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Dear praying friends,
Wishing you a merry Christmas, and
a blessed new year!
I thought it would be a good time
to give a summary of out last year’s activities:
January to August: Teaching the first level of “First
Principles” to a leadership group in Nuevo Pacto church on Tuesday evenings,
with Lise’s help. In January 2016, these
will begin to reproduce in new discipleship groups in their church (ten have
already signed up, some of these being potential leaders that will probably
surpass the pilot group).
January to September: Training a
group of 30 pastors and leaders in Progreso in “First Principles”. These are
beginning to reproduce this in their churches.
January to August: Helping pastor
Hector in teaching the leadership series of BILD courses to a group of regional
pastors. They have finally completed their three year course of study.
January to June: Meeting with Miguel Orellano every Friday
afternoon, teaching him Homiletics (preaching) and Apologetics (Defense of the
faith). This has turned out to be a good investment of time.
As well, occasional preaching in
both Nuevo Pacto church and Hermon Baptist church where we are members.
I’ve also made five trips to
Alubaren in the south of the country, and three trips to Gracias, Lempira in
another area of the country. Each of these trips has involved three days.
Always for teaching pastors and leaders.
We were disappointed that the
Baptist pastors in the La Ceiba region have not decided to get involved with
the First Principles courses. (If they had something else, that would be fine,
but unfortunately many pastors have next to no training behind them.
Theological knowledge is weak.)
During the year I have held two
meetings with all of our facilitators in the Hermon Baptist church. It is really encouraging to see how our
initial pilot group has multiplied several times in the church. It gives me an
idea of what we can expect to see in all the other churches where we have
introduced this.
One unexpected highlight last March
was to be invited to preach at the quinceanera (15th birthday) of a
young girl in an unchurched family. This was held under a canopy in the
family’s yard. A number of young people were present, and I had the opportunity
of presenting the gospel message.
During the year Lise has been teaching Sunday School at
Nuevo Pacto church, and helping with the AWANA program at the Hermon church.
She also facilitates a First Principles group in the Hermon Baptist church.
We are excited about the fact that
a young man from the Hermon church, Cristhian Matutes, will be taking over as
pastor/leader of a mission point in Brisas del Bosque. This is a mission the
church started in a poor, remote area of the city ten years ago, but which has
never really got off the ground. Cristhian is a young man, still in university,
who took both my Homiletics course and my course on Inductive Study of the
Bible. Then he got in on the pilot group of First Principles, and will soon be
graduating from the third and final level of that. He has developed a lot of
maturity and leadership qualities during this time.
We continue to receive children
from the Vida y Libertad Home on weekends. Roberto, who has been living with us
for some time, will soon have completed his first year in the Honduran army.
That seems to be working well for him.
Our plans in 2016: Lise will help out with the weekly AWANA in both Brisas del Bosque and in the Hermon
church (two different days).
I will occasionally visit both the
Nuevo Pacto group and the group in Progreso, as a coach/mentor. I’ll continue to travel to Alubaren and
Gracias, Lempira as those pastors continue their courses. (Probably only three visits left for Alubaren.
In the end of September, Lise and I
will be returning to Canada (hopefully with our Siberian Husky/Malamute, Muki.
It is very complicated to get transportation for that giant).
Many thanks for your prayers and
support. It is very much appreciated.
With love,
John and Lise Francis,
Siguatepeque, Honduras
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