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FFFaithLLLife MMMinistries “Equipping Church Leaders Globally”

August, 2012

Newsletter

A Training Tidbit… FaithLife Ministries has been training pastors and church leaders for 11 years now on our Management For Church Leaders curriculum. Here is another tidbit I want to share with you from our training to give you a better understanding of the material we are presenting.

The church is about people—their relationship to God and to one another. God’s ministry is accomplished through people, and the Bible says that all Believers are the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). A leader who is responsible for others must therefore develop them to their full potential. This is true of any leader, whether in business or any other organization. In the church we call this discipleship, and a leader must help his or her followers to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives But it is also practical ministry management. The Church leader has 3 main responsibilities with respect to developing people. First, their primary purpose is to make disciples. This is the Great Commission and the sole purpose of the church. Second, the church leader must train and equip others for ministry. All Believers are ministers for Christ. I like the way Paul says it when he says that “we are therefore Christ’s ambas-sadors” (2 Cor. 5:20). As ambassadors we are all representatives for Jesus Christ to the non-believing world. We are all called to be ministers of the gospel. No one gets a free pass on this one. And third, church leaders are to develop other leaders. In order for the church to grow or multiply, more leaders are needed. Pastors cannot do all of the ministry work them-selves, nor should they. Church leaders should also be concerned about the future and should always be developing others to take their place. The Apostle Paul’s development of Timothy is a great example of this. Being an effective developer of people is key for any church leader.

Dear Friends,

Recent events in America have caused me to think deeply about Christianity and

our culture. When a CEO of a company is criticized and attacked for his Chris-

tian beliefs, when opposition to government mandates that intrude upon religious

freedom is casually dismissed, and when Christians are demonized and our view-

points rejected in public policy discussions, it is time to take a hard look at our-

selves. While it is easy to point fingers at others we cannot ignore our own culpa-

bility. Why do some Americans consider Christians “haters” and “intolerant” of

others? Why is the Bible being rejected from the public domain? And why do so

many people simply reject the church? Could it be that we, as Christians, have

been poor examples? Could it be that we are angry at losing our status as the

dominant force in our culture? Could it be that we are more interested in winning

arguments than simply sharing our faith and the Bible? 1 Peter 3:15, says to

“always be prepared to give an answer to everyone asks you to give the reason

for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” And 1

Timothy 2:25 says that to those who oppose us we must “gently instruct, in the

hope that God will grant them repentance.” I must admit my guilt. I am some-

times opinionated and not gentle nor respectful with my speech. So I will ask the

Lord to help me to be a gentle witness and example. For it is “not

by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Al-

mighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)

Vision Tracker

Our vision is to reach 100 na-

tions in Africa, Asia and Latin

America with our training. Here

is our current progress:

100

24

75

50

25

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Guatemala/ June 7th—18th Barry traveled to Guatemala City and trained over 500

pastors and church leaders on our Management For

Church Leaders™ training in 3 two-day conferences, a

1 day seminar, and 4 half-day training sessions. These

were all organized by Dr. Diego Cruz, our training part-

ner for Guatemala & Central America.

Management For Church Leaders™ Training

Training Guatemala Police Officers!

One of the awesome opportunities we had was to do our

Management for Church Leaders training for 55 Guatemala

National Police force chaplains and 25 pastoral counselors.

We had an open invitation from Ms. Norma Nasbun de

Hernandez, the Director for Values & Ethics, to do our

Biblical training for police officers who are also volunteer

chaplains. We were the first outside group allowed to

come in and train! We were so blessed by their participa-

tion and desire to share God’s Word with criminals, vic-

tims and other police officers. As a result, my partner, Dr.

Diego Cruz, has been invited back this Fall to train those

who could not attend this first session. These officers are

from all parts of Guatemala and we pray that they will con-

tinue to be a Biblical influence for all Guatemalans.

Guatemala

Guatemala is located in Central America and is home

to over 14 million people. The country is primarily

an agricultural economy which provides for 50% of

the jobs and 75% of all exports. It gained its inde-

pendence from Spain in 1821 but was politically un-

stable until 1996, after which it has moved forward

with a democratic government. It is dominantly Cath-

olic but evangelical Christians now represent almost

25% of the population. Violence is still prevalent

with Guatemala having the highest murder rate in

Central America. There is still a great need for lead-

ership training in Guatemala, although many seminar-

ies and Bible Schools have recently been established.

There is also a need for discipleship, as much of the

growth in evangelicals is superficial in nature and

lacks depth of faith. I have found the country and its

people to be very beautiful. Guatemala City is per-

haps the most American-like I have visited, with

many American stores and restaurants everywhere.

Pastor Otto teaching

our class on Manag-

ing Money in Villa

Canales. He is a col-

lege professor of fi-

nance whom I asked

to teach our material.

Assemblies of God

pastors whom we

trained along with

their key leaders for

1 day in Jalapa (with

Jose Louis, our

host.)

Barry training

Women’s Ministry

leaders of Casa de

Dios church on

ministry leadership

and managing con-

flict.

Diego teaching pas-

tors and leaders in

the city of Fraijanes,

where Diego is pas-

tor of a Church of

God church. He has

been asked to do

more training for

them.

Barry & Diego with

Youth Ministry lead-

ers of Casa de Dios

church after training

seminar on leader-

ship. This was im-

promptu and such a

blessing!

