As a past President on Living Water International, Dr. Jerry Wiles has focused on a ministry with others in drilling fresh water wells – in Jesus Name – in “third world” countries benefiting the world’s poor.
He tells the impacting story of the short-term mission team in Houston, Texas, who went to Kenya. They returned, appalled at what they saw people consuming for drinking water! This negative situation led to a positive response: the birth of Living Water International.
Their website (www.water.cc) as of this writing reports staggeringly wonderful results: “16,656 water projects completed!”
Jerry Wiles ministry continues as “President Emeritus” of Living Water International. Fully aware that the majority of the world’s population are oral learners and communicators, he is among those providing a great focus. If we are going to complete the Great Commission of Jesus (Matthew 28: 19, 20), we must find ways and means to communicate the Gospel to the primarily oral learners of the world. That focus is seen by visiting www.water.cc/orality.
Earlier radio with Jerry titled … “Dr. Jerry Wiles: ‘Living Water Intl has drilled 13,000 [at the time] fresh water wells in third world countries’” … can be accessed by clicking on … http://haroldhendrick.com/content/view/464/5/
Those involved in the “Advent Conspiracy” movement have raised millions of dollars for drilling water wells. To hear … “Greg Holder re Advent Conspiracy: “worship fully, spend less, give more, love all” – & save lives!” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/content/view/710/5/.
Jerry skillfully couples the work of Living Water International (www.water.cc) with the International Orality Network (www.ion.org).
He calls our attention to these additional realities: “According to the International Orality Network, more than 70% of the world’s population (5.7 billion people) are oral learners, by necessity or by preference — people who can’t, don’t or won’t read, or prefer to learn and communicate by means other than print-based media or written instruction. Oral learners communicate through methods such as storytelling, drama, songs, poetry, parables, proverbs and other oral arts. Ironically, an estimated 90% of the world’s Christian workers present the gospel using literate—not oral—communication styles. In order to reach and disciple oral learners, we must learn to use the strategies that are familiar and relevant to them.”
And he invites us to some of the one-day orality workshop. They offers “… practical and proven principles in making disciples of oral preference learners…” some of the 2016 locations are listed below:
Saturday, March 5, 2016 – Houston, TX (Katy, TX)
Saturday, May 7, 2016 – Fort Wayne, IN
Saturday, May 14, 2016 – Portland, OR
Friday, May 20, 2016 – St. Louis, MO Windsor Crossing Community Church (Chesterfield)
Workshop Topics Include …
»the scope of the problem
»the nature of oral cultures
»the need to understand oral learners
»why and how oral strategies work
»the power of simplicity
»the power of reproducibility
»the importance of multiplication
»oral methods of personal evangelism
»keys to effective disciple making
»the value of using stories and questions
»an overview of the Orality movement
“Participants are telling how this training is bringing transformation to their lives and increasing their effectiveness in sharing their faith and disciple making efforts.”