Cuba Bible Schools Summit 2010 Cuba is a desperately poor country with a per capita income less than that of Haiti. Average income: $20 or less a

Transcription

1 Cuba Bible Schools Summit 2010 Cuba is a desperately poor country with a per capita income less than that of Haiti. Average income: $20 or less a month most of the pastors I met lived on about $14 a month. Bar of soap costs $ % of months income In Cuba in 1989, it was illegal for people to gather in groups of more than 5. Our Assistant Superintendent told me about being raided by the police when 7 Christians had dinner together. The stories of persecution are brutal prison camps, interrogations, beaten, threatened with death. Our General Secretary told stories. He remembered a deacon shot with a machine gun for his faith. Another leader in his church disappeared. Children were ridiculed at school in front of their peers. persecuted. Believers were not allowed opportunities in school or college. But, in spite of persecution and opposition, all over Cuba, the church began to pray. How can a church grow in that climate? It happened supernaturally not through one preacher or one church, but simultaneously in locations all over the country, miracles began to 1

2 happen. I could tell stories all night. Brother Hunter could tell even more. Let me just tell you a couple of them. First Steps, Cuba 150 in town. After the revolution, there were only 3 people left in the church - Pastor Luis, his wife and one member. There were only three of them, but they kept praying - asking God to send revival to Cuba. Miracles began to happen people being healed. The Little Crippled Girl 10 years old from Vegas 3 km away. Prayed for, didn t get healed. Pastor didn t know why. That night, she was sleeping in bed and woke up screaming. Parents ran in room a man grabbed my leg and pulled it Took her first normal steps. Parents took her to her communist, atheist doctors the next day Government created a committee to investigate wanted pastor to sign a document that it was done by hypnosis Pastor: I won t sign. I d rather die. This girl was healed by Almighty God. Story ran in the communist newspaper - Pastor heals girl by hypnosis. People begin hearing the story. What happened in Vegas, couldn t stay in Vegas. 2

3 In a matter of weeks, preaching to 6,000 people a day. Government tried to shut it down, but couldn t because of the crowds. In area where Revolution started the most politically difficult part of the country: George crazy man, mad man Janelis born as a result of her mother s affair. Mom left her in bushes to die. Neighbors raised her. Found out the story at age 15 only goal in life was to kill her birth mother. George saved and healed Janelis saved and delivered from hate and anger They were married the ex-lunatic and the orphan George started a church Arrested Judge I knew him as a lunatic, I know him as a pastor, I like what he is doing now better. Leave him alone. George has a mule named Victory from town to town Christian mule pays his tithes Has now started 9 churches. There are so many amazing stories. Sick people were healed. People waited in line to go to church. One church we visited told us during the revival they had 12 services a day. Imagine 84 services a week! People had to get 3

4 a ticket to attend service. There was no radio, no advertising, no press reports. People were being drawn by the miraculous. It didn t matter who was preaching, everyone got saved. Anyone who could preach did. If you were saved, you were preaching. One pastor told me he became an evangelist by accident. His pastor said, You are saved. You are preaching today. I asked, What did you preach? He said, I don t know. It didn t matter. As soon as we started reading from the Bible, people would get saved. It was a sovereign move of God the government was powerless to start. It wasn t in one place, it was everywhere. There is so much to be thankful to God for. One of the key moments for the church was a meeting with Castro. God used Castro in a powerful way - although he didn t know it. Churches were growing so fast, it created a problem. There were very few church buildings. The government wouldn t allow new churches to be built. As a result, the existing churches were overrun. Traffic on Sundays was a nightmare. The public transportation system was overwhelmed. The leader of the Assemblies of God in Cuba, Brother Hunter, was called in for a meeting with the government. They told him, We can t have this. There are too many people in the churches. Something has to be done. Their 4

5 demand? That instead of meeting in the few buildings that existed, that the church instead split into smaller groups and meet in houses and neighborhoods all through the city, all over the country. Brother Hunter is a wise man. He said, Let me get this right. You want us to ask people instead of coming to our buildings, to start churches in their homes? If you put it in writing, we ll do it. We got official government permission, signed by Castro to start churches anywhere and everywhere. The Assemblies of God in Cuba had 90 churches in Today, 22 years later, we have over 5,000 churches - one of the greatest revivals in the Communist World. Last week, Danny shared an evangelism report with me. It s from January to October of last year. Look at this: 1,236,700 homes visited 240,529 people made decisions for Jesus 10,195 people said No - I won t listen to you - less than 1%! I ve got to show you a moment from a couple weeks ago. Our church in Santiago De Cuba, the second largest city in the country was dedicating their new building. It used to be illegal to meet together for prayer. Now, the police volunteered to close the street and direct traffic for the opening of the church. More than 1,000 people gathered in the street, waiting for the doors to 5

