An Unexpected Turn of Events

"Noooo.  Not now, not now, LORD!" There was one more day of the conference. The morning session was to teach the pastors how to use Bible stories to communicate spiritual truths. The afternoon was going to be a commissioning time, where each pastor would be prayed over and sent back to their village with a new charter for relationships, intentional leadership, and a toolbox of ideas to teach their churches like Jesus taught his disciples. And, also to teach others to do the same, in a reproducible process.  

"LORD, I can't miss that!"

But the signs were unmistakable. Chills (in the Tropics!). Stabbing head pain. The Big "D". A spectacular "T".  (I'll spare you the details.)  I would be no more capable of leading our group than pole-vaulting to the Moon.

Fortunately, Steve had been doing so well leading big portions of the prior sessions that I knew the pastors would be served well even with my chair being empty  In fact, it was a vivid example of something we taught them yesterday, asking who would lead their church if they got sick and could no longer function in that role. (Our other team members teased me about the notion of contriving an illness to make the point!)

As it turned out, the pastors in our group *were* served well today. When Steve came to check on me at lunchtime, he brought a joyful report that, "They got it!" Each of them had been able to practice telling a story to explain a spiritual concept. There was even an example where Steve was inspired to use Jesus' story of the Lost Sheep to answer a pastor's question about how to deal with a man who had left the church because of hurtful words someone had said to him.

Mid-afternoon, the door to our impromptu infirmary opened.  (This was our cabin, where Nathan and I were both recovering from Nicaraguan maladies. Let me take a moment to express thankfulness for the "infirmary staff" -- team members who stopped by as often as possible to check on us and make sure we had every necessity. Chuck deserves special mention in this regard, modeling servanthood in his inimitable fashion.) Steve's report of the final commissioning time was very encouraging. The pastors gratefully received the Bibles we brought for them inside some extra luggage. In our group, only two of the pastors had a full Bible when he came to the conference, and neither of them were very good. At the conference end, they were all able to take very good study Bibles home to their respective communities.

Yesterday I joked that Steve was doing so well leading his assigned sessions, I could just go home and let him bring it in for a landing by himself. I didn't think God would take me literally! Although I missed directly participating in the last day of the conference, I was able to vicariously attend through Steve's vivid descriptions.

I get to come home tomorrow knowing that ministering will never be the same for over a hundred pastors and other ministry workers in Nicaragua. And, if they follow the "reproducible process" part of discipleship, who knows how many others will benefit into the future?

With God's help and the faithful prayers of our supporters back home, we were able to make a positive difference in Nicaragua despite the challenges. I am very grateful for the privilege of having played a part!

-- John Harms  :-)