BBI Board Member Teaches at Baltic Pastoral Institute

By Dr. Gunars Iesalnieks

    PORTLAND, Oregon – It was my joy to be a guest lecturer at the Baltic Pastoral Institute from April 19 - April 22, 2010. Six first-term students and three students of the second and third term were present. Liva Fokrote, Dean of Academic Affairs at BPI, saw to it that copies of the manual were prepared, and took care of class time scheduling.

    Each student received a 129-page manual of the “Foundations for Discovery,” by John and Sonya Decker (translated in Latvian by Gunars). The manual represents some twenty years of authors’ experience as teachers, evangelists, and trainers of missionaries. The authors do not require payment for the translated version, and the students are authorized to copy the manual as needed, as they teach others.

   

The manual provides the Christ follower with practical training to minister effectively in the local church, to neighbors, co-workers, and in the ‘market-place,’ in cooperation with and under direction of the local pastor. The course material is highly interactive and was created with the teacher and pastor in mind. The students have the same manual as the teacher, and the format lends itself to teaching and training of others. As the students teach others, - they substitute their own experience in the practical application examples. This would fulfil the 2 Timothy 2:2 instruction: “And the things, which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

    There was time to pray together and also to pray for personal needs. One student said that he has had a strong headache for the last two hours. I asked the students to gather around the man, lay hands on him and pray for healing. Three students stepped up and joined me and we all prayed and the others stood where they were and prayed. The headache went away within about one minute. That was evidence that being obedient and step out in faith is what counts, and the Lord did the rest.

    Two thirds of class time was devoted to cover the subjects of: discovering what it means to be a Christian, spiritual growth, developing power, discovering the spiritual gifts, the church family, the mission of the church, and the spiritual inventory – all leading to making the disciples in obedience to the Great Commission of Matthew 28: 18-20.

    The subject of developing power (Chapter 3) led to a discussion, which resulted in an understanding that we receive the Holy Spirit at the time of experiencing salvation or birth from above, and the Holy Spirit comes upon a believer when he in faith prays to Lord Jesus for empowerment and filling with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:7-8, and Eph. 5:18). 

    Student assignments outside of the classroom were to prepare the personal testimony, and take the 150-question gift assessment leading to preparation of the profile for service in ministry. One third of the class time was devoted to the Practicum in which each student presented the prepared short concise personal testimony (seven to ten minutes) of a life-changing encounter with God, and used it to turn a conversation from every day topics to spiritual matters and present the listener with the claims of Christ, leading to an invitation to receive salvation. The class practice was valuable to gain confidence in presenting the testimony in a less friendly ‘market place’ encounters.

    The students demonstrated a depth of independent thinking, as they introduced a variety of viewpoints, and we were able to come to an agreement, - and, on some issues, we agreed to disagree on finer points at hand. 

    The students appreciated the fact that the lecturer did not have to speak through an interpreter. The lecturer appreciated the honor and privilege to speak to the future spiritual leaders of Latvian churches. It was pure joy to return to Latvia after three years and speak only Latvian. 

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