Training Pastors in Lome

Last week I had the pleasure of organizing a pastoral training seminar for Dr. John Balmer of TPI (Training Pastors International). John taught Expository Preaching for the bulk of the seminar and also gave courses on Leadership and Walk Thru the OT.

I had the honor of sharing my Discipleship Guide with the pastors, which is designed as a tool to help them create disciple-makers within their churches. 

99 church leaders were able to attend at least portions of the seminar while 92 of them were able to complete the training.

Please pray that God would use seminars like this one to equip pastors and church planters throughout Togo.

Here are a few of the testimonies from the pastors:

I am a young pastor in northern Togo. I am 28 years old. First of all, I thank God for our lives. Your trip to Togo is a great blessing for me. Secondly, I promise you that I will start putting the appropriate time in studying the word of God. I am committing to not take verses out of their context. I will no longer preach by adding more than what is in the text. Now, I will no longer simply ask the Holy Spirit for my sermons. May the Lord bless you for your explanation of expository preaching. What you did with Ephesians 2:1-10 will help me to approach other texts. Please pray for me that God would open the door to continue my studies for a bachelor’s in theology. Thank you – Pastor from the Kara region

I feel the necessity to train my co-laborers, but I lack the resources like these courses. The full explanations that John provided and the course on discipleship has helped me to have a foundation. I decided to stop hesitating, doubting, and neglecting the work of training other leaders. Pray for me because I have 5 churches that need pastors and other well-trained leaders. – Pastor from the Plateaux region

I thank God for the life of this teacher [Pastor John]. I will continue to pray for his life, that he will come back and edify us if the Lord permits it. Not only for this teacher but also Andrew Paul and the great effort he did for the food and all the other details. I was edified by the teaching of the courses this week. Through this teaching I realized my great errors in my teaching and preaching and also in my study of the Bible. I also took the challenge to change, to do well the ministry to which the Lord has called me. - Pastor from the Plateaux region

I thank God to have participated at the seminar organized by the missionaries John M. Balmer and Andrew Paul Ward this 29 Nov. – 3 Dec. 2015 at ESBTAO, Lomé, Togo. Unfortunately, during my 20 years in the ministry I did not know the importance and the value of expository preaching, but during this course in the seminar I was challenged by the Lord to be more faithful in setting aside time to study the word of God. If I had known the things in the seminar on leadership, I would have done things differently in my ministry in the past. I am at the beginning of planting a new church, so thank you for the teaching on discipleship. Pray for me to have the wisdom in the ministry. May you be richly blessed in the name of Jesus Christ. See you soon. Amen. – Pastor from the Plateaux region