A few years ago I experienced one of the most difficult yet rewarding weeks of ministry in my 39 years as a pastor. I trained 75 pastor-leaders in Cuba and I will never forget it. The group I trained is pictured below.

I spoke 22 times in 5 days, 19 of those times crammed into three days. A local church in Holguin, a city in SW Cuba hosted the conference. The room was not air conditioned and the temperature averaged well into the 90’s. Fortunately I had an excellent translator, a young lady deeply committed to Jesus.

During the nearly 20 hours I taught (with sweat dripping off my face onto my iPad), I focused on four aspects of leadership: self leadership, family leadership, team leadership, and church leadership.

Through this experience, I learned these lessons from these amazing leaders.

Revival does not depend on resources.

The Cuban church is experiencing revival. This week of training targeted pastors who serve in a Baptist denomination. This group had 200 churches in the 1990’s and now they have 600 churches, over 1100 missions, and over 3,000 prayer cells.

They are exploding in growth, yet the average pastor makes less than $40 per month. Even with very tight resources, they are experiencing revival. Their lack of resources does not dampen their vision to reach people, an important reminder for every pastor who deals with limited resources.

Passion precedes progress.

The two pastors I most closely worked with exuded passion and vision. They constantly shared their plans for new ministries, new missions, and new ways to reach people. In fact, they envision 1,000 churches by 2020 and ultimately plan to have 100,000 churches, one church for every 1,000 persons.

This kind of vision and progress does not happen without passion for Christ. As I experienced their passion, God challenged my heart toward greater passion.

Teachableness overcomes difficulty.

These leaders listened intently, took copious notes, and asked many questions, even in searing heat and humidity. Why did they pay such close attention to me? They were spiritually hungry and teachable. They wanted to learn and absorb what I shared.

Even as they sweated and endured hard pews for hours, the majority of them soaked up what I had to say. Their teachable hearts overcame a difficult learning environment, unlike some in North American churches who tune out if you go 10 minutes longer in a service.

As I continue to process my experience, I hope that God will use me as a catalyst for revival, stir my passion for Him and lost people, and create in me a more teachable heart. Sometimes it takes getting away to a different environment for God to teach us such lessons.

If you’ve served in other cultures, what have you learned?

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