“OFF WE GO INTO THE WILD….”
“Off we go into the wild blue yonder” (as the words to the song go) — no, not into “the wild blue yonder” — but into “the wild (in some places) green (in most places) Uganda.” Phil Graf and I depart January 10th for Africa to conduct our Phase 4 training: “The Book of Acts and Multiplying Viral, Missional, Disciple-making, Leadership Developing, Church Planting Movements.” (This is the longer version of our vision; the shorter version we use more frequently is “Multiplying Viral, Missional, Church Planting Movements”).
During our training, we will graduate our first four “Master Trainers.” These are Ugandans who over the past several years of our training have progressed from being “Participants”, to “Contributors”, to “Co-Presenters”, to “Lead-Trainers” in each and all of the four phases of our On-Expedition training. Thus, they have become Master Trainers and are doing the training themselves in Uganda.
In addition to coaching and training alongside these Ugandan leaders, Phil and I will be joined by two leaders who are part of our On Expedition training team in Brazil (Samir Diab and Jane Hawkins). Pray that our efforts to equip and multiply regional and national training teams, as well as adding to our an international team, will flourish by God’s grace and to His glory.
THANKS PAUL MADSON, PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL TRAINING NETWORK
Recently, GTN’s President sent out the following update (including photo), highlighting the training we call “On-Expedition” (From the Desk of Paul R. Madson December 18, 2015):
“I was lost, Jesus rescued me, He can rescue you too.”
This summary statement of the Gospel is used by staff members Dr. Linus Morris and Phil Graf whenever they train on evangelism. Their curriculum, which utilizes the book of Romans, has been powerfully effective in training thousands of people all over the world how to share their faith. In fact, Dr. Morris even wrote a book, (available on Amazon) entitled The Divine Expedition: Where Are You in the Book of Romans?.
It would be easy to assume that pastors globally would have a healthy grasp on how to share their faith, but this aspect of the Christian life – among so many others – is often both misunderstood and misapplied in the Majority World. Therefore, the need for a robust explanation of what Scripture teaches on this topic is profoundly needed.
The On Expedition Training, as they call it, is workshop in format, meaning the participants interact and apply the training to their lives. Linus writes, “When we get to Romans 3:21-24, we train the participants to share the following: ‘I was lost, Jesus rescued me, He can rescue you too.’
The training continues on to incorporate the other aspects of the Gospel, and is followed by important next steps of application. Linus writes, “We send people out. We encourage them to connect with someone they know, share their story, and where possible share with them the good news. The next day as we begin our next training, we have them share with us about their conversations. The response to this part of the training is electric.”
Paul included a quote from one of our earlier On Expedition letters: “Every time we do this, people are encouraged (of course, they are scared at first) and inspired that God can use them to share with others their story of connecting with God and the Good News about Jesus. Participants report back how people prayed with them to receive Christ, expressed an interest to know more, and want to come to church. Even when the response is negative, those sharing know that seeds are have been sown that may bear fruit over time.”
THANKS GLOBAL TRAINING NETWORK
Sharon and I are glad to be part of this organization led by Paul and his wife Lisa. We resonate with their vision to spread the Gospel and equip and encourage leaders in what is called “the majority world.” In that same letter, Paul added the words that resound in our own hearts:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” — Romans 1:16-17 ESV
We are happy to be part of GTN’s effort to train the some 85% of pastors in the Majority World who have never received any type of formal – and very little informal – biblical or theological training.
Over the past 11 years, of its existence, GTN has had the privilege of bringing quality biblical and practical training to over 210,000 indigenous pastors and leaders in 68 countries around the world. This past year (2015) we were able to see over 33,000 receive training. Thank you for being part of this with us.
Grateful to be On Expedition to spread the Good News of Jesus,
Linus and Sharon
On Expedition + 