Tuesday evening, April 7, 2015 through Thursday, April 9, 2015 fifty pastors and their church leaders met for the Okinawa Mission Pastors’ Training Event.
Okinawa Mission President and Pastor, Lee Keun Wan coordinated the time of equipping. It is part of the preparation for Okinawa15, a major evangelistic outreach. The NSD Ministerial departmentled out in the presentations.
The topics shared by Dr. Ripley were “The Culture in Your Church,” “Mission and Vision in the Local Church,” “ Moving through Attendance Barriers,”“Pastoral Leadership and Disciples,” and “Relational Evangelism.” Pastor Lynn Ripley’s messageswere “Living as a Disciples,” “Outreach Focused Sabbath Schools,” and “The Missional Church.”
The participants interacted enthusiastically as they practiced sharing their testimony, praying together, and other learning activities. A time for ‘Questions and Answers’ was well received. The questions focused on how to apply what was learned to the ministry in each church. The equipping time included a time of ‘United Prayer’ each Okinawa church and its ministry was prayed for by name.
One pastor shared, “It was so encouraging to have my church leaders so active in their desire to become better at their witnessing skills. I know God will bless our evangelistic efforts so they will be very fruitful. We all want to thank the NSD for helping us in such a practical way.”
By Lynn Ripley, NSD Assistant Ministerial Secretary