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News from our partners around the globe…

Pastor Rajendra Sundas, our partner in Nepal, writes, “Greeting from the top of the world Nepal. I just

got back from Sindhupalchok District last night, we have great time for evangelism. We walk almost 7 to 8

hours every day to reach one village to another village. This community people are mostly Buddhist, Sher-

pa and Tamang. We distributed many Gospel tracks and 50 people gave their life for Jesus.”

Pastor Robert Olouch, our partner in Rwanda, writes that “We still have 54 resident students at our Bible

School in Kigali, 23 at the satellite program in Uganda, and 36 in the D R Congo satellite. The security

challenge in Congo is a serious concern to our Congo students and their families. Please pray for them.”

Pastor John Peter Kirubagaran, our partner in southern India, informed us that “the United International

School and New Life Children's Home--Bangalore were dedicated to the glory of God on 11th July 2012.”

Partner MCL Training

One of our goals is to encourage our foreign partners to teach our Management for Church

Leaders ™ material (MCL) to others in their nation or surrounding nations. Here are some

stories from our partners who are doing just that:

Pastor Benson Muchina is continuing to con-

duct our Management For Church Leaders training

to others in and around Nakuru, Kenya. He says the

results are impressive and he thanks us for the ma-

terials.

Pastor Ayub Khayo, our partner in Kenya &

East Africa, led an MCL training conference in

Busia, Kenya in August.

Dr. Gideon Umukoro, our partner in Nigeria

and for West Africa, will conduct an MCL training

conference in September in Nigeria. He also has

plans to extend our training to Togo, Benin and

Cameroon.

Pastor Jasper Goka, our partner in Ghana,

wrote to me that the pastors we trained last year in

Accra that were from Togo have been training lead-

ers in Togo with what they learned. He also said

that pastors who came from northern Ghana have

also been teaching our material there as well!

Did you know…our Management for Church Leaders™ training manual has now been translated into 11

other languages? They include Spanish, Russian, French, Portugese, Latvian, Hindi, Tellegu, Tamil, Burmese,

Nepali, and Swahili!! We praise God for our partners who have helped us with the translation work!

1 of 11 new Pakistan church

plants (from Dr. Muqaddam Zia)

New church being built for

tribal village in India (from

Samuel Sudarsanam)

Rajendra Sundas was blessed with

a motorcycle to enable him to evan-

gelize in remote areas of Nepal

Pastor Rajendra Sundas,

our partner in Nepal, went

to western Nepal in Au-

gust to conduct a couple of

MCL training conferences

for pastors and leaders in

Chinchu & Kulpur. Here

are some students with our

training manuals in Nepali.

Steve Burkhalter, our

partner for Brazil & the

Caribbean, recently

taught our MCL material

to pastors in Panama.

This is the first training of

our material in that nation.

He plans to go back in

2013 as well as to Cuba.

Nepal Panama

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Upcoming Events

Dates Location Purpose/Host

Sept 6-15 Monrovia, Liberia MCL Training—Dyonah Thomas, Center for Leadership

Development

Sep 29-30 Gardendale, AL Ministry presentation at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Oct 3-12 Palampur, India MCL Training—Sam Abraham, Berachah Ministries

Nov 3 Alpharetta, GA Annual Board of Directors Meeting

Nov 28—Dec 9 Mandalay, Myanmar MCL Training—Dr. Ram Lian, Myanmar Christian Institute

Prayer Requests:

For our trips to Liberia, India & Myanmar.

For wisdom in 2013 trip planning.

Thankfulness for the response to our annual

fundraising appeal.

For our partners abroad, their ministries and

families, as they train others on our behalf.

For healing for Daryl Hoh, a FaithLife board

member, who is fighting a colon infection.

For our nation, that unity will prevail over di-

vision, truth over falseness, and peace over

conflict.

Thank you for your prayers & support!

FaithLife Ministries

12000 Leeward Walk Circle

Alpharetta, GA 30005

Phone: 770-492-4903

Email: BarryVoss@comcast.net

www.faithlifeministries.net

Looking Ahead…

We are in the process of putting

together our training & travel

plans for 2013. As of this moment,

we are considering opportunities

to take our Management for

Church Leaders™ training to the Philippines, Paki-

stan, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Mexico,

Guatemala, Nigeria and India. Our foreign part-

ners are also working on plans to take our training

to Bolivia, Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, Argentina,

Cameroon, Benin, Togo, and Ethiopia. Of these 17

countries, 10 of them would be new for our MCL

training and 7 would be to new locations within na-

tions where we have already trained. Please

pray for God’s wisdom and discernment as we con-

sider, and plan, for each of them.

Odds & Ends… We mourn the passing of June Mueller, a friend

and one of our longtime supporters, who entered

into eternal glory on August 8, 2012.

We are working on significant changes to our web-

site. Please watch for further announcements or

visit our website to check our progress.

Our MCL Training Book is now on the internet!!

Go to www.missionsresources.com to get a copy!

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train

yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness

has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the

life to come.” - 1 Timothy 4:7-8

FaithLife to Launch Prayer Team! We are seeking individuals who would like to become part of a prayer team to help cov-er our ministry in prayer throughout the year. Kim Star-Voss will be organizing it and details are still being worked out. If you would like to support us in this vital way, please email her at kims-v@comcast.net to get further information.