What makes a church a church? It certainly is not the number of people that gather together. Rather, it is the Spirit that is present when handfuls or hundreds gather to worship the one true God.
This week we are having a special gathering of our own at V.E.T. Net – our Annual Shepherd’s Conference. We now work with nearly 100 small church and home groups across 11 provinces in conjunction with our Watering-with-the-Word Program. Through this Program we provide Christian outreach and support to the remotest regions of Mongolia. Each year we invite 120-140 of the leaders from the remote churches to attend a week of training at the V.E.T. Net offices in Ulaanbaatar.
Gerlee is one of our remote veterinarians. Her story is too long to detail here, but I will try to summarize – because the story provides a wonderful example of the powerful things we have seen God do through the V.E.T. Net organization. Gerlee is a veterinarian in a very remote county. She began coming to our V.E.T. Net Continuing Education training in 2006, when she was unable to make a living as a veterinarian. She credits the Veterinary Continuing Education Program at V.E.T. Net with turning her life around. As Gerlee says, “V.E.T. Net trained me in how to be a practicing veterinarian and helped me to obtain modern drugs and equipment. Now I have a very successful practice. And I learned about God as I came to V.E.T. Net Continuing Education.”
Now, almost 15 years later, Gerlee has accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. Perhaps more significantly, she can’t wait to tell others about her transformation. The little group of four Christian families in her county are now meeting together on a regular basis to share their faith. She told me today, “I want to add on to my vet office and have a room for a church so we can have a good place to meet and worship.”
Rural veterinarians represent the best opportunity to share the story of Christ with remote herder families, because they ‘Tend Their Sheep’ by regularly visiting the remote herding sites and spending time with the families living there. In this amazing way, rural Mongolians are coming to Christ one herder at a time. Praise God!
Tend My Sheep 