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One of ACCTS ministry methods is helping local military Christian Fellowships (MCFs) organize regional conferences, often in collaboration with other military ministries. This God Story is from a conference in Central America last summer.
Military Christians from eight nations attended an August conference for Central American military Christians, hosted by the MCF of Honduras. One ACCTS staff member noted that "joyful, exuberant singing with vigorous clapping of hands and even dancing during the time of praise started off the first evening." A member who serves on both the ACCTS Board and the International Association of Evangelical Chaplains IAEC staff reported, "The Chairman of the Honduran Joint Chiefs of Staff and all of their service chiefs were at the conference and were highly supportive. An artillery colonel was recently appointed the first Protestant Chief of Chaplains and is in the process of organizing their chaplaincy. The military Christian fellowships in the region are very committed to helping each other grow. Some of those countries have historic political animosity toward each other, so it is exciting to see them come together as brothers and sisters in Christ."
Following the Central America conference, staff from ACCTS and IAEC led a training program for regional MCF leaders. Part of the program included learning how to develop a five-year ministry plan, and then making time to work on that program. General Weerasooriya of Sri Lanka, the president of the Association of Military Christian Fellowships (AMCF) encouraged and challenged the Interaction delegates in their work for God, and an ACCTS staff member reported that " . . . it was both a very joyful and a very moving time." Another noted that the event was, " . . . marvelous, with great people and great joy. Just by talking and listening and caring you learn things that you share in common and how you can work together -- that's one of the reasons to hold this type of conference. Building relationships on Facebook, Skype, and email just doesn't work in the way that connecting personally at a conference does. The personal interaction gives you a basis for developing ongoing relationships and opportunities to be of mutual service. We talked with the commandant of the military academy and a very senior naval officer who offered to facilitate Honduran participation in future Academy Exploration trips that could benefit us all. The conference had constant prayer coverage - one local church prayed for this conference every Sunday for three years. Prayer is such an important protection - organization is necessary, as is prayer, but if you don't have both. you don't have much."
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