Today we began the first day of the Men's Conference "Lead Like Jesus". We met the morning of the conference with Pastor Ruben who seemed a little cautious about the three men who were to offer instruction to his Pastors and church leaders. We each gave him an overview of our presentations and by the time he left a little later he was feeling confident about us, still praying mind you but more confident.
At 4:00 PM, 3 hours before the scheduled we met at the Conference Center. Amazing, there were men already waiting for it to begin. We soon discovered how hungry the men of Nicaragua are for discipleship.
The greetings and smiles on their faces soon caused the barrier of language differences to be broken. These men were making a genuine effort to come to each of us with a greeting of "hello and God bless you for coming". What a beginning when Pastor Raul Davila shared his testimon with me. He was a Captain in the Sandinista Army. He had traveled in several socialists who worked very hard at making him a communist. But, God had different plans. Once home he lost everything to the Contras, but soon found Jesus. Since that moment he knew he was called to pastor and has become so. I spoke to him about how much commitment I saw in him and was moved by his statement "he paid a high price" but found Jesus through it. I congratulated him for choosing the One who had paid the price. Wow!!! You would have thought he won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. He hug me and told me how encouraging that was to him.
Service began with the most vibrant & exciting praise & worship group I've ever witnessed led by Luis, a local Pastor.
When we finally took a count of the men at the conference we found 105 men plus Pastor Ruben and others for a total of 115 people. All close together in a non air conditioned room. You may think as you want, but the Holy Spirit came and refreshed the spirit of every man.
I opened the conference with words of encouragement and thanks for allowing the team from Grace Covenant Church to come to Esteli, Nicaragua and be a part of this. I challenged the men to listen intently and take something away from the convention that would change him for the Glory of God.
Tom gave the men encouragement to develop their hearts to become servant leaders. Pastor Ruben closed the night by challenging the men to expose their weaknesses and prepare to experience victory over them. The response of the men was awesome. Saturday morning we begin at 7:00 AM. Pray for miracles..... Blessings, Butch
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