Ministry Without Limits
Pastor Jorge Ovando, Director of SLM Argentina
“But the word of God is not bound” (2 Timothy 2:9 KJV).
One of our dreams and prayers was always to take the Gospel as far as possible and to the whole world. Now, due to the pandemic, a large and effective door has been opened to us through Zoom communications, YouTube Channel, Instagram, WhatsApp, video calls and also Online Radio on the internet, all day long. All these are here to stay; therefore, we must learn to use them effectively, and make the most of them for the preaching of the Gospel. In Argentina, we worked to use the tools we had, ending 2020 having done:
1,073 videos for the students of our Christian School and Kindergarten.
4 Virtual Christian Camps for 360 children, adolescents, and youth.
3 Virtual Conferences for 342 women, children, adolescents, and young people.
68 videos for teaching children on our YouTube channel: Winners Club or “Club de Vencedores”.
54 Videos of Ministerial Training Workshops on my YouTube channel: Jorge Ovando.
Many Bible Courses made available on audio.
And almost a hundred encounters through Zoom with leaders and pastors from different countries and places in Argentina.
You know, that the pandemic negatively affected many people. Fear, the routine of confinement, coexistence, having to give up important daily necessities, and other problems affected many with discouragement and depression. However, we stand up to make a difference, as Paul teaches us: “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). This verse has been our motto since the pandemic began.
Really, we understand that the doors of the world are open for us. Through Radio Online on the internet, all people can listen to online radio on their smartphone while out and about, and even have the option to pause and then continue from where they left off. Listening to online radio is free, and without the usual radio advertisements. We promote the activities of our ministry, and share music and messages long and short.
Now we are preparing people to be on the radio live. The radio is a good tool that we can use to train our school students in media. Two good testimonies of this time are:
“An Argentine resident in Italy was separated from his wife by quarantine and fell into depression. He received the daily Instagram videos from us and that brought him out of depression.”
“Our prayer meetings through Zoom every evening at 9 helped maintain the motivation and faith of those who always participate, and now, several of them have emerged as new leaders.”
After a homiletics course we conducted, 45 new preachers began sharing short biblical messages on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Forty-five messages, supervised and approved by pastors, are distributed weekly to all areas that the networks allow. In addition, several of these messages are replaced, so the number of people who can see and hear them is unlimited. As all of this is just beginning, we are very happy and excited about the fruits that we believe will be unimaginable.
We are permanently encouraging ourselves to prepare and to serve better according to the new possibilities. We hope to reverse all the old paradigms of doing things only in the presence of others, and start doing it through a camera, or webcam, or a microphone, but knowing that one is reaching the whole world without limit.
