The greatest blessings of the month came during our Re-Forma training. The team was led by Dr. Manfred Kohl (a German visiting from Canada), Dr. Reuben and Mrs. Bev van Rensburg, and Pastor Paul Hemming (all from South Africa).

The goal of Re-Forma is to establish a standard for pastoral training among non-formal ministries. It’s a bit like a driver’s license. It doesn’t matter where you learned to drive, the government simply wants to determine whether or not you know how. Pastors who have not attended seminary can validate their knowledge and abilities through Re-Forma’s standard.

Present for the training were leaders from some of the best formal and non-formal ministries in Costa Rica. And on the last day, led completely by those Costa Ricans, a letter to the Evangelical Alliance of Costa Rica was drafted and signed by all present, advocating for the Re-Forma standard to be the norm in Costa Rica. It was truly a special moment.

Special thanks go to Horizon Church for allowing us to use their amazing facility, to Otto Kladensky and Oscar Fernandez for helping to promote the event, Jessica Pinero for translating, Carlos Herrera for leading worship, and finally to Lynn and Marty Chaffee and Angela Lucas for handling logistics and transportation.