My friend, Tim Meyers, painted a mental picture of missions for me that shapes my thinking to this day. Tim was born in Australia but grew up in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, where his dad flew for Missionary Aviation Fellowship. He has some stories! We met in Dallas during our seminary years, became good friends and had a lot of conversations. During one of those talks, Tim shared with me:
Imagine that a doctor lands in an area filled with scores of sick people. As the plane lands, people surround it crying for help. The doctor is filled with compassion. He is tempted to grab his medical bag and get to work. Who wouldn’t be? Is that the way to help the greatest number of people? He could attend to the sick from dawn to dusk for a few days before he collapsed from exhaustion.
What if instead, filled with compassion, the doctor identifies people in the crowd well enough to walk, trains them to record vital signs, treat fevers and cleanse wounds while he attends to people with life-threatening symptoms. Over just a few days, how many more people could they help? The number would be multiplied!
This word picture aligns with Scripture (for example, Ephesians 4:11-15 and 2 Timothy 2:2) and continues to shape my thinking about missions and church ministry to this day.
Matthew tells us that Jesus traveled throughout northern Israel with his disciples, helping those in need and proclaiming God’s good news to them. He was moved with compassion for people’s physical and spiritual needs. What was His solution?
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38)
The Lord‘s response is, “We need more workers in the harvest! Let’s pray for that.” And His example of training His followers demonstrates that Jesus wants not just warm bodies, but better workers, laborers trained in heart, character and skill.
Here’s the reality today: The church is growing fastest in nations with the fewest opportunities for church leaders to be trained. Global mission leaders tell us that most pastors in poor countries have little to no intentional Bible and ministry training. That aligns with what I have found in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Malawi and Guatemala – “third world” nations where I have had the privilege of spending time with church leaders. These Kingdom workers love Christ and His people. They’re filled with the Spirit and working hard in ministry, usually without pay. They sacrifice deeply and often suffer for the sake of the gospel. But they also struggle and fail unnecessarily because they lack encouragement, Biblical and practical ministry training, and resources.
That’s the reality – and the huge opportunity for people like us. This need to raise up more and better Kingdom workers must rank as one of our highest priorities in missions.
And that’s why I’m excited to get back to Haiti next week. Please pray for our ministry team as we lead three PPI courses in two cities in northern Haiti. We anticipate full courses (112 church leaders in each) and effective times together. Our joy – and priority – is to work behind the scenes to raise up more and better Kingdom workers in Haiti. Thank you for standing with us in prayer and financial support as we do!
For me, this was one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had in church. . . . [T]his church had none of the splendor and majesty of those cathedrals [I have visited], it was just sticks and tin. However, it had people who worshiped God as He should be worshiped—with songs of praise and thanks. God obviously doesn’t care what the church looks like—this one is just sticks and tin, but He does care about the people in them. He desires praise and glory, and He certainly got it today. 
God gave us special gifts this past week in Haiti. Our team of five Americans and five Haitians hosted PPI’s Courses 4 and 1 in northeastern Haiti for around 240 church leaders. Everyone dove into the details of the training, and I was so moved to see the Lord using each of our team members in special ways. The Haitian team led most of Course 1 to enable us Americans to get back home in time for Christmas with our families. 
Besides a windy landing in Fort Lauderdale, we had good flights to Haiti on Friday and Saturday morning. Pastor Isaiah met us at the airport with hugs and smiles, and we took a taxi van to Ouanaminthe. Then we hit the ground running! We met with our Haitian team to catch up and pray – more hugs and smiles – then worked together into the evening to prepare for our courses, knowing we wouldn’t have time on Sunday. The guys loved our new team T-shirts! (Thank you again for giving toward them.) Isaiah, Jerry and I slipped out for an hour to visit Pastor Philogene, our long-time friend and host pastor for our two courses this week.
After lunch we drove to the Apostolic Church of Ouanaminthe to celebrate the very first graduation of the Evangelical Theological College. Pastor Jasmin Joseph, one of PPI’s key team members, established the college three years ago. He is a gifted leader and godly pastor, and we have made it a priority to encourage him and support this important effort. The Evangelical Theological College draw students from all across the North and Northeast Departments of Haiti. Our team enjoyed the ceremony. Jerry and Dawn spoke to the graduates, Brian took pictures and video for Jasmin, and Isaiah and I organized diplomas. I loved the opportunity to help Jasmin “behind the scenes” as he does so often for me. Pastor Jasmin thanked PPI and Jerry for our encouragement and support of the Bible College – a very special moment for us!
For the last three days (Monday-Wednesday), we have been immersed in PPI Course 4 – Make Disciples: How do we do it? Brian tackled registration and attendance with gusto, helped by Jasmin, Hebert and Dawn. Tony, Jerry, Ulrick and Michel organized our materials, and Isaiah and I set up our speaker and mics and led the training. Over 90 church leaders registered for the course, one came all the way from Port au Prince. They were excited and ready to learn and discuss!
Although I led this new course, I asked Tony, Brian and Dawn to speak at strategic points in the training. Tony shared his personal story, what the Lord used to move him from atheism to faith in Christ. He concluded with Isaiah chapter 6. After encountering the Lord, Isaiah responded to God’s questions, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” with “Here am I, Lord. Send me!” God not only forgives us, Tony emphasized, but also calls us to a life of purpose.
Haitian church leaders can’t wait to take “Kou 4.” They’ve heard about it, especially this year, and have asked when we will offer it. The time has come! In Creole, “kou” means “course,” and the word for 4 is “kat.” So “Kou 4” sounds like “coo cot.” Now you know more Creole. 🙂
In Sessions 8-9, we get practical, starting first with our own families. We’ll say, “If we allow God to humble us and grow us in discipling our own family, we can become strong, effective disciple-makers of others!” Then we’ll talk through simple, consistent ways to build up our spouse and children in Christ. In Session 9, we drill down on how to focus ALL ministries of our church on intentionally making disciples. We’ll study the Apostle Paul’s ministry pattern, and talk through what various church ministries add to making disciples (or not). Our final assignment (Assignment 11) leads pastors through an assessment of their personal and church disciple-making strengths and possible growth areas.