Wow! I just returned from an amazing week in the Dominican Republic for our 15th Genius of One Conference, led by Pastor Greg Holder and his outstanding team from The Crossing Church in St. Louis!
Who could have imagined ten years ago that Greg’s call to “love pastors in Zimbabwe” would have led to inspiring over 5,581 church leaders to link arms as the body of Christ to love their neighbors?!? I encourage everyone to revisit the G1 Course content because it is so powerful. I learn something new or apply these great teachings in new ways every time. (Course Website)
In addition, the lessons obtained from the in-person G1 conference and the video-based G1 course have materially helped Living Water to develop its own operating principles on how best to pursue the physical, spiritual and social flourishing of all people, with and through the Church. We owe a great deal of appreciation to The Crossing and to our own leaders and extended team—thank you!!!
This past week, it was such a delight to reconnect with our colleagues in the DR and from Haiti. In Santiago we hosted a large conference of over 300 attendees, thanks to the shared efforts of partners such as GO Ministries, Compassion International, World Vision, Water at Work, Pujols Family Foundation, 4 VEH ministry, and others. Our second conference was with 70 pastors and colleagues from Haiti. What joy to be together! We also had an opportunity to visit Iglesia Christiana to hear firsthand the ways pastors are taking the lessons of G1 to heart and immediately putting them into practice in their local churches and communities—what a blessing!
Of special note, in addition to the team from the Crossing (Pastors Greg, Judy, Randall, Dave, Nathan, and Rachel), we want to appreciate and celebrate those colleagues who enabled us to organize, facilitate, and serve so well all those who gathered:
- Marc Antoine, CCM Manager for LAC
- Larousse Ceus, Country Director/Haiti office
- Wesley Charles, RVP LAC
- Rudibel Cordero, S&H Facilitator/DR program
- Smith Desrosiers, CCM Facilitator/HT program
- Alfredo Estevez, Program Manager/DR Program
- Otacilio Fereira, CCM Facilitator/DR program
- Taylor Kroon, Operations Coordinator
- Natalie Mantel, Director Grant Management & Legal Counsel
- Jerome Pierre, CCM Coordinator/HT
- Jonathan Wiles, COO
- Gabriela Zuniga, Project Coordinator/LAC
I am excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this amazing blessing in Harari in October, along with a conference in Malawi with our friends from the Global Lift Collective. Stay tuned… and thanks again!!!
— Mike Mantel