Costa Rica
Report from UBLA Conference
April 16-17, 2010
By David Rogers
On April 16 & 17, 2010, David Ripley and I had the privilege of attending the UBLA (Latin American Baptist Union) Leadership Consultation in San José, Costa Rica and presenting the Adrian Rogers PTI materials. This was a meeting of key leaders—in most cases, the President and Executive Secretary—of the various Baptist conventions, unions, and associations throughout the countries of Latin America. In total, there were about 50 people present, including representatives from 19 different Baptist groups from 15 countries, officers of UBLA, and various other guests.
David Rogers presented the PTI curriculum to leaders in Costa Rica
It was a huge blessing to meet these servants of the Lord who are being used by Him to give leadership to the work of the gospel in so many different countries throughout Latin America. It was great to reconnect with various ones we had met and worked with on previous occasions, both with PTI, as well as through ministry efforts connected with David Ripley’s Genesis Global Ministry, Bellevue Baptist Church, and Adrian Rogers. It was at another UBLA conference, in 1998, in which Adrian Rogers and David Ripley were both present, that the vision for Bellevue’s big missions thrust throughout Latin America in the following years was officially launched. It was exciting to hear so many individual reports of how the work is growing exponentially and making a bigger and bigger impact on the lives of those who are being saved and discipled in the various countries represented in UBLA.
Iván Martínez, current President of UBLA, and the Venezuelan Baptist Convention graciously extended the invitation for us to participate in the Leadership Consultation and present the Adrian Rogers PTI materials. Having attended the PTI presentation in Venezuela in October 2009, and observed and participated in the pastor training sessions that were launched afterward throughout Venezuela, he was eager to make his fellow Baptist leaders throughout Latin America aware of this strategic resource. We need to pray God’s hand of anointing will continue to rest upon this key leader and choice servant.
Latin America leaders at UBLA
Although time was limited, with so many different reports to be given, we felt the Lord enabled us to make good use of the 30 minutes we were allotted in the program to present the PTI materials. Both David Ripley and I were able to give a brief word of greeting and exhortation, and I was able to show a short sample clip of the first session of the “What Every Pastor Ought to Know” course in Spanish. We also invited Guadalupe Gómez, Executive Secretary of the Nicaraguan Baptist Convention, to give a brief testimony of the impact the PTI materials and training have had on his life and ministry since being introduced to them just one month earlier. At the end, we were able to give a sample set of materials to the leaders of each Baptist union or convention represented.
Latin America Baptist leaders watching the PTI curriculum
The response was overwhelming. After the presentation, leader after leader came up to David and me, expressing their interest in the course, and inviting us to come to their countries to present the materials, just like we have done in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. A list was passed around to all those present, and leaders from virtually every country represented signed up, indicating that they would be interested in having Adrian Rogers PTI training available for the pastors of their country.
We are currently thinking and praying through what will be the best strategy for ensuring that the training takes place in the most effective manner possible and with as many different pastors in as many different countries as possible. We believe a big part of this will involve training trainers, and commissioning them with the vision for spiritual reproduction and multiplication through small group accountability and personal mentoring, using as a key resource the Adrian Rogers PTI materials.
It was extremely encouraging to hear reports of how this is already taking place in the other countries in Latin America we have already visited. In Venezuela, for instance, out of the original 70 pastors trained in October 2009 and commissioned to begin their own groups, we heard there are 90 of these PTI training groups up and running. Guadalupe Gómez, from Nicaragua, reported that in the month since we were there in March, he had already begun 3 different PTI groups with 20 pastors each, with a fourth one soon to begin. These are only a couple of the many reports we are receiving.
Please pray God would direct to the best strategy to be the best stewards possible of these amazing opportunities, and that He would provide the resources necessary to see this strategy carried out.
