SOUTH AMERICAN LEADERSHIP TRAINING (S.A.L.T)
South American Leadership Training (SALT) Conference 2015 was themed "Growing Deeper in the Presence of God." On July 31, when our team from Hope Ecuador arrived at Lima airport, we were very excited to see David Tejeda from Hope Peru who welcomed us, and that marked the beginning of fellowship and learning time with our brothers and sisters from Peru, Chile, Singapore and other countries.
When we arrived at the hotel, we were received by Pastors Andrew and Ruth and their lovely son Sam. For the first time, we met Pastor Christie from our mother church, Hope Singapore and Pastor Vincent from Hope London Central. They were very kind and friendly. Our team introduced ourselves to them and shared a little Ecuadorian humor with them. Pastors Christie and Vincent are biological brother and sister. They are strong and capable in their own right yet together are very complementary. Pastor Christie is strong in the spirit and Pastor Vincent in the "action". Before lunch, we then caught up with Hope Peru team made up of Pastor Oscar, Laura, Edith (David’s wife), Victorina, new leaders such as Lizbeth, Nela, Maria Esther, Hope Chile team made up of Pastors Shawn and Christine and Monica who joined us much later. We also had the visit of a brother Jonathan from Hope London Central and his girlfriend, Annina who did a wonderful job in translating for the pastors. From Hope Ecuador, we are Claudia, Karina, Dario, Alejo, Lucy, Agus and Carol (the latter two were first time in SALT).
The conference began with a few icebreakers by the Peru and Ecuador teams. The icebreaking was good as quite a few of us were new to each other. After the first praise and worship, which was very well led by the Peru team, Pastor Christie imparted to us that we should learn to pray in the Holy Spirit and listen more to Him. In that way, we can learn to receive from God in faith and experience more the power of the Holy Spirit.
The second day was packed. After breakfast and devotional time in our respective teams, we soaked ourselves in God’s presence with praise and worship led by the Hope Ecuador team. Pastor Vincent taught us many things about leadership and discipleship. He encouraged us to remember the privilege of being a leader in church and to be faithful in little things. We then learned from him about the importance of team synergy, team empowerment and team friendship and tips on how to build every aspect so that we grow deeper with our team. In the afternoon and evening, Pastors Christie and Andrew conducted a workshop on “Rediscovering your Spiritual Gifts” and later there was a forum time with Pastors Christie and Vincent on “Supernatural Leadership and Transforming Discipleship”. It was great learning from them. They ended the evening by praying for the different churches accompanied by Chile’s praise and worship team. In between the sessions, we also had some fun time. Peru and Ecuador team prepared some interesting games where all of us got to dance, run and talk. Through the fun time, we laughed a lot and got to know each other better too.
On the last day, which was a Sunday service for Hope Peru, after Pastor Christie gave a powerful message on “Kingdom Identity”, Pastor Oscar from Hope Peru presented various gifts to appreciate Pastor Christie, Pastor Vincent, Pastor Andrew, and the leaders of our churches in South America. Hope Ecuador also took the time to bless Hope Peru brothers and sisters with some Ecuadorian gifts. Before we parted from the conference, Pastor Andrew shared some take-home action points on how we could grow stronger as South American church.
We had a great time of learning, worshiping and sharing testimonies with our spiritual family in SALT 2015. SALT 2016 is going to be held in Ecuador. It is a real pleasure for us to have this privilege as Hope Ecuador.We look forward to receiving more leaders and disciples in SALT 2016 as we are challenged to multiply ourselves in our respective church.
Written by Claudia Meerkaemper and Karina Espinoza from Hope Ecuador
