Episode #6 - ENGLISH Anniversary

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Global Pastor Trainers Podcast, brought to you by the Global Proclamation

[00:00:04] Commission, where we have the vision to see all pastoral leaders trained and every pastor

[00:00:10] a trainer. Let's get started. Welcome to the Global Pastor Trainers Podcast. This is your host,

[00:00:17] Robbie Richard. I'm here with Germán Rica, who is, you all know his voice and my voice, and we've

[00:00:23] had a great time these past few months as we have gotten to know other pastor trainers from

[00:00:29] around the world. Today we're celebrating a special milestone. This is December of 2024,

[00:00:35] so this is our one-year anniversary of the Global Proclamation Congress to in Panama. We'll be

[00:00:43] reflecting on what the Lord has accomplished over the past year and looking forward to the work ahead

[00:00:48] as well. So we invite you to join us for a time of inspiration, celebration, and joy just as we gather

[00:00:54] as a community to share testimonies and encouragement for the global mission of training pastors.

[00:00:59] So Germán, over to you.

[00:01:02] Germán, over to you.

[00:01:02] Germán, hey, hi, Robbie, and welcome everybody. This is good. We are having a December. We are

[00:01:09] finishing a year since God's grace has been so good to all of us. And we have this special episode that

[00:01:16] we are remembering what happened in Panama and the whole year. So this is a different episode. I hope

[00:01:21] you're going to enjoy this. We're looking forward to share some testimonies, what the Lord has done.

[00:01:26] So it's been a year ago since Dr. Richard shared the vision in Panama, and many of us, hundreds of us,

[00:01:34] we have embraced the vision, and we have been moving forward. One of the things that I want to just

[00:01:41] celebrate is the goodness of the Lord in our life and being able to accomplish so many things for his

[00:01:46] kingdom and for the health of his church. And one of my roles in the GPRO Commission is to lead the GPRO

[00:01:52] central team. That team, we are in touch with many of you. And it's so good to hear what the Lord is

[00:02:00] doing with your life and through your life and since Panama, how you embrace the calling of training new

[00:02:06] or raising up training of pastors and training more pastors. So having this in mind, we want to share with

[00:02:14] you. One of the testimonies coming from Africa. So I really want you to pay attention to the following

[00:02:21] audio from pastor from Uganda. My name is Albert Mangeni. I lead the All Nations Discipleship

[00:02:28] Ministries here in Uganda. By God's grace, I'm thankful to God that I've been pastor training for the last 20

[00:02:36] plus years. I'm grateful to God for the opportunity which I got to attend the GPRO Congress 1 in Thailand

[00:02:44] 2016 and GPRO Congress 2 in Panama 2023. And particularly out of, from Panama, I'm grateful that through the

[00:02:57] the training and the sharing and the fellowship, I got a strong conviction and urgency to be more intentional

[00:03:04] to come back to Uganda to do the pastor training, especially in the upcountry areas. And from Panama,

[00:03:14] I got connected to ministries like Reforma, Life Builders Institute, Banaba School of Leadership.

[00:03:23] By God's grace, I'm able to share some of their materials on mentoring, on leadership, church administration,

[00:03:34] servanthood. And the reason for the agence of training of pastors here in Uganda is one that due to

[00:03:45] ignorance, there are many pastors have been taken advantage of. And then also another reason, the government of

[00:03:54] Uganda is coming up with a policy where every pastor should show something that certifies him to do what he's doing.

[00:04:05] And by God's grace, I've been able to come up so far from Panama and now install training upcountry locations.

[00:04:15] Even as I speak right now, I've been just teaching servanthood in one of the locations and this coming

[00:04:20] November, I'll be also teaching two more other locations. So I'm grateful for the GPRO Congress for

[00:04:29] this noble task which you are doing. May God bless you.

[00:04:34] What a wonderful testimony from a pastor turned pastor trainer, actually. And that's what we want to see all pastors

[00:04:42] train and every pastor a trainer. And so celebrating just what God has done through the GPRO Congress too in Panama.

[00:04:49] Actually, I recently returned from the Africa edition of the Congress.

[00:04:53] Yeah. And Pastor Albert was there. So we got to reconnect and hear more about what he was doing.

[00:05:00] And so that was a wonderful time. So we're planning actually a future podcast episode

[00:05:06] that will focus more on the Africa edition and the outcomes that we witnessed there. So if you

[00:05:12] are working in Africa or you are doing training in Africa, or you connected to Africa in some way,

[00:05:18] please stay tuned for that. And I'm very hopeful that we'll see similar fruit from that event as well.

