Launching Out
Many of you know that we previously lived on Oahu to help launch the Antioch School Hawaii, a pastoral training program in the Hawaiian Islands. We had some wonderful years of ministry with Antioch and the folks at Harbor Church in Honolulu. After this, God redirected us back to the mainland to help serve at an anticipated Boyce College extension campus in Wisconsin (which never launched, but that is a story for another day). We returned to Oahu for a year, but did not have a clear path forward, so came back to the mainland (again) to teach at Bethlehem College & Seminary (BCS) in 2017.
But the needs in Hawaii continued to press in on us, and we felt a continued call to and love for the people of Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. There is still a need for pastoral training, on-going equipping, and mobilization to the nations in and from Hawaii. During our time in Minnesota, we’ve traveled back to Oahu several times. As we’ve led ministry trips there over the last few years, Katie and I sensed that Hawaii is our long-term ministry home.
In the fall of 2019, we began the process of being appointed by Training Leaders International (TLI) to launch a series of preaching workshops in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. The first group met in February (just before the COVID-19 pandemic), and we are prayerfully planning to continue with this group in the fall. I have also been working with the senior leadership of Bethlehem College & Seminary to launch an extension program with evening degree offerings on Oahu in the fall of 2021. At the May 2020 meeting of the BCS Board of Trustees, this extension site received unanimous approval. Finally, we are in the final steps of being approved as global partners at Bethlehem Baptist Church. We are grateful for the support of all three of these faithful, God-exalting institutions.
We have also started a Local Theologians Cohort, a project of the Center for Pastor Theologians and plan to partner with the Gospel Coalition Hawaiichapter for ongoing ministry. We pray that these projects will coalesce into a center for theological training in the Pacific to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ by equipping men and women to treasure Christ above all things, to grow in wisdom and knowledge over a lifetime, and to glorify God in every sphere of life. It is our prayer that this passion would spread on Oahu, in the Hawaiian Islands, and from there all over the Pacific Rim. On Oahu, we plan to be members of Kailua Baptist Church, and we will partner with other like-minded ministries in the islands as the Lord opens doors.
In order to accomplish this goal, we are seeking supporting churches and individuals who will pray and give financially toward this mission. While we may have some income for student tuition, most of the budget for this ministry will come through support from God’s people in the islands and on the mainland. Oahu is an expensive place to live, but we are confident that if the Lord wills for us to be there, he will provide what we need.
This is an unusual time to launch out as global partners seeking to raise support. The COVID-19 pandemic and now the ongoing unrest in our country have left many with unanswered questions and a greater awareness of our lack of control. Many are suffering. And we realize that there are real problems of sickness, injustice, and ongoing suffering to address. But the truth is, we have no more control over this project and its funding than we did several months ago. The Lord is still on the throne, and I still am not. So we are launching out with the hopeful expectation these ministries would honor the Lord.
To that end, will you please pray for us and consider supporting us financially? We are praying that God would work in surprising ways to launch this ministry for the sake of his name in the islands.
Please pray:
for Chris, Katie, Luke, Simon, Elliot, and Noah Bruno as they prepare to transition back to Oahu,
for churches in the islands who are wrestling with how to be faithful during the current crisis,
for God to connect us with many churches who see the needs in Hawaii and beyond and are willing to support this ministry
for individual monthly supporters who want to give to see pastors training the gospel advance in the islands and the Pacific Rim
for an army of prayer warriors who will commit to praying for the advance of the gospel and sound theological training around the Pacific Rim through our ministry.
If you’d like to hear more about any of these details please, please reach out. I also plan to follow up with you individually in the next several weeks to ask whether and how you and your church can partner with us starting in 2021 and beyond. In the meantime, please keep in touch. If there are ways I can be praying for you, your family, and your church, please let me know.
The ministry costs for this project will include our salary along with occasional travel expenses (to teach at other TLI sites, travel to neighbor islands and the mainland), funding seminars and materials for under-resourced pastors, and the goal of a long-term pastors resource center.
We are praying for:
At least 15 mainland partner churches
At least 25 monthly donors at $100/mo
At least 25 monthly donors at $50/mo
At least 50 monthly donors at $25/mo
How to give:
Online:
https://trainingleadersinternational.org/give?tbl=partners
Enter “Chris Bruno” in the “Enter a Global Partner” Field and choose one-time gift or recurring donation.
Via Check:
Send checks with an enclosed note indicating that the funds are for Chris Bruno to the following (please do not write on the memo line):
Training Leaders International
PO Box 310
Wheaton, IL 60187
