"It was a unique privilege for me to be able to team up with long-time colleague and friend Larry DeArmey this time. Larry is the administrator for a newly formed School of Missiology which is designed to provide more in-depth training for Chadian church leaders in three foundational areas: character, competence and knowledge. Areas of need that I had observed in previous trips to CAR, Cameroon and Chad led me to design a course that I entitled "Man after God's own heart." This is an area (character qualities of a man of God) that I have been mulling over and studying for several years now and this provided me the opportunity to consolidate, organize and systematize my study and thinking into a cohesive unit.
"During our nearly 60 hours of classroom time Larry served as my translator and partner as we interacted with the men about such things as "11 characteristics of a spiritual leader" or "the man after God's own heart and his relationship to his wife and children" or "knowing God" or "prayer." There was much lively exchange of ideas and comments, soul-searching, special times of prayer and plenty of laughter and warm fellowship.
"At one point we were talking about being a man of peace, a peacemaker. We paused for a brief moment just to dream about what an impact 12 men of peace could make as they left that place and went back to their families and ministries. I believe everyone was moved as they thought about what God could do through them if they embraced just that one truth and consistently lived it out.
"We ate our meals together, Chadian style, and grew together over the course of those weeks. It was a particular delight for me to see the special relationship Larry has to the men. This deep bond of mutual love and respect set the tone for the entire time together and I believe God worked in a mighty way in our midst. Thanks to many who were praying."
The three to four weeks courses take place three times a year. This adds up to many weeks during the year that students are separated from their families. Besides their ministry as Pastor or Evangelist, most of the men must cultivate their fields for a living. In order to strengthen their faith in the God who meets needs, each student is responsible to provide the major part of the costs of the program. It has happened several times that during the time away family members have been taken ill or the crops were demolished by elephants or cattle. These are big challenges for the men's faith. Thank you so much for your prayers for them.