Yesterday, we had a productive time at the MINTS office with Solomon, finalizing plans for the upcoming teacher conferences, preparing handouts, and checking out the new MINTS classroom (on the 7th floor with no elevator). God has used Solomon, a humble servant, to build a growing Reformed seminary where there was none. From the start almost two years ago, Solomon dreamed of starting MINTS—Ethiopia Study Centers (seminary hubs) in various cities around Addis Ababa. God has blessed his efforts in four cities with plans for even more! We will be teaching in three of those new centers while here.
Today we spent time with Hareg at Destiny Future Academy (pictures below), which is actually a group of schools Hareg founded and directs with over 900 students. You first met Hareg and her husband Yonatan in my Ethiopia 2023 letter, found HERE., where I shared their efforts to organize parents and school and church leaders to fight for freedom to talk about Christ in their classrooms. Hareg has formed an association of 28 like-minded school directors: The Christian School Fellowship. They have committed to working together to promote true Christian schools in Ethiopia. Tomorrow, two or three representatives from each of these 28 schools are expected to attend our all-day workshop. They will also receive a formal introduction and invitation to the online PS78 Teacher Education Program (PS78-TEP) offered through MINTS—Ethiopia. Please pray for God’s blessings on our time with these teachers and administrators. Pray specifically:
- That God would be lifted high and glorified throughout the day.
- For a clear presentation of a biblical-informed instructional framework (a short overview of our Foundations course—EDU 610)
- For clear communication. Seriously! Although we are all speaking English, we often have difficulty understanding each other.
- That many would be moved to make a commitment to pursue a Master of Christian Education with PS78-TEP/MINTS—Ethiopia.
Upcoming: On Saturday, we will fly to Hawass around 5:30 AM for an all-day conference with a similar program to the one on Friday. We will stay over and worship and fellowship with this group on Sunday and then fly back to Addis Ababa early Monday.
Next week, we will present in Adama and Ambo, two cities where Solomon has established MINTS–Ethiopia Study Centers, and lead a parenting workshop at a local church, with Solomon providing translation into Amharic.
