It has been a busy couple of weeks for me in Latvia. One of our key leaders who does a lot of teaching for BPI was scheduled to teach four sessions at the end of November. Some things came up that caused him to remain in the States during that time so I was called on to teach during those four sessions. I taught two sessions of Understanding World View and two sessions on Understanding Other Faith Belief Systems. I enjoyed teaching and got good feedback from the students.
I also spent two days with perspective students for our next class at BPI. It was great to meet these men and get to know them a little bit. It appears our next class will be a little smaller but I believe that we have some great men coming in. It looks like we have at least three men who have expressed a call to church planting. 
Two of these have already identified places they believe God is calling them. Both of the towns they have talked about are high priority locations in the Baptist Union’s plan for church planting.
On December 1st I led a one day “Transition Retreat” for our current students. These students will complete their first year of BPI on December 18th. They will transition to full time ministry in January. 
I wanted to highlight some of the ministry that they will enter into. One of our students will immediately begin working on a new church plant. He has a vision to see 10,000 people hear the gospel in 5 years! Two other students have been called as pastors to “revitalization” work in churches that have a strong history but have declined significantly in that last few years. One of these students also plans to start a home group next summer in another part of Latvia. He hopes that a new church plant will be launched out of this home group in 2010. Another two students are beginning a ministry called “Another Option”. Their vision is to work in partnership with a local church to reach 14-18 year olds in the neighborhood. Another student plans to work through his position as a youth pastor to develop a region wide youth network aimed at reaching unchurched young people. Another student will be directing the Baptist Union’s Resource Center. This young man plans to work through the next several months to strengthen the existing Latvian churches by making church resources available. These are just some of the things that our students will be doing. An area of prayer is that over the next six weeks or so I need to meet with each of these students. During the December 1st retreat they outlined a transition plan. In essence this is a strategic plan for the next 6-12 months.
I will be working with them to develop these plans and begin to implement them. My desire is that God will make His plan clear to them and they will be encouraged to follow that direction. This first class of BPI will be the beginning of the work toward a church planting movement in Latvia. I hope to walk alongside them, especially during these first few months as they begin ministry.On the home front all is well. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving meal with some colleagues. We are looking toward a good time at Nate’s 4th Birthday Party on Saturday. We have invited five kids that Nate has met to come over and join us. There was an exciting development in Nate’s spiritual life that I will ask Kathy to write a post about in the next few days. I return to Budapest for a follow up with my surgeon on the 18th. I still experience pain everyday which makes it difficult to function at times. We continue to work through what this means and what adjustments we need to make in life and ministry.
Hope all is well with you and that the holiday season has begun with a sense of God’s peace and presence.
Seeking to serve,
Paul
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