Educator Summit 2012 – Lima, Peru
By Rod and Sherry Boyd

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The Educator Summit 2012 in Lima, Peru is now history. The event exceeded all expectations. Thank you to all who prayed for this international conference. The Educator Summits continue to gain influence in the 20 Spanish-speaking Latin America and Caribbean countries. The emphasis was almost exclusively training in the early years. Today, the ministry of the Resource and Advisory Center and the Summits has evolved to offer opportunities for networking, program coordination, ministry training and inspiration for those involved in Christian education ministry. Attendance goal. It’s been difficult to project how many will attend the Summits. We ask God to give us wisdom to set faith-stretching attendance goals for each Summit. Facilities are always a challenge since they require that we sign contracts for rooms, meal packages and services. Our goal was 350 for each of the Summits this year: San Jose, Costa Rica in April and Lima, Peru in September. We were pleasantly surprised to have 401 attend the Costa Rica Summit. We were concerned that we would reach the 350 goal in Lima since we were “moving north”—out of the main “Southern Cone” country corridor of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Pre-registration. Pre-registration for the Peru Summit closed on August 5th. We knew we were in trouble! By August 11th registrations had grown to 371 and to 422 by August 13th with two countries still in process of sending us their registrations. We had to close registration for the first time in the history of conducting the Educator Summits! Three weeks before the Summit was to begin we had eclipsed our seemingly lofty goal of 350 and were now expecting more than 500! Well-planned. This surge in attendance made it necessary to change the setup in the auditorium, rent large canopies for dining in outdoor areas and make some schedule adjustments. We also had to scramble to find some larger workshop rooms. We are grateful for the hard-working and flexible local committee that went the extra mile to prepare for the increase. The local committee did a fabulous job of coordinating all of the details from food service to security, from set-up to janitorial service, from transportation to preparation of materials. Each participant felt welcomed and well cared for! Teaching with Impact. The Summit theme was teaching with impact, with Paul’s admonishment in Romans 12:7 as the key text: “If you are a teacher, teach well” (NLT). This simple text reminded us that teaching is the essential core of ministerial training. National superintendents preached the morning devotionals and evening services. Our international ministry leaders taught the three morning general sessions. And a large group of national Christian education directors, missionaries and recognized experts taught the 30 workshops offered during the Summit. In the end, there were 507 who attended from 17 countries. Peru had the single largest delegation with 237 present, followed by Venezuela with 83, Chile with 41, Argentina with 32 and Bolivia with 29. PROCEPA. The Summit program also included the 15 basic level PROCEPA workshops. PROCEPA is the Bible school teacher training program that requires teachers to take 10 of 15 practical workshops as part of their certification. A total of 178 Summit participants attended a pre-Summit PROCEPA Seminar. The Seminar offered two workshop periods in addition to the five offered during the Summit. A total of 222 Summit participants began their PROCEPA program having taken at least one PROCEPA workshop. And by the end of the Summit 80 teachers had completed their basic level certification. God’s presence. We are grateful to the Lord for his presence and help during the Summit. We believe that God was honored during this important international meeting. It’s difficult to express in words the impact that this event has had on the lives and ministries of the 500 who attended. Please take a few minutes to watch the Summit video that captures some of these special moments. Thank you… We would like to say a special thank you to a group of our own missionaries who worked incredibly hard. Peru missionaries Bill and Lena Shrader coordinated so many details between our office and the local committee. Mexico missionary Dave Godwza was a permanent fixture at the registration/information table. Costa Rica missionary Jon Dahlagher led worship during the devotionals and evening services. Chile missionary Jim Mazurek served as photographer and designed the Summit presentation. And Costa Rica missionary and PROCEPA Director Miguel Morales worked in so many areas, most notably in the coordination of the 15 PROCEPA workshops, attendance and certificates. Thank you so much missionary friends! Latin America Christian Education Board. The intensity of the Summit continued with the subsequent meeting of the Latin America Christian Education Board and Administrative Committee. The committee includes the international ministry leaders and representatives of the Latin American Assemblies of God organizations. The board is comprised of the 15-member administrative committee plus the national superintendents and Christian education directors from the 20 member countries. Rod serves as Coordinator for Latin America Christian Education Services and as president of the board. What’s ahead? We are evaluating how to best manage the growth of the Summits. We added the South American Summit in 2006. We have accepted an invitation by the Assemblies of God of Mexico to conduct an Educator Summit in Mexico August 26-29, 2013. Mexico missionary Dave Godzwa will serve as our missionary contact on the local committee. It may be necessary to add another Summit for the northern countries of South America. Growth in both the Summits and PROCEPA teacher training program gives evidence to the importance placed upon ministerial training in Spanish-speaking Latin America and Caribbean countries. We believe that these countries will have an important part in the next wave of missionary outreach in the world. Reinforcements. We are happy to announce that Miguel Morales has joined the Resource and Advisory Center staff! Miguel and Maria, along with their two daughters Natalie and Nicole, have been serving as AGWM missionaries in Costa Rica. They have accepted our invitation to join us in Panama after returning from itineration in 2014. Please take a few moments and read the article Meet the Morales Family. Name change. The Resource and Advisory Center will be undergoing a name change in the months ahead. We believe that the new name—Latin America Training and Resource Center—and new logo communicate the contributions our ministry is making to ministerial training in the Spanish-speaking Latin America and Caribbean countries.  The "ae" stands for "asesoría educativa" in Spanish--a phrase that means educational assistance.  The "loop" reminds us of our work to interconnect the various ministries that are a part of ministerial training. Keep praying!  Please don't stop praying.  The name change comes in conjunction with continuing work on the new training and resource facility in Panama City. We continue to look at properties near the Panama City airport.  We have found one very promising piece and are negotiating for price.  Thank you for standing with us in prayer!