The three day workshop filled Pastor Godfrey’s church with more than 50 pastors coming from all around Oyam North. People are spread out very far in this distant village so gathering 50 pastors is a sure sign that they’ve all traveled from very far away. I’m told it’s not uncommon for a pastor to ride his bicycle more than two hours one way to come to such an event.
We learned about using the assets God has given them in cooperative business, and not to be afraid or jealous in working together to maximize the benefits those assets can bring together. We learned about creating a strategy to get started, and how God is an orderly God so we need to follow his example by being planners. And we learned about making decisions in business using an ethics model for decision-making that very intentionally takes into account biblical principles when deciding which solution to take.
Each of these three topics was delivered on a separate day with lots of hands on practice and examples. Teaching the principles, using real-to-them examples, and then having them practice and apply the principles was a very successful teaching method. Best of all, they learned that they can follow the model I’d set up for them without me….they can do all this learning, collaborating, and implementation without me having to be present. I challenged them to do just that…act on what they learned. Surely the divine-human cooperation is essential in all aspects of this life.
The pastors were not disappointed. Their various expressions of appreciation echoed comments I’d heard before. They said things like “we’ve never had anyone teach us practical ways to incorporate Scripture into our everyday lives” and “we really learned some things that will help us right away tomorrow.” Their expressions of appreciation culminated in giving me a letter of endorsement signed by all the local leaders. Thank you, Jesus, for helping me bring teaching that is valuable to these pastors.
We learned about using the assets God has given them in cooperative business, and not to be afraid or jealous in working together to maximize the benefits those assets can bring together. We learned about creating a strategy to get started, and how God is an orderly God so we need to follow his example by being planners. And we learned about making decisions in business using an ethics model for decision-making that very intentionally takes into account biblical principles when deciding which solution to take. 
Each of these three topics was delivered on a separate day with lots of hands on practice and examples. Teaching the principles, using real-to-them examples, and then having them practice and apply the principles was a very successful teaching method. Best of all, they learned that they can follow the model I’d set up for them without me….they can do all this learning, collaborating, and implementation without me having to be present. I challenged them to do just that…act on what they learned. Surely the divine-human cooperation is essential in all aspects of this life.
The pastors were not disappointed. Their various expressions of appreciation echoed comments I’d heard before. They said things like “we’ve never had anyone teach us practical ways to incorporate Scripture into our everyday lives” and “we really learned some things that will help us right away tomorrow.” Their expressions of appreciation culminated in giving me a letter of endorsement signed by all the local leaders. Thank you, Jesus, for helping me bring teaching that is valuable to these pastors.