Classes are underway at Guyana Christian University! 10 students, supported by individuals and congregations in the U.S. began classes August 31.

This is the second batch of students for the two year school in Lethem, Guyana. Most of the first group of ten are now transitioning into their preaching assignments in the Rupanuni region of Guyana. One is awaiting road conditions to improve after the rainy season so they can move to their new location. Another is working in his congregation as a helper and leader in the community while a third is now working with the school assisting Director Thomas George.

I was pleased to visit with the students for the past two weeks and serve as their instructor.. We covered a wide range of introductory material and taught them how to begin preparing sermons. It was important that we give them rapid, additional grounding as these men will begin preaching right away. Due to a coming change in one of the communities the students will have all preaching and teaching responsibilities there within 6 weeks.

The students are a diverse group. Some came out of the Roman Catholic church, some were from Pentecostal type faiths and one was a Hindu. I am unsure of their exact ages but I would suspect we span from about 20 to 60.

These ten men will study in residence at the Lethem school for two years. About half live in the dorms and the others live in town with their wives and family. Some are separated from their families and that is a great hardship. Nevertheless they are willing to accept the difficulties in order to preach the gospel.

These are young Christians and have a very rapid learning curve ahead. However I am confident that they are up to the challenges. I was pleased to observe that the men were already well grounded in  the basics of the faith. The next two years will deepen their love and knowledge of the word.

The entire group will join the Amerindian Missions team from  the Summerdale church of Christ in October for a campaign into new and fertile regions far in the south of the country. As of this writing we were told that we could not enter the intended village in the south at Kwal-dar. But efforts are underway now to press the village council for a reconsideration of their decision. Failing that there are many more villages which have never had the truth preached in them.

I have posted an almost day-by-day report of the first two weeks for your perusal at the Preacher’s Study Blog. Please take a look and ask any questions or make any comments.

The final full day has arrived. Make no mistake, I am ready to head to Alabama and my wonderful, loving family. But at the same time I am sorry to leave my new friends behind. Their work load is very heavy and the challenges formidable. Nevertheless, with God’s help they will gain souls.

Arrangements are underway for the next campaign in October. Thomas George is headed into the south this weekend to try and make arrangements for workers.

Our studies continued today by dealing first with a wide variety of questions that the students had. Some of these are directly related to our lessons but many have to do with doctrines taught by some of the denominations here. We train the students to search the Scriptures for their answers and we are more than happy to help.

We then looked at a Biblical basis for unity as outlined in Ephesians 4. There simply can be no unity apart from the Bible. When we can all stand together on it then we will have unity.

The afternoon session featured two more students giving their sermons. Kennard Moses and Glenn Browne both did an excellent job

Tonight the church assembles for a mid-week Bible study so we dismissed a few minutes early to allow for preparations.

Tomorrow we meet for about 2 hours in the morning and then it’s off to the Lethem airport for a 10:30 check-in and noon departure. We’ll see but I will be happy if we are off by 2:00.

After a fine evening of sleep I was told that I had to get my bags packed and onto the bus for shipment to Georgetown. It seems the normal bus for Wednesday would not be available. This would have been a significant problem as I would not have add my luggage in Georgetown to bring home with me on Friday. Fortunately our man in Georgetown, Frederick Darrell caught the change and called to let us know. So, I packed quickly and shipped my gear before class. Thanks unto God for helping us avoid that trouble.

Our class studied proper Christian worship. We use the Bible alone as our text and as our guide. We noted that there are several aspects to worship including a public, corporate worship when the church assembles together, a private worship involving only a few and the first day of the week assembly (Sunday) when we do by example things done by the early apostolic-guided church.

Attendance in worship is often not as good as it should be. We discussed ways to bring the people together and to give them a better understanding of the purpose of worship.

The various acts of worship were also detailed with some emphasis on the fellowship inherent in all parts of worship. We began an examination of praying, singing, preaching, communion and giving too.

In the afternoon two students offered their sermons to us. Brothers Persaud and DeFreitas
were the first to present the lessons they had been working on since last week. Both did an outstanding job. Tomorrow two other students will present their work.

A new week begins for our ten students. We have been blessed to have some of the wives attend our classes and a young man named Hoxley Moses who will likely be in our third batch of students next year. Hoxley is a professional beekeeper and has literally traveled the world to observe and study various methods of honey production. He is especially fond of the work of beekeepers in Zambia where the bees are free ranging and produce true organic, sustainable honey. He says Zambian honey is the finest in the world.

Our studies this morning included some quick review and discussion of our previous week along with a follow-up on the date of the establishment of the church. Many hold that the church was established in 33 AD but that cannot be sustained Biblically. An error in the calendars makes 33 AD impossible. However one can Biblically support the conclusion that the church began on the first Pentecost after the  death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Students had asked for some help on preparing a funeral service so we offered some pointers. We next began a discussion of death and what happens after one takes his last breath.

After the lunch break we began a discussion of how to add a section in the sermon for the application and invitation. Every sermon should call on the hearers to do something and this is the section for that purpose.

At first the students were far too broad in their applications. For example, they simply called on the hearers to obey God. We showed them that an effective application is very direct, very pointed and very personal. The rest of the day was given to polishing their work.