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unars Iesalnieks was in Latvia during Aug. 19 – Sept. 7, 2004, to present a practical training manual for preparing Christians for effective spiritual ministry in evangelism and discipleship. He translated the book “Doing What Jesus Did,” by John and Sonja Decker, and, together with the Latvian pastors, used it to present the training at the Evangelical Pentecostal churches in Ventspils and Stende, and at the Skriveri Baptist church. Total of 92 participants received the training and the Latvian text, with an authorization to reproduce it mechanically and electronically for use when they in turn train others.
The course material emphasized the role of spiritual discernment in the prophetic word, and demonstrated how Christians can learn to work in the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit to lead others to minister through the spiritual gifts. The following ministry skills were addressed:
• Leading people to Christ
• Leading Christians into the Holy Spirit baptism
• Learning how to heal the sick
• Hearing from God
• Healing the sick by revelation
• Dealing with demons
The discipleship training course material was highly interactive. People applied the newly acquired skills to pray, in groups, for each other during the sessions, as ministry needs for individuals surfaced. The participants were instructed how to prepare a written personal testimony, and practiced presenting it to each other to gain confidence to apply the testimony in a less friendly ‘market place’ encounters. The goal was to multiply the ministry of the participants through “training of trainers” as the participants learned the six reproducible ministry skills.
Gunars and pastor Valdis Kalnins visited the Partners Association Latvia office and presented copies of the translated textbook to Almers Ludviks, Peter Eisans and Maris Dupurs, and provided a disc for electronic copies. Gunars briefly described the course material. Peter Eisans told us about their Bashkortostan ministry trip. As we talked and prayed together, Gunars recalls substance of his prayer as: “My heart and spirit long for the manifestation of the Power of the Holy Spirit, as described in the Book of Acts - without that we are powerless to significantly reach our dear Latvians (as well as Americans). I believe that Jesus Christ is ready to manifest that Power to all hearts that are hungry and cry out for it, regardless of the denominational affiliations.”
We also met with Talis Talbergs of the Latvian Christian Radio, gave him a copy of the text, and had a good time of visiting and prayer. Talis gave us a grand tour of the recording and editing facility.
We left copies of the translation with several church leaders for their comments and evaluation of potential publishing in Latvia.
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