GProCongress Video Update 
Click the image below for the latest on-the-ground footage from the GProCongress!
Congress Video Update
GProCon gr ess Begins!
Planes arrived from many nations today, filling Suvarnabhumi Airport with thousands of GProCongre ss pa rtic ipants. As these men and women boarded bus es f or the Impact Convention Ce nter, a palpable excitement lay thicker in the air than even Thailand's muggy tro pical s ummer. Dr. Richard would later tell these pastoral trainers in his opening address that today beg an a historic gathering of "critical people in God's scheme of things," who were "doin g something on a large scale to make a dent in the quickly growing number of new believers needing shepherding pa stors." But even before Dr. Richard's speech began, as these pastoral trainers funneled through registration lines and dinner lines, it was clear that they felt the historic nature of this opportunity. Old friends reunited, new friendships quickly formed, and leaders from countries far and near filled the hall bursting with readiness to tell someone why they were here and about the great need of the many hundreds of thousands of people in their nations they hoped to reach with the Gospel of Christ through the multiplying of trained pastors.
Four Great Realities Drive Us to Action
"Sawasdee!
Hello from Thailand" and "Greetings in the name of the Most High God the Lord Jesus Christ." Thus began the opening ceremony of the Global Proclamation Congress for Pastoral Trainers. Participants filled an expansive hall this evening, raising phones to capture the lifting of thousands of voices of praise to the Lord in a unity of purpose: to accelerate the training of pastors worldwide for the sake of church health and societal health globally. Ramesh reminded us of four great realities that drive us to action: (1) The world population has reached 7.4 billion people, and our efforts to reach them must accelerate along with population growth; (2) Each day, 50,000 new believers are baptized, creating a need for 1,000 more trained pastors to shepherd them well; (3) In the next four years, 5 million new faith communities will be planted, yet at the current rate, up to 70 percent of them will fail in the first year; (4) While at least 2.2 million pastoral leaders are functioning as shepherds, only 5 percent of them are trained for pastoral ministry. The need is great. The energy here to attack the need and launch a new initiative of connected, strengthened pastors is also great. Praise be to God Most High. Pray with us that participants will settle quickly in their accommodations and be refreshed from jetlag so they can approach the coming morning with the same passion and energy.
The Greatest of These Is Love
A great presence of love, humility, courage, and wisdom filled the start of the GProCongress. These are the characteristics of a great Thai leader "who walked with God, and then was not." Though mourning the untimely passing just 47 days ago of friend and fellow GProCongress visionary, Rev. "Enoch" Yuttasak Sirikul, Dr. Richard and several of the Thai organizers sensed his loving presence with them as they dined together before the opening ceremony, celebrating the work that had gone before and the work to come in the next four years, and especially the work of a man who had a vision to see Thailand and the world grow in faith. Rev. Sirikul's wife Laya and son Noel joined them for the meal and were honored on stage during the opening ceremony. In every venue of today, Thai volunteers from Campus Crusade and iServe reflected Rev. Sirikul's smiling hospitality and his love, humility, courage, and wisdom. We thank them greatly for the service they are providing to so many. Please join us in praising God for the way in which He has continued Dr. Sirikul's work through the Rev. Dr. Manoch Jangmook, who quickly took Dr. Sirikul's place to keep the Congress on schedule.