2023 Senior Pastors and Wives Conference

Several times over the past 10 years, I have attended and even taught at a couple of the Calvary Chapel Pastors Conferences in Northern Uganda. These conferences were originally open to evangelical pastors in Uganda. Each year, the pastors were taught line by line, verse by verse, through a specific book in the Bible. The pastor-teachers demonstrated this method as an example of how Calvary Chapel churches generally teach through the Word, and the attendees were encouraged to develop those skills in an effort to teach the entire counsel of God to their home churches.

In early May, my wife Kathy and I attended the 2023 Calvary Chapel East Africa Senior Pastors and Wives Conference in Jinja, Uganda. Several years ago the annual Conference changed from being open to all mainstream evangelical churches to focus on Calvary Chapels because the number of Calvary Chapels had grown significantly over the years. In addition, for the past seven years, the conference welcomes, even encourages, wives to attend in order to equip them to minister to the church and to help grow their marriages closer and stronger.

It has been about eight years since my last Ugandan Calvary Chapel Pastors Conference, and, I was amazed at the growth in the Pastors and their wives. The questions that were asked during the Q&A sessions were that of mature teachers and spiritual leaders. During each session, as Pastor David Guzik and Pastor David Grisanti taught, the pastors were taking many notes, something not so familiar during the early years of these conferences. Kathy Bailey, who taught two sessions to the wives, also noted their interest and thoughtful questions. I was so blessed and thankful to have been at the conference this year to see the growth of the Calvary Chapels both in number and especially in maturity.

Thank you Lord for the faithfulness of Pastors Gary Kusunoki, Dr. Juventine Emuku, Charles Jjagwe, and Anchored International Relief for their heart and support to keep this conference a priority.

Steve Bailey