COICOM 2011, Asunción Paraguay

Roomates, Luis Fernando Calvo and Glen

Thanks for praying!  My trip in October to Paraguay for the 2011 COICOM convention was a highlight, starting with the adventure of getting there.   A scheduled 30-hour itinerary extended to a 54-hour trek.  My third of five flights (from Mendoza, Argentina to Buenos Aires) was cancelled due to volcanic ash, so I took a 13 hour bus ride, adding a day of travel.   What a trip! 

One miracle was that as I was settling in for the bus ride, one of just a handful of Argentineans that I know sat down beside me!  The "coincidence" was magnified by the fact that several thousand people were in the same boat that I was, with buses leaving every ten minutes for Buenos Aires.  Omar Cabrera is a pastor and leader of a denomination in Buenos Aires.  He gave me his office for a day and had his staff drive me to and from the airport.  Amazing!

A COICOM Plenary Session, (from the second balcony)

4,700 people registered for the convention in Asunción.  An estimated 7,000 came to one of the evening meetings open to the public.  3,200 Paraguayans, many of them pastors, received full or partial scholarships.  One of the most interesting aspects of the event was that over $450,000 USD for those scholarships came from the Paraguayan business community. 

We offered over 200 hours of professional training for communicators, pastors and leaders.  Workshops covered television, radio, new technologies, outreach and leadership.  Five summits were held within the larger event for youth, women, professionals, prison chaplains and prayer movements.  I gave a workshop in the leadership area that was attended by around 80 people on how to setup a new organization.  It was very lively with a lot of questions and about 30 of the attendees asked for copies of the electronic materials I offered.

Hispanic - Indigenous Reconciliation

Plenary session speakers were all well known in Latin America, and some, like Luis Bush, Josh McDowell and Steve Green, in the US as well.  One particularly meaningful ceremony was a time of forgiveness and reconciliation between the Hispanic and the Indigenous communities. My role, aside from the workshop, was to moderate other workshops, make the invited guests welcome, and thank the exhibitors for coming to the trade show--fun stuff!  The board met after the event for evaluation and planning of next year's event in Honduras.

Pastor Omar Cabrera

I saw three distinct models of church growth on the trip.  Omar's "church" in Argentina, Visión de Futuro,  is essentially a denomination, grouping 200+ churches  and 70,000 souls into a tight centrally-run organization.  Centro de Adoración, where we held the event in Asunción,  is a mega-church that has grown in a single location to the point that their sanctuary can now seat 10,000. Ricardo Salazar is the pastor of Vida Abundante,  a church of 1,200 in Costa Rica that has planted 10 churches and maintains only a loose fraternal relationship with them.  All three models seem to be thriving and healthy.

I feel like I am well aware of the rapid growth and maturity in the church in Latin America, but I come away surprised.  The situation has changed so dramatically since Shelly and I went to Ecuador in 1979.  And it continues to change.  Except for a few very isolated areas, the Paraclete model of coming alongside is now the primary role for the Western missionary in Latin America.  Even in coming alongside, the church there needs less and less help.  To make a contribution missionaries will need to bring specialized expertise.

Thanks for your prayer!  I was very aware of the prayer "cover" as I travelled and ministered on this trip.

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