[00:05:25] Now, part of celebrating one year since the Congress is recognizing the ongoing work we've also done

[00:05:33] together as the GPRO community. One of the big parts of that ongoing work is the first Monday

[00:05:39] gathering. So if you're listening and haven't attended one of our first Monday gatherings,

[00:05:43] both Hermann and I are there every first Monday, and we invite you to join us. We'll link an email in the

[00:05:49] podcast description where you can request more information. We'd love to have you join us in 2025.

[00:05:56] Really, we have some big plans coming up, not just for our virtual gatherings, but how that might spill over

[00:06:02] into national initiatives and commissions, hubs, however you want to call them, something that can spring

[00:06:11] out from you all in your own countries for pastor training. We're excited to tell you more about

[00:06:17] that in the future. So since the Congress, these first Monday gatherings really have been a meeting,

[00:06:23] a gathering, a monthly gathering where we share our diverse experiences and our common goal, which is

[00:06:29] healthy church leadership through pastor training. If the pastor is healthy, then the church can be

[00:06:36] healthy. And if the church is healthy, it can make an impact on the society around it. So these

[00:06:41] gatherings, they bring together participants from all over the world, 120, 130, 140 people, whether

[00:06:46] Asia, Africa, Latin America, or even other parts of the world globally. And we try to bring people

[00:06:54] together from all different sectors. So non-formal pastor training, informal personal mentoring, and

[00:07:00] formal theological education. And we've had some really key moments, Hermann, you and I both know that,

[00:07:06] uh, uh, had some key moments of learning during these meetings. Yeah.

[00:07:11] A lot of learning.

[00:07:12] Yeah. We learn, especially if we're, you know, we're focused on one sector and not in the other,

[00:07:17] then we get to hear from other sectors and we learn a lot from them. So, and one of those that stand out

[00:07:21] to me personally, uh, early on when we began doing this was from our brother, Herman Moldes,

[00:07:27] from the informal training sector. And he spoke about the importance of mentoring. And so let's listen to

[00:07:32] what he had to say.

[00:07:34] When we say leader development, we are saying that the life of the leader is the major source for

[00:07:41] leadership. And I think that should be so because our primary calling is to develop people to become

[00:07:48] Christ-like. So we should be an example, be an influence person that embodied the gospel so that

[00:07:56] people could see what does it mean to really live the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is not just

[00:08:02] for believers, but this is particularly true for seventh leaders among us pastors. We cannot presume

[00:08:08] that we are leaders, that we are pastors, that we are okay. We need to keep growing. And that's why I'm

[00:08:15] talking about the continuing mentoring of pastoral leaders, not only the younger leaders I've seen today,

[00:08:22] that those senior leaders, those who are on the top are the ones needing mentoring.

[00:08:27] And the reason why they're calling because they don't have accountability relationship.

[00:08:33] They have no mentors who can speak to their hearts and make them accountable for the way they're

[00:08:38] conducting themselves. Right after that, uh, first Monday, we start getting a lot of responses. Even during the

[00:08:46] presentation of Herman Mulders, there was a lot of interaction in our chat box, people asking and

[00:08:53] talking about the training pastors beyond the content. And I think the three sector, we agree on

[00:08:59] that. And it's been good to hear the reaction of so many people highlighting the importance of the heart

[00:09:06] of the pastor. So that's part of being a healthy pastor, having a healthy heart. And, um, and this is

[00:09:12] so good when we focus, when we, we find out that there is a lot of ministry, uh, on many efforts,

[00:09:19] focusing on the heart of the pastor. So, uh, I, I really appreciate that, that focus from the informal

[00:09:23] sector and it was also well-received in all of the, all over the sectors. So, and, and,

[00:09:29] and you're, you're, you're, you're part of the PMIN network, right? The, uh, you want to explain a

[00:09:33] little bit about that? Yeah, absolutely. Uh, actually that's one of the greatest outcome of the

[00:09:39] Congress is we put together all organizations that are serving and mentoring pastors and we create a

[00:09:46] network. The PMIN network is a pastoral mentoring informal, uh, network. It's, uh, it's a network

[00:09:53] that we are all together trying to connect resources and provide resources in those places that need

[00:10:00] to focus more in, in, in the heart of the pastor. So that's, that's a huge blessing and the, and that

[00:10:06] is still moving on and developing the network. So we are looking forward for the 2025.

[00:10:12] Great. And how would, how would people join that network? Did they just get in touch with you or?

[00:10:16] Yeah, they can go to, uh, there is a website, pastormin.org, pastormin.org. So you can get access

[00:10:26] to some presentations back in the Congress and, and some other, uh, virtual event that they were, uh,

[00:10:33] done during this year, but you also can, uh, request for information and, and even you can be

[00:10:38] part of the network by becoming one of the partners. So there are several options to, to do it.

