The Start of the School

Day ONE is now behind us. Praise God for the 1st class of Downline in the Dominican Republic. As I had previously mentioned, we were hoping for 20 - 25 and as we drew closer to the day of our 1st class, we were told to be anticipating up to 40. Monday's preparation involved locating additional chairs that would be required. 4 plastic chairs from our house were dropped off at the meeting room in the Haitian batey called Congrejo. We made a journey to Rosvelts church in Chichigua to pick up another 13. This gave us 39 total chairs. Could we really have 40 men come to class ? After all, they were required to sign a commitment/covenant form requiring attendance at all sessions over the next 9 mths. What many of you will not realize is the sacrifice in attending includes the cost of transportation on moto taxis to get to each of the meetings and back to their homes. For some men, attending the meeting and paying for transportation each day will require a decision over food the next day. Yes, there is a big cost. Well, just picture a room that most would say 20 -25 would be capacity. Now imagine temps in around the 100 degree mark. Now be amazed with us as we counted at least 51 in attendance. Praise God. This was scheduled as a mens meeting but we had been informed that several women were planning on "crashing the meeting". 4 women did manage to find a way in. We are grateful for the desire of these ladies to hear the word of God. We are also praying that God would touch the hearts of many women to come and help to disciple these ladies. The comment I heard was, "we have no women to teach us". This must be dealt with !!

Herb Hodges is our teacher/trainer for the week. I have read 2 of Herbs books and have been told by others who have heard him speak, that we should have seat belts installed on the chairs for when Herb is teaching. 51 men (me included) were not fully prepared for what was coming ! I am still amazed at the hunger of these Haitian men to be taught Gods word. Sitting on plastic chairs in a 100 degree room, packed wall to wall to wall is not something most of us would be willing to endure. It is not something that I see very often in Canada. Obviously many men were standing (39 chairs - 51 men). One challenge for Herb was the continual collisions with the men standing at the front because of lack of seating and even open floor space. Herb is 77 yrs old. I have had the privilege of spending many hours chatting, questioning and learning from him in the 2 days since we picked him up Saturday night at the Santiago airport. This has been a great blessing. I am certain that I will never be the same. My excitement had been rising in anticipation of the training the men will receive from Herb. Herb was on fire last night. I have never seen a 77 yr old man, sweat soaked and truly enjoying every minute of bringing the word of God, never to take a break, even for a drink of water for the 2 1/2 hr session. Herb truly is passionate about getting the true message of Gods word in the Great Commission to these men. His passion is contagious. It is spreading here. What an awesome way to give your life for others ! This was not about just passing on more information, but about laying the groundwork for "true disciple making". Disciples who will reproduce themselves and on and on. World impacting disciple making !! All of our sessions are being video recorded as our desire is to build a large supply of training materials in the Creole language which can be used by any man who wishes to make disciples.

Please continue to pray for Herb and the men attending. It is truly an honor to be able to serve along side of Herb. Debbie is also enjoying our time with Herb, and Herb and I are thoroughly enjoying Debbie's cooking. We are now preparing for tonights meeting. We will be meeting each night this week from 7-9:30 pm. Wed, Thurs and Friday we will also hold some smaller teaching times at our house with 5 men. These will also be recorded for future use.

I will ask again, please continue to pray. We do not take lightly the importance of these meetings.

Your brother in the battle,
Bill