This past week I traveled with Belinda, my wife and Thomas, our youngest son, to Guatemala. We spent Monday and Tuesday in Panajachel (Pan-a-ha-chel) with Guatemalan Baptist pastors, the executive leadership of the Guatemalan Baptist Convention, and the leadership of the Guatemalan Baptist Seminary to focus on leadership issues and on ways we might collaborate to impact more lives in Guatemala.
The site for the two-day conference was the missionary house at Panajachel off of Lake Atitlán. Amed Bendfeldt, Director of Mission Projects and Community Ministry in Guatemala, was our host. We read about Lake Atitlán on the way there and heard from several that this lake is the most beautiful lake in the world. After spending two days there I am going to have to agree. Wow, what a beautiful place!
I shared sessions on Leading Oneself, Leading Others, and Kingdom Leadership. We look at The Universal Discipleship Pattern (featured on this blog), The Leadership Development Profile, and a presentation about Buckner ministry. The group was very receptive. We explored the idea of doing both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment; of doing the whole agenda of Jesus found in Luke 4, rather than just part of it, and we affirmed evangelistic fervor as well as social ministry. The discussion was lively and dramatic. I came away from the meetings with the impression that these influential pastors and leaders had already been thinking about the whole gospel for the whole world from the whole church. Our time together seemed to be a time of renewal and revival…at least, that is what they shared with me. It was as though the fires of the Holy Spirit were lit in our hearts and souls.
This season of renewal did not come with out some serious theological musings and tough questions from these bright leaders. It was an excellent time of thinking hard about seeking the Kingdom first and positioning the church as the sign and agent of the kingdom rather than an end in itself. The leadership began to dream and consider ways to serve the people in their communities. Others reported how they were already doing community ministries It was an awesome moment.
We talked about Buckner and how we collaborate with churches to serve children at risk, orphans, and families. The future is very bright here in Guatemala. These pastors, denominational, and seminary leaders are on the same page with the Buckner mission. God orchestrated a beautiful moment of synergy and theological movement right next to the most beautiful lake in the world.
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