6 open. You ve seen people in the streets in Egypt this week. This was a different picture. As they waited for the doors of the church to open, the crowd spontaneously began to sing To God Be the Glory. <VIDEO> Now, the government is about to pass another law. Their goal is to stifle the church. Brother Hunter tells us the law will soon be passed that only a trained pastor can lead a church - specifically a pastor trained in an accredited Bible School. You d think the government would learn to quit making rules for the church. The last one helped us grow by 5,000 churches. This one gives birth to Cuba Bible College - a fully accredited Bible College we are starting to train our pastors in Cuba. Once again, what the government means for bad, God is going to use for good! We ve got permission. Last year, I spoke at a meeting to launch Cuba Bible College. The first 400 students have started. Fifty more are ready. We have a small waiting list - waiting for the funds. Another 3,000 pastors are waiting! In a matter of months, Communist Cuba will have one of the largest Bible Colleges in the world! 6

7 Trained church planters fanning across Cuba will plant hundreds of new house churches in the next few years living on less than $20 a month, sharing the gospel in spite of government opposition, laws and threats. They are not weak or timid. I had the joy of preaching in one of the illegal house churches. There were 250 people crammed in a garage with no air conditioning. The service lasted an hour and 45 minutes. I preached almost an hour. And half the crowd stood the entire time there wasn t even enough room to even sit on the floor. After I spoke, they took an offering for me. I don t speak Spanish. I didn t know what they were doing. The offering was just over $14. When the pastor gave it to me, I told him, Pastor, there is no way I can take this money. I won t forget his reply. We may not have much, but the principles work for us as well. When we plant seed, when we give, God blesses us. If you really believe what you preach, you will receive our offering. I took Fire Bibles to give to the Pastor and his leaders. I had to give it to them privately, in another room. The pastor said if the people knew I had Bibles, they would be very sad I didn t have enough for everyone. 7

8 The leaders stood in the room, expectantly waiting. The Pastor told them, This is a treasure. I prayed and waited for six years for my study Bible. You ve only had to pray and wait for six months. You would have thought I handed them a million dollars. I will never forget the woman who couldn t open her Bible because she was crying so hard. I had to open it for her. Almost every house church is led by a lay leader. They have no internet, no library, no Christian bookstore. All they have, if they are lucky, is their Bible. If they wept over a study Bible, can you imagine the difference Bible School will make? It s the impossible dream for our brothers and sisters in Cuba. The first 400 students have already started. Fifty more are ready. We have a small waiting list - waiting for the funds. Another 3,000 pastors are waiting! In a matter of months, Communist Cuba will have one of the largest Bible Colleges in the world! My offering - $85,000 $1,000 / per year / per student But, we ran into a problem. We re not allowed to import the textbooks. We were told they must be printed in Cuba. To make it more difficult, it is illegal to import paper into Cuba. To make it 8

9 even more difficult, you can t buy paper in Cuba. The government won t allow it, because it could be used to print propaganda. Can t import books. Can t import paper. Can t buy paper. Cuba Bible College looked finished before it started. We began to brainstorm ideas. There were some decent ideas that just wouldn t work - some because of cost, others because of technical challenges. Pastor Patrick was sitting in a meeting with me while we talked about it. He had an idea that was no doubt from God. He whispered to me, Why don t we put them on a Kindle? I said it out loud. Everyone wondered if it was possible. Patrick and I went back to the room. We didn t sleep much that night. The president of Global University called someone who ed one of the courses to us. Patrick started working to convert the format to one that would work on the Kindle. We walked into breakfast the next morning, tired, but triumphant. We handed Danny, and Brother Hector a Kindle - with a Global University course loaded. Instantly, they knew the answer had been found. Pastor Patrick and Samantha Lesher worked with the people at Global University to find an effective way to convert all the courses to a Kindle format. They knew they were working on something that could literally change the world. Imagine if we 9

10 were able to put Bible college on something that could be easily carried into and if needed, hidden in communist countries and other places where the church is persecuted. A Kindle is an e-book reader. This stack of books is what we needed to print for each Cuba Bible School student. It would have cost over $2,000 per student to do it - if we could find the paper. Now, the entire curriculum is loaded on a Kindle - for $139. We have already got the first 400 Kindles into Cuba without a problem. The students are excited! Now, only 2600 Kindles to go and the first 3,000 students are provided for. Tyler s books for his first semester cost over $750. We re providing four years of curriculum for $139. Kindle - $139 10