As COVID-19 settled down on the world, and more specifically, Latin America, SENDAS has developed some creative solutions for delivering content to pastors and leaders. One of these initiatives has been to broadcast live webinars on Facebook on a weekly basis. The Continuing Education Ministry, under the direction of Rev. Felipe Flores, began this initiative on April 1, 2020. Since that date, every Wednesday pastors and leaders have been able to access instruction on various topics at no charge.
Each webinar is hosted by pastor Flores, and he facilitates a discussion with the speaker. During the broadcast viewers can comment and ask questions on the topic which can be posed to the speaker while the webinar is in progress. These webinars serve a two-fold purpose: First, to resource pastors and leaders in areas related to holistic health; and second, to offer tools to continue ministering from their homes during these days.
Rev. Andres Fernandez, who oversees the ministry and leads the graduate and undergraduate programs at SENDAS, says,
Every opportunity I have I like to tell students that they are the reason our institution exists. This initiative proves exactly that. In the middle of this pandemic the Nazarene Seminary of the Americas has demonstrated to its students, leaders, and pastors that they are the church’s most important human resource. For this reason, we want to help and train them using a variety of methods as we have always tried to do. Online education, videoconferencing, distance learning, blended learning, and teaching through Facebook webinars demonstrate our passion to innovate. Today, tomorrow, and always we will work diligently with commitment to the holistic formation of our students and the expansion of the Kingdom of God.
The list of webinars offered over the past eight weeks includes:
- “Innovation to Reach the Community” (Pastor Elimelec Juantá)
- “Internet and Social Networks for Churches” (Pastor David Pérez)
- “Technology from the Pulpit” (Rev. Sharon Víquez)
- “Pastoral Care in the Times of Coronavirus” (Rev. Samuel Pérez)
- “Digital Communication Strategies for the Local Church” (Juan M. Fernández)
- “Child Discipline in Times of a Pandemic” (Alexander Cabezas Mora, MTh)
- “Coronavirus: Myths and Truths” (Dr. Elliott Garita)
- “Sufficient Grace” (Dr. Jerry Porter)
Webinars are being planned indefinitely into the future and it is the hope of the SENDAS community to continue resourcing pastors and leaders in an ever-changing world.
Rev. Felipe Flores who is moderator of the webinars shares, “I believe that this initiative has served to provide tools and resources to the church in general so that in the middle of this crisis, it will not be stopped in its mission to extend the Kingdom of God. An equally important part of this project is that SENDAS has been able to demonstrate its interest and concern not only for the theological education of students, but also its desire to carry out its holistic ministry that looks after the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of pastors and leaders through the diverse subjects that have been covered and those that will be covered in the future have take into account each one of these areas.”
These instructive SENDAS webinars (available in Spanish only) continue to be available on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SeminarioNazarenoCR/videos