Dan and Susan Steere - Equipping Leaders International

Archbishop Addae hosted us for lunch as Ray and I taught this past week. Each day, we sat down to a massive plate of Indomie, a Ghanaian delicacy: Start with a big pile of cooked ramen noodles and mix in bits of onion, green pepper, mystery greens, scrambled egg and sardines. Add some hot spices and top it off with several small pieces of fried chicken. There you have it - a meal fit for a king, or at least an Archbishop! Ray and I both enjoyed it greatly.

Sore Throats - Long Hours of Teaching Have an Effect
No , it was not the Indomie that gave us sore throats, it was the teaching. Beginning last Monday, both Ray and I started teaching around 9:00 - he taught Foundations of Christian Education to the MINTS class and I worked through 1 Timothy with the Shiloh students. Both of us taught for 3 hours with one break for "tea" (although we Americans had coffee instead). After our lunch of Indomie, Ray was driven back to the hotel to study for the next day's teaching, and I took up the instruction of the MINTS class doing an Introduction to the Old Testament for much of the afternoon.

The hours of teaching in the heat and humidity took their toll. I ended each day exhausted and with a sore throat, and Ray unexpectedly lost his voice mid-week. We prayed fervently for strength and health and the Lord heard our prayers, enabling us both to finish well.

I was especially blessed to speak at length about the gospel of God's grace to the over 100 pastors and leaders who attend Shiloh. Half of them were here last September when we walked through Romans, so they had heard some of this vital material before, but for the others, this was perhaps their first opportunity to hear Paul's gospel.

"But," you say, "these are church leaders and pastors! Surely they know the gospel!" Not necessarily. In Ghana both the culture and remaining sin conspire to create a "gospel" of works and performance. The culture teaches that you need to offer God something so He will bless you, while remaining sin (which is present in all of us) creates in us a desire for something we can call our own - something we can brag about. As a result, many churches teach that God's blessing, and in many cases even forgiveness of sin, depend upon obedience and good works. Such teaching creates a stressful and discouraging environment where grace is seldom taught and poorly understood.

If we understand Galatians correctly, we understand that God has not only called us to evangelize those who have never heard of Christ, but has also called us to "reach the already reached" by clarifying the gospel and reminding them of its exclusivity. God will not share His glory with another - not even with us!

So, this past week went well and was capped off by the arrival on Saturday of Stan Armes and Dan Gilchrist. At Sunday morning breakfast, the four of us and Sam Oppong sat around with cups of coffee talking about the teaching and application of the gospel in Ghana and the need for trained leaders in the church who lead biblically. It was a great time of fellowship!

Soon after our discussion, Sam, Ray and I hit the road for Sunyani and our next week of teaching. Stan and Dan will remain in Kumasi to teach Pastoral Epistles and Pentateuch.
Thank you again for your faithful prayers as we do this work. Sam Oppong reiterated today that ELI's ministry in Ghana is vital to the health and maturity of the Ghanaian church. We are so thankful that God has given us this ministry!

Please continue to pray for the teaching this coming week.

For Christ's Kingdom,
Dan.

Our mailing address is:
Equipping Leaders International
8905 Hurricane Ridge Rd.
Chattanooga, Tn 37421