In the U.S., as we celebrate a day commemorating thankfulness for many of God’s good gifts, one blessing I want to share with you is the joyful and successful completion of our two Pathways networks in Uganda. A few days ago, my friend Jeremy and I returned from nearly two weeks of training and graduating two networks in Uganda – Gulu in the north and Iganga to the east. These pastors and ministry leaders completed six challenging workshops, and with joy in my heart I share with you that they have grown remarkably in their handling of the Word and ability to communicate the author’s message for our people today.
In this workshop, after a thorough review of all the Pathways principles, we listening to 20 minute sermons each participant had prepared. After each sermon, there was a thorough time of discussion of strengths and growth opportunities for the preacher. There are eight key PW elements we are looking for in the sermons, but most of the time is spent discussing if the most important ideas from the passage were reflected in the sermon and Message for Today (M4T), which is written on the board.
Habakkuk is my favorite book to use for this final training for two reasons: 1) If you read it quickly and don’t follow the Pathways steps, the beauty and meaning of the book is quite hidden, and it seems very confusing. But 2) once you follow the PW process, the pastors are struck with an incredibly powerful and relevant message that they are eager to give to their people. The pastors in both networks experienced this joyful unlocking of the treasures in God’s Word. By the end of the training, the pastors were beside themselves with excitement to share the glorious message of Habakkuk with their churches and other pastors.
After the three days of trainings in both locations, the networks organized themselves and we celebrated graduating nearly 40 participants in the program. In many cases, they had trained other preachers in all the workshops, so they were awarded the Master Trainer certificate. Others who attended all the workshops received the course completion certificate.
Graduates in Gulu (above) and in Iganga (below).
The graduates were filled with joy, both in song and in stating the Whole Story of the Bible in one sentence. Check out this one minute video:
The graduates offered one testimony after another about how they and their church have grown through the process of learning how to study God’s Word and prepare biblical sermons. I thank and praise God for His faithfulness in the lives of these ministers, and pray they will continue to practice the principles in their ministries and pass on all they have received to many others. To God be the glory!
On a side note, transportation was an interesting element in our trip. We took a 12 hour bus ride from Gulu to Iganga, and my seatmate Dennis and I spent many miles encouraging each other.
Each day, Jeremy and I rode a “boda boda” between the training location and our guesthouse. Ibrahim is giving us a ride here:
