balance the demands placed on them by family, work, and ministry. They may work 90+ hours each week, and spend as much as 7 hours preparing sermons.
Pray for God’s grace, wisdom and peace for these bi-vocational pastors, and that God will equip them with His mighty power as they serve Him in their communities and churches.
Stories
Thank God for Answered Prayers
Timothy Olonade, Vice President of International Training is pictured here at the Nigerian Baptist Pastor’s Global Impact Strategic Training event in Ibadan, Nigeria last week. In just the first 10 days of this month, Timothy has trained pastors in 3 cities in Nigeria, expanding global training opportunities for 2016. Praise God for this faithful presentation and teaching from His Word that empowers pastors as they teach, preach, and evangelize in their communities.
Timothy reports the following:
October 3 – “A Day Out for God’s Global Glory” in Abeokuta. This seminar went very well. God gave us rich content for this maiden event.
October 5-9 – “Kairos Nigeria” – Kaduna – the meeting ended powerfully. God stirred the hearts of His people to expand the reach of the training in 2016.
October 8-9 – “Global Impact for Strategic Training” – Ibadan – The training for Nigerian Baptist Pastors led leaders into eternally significant paradigm
Pray for God's people to be transformed
Pray for leadership development training events in Uyo and Ikorodu, Nigeria. These trainings are currently underway with more than 70 participants dedicated to learning about God’s purpose in the world, and what their role is in His kingdom.
A new Kairos class is underway in Uyo, October 12 – 16,with over 30 participants from all walks of life: pastors, media professionals, students, caterers, computer engineers, business people, missionaries, even politicians. Pray that God’s worldwide purpose and its application in their lives be grasped.
October 14-17, 40 leaders from all denominations will attend a Leadership Ministries Worldwide Bible for Life and Ministry class in Ikorodu, South West Nigeria. Please pray that God will use this time apart to make those who attend better students and preachers of His Word.
Thank God for those who teach and preach
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Pray for pastors worldwide as they answer God’s call to shepherd and minister to His people, living out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
The Great Commandment:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
The Great Commission:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” – Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
An estimated 1.87 million evangelical churches worldwide are led by pastors with little or no training. Pray that these pastors may be equipped with the biblical training and resources they need for effective ministry.
Partners in the Body of Christ
Pastors and leaders worldwide need access to biblically based resources that prepare them to teach.
God is at work in the world, calling pastors to reach their neighbors, community, and world with the transformative Word of God. One of the greatest challenges is the need for quality resources and training for these pastors who are called to ministry. Many have as little as 1 hour of Bible training and limited access to the training and resources they need for effective ministry.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide is building networks of partners around the world to meet this challenge. Timothy Olonade, Vice President of International Training, has built relationships with organizations across Africa and Southeast Asia, where he focuses on training pastors to train and mentor other pastors around the world. In just the past few months, he has worked with over 2,800 leaders from 30 countries!
God Moves Through Collaborative Ministries
Reaching the men and women who have been called to ministry is a God-sized task – and it is only through collaborating with like-minded organizations that we can possibly accomplish it.
Will Savell of The Grace Institute works among pastors in South and Central America who are eager to receive sound biblical and theological training. Through his connections on the ground in El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Cuba, Leadership Ministries Worldwide is sharing The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible® with pastors who need these resources. In just the past month, more than 1,000 Spanish language books were shipped to pastors in Colombia. It is a great start, but with over 10,000 pastors requesting resources in Colombia, we are just beginning to touch the need.
Impacting Countries for Christ
As The Grace Institute reaches out to other pastors and training networks in India and Africa, Leadership Ministries Worldwide will continue to partner with them. “Collaboration is key,” Savell says. “Leadership Ministries Worldwide produces resources that preachers are hungry for.” Putting those resources in the hands of pastors on the ground in faraway places is Grace Institute’s specialty. Through our partnership, thousands of preachers worldwide will receive resources and training that empower them to impact lives, communities, and entire cultures with God’s Word.
“Preaching is a skill set you have to learn,” Savell says. “Having Leadership Ministries Worldwide’s preaching resources is a blessing as the pastors are learning biblical and theological material. What good is theological education for a pastor if he can’t communicate it faithfully to his congregation?”
Join us in praying for the partnerships Leadership Ministries Worldwide is developing.
Visit outlinebible.org/give to support these opportunities.
Trusting God to Make Dreams a Reality
Putting a digital version of The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible® in the hands of pastors worldwide is a dream that Leadership Ministries Worldwide is working diligently to realize. Development of this unique digital platform is currently underway, with great hopes for transformed ministry through improved training and understanding of God’s Word.
Lystra: A Digital Format
Called Lystra – for the city where the Apostle Paul met his young disciple Timothy – this revolutionary digital platform will foster the growth of mentoring relationships within the Kingdom of God. Its successful completion will support our translation, training, and distribution partnerships worldwide.
Mobilizing Trainers
Lystra is being developed as a training platform, allowing pastoral trainers to put together classes, share teaching resources, information and best practices, and reach out to pastors who have limited access to biblical training and theological resources.
The connections that users and trainers make within this collaborative learning environment will generate additional opportunities to impact pastors and communities worldwide with the life-transforming Word of God.
Will you partner with us to make this dream a reality? Completing Lystra will enable us to mobilize trainers to empower pastors everywhere. Every gift will be matched by a generous donor, doubling your impact.
Visit outlinebible.org/give to invest in Lystra.