Author: ENW

India and Myanmar January/February 2019 Report

ENW began its winter tour on January 22, 2019 flying to Trichy, India, home of Heritage Baptist Bible College and Seminary. This was ENW’s second visit and the continuation of Biblical Counseling Training there. The student body, now grown to 40-45 students, was a joy to teach as they are so eager to learn. The class format consisted of lecture sessions, group workshop/research sessions, and group discussion/open note exams at the close of each day. The class was designed to ensure truth and concepts were embraced and clearly understood for life application and ministry rather than simply teaching as much material as possible and reproducing facts on an exam. My goal was that teaching for life application brought us closer to “causing the students to learn” rather than just “acquiring knowledge”. One unusual experience for me this year was having a 13-year-old student in a college class room. He was a sharp little guy and such a joy to teach.

ENW’s next stop on this winter tour was Tedim, Chin State, Myanmar. This training opportunity is one of our most exciting and very promising in terms of the II Timothy 2:2 model. Our contact, Dal Go Mang (who has translated all written material as well as all oral teaching sessions) is quickly becoming an eager “Timothy learner” for this mentor. It was a joy to hear brother Mang comment regularly about learning and applying these principles of local church ministry and shepherd care.

One of the training concepts I challenged him with (again, flowing out of our II Timothy 2:2 model) was to select a few men he could begin working with in between ENW’s annual meetings. Before the day was over he had accepted the challenge and hand-picked six “faithful, capable men” to begin the process. What a thrill! We have already begun an initial conversation about him and his team reaching out as trainers to another area of Myanmar.

 

ENW spent two weeks laying the foundation for pastoral private word ministry (i.e. Biblical Counseling). This idea of pastoral counseling was very new to this group of 35-40 pastors. Prior to this training, the pastoral task of “Word Ministry” was essentially preaching one or two times per week. By the end of the second week, this imbalanced perspective was wonderfully adjusted, to God be the glory.

Next year the two-week training will be Foundations for the Christian Family. Our goal for that training is to have all the wives join their husbands for the conference. Having said that, your help with your prayers and finances are humbly requested.

This year two of ENW’s supporting churches each sponsored one week of the conference at $2,500 each. That covered the cost of food and fuel for the men with some left over. It takes approximately $50 per person, per week. Next year, with the wives joining their husbands, the weekly sponsorship (X’s 2 for both weeks) will be about $2,300 per week. This is considering 40 pastors and 30 wives as some of the pastors are single. What we had left from this year’s conferences will be applied to and lighten the financial load for the 2020 conferences.

The choice to have the wives attend with their husbands is a bit unprecedented in Myanmar as it is uncommon in this culture. The conference is sure to be a huge blessing, especially considering the subjects to be covered.

Any gift will be a much-appreciated investment in these shepherds and their wives and is tax-deductible. Gifts can be sent to: Grace Bible Fellowship, P.O. Box 1015 Somerset, PA 15501. Make any checks out to Equipping Nationals Worldwide and earmark it for 2020 Myanmar conferences.

Thank you for your continued interest in and consistent support of training the next generation of shepherds. Chris and I are grateful for those of you who support us personally and regularly as well. Our goal is to be fully supported by year’s end. Please pray with us to that end.

If you know of a church or individual that shares the same passion for training pastors, please contact them and have them go to our website: www.equippingnationals.org or send me their information and I’ll be happy to make contact.

ENW’s next tour is just around the corner as we will be departing on March 14, 2019 for Bolivia and then on to Uruguay. These tours are back-to-back in South America.

We continue to be your co-laborers for equipping next generation leaders for the churches of Jesus Christ, by His grace and for His glory.

Ivory Coast November/December 2018 Report

2018 ended with a wonderful tour in the Ivory Coast. Our ENW team consisted of Mike Faidley (team leader) along with Nevin and Christina Hersch from ENW’s sending church in PA. This was a special trip for Nevin and Christina in that they took it, in part, to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. That is amazing. They wanted to celebrate their 20 years together by serving this way.

This is the first ENW tour I have not personally led or been on. I certainly missed being with the Mach family and ministering to so many pastors and Seminary students but having men to lead and teach for ENW is part of the II Timothy 2:2 model. To God be the glory!

This report letter will be dedicated to the reporting and reflections of all three who made up the ENW team. Each will encourage you, to be sure. Thank you each one for your continued prayers and financial gifts to the on-going ministry of training next generation shepherds.

Mike Faidley:
What a great privilege it was to lead the team to the Ivory Coast, West Africa this year. My teaching partner was Nevin Hersch and this was his first-time teaching with an ENW team. I am so thankful that he went and shared these opportunities for teaching with me.

This year the Pastor’s Conference had thirty pastors in attendance. We took them through ENW’s Unit 9: Ministering to Youth. Our purpose was not only to encourage and equip these men with God’s truth, but also that they could use these truths in equipping the parents and young people of their respective churches. We dealt with every major relationship struggle and common struggles for teens. It was also our goal to help these pastors with motivation to equip their churches as a place where young people can talk about their struggles and get real Bible answers.

In the Bible Institute, we had twenty students attend the classes we taught on the topic of Homiletics and Hermeneutics. These men ranged from those who were still preparing for ministry to those who are already in ministry yet striving to become better equipped as pastors. It was our intention and desire that these men understand the principles of Bible Interpretation not only for preaching accuracy in sermons, but also for their own personal growth and understanding of the Scriptures.

