Teaching Events in May

The season of networking in Panama is producing fruit.  I’ve been doing some teaching and preaching in April and upcoming, here is the mix for May.

Schedule

May 9-10
Cross Cultural Missions Conference – Colón

May 18
IPET in Colón, Verbena Church – Evangelism

May 23
Celebration of Baptism

May 25
IPET in Colón – Worldview and Cross Cultural Missions

May 30/31
IPET in the Darién Province, Sermon on Sunday

Missions Congress

The Cross Cultural Missions Congress will be in the city of Colón, the place where the gospel had it’s beginnings in Panama and an area that has had a special blessing from God for spread of the gospel.

Immigrants from all over the world are have settled in Colón and many have risen to positions of influence and power.  There is a growing Muslim presence and economic influence in the city, and one of the best schools in the eyes of many in Colón is the privately funded Arab College.  Other people groups from India and China, as well as the West Indies and the Caribbean have settled there.

In the last four months, HIMF (Hermandad Iberoamericana de Misiones Fronterizas) has opened up four mission training schools in the province of Colón, with approximately 70 students in that province, made up of

• Pastors
• Cross Cultural Missionaries
• Teachers
• Support Workers

The missions academy is named “Panamanian Institute for Crosscultural Studies.“  The acronym in Spanish is IPET.   HIMF is a Latin American sending agency who’s goal is to raise up missionaries from Latin America to other parts of the world.

The missions Congress is geared towards casting a vision for international missions – both abroad and at home – and recruiting another 80 students to join its classes and grow in its missions calling.

Gathered around the theme of Acts 1:8, we desire to cast a vision

1. For Global Missions as seen in Scripture
2. Help the people of God fulfill the Great Commission in their calling
3. Awaken, guide, and give God’s people tools to reach into other cultures
4. Recruit future students for further training in cross cultural missions at home and abroad.

I will be sharing the teaching responsibilities with pastors from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Panama.  On Sunday, I will be preaching in a local church, with one of the outreach teams from IPET, casting a vision for missions and for the Global day of Prayer (May 31).

My particular theme is on the “Reaching my City for Christ.”  I’ll be sharing some of the strategies I’ve learned while church planting in Richmond VA and here in the city of Panama.

Prayer

Here is how you can pray:

1. Safety in transportation.  A new highway has opened up.
2. Provision – we will rent a car for the weekend.  With fuel and food, our costs to participate will run about $150-$200.  Pray that provision will come.
3. Clear Communication
4. That people would grasp the vision for missions.