Field Report: Worship Ministry Conferences 2015
For our 4th Annual Worship Ministry Conference, we divided up the conference into two separate gatherings because of our continued growth down the Maranon and Chambira rivers. This allowed our worship leaders and pastors to receive more focused attention and teaching, as well as a more convenient travel schedule. We had a wonderful time at both conferences and we were blessed to have the founders of the conference, Nick and Kristen Castiglione, with us again to lead in the teaching!
Throughout both conferences, we were able to teach new worship styles, songs, and how to play instruments. The highlight of the trip was seeing women step up and learn how to lead worship and play the piano. This is very culturally significant, as women have always been put in subordinate roles in the jungle (before our ministry reached their village). To see them respond to our message of the gospel, love, and equality is truly a blessing and mark of significant progress!
In San Juan, we had 12 villages and 37 participants (to our surprise, almost half of the students were Urarinas). Our second conference was held in Santa Rosa, where we had 6 villages of about 25 students. We were also blessed to be able to gift keyboards to the villages of San Gabriel, Nuevo Union, Monte Rico, and San Pedro, through the financial gifts of the Castigliones!