Escale reaches down

Nelson Salviano da Silva's ESCALE work continues to be downwardly mobile - providing training for local leaders at the grassroots through a focus on in situ training. Four recent quotes provide glimpses of that trend:

"In Ecoporanga we had grassroots leaders coming from the neighbouring towns. A church was planted by one of the local students with the help of leaders from Governador Valadares."

"The in situ training course in Vespasiano-MG (on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte) started in a very humble way. A very small church in an extremely needy area opened its doors for us to train some grassroots leaders. It has been fantastic to see their eyes flashing as they study the Bible and learn new things."

"To travel to Miranda-MT (1,300 km west) and to Oricuri-PE (1,900 km northeast) is exhausting even by plane. We have to fly to a major town and then take a precarious bus ride to our destination. The programme in both towns happens only twice a year for 10 days each. It is amazing to teach native Indian Christian leaders in Miranda and it is also a great challenge to communicate well with them. In Oricuri the weather it is extremely hot - 40 degrees centigrade - but it is a refreshing experience to be with grassroots leaders who have no or few opportunities to relate to trained pastors. They live in regions where most so called trained leaders do not go even for a quick visit. It is a dry land and very poor region. In both towns we started with around 20 students each."

Nelson, front left, with Escale participants in Governador Valadares

"We had our annual grassroots Leaders Conference in Governador Valadares, in September. There were around 40 pastors and leaders from different locations from a range of 400 kilometres. We had 3 sessions of testimonies, preaching and teaching. But the climax was the fellowship with all those ministers who are doing great work for the Kingdom of God. All of them said that they were encouraged to continue their ministry and were looking forward to the next Pastors and Leaders Conference which will most probably be in July 2009."