We finished the first round yesterday – five regional conference visited and all of the pastoral leadership participated in a representative act of committing themselves to be alert to softening their hearts to hear the Lord God speaking. They also committed themselves to watching out for and being alert to the “Condition of their Lives, The State of their Hearts”—serving each other as Spiritual Mentors who encourage and exhort each other to “not let their hearts be hardened so they don’t hear the Lord God’s voice. Each person was given the opportunity to take a piece of clay and work it with their hands, as the potter does in Jeremiah 18. At the end of their working the clay, they shared the figure that they had designed and the meaning that it had for them. With the more than 50 different pieces of clay that were designed and then stuck onto the “Heart of the Pacto”, very few figures were repeated. We had hearts, rings, cups, plates, crosses, leaves, eagles, Andean condors, butterflies, formless clay waiting to be re-formed, doves, diamonds, watchtowers, etc.
Along the way in these first encounters with each group of sisters and brothers, we gathered with many who have been on this journey with us for more than 12 years – some started with Gary back in 1993! We also were able to meet with the pastoral leadership in the city of Pasto for the first time (previously we had been together outside of the city.) We now get ready for the second round (which started today) and we look forward to how the Lord God will be leading all of us look out for one another and to look out for those who we want to include in this mentoring experience—especially the youth in the churches and ministries who are looking for ways to be equipped and trained as the current and future leadership. The Equipping Leadership through Theological Training has also gotten off to a rousing start as the students are being trained in the roles of Biblical Tutors in their own churches.
It has been a positive initial phase of our Colombia Covenant Mission ministry and service for 2019 topped off with a good sense of camaraderie and fellowship at the Annual Meeting of the Pacto just two weeks ago.
