The opportunity to travel and train these days has been more complex due to covid. A surge in cases several weeks ago brought more restrictions in Uganda. We requested and were granted permission to meet with the church leaders we have been training in Northern Uganda the first week of September. Our study in this course was understanding and preparing to preach the poetic literature of the Bible focusing on the Psalms. We also looked at the wisdom literature of the Proverbs. 

Our practice has been to meet with the Ugandan Lead Trainers on Saturday before the rest of the trainees arrive. We meet to work through the lessons these LTs will be teaching, to make sure they are comfortable with the material and confident of the teaching objectives.These are growing leaders who desire to serve their brothers to advance the cause of Christ in Uganda. 

We have our trainees work in three learning groups. Each learning group is made up of two clusters (smaller groups that meet between our training sessions). During this training we decided to challenge each cluster to work together to write a poem based on expressions in the Psalms. And, if they wanted, to put their lyrics in a song. We had a worship time together on Thursday evening of our training week and during that worship time we were blessed to hear four original, Ugandan written, worship songs! It was such a powerful time and made the encouragement of Psalm 96:1 to sing a new song to the Lord very understandable. There is something wonderful about singing a personal expression of worship to the Lord!

The week of study became a week of delighting in the beauty and power of our great God! On the final day of training the men celebrated a greater confidence to study, understand, and preach the Psalms and Proverbs!

This was course five in our nine course curriculum. I have had the huge honor of working with the same learning group in each of our first five courses! These men are so willing to open their hearts, study as humble men at the feet of God, and are growing into incredible servants of the living God. 

We are attempting to tighten the timeline between our training sessions in order to graduate this cohort in May 2022. That means our team will be traveling to Uganda again two weeks from tomorrow (Oct 26). I have clothes that I only wear when I’m in Uganda, so I decided to leave them there on our most recent trip. I know what you’re thinking, I didn’t leave them all. I wore a complete set all the way home. 

Later this week we will be doing a first ever video training with the Lead Trainers to help them prepare to teach three lessons each, as we study Understanding and Communicating Letters (Ephesians). I’m excited that this video training will allow us to utilize other TLI International Trainers as Josh Montague and Mike Rudolph will lead those sessions.

Would you please pray with me for these Lead Trainers, the TLI staff who will help them prepare, our national partner at Four Corners Ministries, and the team that will be going to facilitate the training (Nov 1-5), Lord willing, Larry Szyman will be returning, as will I, but this will be the first trip for Peter Burgesson. Pray for the trainees. It is always difficult for these men to leave their families for the extended time of training. These days have become even more challenging, but they have demonstrated such devotion to Christ in their faithfulness.

I thank each of you who pray and financially support the work I’m privileged to share in.

Keep lookin’ up,

Mike Evans 

mike.evans@trainingleadersinternational.org

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10