It was a pleasure to attend this year's COICOM convention in Cali, Colombia. August 5-9 two thousand attendees from more than twenty countries gathered for a time of fellowship, training, challenge and networking. In the 23 years that COICOM has been celebrated, I've been at all but two of the events. Shelly has been to only a few, so it was great to be able to attend together. It's an expensive proposition for both of us to go. The Lord provided the funding through some dear ministry partners just when it was needed!
Professionals from the media form the core of COICOM, but attendees represented the church and missions as well.
The theme of this year's event was Washing the Feet of our Brothers, and we celebrated a time of literal (and symbolic) footwashing in which Colombian pastors from the city and from the rural areas took turns washing each others feet.
The plenary sessions, like the one shown below, are the anchors in the COICOM program. This year COICOM enjoyed music and messages from across Latin America and beyond.
Several unplanned "subplots" emerged, as the Lord led three of the Ernesto Pinto, Joseph Matterra and Alberto Motessi to call for a focus on family for the church, leaders and all believers.
Local dignitaries usually come to give greetings at these gatherings. This year was no exception, most
notably in the person of the Colombian Procurador, Alejandro Ordoñez, an elected official who fills what is considered to be the second highest position in the nation. Charged with leading an autonomous agency to safeguard ethics, justice and governance in Colombia, the Procurador spoke to the COICOM crowd about the sanctity of life, and the importance of traditional marriage for Colombian society.
A theme of reconciliation also emerged. Cali became famous in the 1990s for the unity of the church, which led to profound transformation in the city. You may have seen the story in the "Transformation Videos" of the late 90s. Over the years unity faced many challenges. We believe that it was renewed by many public displays of reconcilliation--the foot washing mentioned above, public confession and forgiveness by well known leaders, and side-by-side presence of Hispanic and indigenous leaders.
An unexpected blessing was when Colombian pastor and journalist Darío Silva called to the platform a former FARC guerilla leader known as "Commander Geronimo," to give the story of how he came to Christ and is now a pastor.
The large plenary sessions of COICOM combine with smaller in-depth training seminars. This year the program offered 125 topics covering everything from starting a radio station, to sexual abuse, from digital film making, to (Shelly's) challenges facing the wife of a Christian leader.
Full Program in Spanish Shelly also addressed a plenary session for all the women of the convention, speaking on the importance of intentional living as we lead our busy lives.
I did a session for a brave few on governance of Christian organizations. It never draws a crowd, but I'm convinced that it's an important topic for the exploding church of Latin America.
Giving a good idea of where the church of Colombia is hurting these days, one of the most well attended seminars of the week was done by Argentine psychologist José Luís Cenali, who has a ministry focusing on sexual wholeness. The room was packed as he addressed issues like homosexuality in the church and sexual abuse. In case you have trouble with the Spanish, the slide in the photo at right reads, "The only safe sex is sex God's way."
After the convention, the COICOM board got away for 36 hours of rest, reflection and planning at a hacienda an hour west of Cali. It was a joy to be together with friends and ministry partners who have been a part of this movement for years. We restored, prayed together, walked around the little town of Lomitas, and wondered together what God is going to do next.
And when all our COICOM friends said goodbye, Shelly and I had the joy of spending a day with our good friends from Ecuador, Remberto and Marta Fortich and their son, Mateo.
They are Colombian, but were living in Ecuador when we served in Quito. Remberto and Marta were part of a Bible study that we helped lead there, and Remberto led the ALAS satellite network during its early days. Now they are back in their home country, living in Cali.
Thanks to all who prayed and donated to make this trip possible!
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