[00:10:44] So this is, this is very, very, very good and you're welcome to do it. And, but it, another part of

[00:10:50] the, this time it was when, uh, the GPRO community was started reacting. Also, uh, one of the talks that

[00:10:56] Craig Parrow says, uh, Craig Parrow was representing mainly the non-formal sector and he was, uh, talking

[00:11:04] about, and I, I believe this is one of the key, uh, and one of the important things that we need

[00:11:10] to focus is in raising new trainer of pastor. He was talking on, on identifying and raising trainer

[00:11:16] of pastor. So we all agree the importance of raising up a new trainer of pastor, but the biggest

[00:11:22] question is how we can do it, how we can, what is, is a roadmap is a, is a step. I mean,

[00:11:28] there is a lot of questions, but I, we really appreciate a Craig presentation. So I would like

[00:11:33] to invite you to remember and to listen in that Craig presentation.

[00:11:39] Who are the ones that have the highest potential to become pastor trainers? And once you've identified

[00:11:46] them, pour your life into them, those are the ones that will make a difference in your region and in

[00:11:54] your country. Come alongside them, invite them into your team, invite them in as friends and co-laborers.

[00:12:03] We need to keep casting vision. Keep reminding those future pastor trainers that you're working with,

[00:12:13] how important this is, how essential this is to the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:12:19] How, how the, the lack of training in your country or region is harming the church,

[00:12:27] the beautiful bride of Christ and how equipping more and more pastors to faithfully handle God's

[00:12:34] word, to faithfully shepherd God's people is essential for the health and vitality of the church and the glory of

[00:12:41] Christ.

[00:12:42] You know, um, it's something that I really love about Craig and he's been doing this a long time,

[00:12:48] but you can still hear his passion for the health of the bride.

[00:12:52] Absolutely.

[00:12:52] Yeah.

[00:12:53] You can still hear his passion for training of pastors and the need, the importance, uh,

[00:12:59] to, to really God's mission. It's, you know, it's essential to the strategy that he left here on

[00:13:04] earth as far as making disciples. Um, if you don't have leadership within these disciple making

[00:13:08] communities, then it's very difficult to continue forward on the mission. And so wonderful to hear

[00:13:13] from Craig and, um, continue to reflect on everything that we've shared and learned during

[00:13:19] these monthly, monthly gatherings. Those are just little bits and pieces really of what we heard.

[00:13:24] And so if you're listening and wish you had been on these calls in 2024 and you, you missed out,

[00:13:29] then don't worry. We do have these recordings available. So you just have to reach out to us.

[00:13:32] I believe that's in the description, uh, of the podcast and we can get those to you.

[00:13:37] Yeah, absolutely. It's always good to look back. It's always good to remember what the Lord has

[00:13:43] been speaking to us. Uh, not just for the sake of remembering, but also to, uh, be aware of his

[00:13:50] goodness and the direction that he provided us to us. So we appreciate Craig Parrow, uh, and so many

[00:13:57] others that were participating in the first Monday gathering. So it was being so good, but also we

[00:14:03] need to push forward. So in order to push forward, we are at 2025 just coming. It's just in a couple

[00:14:09] of days, we will be in a new year and we're looking forward for this coming year to be very strategic

[00:14:16] and focused and faithful to God. And one of, uh, one of the things that I appreciate from Dr. Richard

[00:14:23] and Dr. Richard is, is actually, um, the person that the tool that the Lord has been using to put all

[00:14:29] together the Jeep Rock Commission and everything that we have been doing, not only this last year,

[00:14:34] but for so many, many years. He recently was talking and, and, and one of our gathering,

[00:14:40] and he was talking about the importance of, uh, the, why we are doing what we are doing and the

[00:14:46] vision of the Jeep Rock Commission. And I think it's good at the end of this year, um, remembering what

[00:14:52] the Lord has been speaking to us. If we can make a pause right now and listen to Dr. Richard and

[00:14:59] remember, uh, the main thing of, uh, what we are here, what we are doing, all these efforts. So

[00:15:04] let's pay attention to Dr. Richard presentation. Greetings in the name of the most high one.

[00:15:10] All of you know who we identify with as the most high one. This is an important time on the planet.

