Training Pastors International

Dear Friends, Right now I’m supposed to be on the way to Dulles airport to pick up John, but his flight from JFK to Dulles was cancelled. Now I’m just waiting to hear when they’ll get him out. After such a long trip and long flights home, it’s a shame he gets stuck on the last leg.

His journal here continues the week in Kinshasa, DRC, which was the fourth of six institutes this summer. It is always a challenge to hold institutes in this country due to the presence of wars and much chaos and the sheer numbers of people living there, but God is so faithful. Over 300 pastors were trained that week.

Thank you for your prayers. It’s good to have John back in the US, even if he isn’t quite home yet.

Jennifer Balmer

John and Bobby Ferguson are now in Livingstone, Zambia for the 6th and final week of training for the summer. John’s update chronicles traveling from Bujumbura, Burundi thru the first day of the Kinshasa, DRC institute (week 4). One interesting thing John mentions is the money. I didn’t even realize there’s a date on US bills until going to Africa. We’ve always had to seek out crisper, unmarked bills, but now we are having a harder and harder time getting the older series accepted. Sometimes they won’t take them at all, and others give a poorer exchange rate. Go figure. Seems like money’s money, but that’s just one of the small challenges/inconveniences we deal with.

A praise is that the airline in Bujumbura didn’t charge extra for the boxes of notebooks and their luggage. They were certainly carrying more than allowed and could have easily been charged. So praise the Lord for watching out for them. Also, everything arrived safely in Kinshasa and they weren’t stopped by customs and charged a fee. That airport is totally chaotic and I’ve seen people try to milk money out travelers, especially white Americans who don’t speak the language (French).

They didn’t have enough notebooks for everyone at the institute, which saddens me. However, we can be thankful that the pastors accepted it and didn’t cause a fuss. You may remember hearing last year how there was a small riot in Kinshasa when there weren’t enough books to go around. I’ve never seen anything like that in person – people yelling, pushing and grabbing. We knew we’d be short this year, so I heaved a big sigh of relief when I read the pastors who didn’t get books agreed to make their own copies. You may be asking why we don’t just print more. Mainly b/c it’s so expensive to print and pay to get them there. Then there’s the fact that we always have more people than expected in the DRC. We plan for a certain number, but more show up. How can we turn them away? They are so hungry for the Word of God and for training. So we just do the best we can.

Thanks for your prayers. This has been a really good trip with only a few inconveniences, but nothing major.  Jennifer Balmer

John and Bobby Ferguson are finishing up week 5 in Harare, Zimbabwe, and will travel this weekend to Livingstone, Zambia. Livingstone is on the Zambia side of Victoria Falls, which is amazing. Talk about glorifying the Creator. After Zambia, they make their way home. Please pray that the Zambia notebooks will make it with them, without incident, and without additional costs.

John’s journal here finishes up the week in Bujumbura, Burundi. They had a great week there, but had a problem at the very end with the certificates. Keeping track of attendance and who has earned a certificate is a tedious job, and can easily be confusing. While we may think it’s not a big deal- it’s just a piece of paper after all- it is a big deal to the pastors. I can’t tell you how proud they are at the end of the week to receive that recognition. Fortunately, things were resolved and the incident did not dampen an otherwise fruitful week.

Thanks for your prayers,
Jennifer Balmer

John and Bobby Ferguson are now into the 5th week of institutes in Harare, Zimbabwe. Once the bread-basket of Africa, Zimbabwe now has the highest inflation rate in the world. John emailed that they don’t even accept Zim dollars anymore. When we were there two years ago, our food and water had to be purchased in neighboring countries and transported over. Most of us cannot even begin to imagine what life is like in Zimbabwe and how they survive. Yet the people I met were gracious, hospitable and full of the joy of the Lord. As you remember our TPI team in prayer, please also pray for the people of Zimbabwe and the corrupt government.

John’s journal here begins the week of teaching in Bujumbura, Burundi (week #3). Scott Girard taught through Romans and a series on Systematic Theology. John taught Multiplying Leaders in the Local Church (a series published by EQUIP International, the ministry of John Maxwell), Sanctification of the Believer in a Christian Life Convention, and an overview of the New Testament.

Thanks for standing with us as we seek to equip national pastors and leaders so they in turn can equip their people.

Jennifer Balmer

John and Scott Girard should be leaving Kinshasa, DRC, today (Saturday) and fly to Nairobi, Kenya. Scott will then fly home to Charlotte, North Carolina. John will spend the night in Nairobi and then fly out early Sunday morning for Harare, Zimbabwe. He will be joined by Pastor Bobby Ferguson of Blountville, TN. He is pastor of Gunnings Baptist Church and one of our TPI board members. His church graciously printed 4 sets of notebooks for this trip.

