“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will makes your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Our ministry celebrated its 20th anniversary on January 22nd. In our January newsletter I shared the milestones we had reached along the way as well as the accomplishments that we had achieved. But I also said that God was the one who was responsible for all that we had done in His name! God established this ministry, grew this ministry, and produced all of the results that were achieved. Our part was simply to seek His wisdom and guidance and to obey His direction. Putting our trust in the Lord enabled Him to use us to fulfill His purpose and plan for this ministry!
Last year during the shutdown I wrote a book entitled “God’s Spirit at Work: Lessons from the Mission Field.” In that book I shared many stories and testimonies of how God’s Spirit was at work in our ministry and in my life while serving Him on the foreign mission field since 1996. God demonstrated His power many times to bring about what He desired. He first chose me for His purpose and then provided for me, protected me, and even carried me at times. He also answered my prayers and let me know that He was with me all the time! (Please visit http://www.faithlifeministries.net/books. to get a copy. It is available in a variety of formats.) I enjoyed writing that book because it forced me to recall all the times God had been faithful and was at work even when I didn’t know it.
I was recently reflecting on what God had done to bring us to this point in our ministry and began to realize how God’s Spirit was still at work today even though I have not traveled to train in over a year. For example, although most of the world shut down last year due to the corona virus, the Lord enabled our global trainers to resume our MCL training so that we ended up training over 4,700 pastors and leaders in 29 nations in 2020! It also resulted in our ministry reaching the 100th nation through an on-line training! Additionally, He led me to use my time at home to write the book and also to develop more resources that our trainers needed!
But that’s not all. During the past year God led us to establish relationships with three new ministries that are enabling us to extend our training to other networks of contacts.
First, we were contacted by a ministry called China Partner that has a network of registered churches and seminaries in China. Last December I recorded our first Zoom training for them (with a translator) which was distributed via email to their network of pastors and church leaders. More training session recordings are scheduled for this year.
Second, God led another ministry to us last year called Leadership International to conduct our MCL training for their ministry network in Africa. I had planned to go and train in Cape Town, South Africa last October but that trip was cancelled due to the virus. Instead, our trainer in Cape Town, Dr. Nsimba Baboka, is working with their contact in Cape Town to do a training there this year. They in turn, will train others throughout their network in Africa.
Finally, I was contacted by the leader of a ministry called Servants of Christ International that assists churches in the majority world with funding and support for church construction, food programs and other aid. They wanted some background on one of the pastors they are working with that happens to be one of our global trainers in Nepal. As we talked about our respective ministries, he asked me for a copy of our MCL self-training book. He was so enthused about our training that he proceeded to email all of his global ministry contacts to encourage them to get a copy of it. We have received requests for our MCL training from many of them already! God was indeed at work growing our ministry last year despite the pandemic!!
So you might ask me, what is God’s Spirit up to this year? Well, first of all, he is opening up doors for me to teach our MCL on-line since I am not able to travel. I have been praying for opportunities to do so and He answered my prayer. I was scheduled to do an initial MCL training for pastors and leaders in Mandalay, Myanmar last week but the start had to be postponed due to the political unrest there at the moment and the instability of their internet service. But it will take place at some point this year.
Second, God led me to the founder of Lucent University, an on-line Bible College. They are interested in having me teach a course on Strategic Management using our MCL material for their Bible degree and even secular degree curriculum. We will be meeting on Zoom again shortly to work on more of the details.
Finally, God’s Spirit has led us to develop a series of short 3 minute videos that contain training tips from our MCL training. Our first training tip was released on our ministry FaceBook page last Thursday. You can watch it at www.faithlifeministries.net/MCL-training-tips.
And through all of this the Lord continues to provide for us financially while He works and speaks through us. I am reminded of the Scripture passage from Zechariah 4:6 that says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
Indeed, God’s Spirit is at work today in FaithLife Ministries and is a living testimony to God’s faithfulness! Because we put our faith and trust in Jesus, He will bring about God’s purpose and plan for this ministry.