Lift Up Your Eyes!
Report on the 2014 Educators Summit in El Salvador
Rod and Sherry Boyd

Almost two years ago the Lord began to speak to us about the theme for the 2014 Educators Summits. The Summits have become defining events for the Assemblies of God ministerial training program for the 20 Spanish-speaking countries in the Latin America – Caribbean region. The Lord directed us to John 4:35, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest” (NASB). The New Living Translation says, “Wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.” It’s time for the Latin America church to wake up and look around! We invited national superintendents and international educational leaders to take part in the “ten-part sermon” – a single message with ten points preached and taught in the general sessions of the Summit. We asked the Lord to help us focus our vision in order to see how the church can develop a variety of ministries that respond to a sea of human need. To recognize the diversity of ministry that exists in the body of Christ to reach out to those needs. And for the Spirit to awaken the Latin American church to look beyond its borders and send missionaries to the nations of the world. God’s call came through loud and clear! The first of the Educators Summit, held from March 10-13 in San Salvador, El Salvador, was the culmination of months of planning and preparation. The final attendance was 480 national church leaders, international educational leaders, Bible school directors and professors, missionaries and pastors from 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Two years ago we had 401 attend the Costa Rica Summit. We conduct two international summits in even years, one in Central America for the northern countries and one in one of the “southern cone” countries of South America. The summits move between countries allowing the host countries higher participation. The summit was held in El Salvador in 2002 with a total attendance of 163, with 66 attending from El Salvador. This year, 237 attended from El Salvador alone! PROCEPA. One of the main factors that contribute to the growth of the summits is the PROCEPA teacher certification program. As a result of church growth and growing vision for ministry and missions, many new “extension” Bible schools have opened in rural and remote areas throughout Latin America. Hundreds of new workers are being trained, producing the new for training new teachers. At the first Educational Leaders Dialogue in 2001, national directors began asking for an international training and certification program for Bible school teachers. After a few years of program development and coordination, PROCEPA began in 2008 at the Guatemala summit. The enthusiasm and growth of this program has been phenomenal. Teachers are required to take 10 workshops for the basic certification, then 6 workshops every two years to maintain their certification. Teachers are able to attend five workshops during the summit. However, because of the popularity of the program, we added a pre-summit seminar that offers two additional workshops. Nearly half of those attending the summit come early for the PROCEPA seminar! Of the nearly 6,000 teachers in our Bible schools, extensions and training centers, we now have 3,672 teachers enrolled in PROCEPA. We added more than 1,000 last year alone! The core group are those who attend the summits. However, most of the growth comes from teachers who attend the national seminars between the summits. Affirmation and inspiration. We work hard during the summit to affirm our call to ministerial training. Our national superintendents preach the three evening messages and three morning devotionals. It means so much to hear these leaders affirm the work of so many teachers. In addition, international Christian publishers sponsor these events with Bibles, books and other door prizes. Many bring an extra suitcase just to take back new tools for their ministry! The most meaningful result is the impact made in the hearts and lives of those who attend. God is faithful to minister to us at the altar, especially after the evening services. One of our missionaries talked to me a few days ago. He’s a good friend who works in one of our international ministries and has taught PROCEPA workshops for us several times. He simply wanted to thank us for inviting him to the summit. He quickly said that it wasn’t because of the opportunity to teach, it was because the Lord had touched him, reminding him of the brokenness of our world. God truly helped us to lift up our eyes to see a world in desperate need. God has given the church gifts to minister to those in need. We must be willing to go… across the street or across the world! We’re grateful that nearly 500 received this message and are responding. And we thank God for the privilege of raising up these Christian leaders in Latin America who are taking their place on every continent in our world! We do want to say thank you to all who prayed for the Educators Summit.  And thank to all who give to make possible events like these.  Please take a few minutes to view the summit video, a photo journey through the event.