Pastors and Leaders Conference
Day One
Our three-day conference for pastors and leaders began on Wednesday with a rousing time of worship lead by a young and enthusiastic team of musicians and singers. Even if I didn’t understand all of the words and wasn’t familiar with all of the songs that were sung, the worship helped to bring all of us together in a spirit of unity and direct our focus to Jesus.
We all welcomed the pastors and leaders as they arrived, introducing ourselves and beginning to get acquainted. As Brother Bill Faught has taught me, all ministry that produces lasting results is birthed out of relationship. Relationship comes first. Then ministry follows as fruit of the relationship. We used the time before, after, and in between the meetings to nourish and strengthen these new relationships.
Bill officially greeted everyone as the conference started. Then Pastor Paul Cheatham began the first teaching session and laid the groundwork for the sessions to come by explaining foundational truths of the distinctions between body, soul and spirit. This understanding would be very important to grasp as we dealt with the effects of trauma over the next three days.
The rest of the day belonged to Frank Msambya and Dr. Sammy Muthini, who shared valuable insights into the peace-building process that seemed to be so deeply needed for the Burundians at this time. Burundi has endured civil war, genocides and bouts of ethnic cleansing over the past several years. Through it all, many have suffered deep trauma as a result. It was this deep trauma that we targeted at this conference, with a goal of giving the pastors and leaders effective tools that they could take back to help the people for whom they are responsible.
Dr. Sammy and I had arrived together in Burundi on the same flight. For the entire first part of the week, I had strained to hear this humble, soft-spoken man whenever he spoke with us. Even when we were all together in the peace and quiet of our rented house, it was not easy for me to hear everything that he said when he spoke. I think of myself as a soft-spoken man, but Dr. Sammy’s voice seemed to always be just barely above a whisper. I had concerns about him holding the attention of the pastors and leaders (and of even being heard!) at our conference.
As it turned out, there was no need for concern.
Once he got the microphone in his hand, it was like he transformed into a fiery, charismatic speaker. He didn’t even seem like the same person! Where had this fiery speaker been hiding all of the times that I had been straining to hear what Dr. Sammy was saying?
Dr. Sammy’s message seemed to be exactly what was needed for that day, at that time in the lives of these pastors and leaders. At the conclusion of the day’s sessions, one of the respected Apostles who was in attendance stood up, addressed the other leaders and spoke heartfelt words of praise for the message that Dr. Sammy had shared, expressing his belief that this message needed to be taken to heart by all of those in attendance.
