Pastor’s Conference Potino, Haiti July 7-11
Teachers: Jim Kelly, Philip Rudolph, and Dr. Philip Sutherland
This was AFH’s ninth Pastor’s Conference in Haiti! What a joy it was for the teachers to return and note the growing maturity and continuing love of the truth in the men who have been attending. These men are familiar faces now, friends, and dear brothers in Christ who love and worship the same God, and who have also been changed by His amazing grace. It is the hunger for God’s Word produced by this grace that causes these men to take time away from their regular duties to listen, take notes, ask questions, and learn more about our wonderful God and how they can better teach and communicate the Scriptures to their congregations and schools. There were about 74 men in attendance this year. Some of the men who attended walked 3 ½ hours one way each of the 5 days of the conference. Imagine leaving before dawn, walking over mountains to spend a day learning, then walking 3 ½ home to catch up on regular work and prepare for the next day. God bless their dedication!
The theme of this Pastor’s Conference could be summed up in the phrase, “Preach the Word!”. Pastor Philip Rudolph opened the conference with a message to the pastors on their mandate to “Preach the Word” from 2 Timothy 4:2. Pastor Jim Kelly taught an entire series on the subject of preaching. Many of the pastors and teachers in attendance have never learned the basics of how to prepare a sermon and effectively communicate. Jim was able to share with the men the importance of being faithful to the context and meaning of a passage, how to prepare an outline, how to use logic to make meaning flow, and the principles of delivering a message with authority and passion. He lifted up a high standard for these brothers, not only in words, but with the example by which he himself spoke. He also emphasized continued communion with God – that it is His Spirit which guides us in all truth.
Pastor Philip Rudolph taught on the origin of Scripture – he spoke on the history of God’s Word, how ancient manuscripts were preserved and translated, and how for centuries Bibles were hand copied word for word until the printing press was invented, etc. The consistency of these thousands of manuscripts is one way to demonstrate the veracity of Scripture. He was able to show them photos of the ancient manuscripts, and gave details on how and when they were found. He also covered the days of the Reformation and the tremendous impact it had on our history because of the emphasis on Scriptural knowledge and study. All this information was absolutely fascinating to these Haitian men! I don’t think we realize what we take for granted here in the States and the blessing of our education and common knowledge. When we consider the differences though, it is easy to understand the amazement and enthusiasm with which they learned.
Dr. Philip Sutherland’s series was on the Characteristics of God. He gave solid Scriptural teaching on God’s holiness, justice, sovereignty, omnipotence, etc. God’s character is not limited to what our own minds conjure Him to be, neither is it our intellect or ideas that define His goodness, love, or justice; He is the God of the Bible, He is GOD! He is set apart from His creation, self-defining and self-determining. There is neither time nor space to cover all Dr. Philip spoke on, but learning about and understanding God’s attributes as revealed in Scripture is life changing, and these foundational truths will go with these men the rest of their lives.
Pictures from the conference below!
