At the October 22-26, 2007, pastoral enrichment conference in the Central African Republic, it was standing-room only as eager participants squeezed themselves four abreast onto benches meant for two. Packed shoulder to shoulder for eight hours a day, nearly 300 men withstood classroom temperatures approaching 100 degrees. But there were no complaints.
On the contrary, faces of conferees radiated sheer joy. This is the Central African Republic, the oldest of all of Baptist Mid-Missions’ fields and inarguably one of the poorest nations in the world. Continuing education for pastors is difficult to attain. To insure they did not miss this training, some of the pastors walked three weeks on paths through the bush to avoid bandits and rebels on the main routes. Still, a few pastors were taken captive for two days and released without clothing, books, or Bibles. They relied upon the generosity of Christians along the way for replacement of things stolen so they could continue their trek to Sibut, the site of the conference.
Sibut is home to the Sibut Bible Institute, a 70-year-old school founded by some of BMM’s earliest missionaries. The Bible institute’s current director, Dr. René Malipou, maintains close ties to BMM, and it was Dr. Malipou who cast the vision for this pastoral enrichment conference. Dr. Gary Anderson (BMM President) and missionary Steve Gault (BMM Africa Coordinator) were invited as conference speakers by the Community of Independent Baptist Churches, an association of 450 churches that have grown out of the BMM missionary effort. Pastor Ngao Roger, president of the church association, served capably as host and conference moderator.
A defining moment for the conference came when Dr. Anderson presented Dr. Malipou with his doctoral diploma, earned earlier this year from Baptist Bible Seminary of Pennsylvania. (His diploma had not been available during the May graduation ceremony Dr. Malipou attended.) Dr. Anderson proudly announced that Dr. Malipou has achieved an education level exceeding that of every BMM missionary on the African continent. Immediately, the pastors exploded into several minutes of applause.
That moment spoke of the bright future of the African church, where highly capable and godly nationals are leading missions-generated works and sponsoring specialized ministries, such as the conference. In summing up the entire experience, Dr. Anderson stated with a smile, “Missions works.”
[Pictured above, left to right: Ngao Roger, Gary Anderson, René Malipou]