Usually, we leave for the Entebbe airport shortly after we finish our teaching on Friday. Friday afternoon, a second cohort of leaders come to the training center. We stuck around because Gar was going to spend early evening Friday and all-day Saturday giving exams to this group of leaders. The cover picture is Gar walking away from the clinic. His totals for the week were… 

114 adult exams 

10 child exams 

71 pairs of adult glasses 

0 pairs for children 

3 eye infections 

4 cataracts-all mild 

There were a lot of grateful people who are reading with greater ease. Gar did a great job of making all who he examined feel valued. It was fun to watch. I’m not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post, but Tim Prince said one of his highlights of the trip was getting to know Gar. We will leave tomorrow after church for our ride across the country.  

Today the two cohorts joined together for teachings that come from Nine Marks Ministry based in the US. A pastor from Texas and Alabama are here to teach this larger group on fulfilling the great commission. One of the upsides of sticking around two more days than normal is to see the other portion of the training regimen happening. We have three countries and, I believe, nine people groups represented in this larger group. We want these leaders to see beyond them and their own people groups. There is no reason why these African leaders can’t continue to take the gospel beyond their groups. This picture is one of our southern brothers (they would be the same southern brother me and Mr. Prince beat in Pickleball!) leading the session. 

So, we help them understand and communicate the Scriptures better. The Nine Marks materials help them in more practical areas of church life. FCC uses a Nine Marks material for our membership class. This material is about practicing leadership in the church so that they don’t merely get a headful of information. Much of what trips pastors up in ministry is not Bible and Theology, but ministry practices. We believe the TLI-Nine Marks one-two punch is helpful. 

 Tomorrow (Sunday) we leave for Entebbe at 11 am and make our way across the country for our 11:59 pm flight to Amsterdam…hope the AC is working!