Changing the World, One Pastor at a Time

The Word of God is a beautiful and intricate message. It can be carried through direct words, humble actions, passionate teachings and many other venues. It is more than letters on a page; it is life.

This past week Way of the Cross came together with Christ Community Church out of Chicago, IL to teach the Word of God at a pastors conference in Nicaragua.

100 pastors attended that conference, but those 100 men and women are not your typical pastors. They don’t have extravagant churches, padded pews or stained glass windows. They don’t have fancy equipment or very much money. Many don’t even have a formal education.

It is hard to imagine churches like these.

Yet God is using these churches, these pastors, to preach His word and it is always a blessing to see the Word of God poured back into them.

The conference was a short, but intense, three days. Pastor Jim Nicodem of Christ Community along with Eric Leichty, Eric Hanson, Bob Spence and Sue Nicodem spoke on prayer, discipleship, marriage, sexual purity and being anchored  by truth. Phillip worked with some of Way of the Cross’ Nicaraguan staff to register pastors and prepare to print ID cards (most of the pastors we work with do not have any kind of ministry ID, so we are more than happy to make them a Way of the Cross ID) as well as work to record the entire conference.

The pastors soaked in the messages, spent time discussing the Word in small groups, sought the Lord together and many left with a renewed passion for the Lord.

There is something amazing and beautiful about watching pastors’ lives changed. As ministers of the Gospel I think we often believe the best and most direct way to bring the Good News to the world is by preaching the Gospel to the lost ourselves.

But lately the Lord has been impressing on my heart that there is another way to spread the Gospel. It is by encouraging and teaching Christians. You can speak to 100 people and see them all won for the Kingdom of Heaven but if you speak to 100 pastors and they are set on fire for the Lord, then many, many more will hear the Gospel through them.

My prayer for the men and women who attended that conference is that they will take their renewed passion for the Lord back to their congregations.

I pray their congregations would learn and be set on fire for the Lord and spread the Word of God to their families and neighbors.

I pray that communities would come together to seek the Lord and that revival would break out all over Nicaragua.

All because someone took the time to minister into the lives of 100 pastors (or even just 1).

The Word of God is life. It is moving. It is breathing. It is changing the world.