John’s email concludes the second week of institutes in Tanga, Tanzania and his arrival in Bujumbura, Burundi. After the celebration ceremony in Tanga, where they gave out 88 certificates, they drove through the night to the Dar Es Salam airport. Unfortunately, John’s suitcase did not make it with him, but he got it late that same night, which is pretty good for Africa. One interesting tidbit, he was allowed to go back in to the customs area of the Bujumbura airport to wait for Scott Girard. Granted, the airport is pretty small and our national director knows people who work there, but that would never happen here in the U.S.

Thanks for your prayers. Two more weeks to go.
-Jennifer Balmer

John and Scott Girard are currently in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and well in to the fourth week of institutes. John’s journal below tells of the second week in Tanga, Tanzania. The numbers were lower than expected because of other conferences in the area, but the pastors responded well to the teaching. John taught Hermeneutics, Evangelism and Mission, and New Testament Walk thru the Bible. Paul Swets taught on Leadership and an exposition of Philippians. We always try to model sound Biblical preaching for them so they can see an application of all the principles they are being taught.

Thanks so much for keeping them in your prayers. So far, things have been going extremely well. Read John’s full journal by clicking here.

-Jennifer Balmer

John and Scott Girard have finished the week in Bujumbura, Burundi, and leave 2 a.m. Saturday morning for Kinshasa, DRC. John journal below concludes the first week in Eldoret, Kenya, and includes their travel to Tanga, Tanzania, varied Sunday worship services and the first day of the Tanga Institute.  The stories of haggling over the bill, long travel, miscommunication with the boxes, large and small worship services, and hitting someone on a bike are so very typical of what we usually experience in Africa. I just had to laugh. So far this trip has been fairly uneventful and the team has been healthy and safe.

Read John’s full journal here.

Keep praying,
Jennifer Balmer

John and Scott Girard are currently in Bujumbura, Burundi, conducting the 3rd institute of the summer. Please pray for their safety because the terrorist group responsible for the attacks in Uganda are promising more attacks in Uganda AND Burundi. I’ve been to Bujumbura and know that the hotel and church are both well gated and secure, so that is a comfort, but you just don’t know what might happen.

John’s journal here continues the first week in Lumakanda, outside Eldoret, Kenya. They gave out 232 certificates and had about 258 attending. Certificates are only given to those who are there for every session the entire week, and once again there was controversy over who deserved to get them. It just shows how important it is to them.

One interesting note is that there were 32 denominations present.  As a result of the institute they decided to form the Lumakanda Pastors Fellowship, where they will meet monthly to focus on some of the things that came out of this institute. This will be a first as they previously met within their own denominations, but not interdenominationally. What a blessing to see the unity of believers and to be a part of it.

Thank you for your prayers!
Jennifer Balmer

John and Paul Swets are now in Tanga, Tanzania, conducting the 2nd of 6 institutes this summer. The email here chronicles their first week in Eldoret and Lumakanda, Kenya. They had over 250 pastors attending, and had a great response. Paul’s suitcase and notebooks arrived by Wednesday, which is earlier than previous reports I’d been given. They taught outside, which is unusual, and John got sunburned (yes, I did pack sun block and a hat, if he’d just wear them). If that’s the worst of their problems they were doing pretty well.

This weekend, please pray for Paul as he makes his way back to Memphis, Tennessee. Scott Girard of Charlotte, North Carolina, leaves Friday morning to meet John in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Thanks for standing with us as we seek to advance the kingdom.

-Jennifer Balmer

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you from Eldoret, Kenya, where we are beginning our first Pastoral Training Institute for our TPI Summer Missions Trip 2010. I had a rather uneventful trip to Kenya until I arrived in London, England and did not find my pastoral training colleague from Memphis, Tennessee, Paul Swets. He had a very eventful excursion, which I will describe later, but I am happy to declare that he has now safely arrived in Eldoret himself, albeit with no bags or boxes of notebooks for the week.

John Balmer

A note from Jennifer – This journal chronicles John’s uneventful flights and travel to Eldoret, Kenya, and the more interesting travails of Paul Swets..

Even after next to no sleep, John preached in a church on Sunday; 3 people were saved and 40 more came forward during the invitation.

I received word that the luggage and boxes of notebooks were in Nairobi, Kenya, and should be in Eldoret by Friday. This is great, because John and Paul will be traveling to Tanzania over the weekend. Please pray or their safety, that the bags and boxes will make it easily through customs, and that the missing pieces will indeed make it to Eldoret before they leave.

Click here for John’s journal of the events and thoughts that have taken place each day.