Spring greetings to you, friends. I’m so thankful for the sunshine here in the Pacific Northwest, cause we haven’t had much of it for the past several months, but today it is beautiful and I praise God for it. In contrast to the cold and rain of the PNW, Congo was hot, humid and I was lovin’ it! Although it took three long days to get there and two days to get home, the brief time there was extremely beneficial and strategic toward gathering a new group of trainers for a relaunch of Pathways in that major city. As you may remember, the last group sort of flailed, and the coordinator decided it would be best for us to stop that group and start afresh with a new set of master trainers.

I found a great guesthouse that is very simple, close to the training location, and although not the cleanest or quietest, it seems to fit the bill. There was a wedding celebration going on directly above me both of the first two nights that lasted till 4AM, but I’m thankful that earplugs helped and the ceiling held together despite some falling plaster.

We had about 40-50 pastors show up for the pre-training workshop, and they soaked up the Bible training I offered them in the importance of Bible study and preaching the Word well, and then giving them a taste of what we offer in Pathways. They were on their feet by the end of the second day begging to receive more training and ready to commit to the full three-year course.

Now, we are praying for God’s wisdom and Spirit to guide our Congolese coordinators to select the 16 right master trainers who will take the material we give them and spread it to MANY others. The nation of Congo is desperately in need of solid training in how to study and use the Word, so with God’s help, He will multiply this training throughout the vast country.

In addition, our Africa director and I also discussed other locations where he would like to see Pathways launch soon. His top picks were Zambia/Botswana/Malawi, Togo, Ivory Coast, Chad and Liberia. Before we go to these locations, though, we need to raise up many more US pastors willing to travel once/year to help with trainings. Please pray with us to that end.

Pressing on, Eric