Bill Van Tol
CRCNA Team Leader
Mexico
Rev. Armando Ponce, pastor of Arco de Salviación Presbyterian Church in Tijuana, Mexico, was recently exhorting his church members to participate in the construction of new classrooms for the church. "Let's make a Plan Firme," he said, which is Spanish for an action plan using SMART objectives. Soon the group had the who, how, when, where, and what of their construction objective written out. They were ready to go. Pastor Armando now uses SMART planning for every activity and event in his church. He learned SMART planning from the Timothy Institute of Calvin Seminary and has applied it to the stewardship, preaching, teaching, and pastoral care goals of his rapidly growing church, which is now packed out and needs a bigger building.
We think the field test of Project Africa material among leaders of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Mexico is successful -- successful enough to lead its recent synod to decide that they want one more meeting with the Calvin leaders of Project Africa (Timothy Institute) to make sure the project is sustainable on Mexican soil. And we are beginning to plan expansion of the project to churches and leaders beyond the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
