Biblical Leadership Training in Sierra Leone
Brian Main, pastor of Cross Point Bible Fellowship in Vienna, OH traveled to Bo, Sierra Leone to help train pastors at the Global Leadership Institute from October 5-15, 2009. Twenty-five pastors from Sierra Leone (16), Liberia (8), and Ivory Coast (1) attended the inaugural GLI.
The GLI was developed by Dr. John Thompson, pastor of All Nations Fellowship of Tulsa, OK, and Rev. Gregory Bangura, founder and president of Rabboni Missions International. Their purpose is to provide biblical and leadership training to pastors to support and encourage church planting not only in the countries from which the participants came, but also throughout Muslim-dominated West and North Africa. The three American pastors will provide instruction for the initial cohort of 25 pastors for two weeks a year for three years. A new cohort of 25 will be started each year with those cohorts being instructed exclusively by the previously trained African participants in the GLI.
“Bible study and reference materials are not easily accessible in Sierra Leone and other similar locations. In fact, as we met with the head of military chaplains for the Sierra Leonean military, we were told that the need for good study Bibles there is ‘very, very serious,’” Main explained. “So we were glad that as we had considered what kind of resources we would like to place into the hands of the GLI participants, our first choice had been the ESV Study Bible.”
Each of the 25 pastors who attended this year’s GLI received a free Tru-Tone ESV Study Bible. “Even though they had yet to realize the wealth of resources that had been combined in this one volume, their eyes lit up as they received their Bible and began to page through them,” Main continued. “We are confident that the ESV Study Bible is the single most helpful resource that we could have taken to these pastors.”
The Trackback Thursday Contest Continues!
We will be giving away a new ESV Study Bible every day through Wednesday 11/11/09. Here’s a reminder on how the contest works.
I would love to give an ESVSB to my sister who is off at University in Waterloo, ON. I know she will be bombarded with many opinions on Christianity and the Bible both from within the Church and from without. I think the ESVSB would be excellent in grounding her in Scripture and providing a reliable guide in a sea of “opinions” on what the bible means. I have a young family and just don’t have the discretionary income to get her an ESVSB right now. Thank you all for your wonderful publishing ministry. - Eric
I heard this is a great Study bible. I hope to win it.
[...] The Global Leadership Institute in Sierra Leone was recently the focus of the Crossway (ESV Study Bible publisher) blog. My good friend, and co-instructor in the institute, Pastor Brian Main of Vienna, OH was able to get 25 ESV study Bibles donated to the pastors who participated in the institute. Here’s a link to the blog article. [...]