New Job!

After several months of transition a routine is starting to emerge!  On August 1, John started his new position with Food for the Hungry.  John’s new position is Program Director for the Luke 2:52 project and Director of US Church Engagement.  (That is the name we are using now, although the title is subject to change as the position becomes more clarified.)  John will begin his job focusing on organizing and launching the expansion of the Luke 2:52 program. 

The Bible verse, Luke 2:52 talks about the wholistic growth of Jesus.  These four areas (mental, physical, spiritual and social) provide the framework for all development strategies used in the FH fields.    The Luke 2:52 program is a project that seeks to encourage and strengthen local indigenous churches through wholistic ministry principles.  By taking churches through a 10-module training, over the course of 5 years the program seeks to reveal God’s intentions for the local church and its role in overcoming all forms of poverty within its people and the community for which it is located. 

The Luke 2:52 program has existed and been running for over 10 years in several Southeast Asian countries and has produced incredible results.  By empowering local churches through ideas and principles rather than finances and material resources the program is changing the way local Christians think, which is in turn changing the communities they live in.  Over the past ten years 1,000 churches have been trained through this program and several hundred have declared their local communities as having been lifted from severe poverty through this project. 

John’s connection to this program is as follows.  For the past 3 years in Bolivia John has been working to implement this program among local churches around Sucre.  Through training up 3 Bolivian pastors as project leaders, the project has slowly “taken off’ in Sucre.  Though only a few of our churches in Sucre have officially graduated the program, much positive fruit has been observed  As we have witnessed the churches walking in obedience to God we have seen God be faithful in providing for them in numerous ways. 

Around 6 months ago, John started the process of handing over this project to several key pastors and leaders.  This transition has happened in order for John to take his current position, which is overseeing the expansion of this church-strengthening project globally.  As this project looks to expand into other countries and regions John will be in charge of organizing and launching these programs.  John will spend a great deal of time developing new training curriculum and organizing manuals for teachers and students alike. 

Along with the Luke 2:52 project John will also be working with a variety of churches and organizations here in the US to train and implement Missions education.  John will teach and train in various lessons dealing with poverty, worldview, and the role of the local church.

We are very excited about this new role and look forward to sharing more as his position grows!