[00:15:17] The bulletin of the atomic scientists say that there's only about 90 seconds left in the history

[00:15:23] of humanity. So this is a decisive time, a reflective time. It is an inflective time and we trust it will

[00:15:32] be an active time, especially for leader servants who are serving as trainers or pastors. A joy to see

[00:15:40] each one of you on this call. These first Monday gatherings have been powerful in keeping

[00:15:46] our interest and engagement and even the momentum alive. It's hard to believe that this is the

[00:15:53] first anniversary of GPRO Congress too for trainers or pastors in terms of Panama. In many cultures of

[00:15:59] the world, the first anniversary, the first birthday, for example, is greatly celebrated, especially when

[00:16:08] infant mortality is such a big problem that if a baby lasts past the first birthday, it is highly probable

[00:16:18] that there will be health into the future. So here we are, the lasting past the first birthday,

[00:16:26] the first anniversary of this GPRO Congress due held in Panama last year. Many of you were there,

[00:16:34] what a historic moment, a beautiful moment. You do know that one of the reasons church plants

[00:16:43] are not surviving is because they don't make it past the first year. Your presence here means very,

[00:16:52] very much. I would like to briefly rehearse the vision and impact of the GPRO Congress,

[00:17:01] especially the GPRO Commission. We want to rehearse it for you and then I want to share with you

[00:17:10] the overall framework for the goals. Identity and purpose. We are merely an instrument, but it's an

[00:17:19] instrument of propulsion, not compulsion, but propulsion, propelling the training of large numbers of

[00:17:26] under-trained and isolated past leaders by every effective and efficient means possible to reach

[00:17:33] the next 1 billion individuals with spiritual health. Of the 8 billion who populate the planet

[00:17:40] right now, about 3.5 billion do not know the Lord Jesus, but personal in impact and scale, but proximate

[00:17:51] the world is the most important. The purpose of the GPRO Commission is that you are present already in these

[00:17:54] places, pastoral leaders that God has raised allows us to make this kind of an impact. But the GPRO

[00:18:01] commission is an instrument to propel this, that pastoral health affects church health and the church health

[00:18:09] spills into societal health. Next, we have vision and impact. All pastoral leaders with basic training.

[00:18:18] We want all pastoral leaders to be able to preach biblically, live biblically, think biblically, and serve

[00:18:24] biblically as pastoral leaders. But we also seek every pastor to be a trainer. They're part of your profile,

[00:18:35] part of your responsibility, part of your calling is while you're pastoring you're also training and

[00:18:40] raising new trainers or pastors so that church health can keep pace with church growth.

[00:18:45] Now let's look at the mission and some values. We really want this to be faster, more, better,

[00:18:57] less expensive. Faster delivery of better training to more pastor leaders at lower costs.

[00:19:06] Faster delivery, better training, more pastors at lower costs. This way we are allowed to address

[00:19:14] matters of scale, of speed, of spread, of sustainability and also stackability.

[00:19:23] And then finally some strategies and activities.

[00:19:30] We need to be connecting, uniting and strengthening trainers or pastors. That's who we are.

[00:19:35] I think you've heard me say that every pastor trainer has a 10,000 person footprint over those four tiers that

[00:19:43] Robbie mentioned earlier. Trainer, pastor, leader, believer. Every trainer or pastor has a 10,000

[00:19:51] person footprint over a 10-year period. 10,000 people are blessed.

[00:19:56] So to connect, unite, strengthen you makes it very, very strategic in reciprocal, complementary,

[00:20:09] encouragement, reinforcement, and then multiplication. Many of you are aware that the theme of this decade of the

[00:20:18] G Pro Commission is the multiplying of the quantity and quality of trainers or pastors.

[00:20:25] In Panama, we said we want you to reach one new like you. If you're a trainer or pastor,

[00:20:33] each pastor trainer raises one new trainer or pastor each year. I want you to consider that.

[00:20:41] So if you train about 10 pastor leaders every year, just one of those 10, 10% of every person that you train,

[00:20:51] every pastor that you train becomes a trainer of some. Secondly, pastor training advocates and commissions in

[00:21:00] 100 nations and regions. If God puts this on your heart, that God has raised you to a level of influence. We

[00:21:10] want to hear from you. There could be commissions and hubs and advocacy of pastor training,

[00:21:16] especially of the non-formal delivery by bringing all three sectors, formal, non-formal, and informal,

[00:21:23] for the non-formal pastor training delivery of pastor training in Soviet nations. The third goal,

[00:21:30] a thousand key organizations and institutions where there is good research and innovation execution.

[00:21:43] Because remember, proximate at reach has the deepest impact. Local knowledge is always the best knowledge.

[00:21:51] So we would like to see a thousand key organizations and institutions who are in advocacy, who are providing

[00:22:00] guidelines, but also who are able to nurture these in the countries. Finally, only 10,000 pastor leaders

[00:22:11] and churches across the world, who say, let's add pastor training to our philosophy and strategy of ministry.

