Our Stories
The Catch
“TO BE A LEADER YOU MUST STAND FOR SOMETHING OR YOU WILL FALL FOR ANYTHING”.
~ANTHONY PAGANO~
Like any other requests for training we do not know what kind of individual participants will attend the training. We do have a general understanding that our students are pastors and ministry leaders whose highest education level would be grade six at an average. All the training we offer is for pastors and church leaders of various churches who have different visions.
Pastor Albert receiving his certificate from Lina.
Since 2013, when the vision to offer basic computing skills to equip pastors and ministry leaders became a reality Tek Ministri (LTPNG) has to date delivered the training to about 230 pastors and ministry leaders with 40 different denominations.
The team is currently delivering another training this month (2 – 13 May) with 27 participants as I write this article. In the midst of these trainings I am discovering the vision of each of the leaders that are requesting for the basic computing course.
All the leaders have really caught the long term vision to equip their pastors for the changing face of Papua New Guinea in this technological age. More importantly, these leaders want to see their pastors be in charge of their ministry programs by typing and printing them.
One such pastor and leader is Pastor Albert Magoi; for the Tek Ministri team, the trip to Buka (see story on Lasting Connection) was like a fisherman fishing with a drag net. He sees movement in the water and sees tiny ripples but has no idea of the kind and the size of the actual fish, until the net closes in and the catch is secured.
We had no idea that Pastor Albert was activist in the Bougainvillian crisis as a commander, second to the well-known Francis Ona. However, during the war, the Lord spoke to Pastor Albert through a local prophet to lay down arms and pick up the Bible with a message for Bougainville.
The Lord save the Magois for a purpose.
The Lord confirmed his call upon Albert’s life in numerous occasions by protecting his family during the civil war.
The ultimate test for trust was when the Lord took him past two Army (PNG Defense Force) checkpoints in Buka town and provided a passage out of Bougainville via CASA (PNG Defense Force Plane) to escape to Port Moresby. We praise God for such leaders who have a vision to stand for what they believe in and lead their members to new levels.
Pastor Magoi believes that the only true restoration can come from within (Spiritual) and not from the outside (Physical). While dictating the covenant, he stated that the Basic Computer Training is a God given opportunity, and requested for training in Panguna in 2017.
He stated that his vision to equip all the pastors from different denominations under the “God’s Kingdom Network” is the only answer to bring peace and restoration to the Island of Bougainville.
We discovered our catch (Ps. Albert) as a leader who has a vision not only to restore the troubled island but preach the kingdom message via conferences to different denominations so that individual Christians can find ever lasting life in God and not in churches or denominations.
He added that churches are only agencies of God’s kingdom but we have established churches as kingdoms of God!
Pastor Francis, Chairman of God’s Kingdom Network Partners, Solomon Island, receiving his certificate.
A slide developed by Ps Albert himself during the basic computing course.
We also discovered the ultimate result of basic computing training in line with our vision to prepare God’s people for the works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. (Ephesians 4:12).
Pastor Albert turned the basic computer skills training into a powerful ministry tool by using Microsoft Power Pont Presentation 2010 (PPP) to teach his message of discovering the kingdom within a person.
“IF WE ARE TO ACHIEVE RESULTS NEVER BEFORE ACCOMPLISHED, WE MUST EXPECT TO EMPLOY METHODS NEVER BEFORE ATTEMPTED”.
~FRANCIS BACON~
For us as facilitators, it was a blessing to see the training being used to preach the Good News of the kingdom of God via technology. We saw first hand the confirmation of God’s vision for MAF Technologies (formerly CRMF) to be a technology for the Church in the area of basic computing skills; such skill in the hands of a pastor like Albert is a powerful tool to receive the message by seeing and hearing.
Thank you again for supporting the team to Buka and pray for the Lord’s will for ongoing partnership with different denominations in Bougainville for training and distribution of Bibles and biblical resources in partnership with God’s Kingdom Network.
The Buka trip will always remain a special place in our hearts because we were shown a mass grave and the scars and the feeling of the crisis.
But the good news are the testimonies of God’s vision for Bougainville.
Setting up equipment for the night session, never attempted before in such trainings.
The covenant signed between the Government of AROB and Church leaders, reps of different churches that came for the training.
While on a bigger picture the Lord gave us an opportunity to make an impact in the lives of the pastors who are willing to make a change by utilizing the resources available via technologies.