Both weeks of ministry were filled with lively discussions born out of the question and answer sessions after each section. The time with these men in both the Pastor’s Conference and the Bible Institute was well invested. The men spoke often of the truth of Scripture having a profound affect on their thinking. On certain occasions, these men would tell us of their eagerness to preach these truths in their own congregations.

The Lord is certainly pleased to use the continuing ministry of Bob and Becky Mach in the Ivory Coast. The influence of their ministry has affected not only the people in their own country, but also many people in neighboring countries. Please pray for the Mach family and the ministry there in the Ivory Coast.

Nevin Hersch:
Many realities collide as I reflect on our time with ENW in the Ivory Coast.  It was a great blessing to have my wife, Christina, join me on this trip. We, along with our pastor, Mike Faidley anticipated this journey for many months.  In preparing for the teaching, it was a great blessing, personally, to work through the ENW material. The depth and breadth of the ENW teaching units became increasingly evident and my passion increased to grow together with these men as we explored biblical truth pertaining to both youth ministry, taught in the Pastor’s Training Conference, as well as biblical Homiletics and Hermeneutics which was taught in the Seminary.  Once we were on the ground, connecting with these men through biblical instruction was nothing short of AWESOME. I was very humbled to be with pastors and seminary students so hungry for and committed to biblical truth. My heart was drawn to these men and burdened to pray for them with my family as we returned home.

There were, of course, many new sights and sounds and a few new tastes that caught our attention in the Ivory Coast. The people we met and grew to love, however, were by far the most rewarding part of our trip.  Getting to know the Mach family was a great blessing as well as other missionaries that were there ministering with them. We were delighted that our arrival was in time to attend a wedding of a young Christian couple.  We enjoyed seeing the cultural differences while recognizing the picture of unity and testimony of the Gospel clearly pictured in the ceremony though we were nearly half way around the world.

We are so grateful for the many people who prayed for us on our journey and provided financially to facilitate our transit to and from the Ivory Coast.  

Christina Hersch:
It was a delight to be able to join Nevin on this excursion!  I really didn’t know what exactly to expect since I wouldn’t have an official ENW role.  While being on another continent, amidst a very different culture was exciting, as Nevin has already said, getting to know the Mach’s, and for me specifically Becky Mach, was a great blessing and encouragement.  I thoroughly enjoyed jumping into helping with the day to day tasks while learning of the ongoing blessings and difficulties of this particular mission field. Another highlight of my time there was being able to take a trip to one of the local villages with Kristine, one of the single missionary gals who ministers through medicine.  What a wonderful ministry and opportunity to provide needed service while sharing the Hope of Christ. Nevin and I both agree that while we did leave the Ivory Coast, the Ivory Coast may never leave us.

October 2018 Philippine Tour

It is hard to believe but ENW’s 2018 Philippine tour will be here before you can turn around: October. Last year ENW had the opportunity to take our training to a completely new venue. This year that venue will be on the Island of Cebu.

There is a group of pastors there who are eager to receive training and have asked ENW to come and provide that for them. We are getting prepared to do just that. Included with this letter are a few pictures from last year’s training with some of the nationals teaching the next generation there.

Travel must soon be arranged and therefore finances must be available. So, I am asking you, ENW’s interested, praying, and very supportive partners, to come alongside and help. Would you prayerfully consider what you could do to help offset the expenses for this Philippine tour?

Each of our tours are approximately $2,500. The Philippines seems to be a bit more expensive than others because there are a few more expenses that we incur. ENW continues to help nationals with the cost of food in one venue as well as pay for our own lodging in local motels. If we could raise approximately $3,000 fairly soon, this should cover the Philippine expenses and if there is any left over it goes right into the ENW travel fund for future tours.

Thank you for any help you can offer for this upcoming training. Also, we have asked along the way for churches and/or individuals to consider covering one tour per year. If this is something that you’d
like to think through, I’m happy to discuss any particular details of needs, locations, etc. that your investment may have the greatest impact.

It is a joy and honor to serve these dear men and women by bringing biblical training to them. Thank you for making it possible to do so.

Report from the Ivory Coast

ENW has just returned from her 10th tour in the Ivory Coast. It was a huge blessing. Someone told me Sunday, “You always have a great time.” My response was, “God is always good.” That is so true and it is truly a privilege to serve God and these wonderful pastors by providing training for them.

The format of this trip was a seminary class designed specifically for pastors and/or men who have completed a bachelor’s degree. The class consisted of 25-30 men (the far majority were pastors).

The topic was “Advanced Biblical Counseling”. Brother Bob Mach, our missionary contact there, was sure this would be well attended and he was right. There was lots of interest and good discussion throughout the week.

“Advanced Biblical Counseling” is Unit Ten of ENW’s fifteen units. The unit includes the following subjects:

  • Developing Good Communication
  • Giving Reproof Wisely
  • Receiving Reproof Well
  • Pursuing a Biblical Conscience
  • The Biblical Basis for Looking at Heart Idols
  • Helping Angry People
  • Turning Worry into Peace

ENW will return to the Ivory Coast in December to teach Unit 4, “Foundations for Pastoral Preaching” and Unit 9, “Foundations for Ministering to Youth”. Please pray as preparation is well underway for this wonderful opportunity ahead.

We are raising needed travel expenses for the Philippine tour in October as well as our great opportunity in Myanmar next January/February. $2,500 is needed to offset travel expenses (per trip) and the same amount is needed to meet the need for 50 pastors in Myanmar to be trained for a week. The average monthly salary of these dear pastors is $20. If you can help sponsor one week of training, it would be greatly appreciated.

Chris and I hope each of you have a wonderful summer enjoying the blessings of God and the God of all blessings