[00:22:25] This is not hard. If you are also pastoring, just add it. Every pastor a trainer. So that by the year 2030,

[00:22:34] we'll have 100,000 new trainers of pastors who are drawn from and contribute to a million more

[00:22:44] and better trained pastor leaders. That will reduce the deficit by about 30% to 50% of more pastors, better trained.

[00:22:54] As I look back at the highlights of the first year, I see the following. One, your presence at these meetings,

[00:23:01] at these monthly meetings for about an hour. Thank you for your presence. I know that enriches your heart,

[00:23:09] encourages further action. Second accomplishment is the ownership of the leadership of the three sectors.

[00:23:17] We don't have an inordinate number of sectors, only three, formal, non-formal, informal,

[00:23:23] and the networks and the hubs and the advocacies of these sectors. So I set of topic, of PMIN,

[00:23:31] and that means a great deal. Then we heard the mandate of you saying, we want a representative body

[00:23:38] in each of these three sectors and maintain the integrity of the sectors, but also the strategic

[00:23:44] reciprocity and a complementary nature of all these sectors. Third, your communications with our follow-up

[00:23:52] team. That's an accomplishment because if you don't communicate, we cannot document anything. It's your work.

[00:23:59] And as we communicate, we increase both energy and activity, but also increase documentation

[00:24:09] to show fruit, much fruit, more fruit, fruit that lasts. Number four, of course, you just heard,

[00:24:16] we have done the Africa edition of the GPRO Congress 2 in Panama. It was a rich, rich week. For all those

[00:24:24] of you who were there, thank you brothers and sisters for being there. The commitments that you've made

[00:24:29] have been unbelievable. And I think the last two months of 2024, I'm seeking for 2,000 new trainers

[00:24:36] or pastors as a result of this year. It might happen because you're adding to what has already been taking

[00:24:44] place. Number five, new courses for the GPRO Commission that are constantly being added so there'll be

[00:24:54] minimum viability. You can take courses and sources that you want. Then we can have it certified at the

[00:25:02] trainer of pastors level, not the training of pastors level, but the trainer of pastors level by the GPRO

[00:25:08] Commission. Number six, the podcast, the GPRO Community Podcast. I hope you're listening to these,

[00:25:15] release about once a month. Another one is just coming up. Listen to them for your encouragement,

[00:25:21] for your motivation, for your inspiration, but most importantly, for your action. And number

[00:25:27] seventh accomplishment over this last year, we were glad to start the GPRO Academy in Dallas

[00:25:33] after the COVID situation for the world and the GPRO Academy graduates that we saw in Nairobi.

[00:25:40] You are part of this engine that God is using. A legacy of both content and

[00:25:49] cause we want to leave this world. We ended up Panama and we ended up Nairobi with the same,

[00:25:57] same verse to him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

[00:26:03] Thank you very, very much.

[00:26:05] So there you have it. That is the vision and mission. I think it's always good to be reminded

[00:26:11] of our vision and mission as the GPRO Commission. So this work obviously isn't something we can do

[00:26:17] alone. It takes many partners and that includes those of you who are listening today. Thank you for

[00:26:22] joining us for this look back and this look ahead. And we are extremely grateful for each of you and

[00:26:29] your commitment to the mission of training pastors. You know, right now, at the time of this recording,

[00:26:34] it is in the United States, a time of thanksgiving, a celebration that we have as a country and giving

[00:26:41] thanks. And I believe that it's a great time to be going over everything that God has done and just be

[00:26:47] grateful and thank you. You know, have a posture of thanksgiving for what he's done through the GPRO Commission

[00:26:54] and what he's going to continue to do. So if you're listening to us and you want to stay connected,

[00:26:59] please reach out to us using the email in the description for more resources and information.

[00:27:03] And until next time, please continue the excellent work that God has given to you,

[00:27:08] has entrusted to you, and may the Lord bless and sustain you as you raise up new

[00:27:12] trainers of pastors and pastoral leaders to lead his church.

[00:27:17] Thank you for joining us on the Global Pastor Trainer Podcast. We believe pastor training is key

[00:27:24] for the health of the church and Jesus' mission. Whether you're a seasoned pastor, ministry leader,

[00:27:29] or passionate about training pastoral leaders, formal, non-formal, or informal, this podcast is for you.

[00:27:36] Join the GPRO Commission and stay connected on social media and our website for more resources and

[00:27:43] discussions. If the content has been helpful, review and share it to help others benefit.

[00:27:49] Pastoral health affects church health and church health affects societal health.

[00:27:55] Together, let's connect, unite, and strengthen pastors to advance God's kingdom. Catch you on the next episode.