Some reports from Honduras
Dear Reader,
I write this from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I have been in the country since April 17 and am excited to give you an update on the state of the Honduras Church Planting Movement project. WME's theme for 2011 is "Moving Forward" and it seems that that theme is being fulfilled.
THE TRIP
First let me give a report about this trip. We have moved into new territory in multiple ways on this trip. To begin with, our team has conducted 2 CPM seminars. The first was in the department of Olancho in the city of Juticalpa. Attending were leaders from the Manital de Vida churches (Fountain of Life) and the Christian Reformed Church. For 3 days the team covered basic CPM principles. This training also emphasized mentoring. The training was primarily for those who have already been applying the principles or at least had been exposed to the principles in an earlier training in November 2009. The results were outstanding and we are expecting great reports in the future....in fact our report from the November 2009 training has us in a state of rejoicing. More on that later. The big step forward here was that our primary Honduran team did a lot of the training. Until now, our strategy team consisting of Randy and Keith Travis, as well as myself, have done all of the training. Now our primary Honduran team are becoming trainers, as well as implementers of cpm principles!
Next, we traveled across the country to Santa Barbara in the department of Santa Barbara. Here we conducted a training in three areas for our primary Honduran team. We were joined at this time by Ron Dorris and Frank Wilford from the US. Ron, Frank, and Myself did the training and we worked on the subjects of "Sensitivity to Hearing the Voice of the Holy Spirit" (Frank), "Principles of Teamwork" (Ron), and "Mentoring"(Myself). It was a real time of refreshing, equipping and encouraging for our team consisting of Adiel, Jacobo, Mario, Daniel, Edin, Carlos, and Oscar.
Finally, we traveled across country to Trujillo where we did another basic CPM conference for leaders from the Church of God, Gospel Crusades Church, and Restoration church. This was a completely introductory conference for people just learning about cpm. The reception was wonderful and we look forward to hearing reports in the coming months about how it will be implemented.
Through it all there were great challenges to our transportation and one of the vehicles had several problems. It seemed that the enemy was doing all to keep us from reaching Trujillo. One breakdown was so severe that it would have resulted in fatalities for the team if it had broken during driving on the roads. God's protection was with us, and praise God, there were miracles of supply for parts that were difficult to obtain. Once again we were depending on God's intervention and the prayers of our intecessors.
A CONSOLIDATED REPORT
One of the most encouraging things that we have discovered on this trip is the report of the progress in the work here. Here is a brief numerical consolidated report, including both our direct project and the catalyzed project in eastern Honduras. Numbers are estimates in terms of individuals but are based on direct reports from our team, and interviews with the key leader of the catalyzed projects, confirmed by others involved in the work. The definition of a "church" in this report is that it reflects groups that have had people profess faith and obey by baptism (or are very soon to do so).
Here are the statistics:
Churches planted: 61
Discovery Bible Studies: 105
New DBS about to begin (Persons of Peace thought to be identified): 37
Number of Departments touched (not all have ongoing studies): 10 plus 1 area of Guatemala.
Total churches, DBS studies, and new DBS areas: 203
Number of generations of churches and studies: 3 generations (catalyzed) 5 generations (direct)
Number of people involved in churches/studies: 3,700
Number of baptisms: 270
Praise God for what has happened so far, but we feel that we are only in a very embrionic stage of this work. Continue to pray for CPM to happen in Honduras and for this year to really be the "Year of Moving Forward".
Please remember the US team as we travel home tommorrow!
Blessings to all our readers and intercessors.
David Parish
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
I write this from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I have been in the country since April 17 and am excited to give you an update on the state of the Honduras Church Planting Movement project. WME's theme for 2011 is "Moving Forward" and it seems that that theme is being fulfilled.
THE TRIP
First let me give a report about this trip. We have moved into new territory in multiple ways on this trip. To begin with, our team has conducted 2 CPM seminars. The first was in the department of Olancho in the city of Juticalpa. Attending were leaders from the Manital de Vida churches (Fountain of Life) and the Christian Reformed Church. For 3 days the team covered basic CPM principles. This training also emphasized mentoring. The training was primarily for those who have already been applying the principles or at least had been exposed to the principles in an earlier training in November 2009. The results were outstanding and we are expecting great reports in the future....in fact our report from the November 2009 training has us in a state of rejoicing. More on that later. The big step forward here was that our primary Honduran team did a lot of the training. Until now, our strategy team consisting of Randy and Keith Travis, as well as myself, have done all of the training. Now our primary Honduran team are becoming trainers, as well as implementers of cpm principles!
Next, we traveled across the country to Santa Barbara in the department of Santa Barbara. Here we conducted a training in three areas for our primary Honduran team. We were joined at this time by Ron Dorris and Frank Wilford from the US. Ron, Frank, and Myself did the training and we worked on the subjects of "Sensitivity to Hearing the Voice of the Holy Spirit" (Frank), "Principles of Teamwork" (Ron), and "Mentoring"(Myself). It was a real time of refreshing, equipping and encouraging for our team consisting of Adiel, Jacobo, Mario, Daniel, Edin, Carlos, and Oscar.
Finally, we traveled across country to Trujillo where we did another basic CPM conference for leaders from the Church of God, Gospel Crusades Church, and Restoration church. This was a completely introductory conference for people just learning about cpm. The reception was wonderful and we look forward to hearing reports in the coming months about how it will be implemented.
Through it all there were great challenges to our transportation and one of the vehicles had several problems. It seemed that the enemy was doing all to keep us from reaching Trujillo. One breakdown was so severe that it would have resulted in fatalities for the team if it had broken during driving on the roads. God's protection was with us, and praise God, there were miracles of supply for parts that were difficult to obtain. Once again we were depending on God's intervention and the prayers of our intecessors.
A CONSOLIDATED REPORT
One of the most encouraging things that we have discovered on this trip is the report of the progress in the work here. Here is a brief numerical consolidated report, including both our direct project and the catalyzed project in eastern Honduras. Numbers are estimates in terms of individuals but are based on direct reports from our team, and interviews with the key leader of the catalyzed projects, confirmed by others involved in the work. The definition of a "church" in this report is that it reflects groups that have had people profess faith and obey by baptism (or are very soon to do so).
Here are the statistics:
Churches planted: 61
Discovery Bible Studies: 105
New DBS about to begin (Persons of Peace thought to be identified): 37
Number of Departments touched (not all have ongoing studies): 10 plus 1 area of Guatemala.
Total churches, DBS studies, and new DBS areas: 203
Number of generations of churches and studies: 3 generations (catalyzed) 5 generations (direct)
Number of people involved in churches/studies: 3,700
Number of baptisms: 270
Praise God for what has happened so far, but we feel that we are only in a very embrionic stage of this work. Continue to pray for CPM to happen in Honduras and for this year to really be the "Year of Moving Forward".
Please remember the US team as we travel home tommorrow!
Blessings to all our readers and intercessors.
David Parish
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
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