David and I have some exciting news! Come January we will be making some changes in our mission work. You all know that we are always looking for better ways to further the kingdom, and we are also always evaluating our work to see where we need to make changes/improvements. David has been given the opportunity to work with the Bible Institute of Central America (BICA). There are three schools of preaching - in Guatemala, Honduras, and the newest one opened two years ago here in Nicaragua. We became familiar with the program through the school in Nicaragua - we have four young men from San Marcos who are currently in the program (three will graduate this year), and we have always been impressed. The biggest testimony to the school is it’s students - and we have seen first hand the growth and maturity that our San Marcos guys have developed during their time at BICA.
BICA is organized as a two year school. They have teachers come in for one week at a time to teach on a subject. There are classes for the students wives too.
One week of every month is spent helping a congregation door-knock for their gospel meeting (congregations line up to get on the list!). They evangelize during the week, and as their contacts decide to become Christians, they spend time with them to share beginning Bible studies about their responsibilities as Christians. The gospel meeting help alone has had a great impact on the church in Nicaragua.
Each student is assigned to a congregation for weekend work. In order to be assigned a student, the congregation has to commit to having a member to pair up with them that would like to be taught how to successfully evangelize. At first, the student leads the door-knocking with the member there to learn and train. When the member feels confident, he takes the lead in evangelism. This is done every weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.
BICA offers an optional third year of vocational training. Since BICA does not encourage dependence on US support for their graduates, they prepare their students to work a secular job as well. In addition to training they provide their graduates three months living, tools of the trade and anything else they might need to get started.
Last year, the BICA students started a congregation on the Island of Omotepe. They did the door-knocking and preaching and teaching at the congregation until a full-time preacher could be found. The congregation there is now established and going strong.
There’s a lot more that could be said about this great program, but - What is David going to do? George Hall is the director of BICA, and for quite a while he has been in need of and encouraged by BICA supporters to find an assistant, and David is that man. Anyone who knows mission work knows that job descriptions are usually something like “Do whatever needs to be done whenever it needs to be done - from preaching the gospel to making hospital runs” but I’ll try to explain a bit of what David will be doing. First David has to spend time getting to know the BICA program - their vision, their goals, their methods, their organization. Once he’s familiar, he’ll be able to work with George and each of the schools individual directors to make improvements and identify needs. He will also spend time each year visiting the schools and teaching in the classrooms. David has a great advantage here because he speaks the language and knows the culture (at least Nicaragua’s), so he will be able to hear first hand how the staff and students are doing and teach without a translator. David will also occasionally lead mission teams to the schools to help with door-knocking campaigns and other school activities. Finally, David will be spreading the would about BICA to congregations in the states and help to find the support that they need to accomplish these great works. To sum it up, David will be George Hall’s assistant and do whatever is needed to help BICA be successful. (so he’s either assistant director or assistant to the director =)
I can only speak for Nicaragua, but here we have seen the need for strong, knowledgeable, mature leaders (not that there aren’t any here in Nicaragua, just that there aren’t enough), and that is exactly what the BICA program is working so hard to produce. Unlike a lot of Bible schools, I have been impressed with the fact that BICA doesn’t just teach Bible knowledge. In addition to Bible knowledge, they teach leadership and organizational skills, and they also provide the experience (preaching, teaching, door-knocking) to their students while they are still in school so that upon graduation, the students are ready to go out and work without further training.
We’re really excited about this new direction that our work for the Lord is taking us, and of course we didn’t make this decision without lots of prayer for God’s guidance and blessings. Please keep us and this new change in your prayers. I guess it feels like a HUGE change because we will be moving back to the states (probably the Edmond area, though my mom and sister are both in competition for us to move to their towns). We’re excited to be closer to friends and family, though we’re sad to be leaving the people we have come to see as family here in Nicaragua. I’m a little worried about being able to adjust back into US life (the last time we were in the states my mom sent me to the grocery store for two items and I almost had a breakdown when I couldn’t find anything- why do those stores have to be so big anyway!?!), but we are excited to share our experience more personally with members in the US and hope to be able to encourage everyone to consider often their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.
