Greetings from Liberia | SL 3.2 (November 2021)
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Greetings from Liberia
I’ve been on the ground in Liberia since Tuesday evening. This morning we finished our second full day of teaching and its been pure joy so far. In this month’s newsletter, I’d like just to give you a tour of the context where we’re working and say thank you. Hopefully next month I’ll be able to write a proper newsletter with a full report. For now, here’s a little video I recorded and a slew of photos.
You are Training Pastors to be Faithful to Scripture & Strengthening the Global Church
- It’s day two of teaching Old Testament Exegesis (Proverbs) in Monrovia, Liberia at GraceLife Seminary. I’ll be here through November 11th.
- From Monrovia I fly straight to Colorado where I’m teaching a course on the Pentateuch for a new cohort of students at William Tennent School of Theology from November 15–19.
- After that it’s off to San Antonio where I’ll deliver a paper comparing Proverbs 30 to Isaiah 13–14 at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting on November 21st.
Thank you. Your prayers and support empower everything we do.
A Day Teaching in Liberia
View from the balcony of the guest house where we’re staying. One thing I like about traveling is that the light and air in different places has its own quality. Here’s the thick West African sunset.
A Liberian neighborhood out the guest house window.
My home for ten days.
Dyonah Thomas arrives at GraceLife Seminary. Dyonah is TLI’s national partner in Liberia and the architect behind the school. Its his dream to build a seminary that can offer rigorous theological training for Liberia and all of English-speaking West Africa. Over the last three years he is off to an incredible start. He’s recruited three cohorts of students, partnered with TLI, raised funds, and conducted several major building projects. The school dug a well and built the water tower behind him so that they would have running water for their facilities. In the off season, Dyonah says, all other wells run dry and the entire community comes here for water. If that’s not a metaphor for you, I don’t know what is.
The building is very much still under construction, but it’s in full operation.
Students write down the course schedule for the week.
In the mornings we often have to wait for a critical mass of students to arrive. Travel is always unpredictable and getting here on time is far less simple than in the US. Some have come from as far as Guinea and Sierra Leon.
Tom Hein, a EFCA pastor from Iowa, leans in to hear a student’s question. There are six classes running at the school this week. TLI teachers are teaching four of them (Apologetics, OT Survey II, Systematic Theology II, and OT Exegesis) and local African faculty are teaching the other two (African Church History, and Mixed Methods in Ministry).
Students on break socialize at the entrance to the school.
Some of my students working on an exercise I’ve set for them. They are reading the prologue to Proverbs (1:1–7) and identifying all the characters in the book (the young, the wise, the fool) as well as what the prologue tells us about the character types. This exercise gets them looking at the details of the text and tees up our next discussion about the audience, themes, and purpose of the book of Proverbs.
With five of the students in my class. From left to right, Shadrach, Richard, Morris, Christian, and Clarence. They are putting me on the spot and making fun of the kid they recruited to take the picture—“This is the man now, don’t drop his phone!” It’s impossible not to be completely conspicuous.
LORD, we are trusting that you are working in the world to draw people to yourself. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see wonderful things in your law—may we bring out treasures old as well as new. Fill us with your word and send us out into the world in peace.
Flying over the Sahara Dessert
Pray With Us
- Pray for the students in Liberia who are coming to my course on Proverbs. Pray that this material will connect to their hearts, show them the Wisdom of Christ, and help them to live a richer and truer version of the Christian life. Pray for their health and safety as well as the provisions that will allow them to study. May they bless Liberia and West Africa with the gospel for years to come.
- Pray likewise for the students at William Tennent School of Theology. Pray that they too would be kept safe and that their hearts and minds would be deepened by their training. Help them find the balance and grace they need to study well amidst the vagaries of life.
- Please continue to pray for all my upcoming travel. The first leg came off without a hitch, pray this continues.
- Pray for Meghan and the girls on the home front. So far so good, pray they stay well and cared for.