November 8, 2002
A terrific Pan American Lectureship was conducted in Managua, Nicaragua November 3-6. Jim Frazier, Howard Norton, and Dan Coker put together an excellent program that ignited a holy fire in the hearts of the participants.
On Saturday night, November 2, eighty Christians from the United States landed at the Managua Airport and checked into the Intercontinental Hotel across the street from the convention center—site of the lectureship and of a joint worship service with local Christians.
This joint worship service was scheduled to begin at 9:30 Sunday morning, but by 8 o’clock, busloads of Nicaraguan and Honduran Christians began arriving. Long lines formed at the main entrance as people filed in. By 9:30, all 1, seats in the convention center were filled. The Fire Marshal said, “No more,” and two busloads of people were left stranded on the parking lot. The Nicaraguan church leaders solved the problem by sending 150 children upstairs for a special Bible class. The final count was 2,100—making this one of the largest assemblies of New Testament Christians in the world that day.
The worship service was conducted entirely in Spanish. Nationals led prayers in Spanish—prayers that were punctuated with resounding “Amens” that nearly blew the roof off.
Nationals also led the songs and served the Lord’s Supper. We sang, “Jesus Loves Me,” “We’re Marching to Zion,” and “There’s Power in the Blood”—all in Spanish.
Benny Baker, minister of the church in Minden, Louisiana, preached on the subject, “We Are God’s Fellow Workers.” Dan Coker, missionary from Toluca, Mexico, interpreted. What an unforgettable experience!
The 40th Annual Pan American Lectureship began Sunday evening and continued through Wednesday night. Lectures and mission reports were given in English, but dozens of Spanish-speaking preachers and ministerial students attended—many of them students from Baxter Institute in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Dozens of nationals gathered around the WEI display booth every day examining the new Beginner’s English Course and other WEI materials. By Wednesday night, every WEI book was gone—even the display copies. Two different groups offered to field-test the Beginner’s English Course and promised to start giving feedback within ten days.
For nearly a decade, God has been using WEI to teach people in Latin America. Now, the Lord has used the Pan American Lectureship to introduce WEI to dozens of missionaries and mission-minded people who might not have heard about WEI otherwise.
Let us pray that, during the next decade, God and his people will use WEI to reach millions of people in Central, North, and South America. To God be the glory, honor, and praise both now and forever.
