CONTRIBUTORS HAVE REQUESTED A LIST OF SRL PROJECTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Many contributors are so gratefully overwhelmed by God’s mercy upon this ministry that it has been difficult to keep track of all the blessings. So, to facilitate prayers of gratitude and praise, several of our contributors have requested a list of SRL’s current projects and accomplishments. Below is what SRL is doing and would like to do. Please pray as you read and ask that God will provide protection for each project.
This year, Cochabamba, Bolivia, will begin a residential campus program similar to the one in Medellín. The local church has built classrooms, dormitories, and facilities to house SRL students from all over Bolivia and neighboring countries.
This year, the Medellín campus is full to capacity.
The site in Houston, Texas, began to accept students who will live on campus.
Chile is moving toward becoming a self-supporting site.
Venezuela, with its main site in Barquisimeto, is a great success under the most difficult circumstances.
Cuba continues with virtual education until the government officially reopens normal traveling.
A graduate from SRL was sent as a missionary from Medellín to Guadalajara, Mexico. He will be ordained as the pastor of a now well-established Reformed church. SRL has already opened a site there.
Bogotá and neighboring Facatativá City are homes of two sites that serve the central region of Colombia.
Cali has established one of the largest SRL sites, along with the largest Reformed church in that city. It serves the southwest region of Colombia.
SRL is serving the north part of the Colombian coast with sites in four cities: Barranquilla, Cartagena, San Pedro, Sucre, with a fifth city, Montería, planned for 2022.
In the eastern part of Colombia, Bucaramanga will reopen the SRL campus.
SRL continues to flourish in La Paz, Bolivia.
The number of students in Central America continues to increase. SRL is making plans to establish more sites in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador.
From March 28 to April 2, 2022, a Reformed Convention will take place in El Salvador with representatives from all over Central America. Meetings will be held with Reformed pastors and SRL graduates from different countries to consolidate the new sites. The title of the Convention is: What is Reformed Theology?
SRL is planning a Reformed conference in Argentina with the aim of opening an SRL site in that country.
Pastor Alejandro Castiblanco, SRL Academic Director, will travel in 2022 to the Dominican Republic to consolidate plans to open a site in that country.
Counting students online, plus those registered at all the sites, SRL expects to have around a thousand students. In order to manage this large number, SRL invested in a sophisticated software program with a tremendous capacity to handle registrar needs, including the accountability and progress of every student, the professors, and the sundry services required for organization and maintenance.
The virtual program, with students from many countries, is managed by a capable team that has enlisted a large number of professors and assistant professors in order to provide personalized services to every student. SRL is the only institution that provides the students with several ways of taking classes. Students can take courses online, by Zoom, and by weekend and weekly modules that are face-to-face with professors, participating in table talk with professors and other students.
SRL is establishing a professional filming studio in Medellín where professors will record courses that are adapted to virtual needs, and where the conventions and lectures are recorded in high quality. A team of interpreters are working around the clock to dub courses, lectures, conferences, and conventions.
A foundation has provided funds to SRL that are specifically designated to assist pastors with church-related prolife centers. These centers will prevent the killing of unborn children and, in some cases, the death of their mothers. SRL has established already two centers—in Medellín and Bogotá. The opening of another center in Cali is in the works.
The majority of graduates are going back to labor for the reformation of their churches or the planting of new congregations. SRL is encouraging those pastors by providing small financial assistance and by sending veteran pastors to help and encourage them.
Bible studies quickly grow into Reformed congregations who are awaiting trained pastors to be their ministers. We have begun to experience a shortage of trained pastors.
Many pastors who are SRL students online or attend the Reformed Conventions are reforming their churches—even before they complete their theological education.
In 2020 and 2021, SRL reached an audience of over two million by internet. At the Reformation Convention this past October, close to 500,000 people virtually attended.
The 2022 Reformation Convention will take place from October 18th to the 22nd. The theme is: The Church in the World vs. The World in the Church.
God has provided an excellent, hard-working Board of Trustees who are diligently planning for an orderly transition and more sharing of administrative responsibilities. The personnel, staff, professors, and volunteers truly labor unto the Lord in a generous and unselfish manner.
Women’s ministries within SRL will be revitalized this year through the training of women who will teach other women through Bible studies, workshops, lectures, retreats, and conferences. I thank God for Mimi and her team for taking charge of this initiative. Women who formerly held positions as pastors need to see that women in the church really do have an important role serving in the Kingdom of God.
SRL is grateful to all professors and conference speakers for their support and trust in the integrity of SRL.
USA accounting complies with the IRS laws and regulations and ECFA accreditation requirements. The SRL accounting department in South America provides SRL in the USA with a careful and efficient monthly accounting report. They also report all financial activities to the local government agencies.
SRL has a huge number of financial needs to meet all these projects. We are grateful to the congregations in North America and South America, the Foundations, and the Christian Brothers and Sisters who recognize the impact of this mission and joyfully support the enormous job that SRL is doing—for the Glory of God.
SRL officially opened its doctoral program. About a dozen students are already registered. These candidates are needed to manage and direct the local sites and serve as professors in their own countries.
The SRL building in Medellín has become a distribution center for the Trinitarian Bible Society and is an instrument that helps promote Reformed books and materials in Spanish, including Ligonier’s Reformation Study Bible. On a monthly basis, SRL broadcasts Reformed Lectures from respectable theologians who have become, through SRL, true Reformers during the 21st Century Latin American Reformation.
Have a blessed New Year,
Dr. Noé S. Acosta, SRL Founder and President
ความคิดเห็น