Pastor Paulo asked the Lord how he could keep his church in fellowship during the long covid lockdowns in the Philippines. His village has no electricity, or cell phone signal, and solar powered internet is costly and inconsistent. Zoom church gatherings or FaceBook live was not an option.  As Paulo asked God for direction, he was holding a walkie-talkie radio transmitter in his hand, and the idea came to him… he would conduct church through the walkie-talkie!  
 
For months Pastor Paulo kept his congregation together via walkie talkie. It was not ideal, but it was something. During the pandemic many of the tribal pastors in these remote parts of the Philippines did what they could to hold their flocks together. Unfortunately, a few pastors quit or were forced to close their churches because of the pandemic. 
 
Pastor Paulo knew his God-given responsibility was to his flock and to pastors in other remote villages. He led many of those pastors to the Lord and identified them for leadership. In other words, Paulo is also a pastor of pastors. For months he had been praying for a way to gather in person the leaders under his care from 15 different villages. Because he missed them terribly, he repeatedly made this request to our team in the Philippines. 
 
When he learned that we would be coming and providing the means for these leaders to get to the training, Paulo was overwhelmed with joy and great anticipation.
 
Finally, in late July of 2022, Michelle and I arrived on the back of motorcycles, the only way into Pastor Paulo's village besides horseback, to let him know the training was a go! We visited his village and then took him to the training. 
 
With our Filipino team’s coordination, the training happened! Paulo’s joy was obvious. The times of worship and fellowship were worth every bit of what it took to get there. (Click on the video at the end of this email to see the treacherous journey.)
 
Most of these 50 precious leaders are from a people group that is only 4% Christian. While that is a higher percentage of Christians than most of the unreached people groups that we work with, it is still low overall with 96% of the tribe still needing reached. 
 
Pastors were encouraged to come out of the Pandemic era stronger and more missional than before. They were challenged to spread the gospel and shown how to make disciples. Biblical teaching on marriage was also taught. These leaders are now determined to reach their tribe and other peoples. 
 
Fruit will come from this training for years to come. Pray the next time we get to train them doesn’t take three years.  
 
His Feet International regularly trains and encourages leaders. Most pastors and leaders in unreached nations feel inadequately trained and strongly desire to learn more of God’s Word. Often, it is the number one need that we are requested to provide.