Hispanic Christian Ministry Update February 2012
H I S P A N I C C H R I S T I A N M I N I S T R Y
A Ministry of Covenant Reformed Church of Toronto in Partnership with
Faith United Reformed Church of West Olive, Michigan
MINTS-CA Convention Report Newsletter – January 16-20, 2012
Dear Supporters of Hispanic Christian Ministry:
In every ministry there are landmark events that mark significant development. By the grace of God, the ministry of MINTS in Central America (MINTS-CA) just went through one of those milestone events on January 16-20 at a retreat centre in Nicaragua. After a year of planning, and with the generous gift of a church underwriting the costs, the event took place, going beyond the expectations projected for the occasion. God has been at work throughout this event.
There were 30 national delegates at the conference, representing each of the seven countries in Central America with the exception of Guatemala, whose delegates had travel problems and had to return. It was a great opportunity for leaders of MINTS Centres in Central America to meet face-to-face. What was encouraging for me was that I led only one of the presentations, a 2-hour seminar on administration training. It was a blessing to see national leaders lead the conferences and seminars. I coordinated the event but I had the support of a planning team made up 4 national leaders. During the convention the national leaders amazed me with their gifts of leadership. Some of the leaders know far more than I do about the use of technology in leadership training. I learned a lot from them!
The first day was spent listening to the invited conference speaker, a national Colombian MINTS professor, who did an 8-hour conference on the subject of Spiritual Warfare, and has written a book (a MINTS course) on the subject. He was well received. It motivated MINTS-CA leaders to reflect on the fact that if he (a national) can do it, so can we (also nationals). The second day was spent with each centre sharing the history, experience, goals, accomplishments and challenges of developing MINTS Centres. For example, MINTS-El Salvador introduced their web page (http://simesvirtual.jimdo.
1) Administration – Developing a MINTS Centres, communication, student data administration, etc.
2) Video-conferencing – A methodology which could complement the “on-site” course conferences
3) Using E-Sword (a free Bible Study software program integrating Scripture with solid commentaries)
4) How to Write a MINTS Course – Training for Master’s thesis of writing a course and the DMin program.
5) Presentation of Project 66 (MINTS-CA students to write one MINTS course for each book of the Bible). The delegates went home with a packet of five books written by MINTS-CA students and professors!
6) Integrating ThirdMill curriculum with MINTS – (a Reformed Theological Education video-based program)
7) Introduction of the MINTS-CA Web Page and how to use it (http://www.mintsca.co.cc/)
8) Establishing a vision for the future of MINTS in Central America
In addition to national participation in the meal devotions, in the evenings we had singing and a message. We went from 7:30 am to 10 pm with two hour lunch and supper breaks. At the concluding session (A vision for MINTS-CA) they chose a logo for MINTS-CA (above) and formed a board of directors with a representative from each country. This will mean a bit of a different way of working in MINTS-CA, but it will be a great way to train some of the more prominent leaders to take on growing leadership roles amongst their peers.
To God be the Glory!
Rev. Eric Pennings, Missionary, Covenant Reformed Church of Toronto
Miami International Seminary (MINTS) Central America Regional Coordinator
Canadian Donations: Hispanic Christian Ministry, c/o Covenant Reformed Church, 265 Albion Road, Toronto, Ontario M9W 3P1
US Donations: Hispanic Christian Ministry, c/o Faith United Reformed Church, 8270 120th Ave., West Olive, Michigan 49460
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