REFLECTIONS OF THE 55 DAYS IN PERU

I have had many thoughts in the past 36 hours of my experiences in Peru for this trip which began July 28 and ends tomorrow, September 22. Please indulge me as I share them with you.

The first and probably the most important is the fact that I have had the privilege of ministering to (at the best calculation, yet conservatively) 400 Pastors plus many leaders; speaking in 15 churches; a minimum of 30 hours of direct counseling or sharing appointments with pastors; plus untold hours of just “being with” pastors, their spouses and families to encourage them and 49 different sermons or teaching sessions.

I did a quick calculations to see if I could determine the potential impact from the speaking sessions, seminars and graduations. If each Church had an average of 40 – one Church had 400 in attendance, one 200, another 125, and one 90 – so in reality 40 is low, but to avoid blowing up the numbers permit me to use the average of 40. When I multiply an average of 40 times 400 pastors I easily reach a number of 16,000 potential believers who could be impacted by what I shared. That is an awesome responsibility. Then when I recognize the potential of that impact from only 50% of that number on others, we end up approximately 24,000 people who could have an impact from my time here in Peru. If we went with any figure larger than 40, it tends to become staggering.

I am humbled by the potential God placed before me. And I want those of you who contribute to missions to recognize the impact you are having on the nation of Peru!

One of the burdens challenges God has placed on me is to challenge the Peruvian people to cross denominational lines in their cities and unite to send missionaries to pueblos and into the jungle to reach those who are unreached.

While in Piura (pronounced Pure-a) I meet withe ministerial association. Because of the influence of one US missionary, they are uniting to support missionaries across denominational lines. For example: If an individual from the Nazarene church is called to be a missionary, then all the churches, regardless of their affiliation are going to contribute to support him as he reaches out to a specific area. When another person arises and is qualified, then they will once again do the same thing. You know, it almost sounds like it is “Christian” and not marred by the barriers of doctrinal differences, of methodology, or tradition. WOW! It is possible that God may just bless that city and bring a revival.

I have shared and preached that message every time I have had an open door either to congregations, pastors in groups or on a one to one basis.

I cannot even begin to think how many Peruvians, trained and sent out could be supported sufficiently on the monthly cost of one North American Missionary’s monthly support. Now, I know we need some missionaries, but the best way to reach a county is to stand beside and train the nationals to do the work.

I am reminded of the economic downturn in the US, the potential of political uprisings in the countries of this world that have the potential of closing the doors to US citizens to spread the gospel. What we do, we must do now and sufficiently to prepare for the future. There are presently many open doors and we do not know how long the will remain open.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many people have reported being healed in the services. I mentioned in one blog about how I questioned the raising of hands indicating they knew they were healed and ask them to put their hands down and then stated the request again, only to have more hands raised the second time than the first.

Just yesterday, Pastor Jorge Watanabe, the superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church here in Peru, told me he has had several share with him that they were healed in the service. The look on the face of one lady in San Francisco and the method of demonstrating her healing was almost embarrassing as she testified to power of God who removed the pain from and around her breasts. There are so many more and I deliberately did not count or try to keep any count. I just wanted the people to recognize they serve a Healing God and He can heal without anyone even laying hands on them, if they just exercise their faith. He does and HE DID!

I am so full, so burdened and even though I have to return now to the US, I almost wish I could stay and respond to the new requests to come and minister to the church and to their cities.

God bless you for your prayers and your support,

Dr D