Next Week's Seminary Session

Academic Dean David will be teaching the full week next week as 40-60 students gather from across Venezuela for this next session of the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela. We are continually humbled at how dedicated these students are in getting to the campus in La Piedad (a suburb of Barquisimeto) and spending the week in serious study, learning and growing in their relationship with Jesus. Some travel over 20 hours by bus. Most are bi-vocational and give up a week's earnings to attend class. Many come as couples, securing childcare while they are away.

These students serve in a variety of types of ministries including pastors, Christian educators, youth ministers, lay leaders, church planters, social justice ministries, medical ministries and many more. Some of them have terminal degrees such as engineers, educators and medical doctors. Some do not have a high school diploma. Yet all work together in the exciting process of learning new and Biblically sound ways of doing effective ministry and thinking theologically. They also learn the very best of the Wesleyan Theological tradition, the theology of the largest Christian movement in the world.

Wives and husbands separate for the week as the women are housed in one dormitory while the men are housed in another. We simply do not have married accommodations at this time. However, the accommodations are so much better than where they stayed at previously rented facilities. They are comfortable, large, and perhaps most important, clean. New beds and mattresses, freshly laundered linens, clean bathrooms and fresh flowers welcome them to seminary.

The classroom where they will spend 32 hours together next week is a very spacious, beautiful room. It has air conditioning, comfortable chairs, large work tables, clean restrooms and great second story views! It is an ideal room for teaching and learning.

The students will be served three meals a day as well as given refreshments at mid morning and mid afternoon. Ana is the chef and provides some of the most wonderful food to be found in Venezuela. She does this as a volunteer since she is retired. It is a labor of love and such an improvement over the food at our previous location. Her husband has been a student in the seminary for the last several years even though he is a lay person and a retired educator. By the way, pray for Senor Luis as he has developed some very serious heart problems for which there is no medical cure.

Every morning and afternoon session begins with worship. It may be a full service or just a devotional. It always includes singing and corporate prayer. These worship times are some of the most meaningful spiritual experiences of this author's life. Corporate dynamic worship that touches the very soul and which connects the worshipper with the imminent presence of the living Christ is rare in many churches in the US, but not in Seminary classes at the Wesleyan Seminary of Venezuela.

After the week is over, the students will return to their places of service and increase their effectiveness in reaching the lost of Venezuela. They will preach the word, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, love the unloved, embrace the lost and bring people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, making disciples of Jesus all across Venezuela.

You can help! Be a part of this great ministry. Send your gift to Venezuela Now, Inc. at the address in the sidebar. Call me, Warren, at 770 889 6423 to discuss ways you or your church can become more involved in this life-changing ministry. God is at work in Venezuela, especially through the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela! Praise His Name!