Up, Up and Away in my Beautiful Balloon
BURUNDI - X 2
Boy, I’m racking up the frequent flyer miles! Next Thursday, March 6th, I fly back to Africa to launch TWO brand new cohorts of students in two different regions of Burundi. One region is brand new to us, and extra needy!
I'm excited. This time, Doug, Steve, and I will be teaming up with 3 talented Burundian leaders (whom we have taught over the last two years) to begin equipping them to co-train the classes alongside us! This means local multiplication is a reality! My dream of Burundi leaders being taught primarily by well-trained indigenous leaders is starting to come true! Pray for the dream!
Pray for the local co-trainers, they’ll be stressed out, lol! Here are the Burundi dates: March 6-21. Keep us in your prayers (by now, you know what to pray for).
ARIZONA - CACTUS TIME
This week, Andrea and I will jump in the car and roll East to Phoenix, Arizona to meet with over 100 of our Global Training Network teammates. Please pray for safe travel and that we will come away with new opportunities and connections for new ministries in the future and new skills, too.
It's incredible to be in a room full of faithful, experienced, courageous leaders who are changing the world by training untrained leaders and pastors in 80+ countries in the Majority World. I love GTN!
GREECE & TURKEY
After I return from Burundi on March 21st I have 12 days to “sleep it off”, then Andrea and I jump on another jet and zoom off to Greece and Turkey to teach the Bible on a journey around the locations in the Book of Acts. I’m super excited to have Andrea with me on this trip!!! It's a great opportunity and a huge blessing.
By the way, I want you to know that none of your GTN gifts are used to pay for this trip. Bay Hills Church has hired me as a teacher for their trip.
KENYA REWIND
The January “test case” trip to Kuria, Kenya was SUPER-d-DUPER! We had 42 incredible pastors and key church leaders turn out, most of whom have had almost no, to absolutely no ministry preparation or formal Biblical training. They responded incredibly well to two classes, ”How to Study to Preach a Bible-centered Sermon” and “The Biblical Storyline Survey of the Bible.” They literally begged us to come back to teach them more.
This area was far from the big city, so we experienced rural tribal life by staying at the home of the Ambassador and being invited into homes and having many late-night dinner discussions by the campfire about customs still practiced by some in that region; such as polygamous marriage and Christians, “female circumcision” (female genital mutilation), and (yowch!) male circumcision around age 16...
We spoke with pastors and leaders who needed answers to basic questions such as “is Jesus the only way to heaven?”. BTW they can NOT believe I'm not getting a 10 cow dowry for my daughter Jessi, lol!
Biblical training and ministry equipping is especially needed here. Pray as I gather the various resources and seek a way to add another trip to the calendar.
RWANDA REWIND
When we finished in Kenya we flew to Bihembe, Rwanda, and spent the week training 28 brand new pastors/students. I taught “Methods of Evangelism” and my buddy Andy Wulff taught “The Biblical Storyline.”
The training was also well received, absolutely needed, and an incredible blessing at our sweet, quiet, mountain-top camp. While we were there, violence exploded on the Rwanda / DR Congo border, where I have trained in the past. Pray for peace in the region; tragically, hundreds died in the incursion!
If you’d like to catch a glimpse of my trips to Kenya and Rwanda and more, check out Photos from the Road.
2024 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN RESULTS
I want to say thank you to all of you who participated in the 2024 year-end gift. $23,000 of the $35,000 goal came in through your generosity! I am genuinely thankful for the resources for the work that God has called us to. He's changing the world. Thank you for taking part in it with me.
Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon,
-Chuckk
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Global Training Network
PO Box 6507
Peoria, AZ. 85385
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Chuckk Gerwig, ACCOUNT NUMBER #50322
