Leadership training for a moral society

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Above: LATCOM helps the local churches engage
their culture by promoting and teaching Christian morals and ethics to community leaders.

Our goal supports the Church’s mandate

Not too long ago my wife walked into the convenience store at a local gas station and was jostled by a young woman hurrying out to the parking lot with a little boy who was obviously her son. Turning suddenly the mother spied a large chocolate bar grasped in the boy’s hand. “Where did you get THAT?” she yelled. “I’m not buying you candy!” The boy stubbornly thrust his hand behind his back.
“NO, you will have to take it back into the store,” she continued to yell loudly. “Hurry up. Give it to the lady at the counter.” She nudged the boy forward. Then she followed him into the building as he opened the door.

Seeing the long line of customers at the counter waiting to ring up their purchases, she stopped. Looking down at her son she barked, “Oh come on. Let’s go.” She marched him towards the exit once more. As she passed she muttered darkly, “But you can’t eat it until we get home!”

As Ceci shared with me this sad little scene I reflected on what this mother had just taught her child. Legal and moral boundaries had been violated, bad behavior had been rewarded, and the future character of a small boy was being formed in life-long, destructive ways. I began to think about the character traits that we teach leaders throughout Latin America; traits that define people of quality--things like integrity, honesty, courage, diligence, and self-discipline.
The boy also reminded me of a recent study I did on a famous tourist attraction.

The Tower of Pisa in Italy is angled at almost 4° from vertical. History tells us that the bell tower started to sink when construction began on the second floor in 1178. The reason? The foundation was only nine feet, nine inches deep and dug into unstable subsoil. Since then the 186-foot tower has undergone numerous corrective construction attempts to stabilize it.

The Tower of Pisa serves as a great analogy of what happens in the world today. When communities, organizations and nations are wracked by corruption and social distress, the underlying problem is neither poverty nor the lack of a particular form of government. The foundational problem is one of character. And the cultural character of a community or nation is founded on its principles. If these principles are weak and/or planted on the wrong surface, then, like the Tower of Pisa, they’re in trouble until the proper foundation can be placed under them.

At LATCOM we believe that when people make their daily decisions based on a Biblical worldview, society will be transformed. We understand that a society’s culture is formed by the beliefs held by the majority of its population. Furthermore, if the four primary pillars of society which transmit cultural norms and beliefs (mass media, the families, the churches, and the educational systems) do not have a strong moral base, then that society is in danger of collapsing into corruption, human rights violations, crime, and eternal foolishness. These pillars of society need at their base a Biblical worldview. A Biblical worldview teaches respect for property rights, respect for life, honesty, the value of hard work, defending the vulnerable, etc. These principles create strong communities.

LATCOM’s goal is that Latin Americans and their nations be transformed with the Gospel and a Biblical worldview through training, equipping, and motivating current and future leaders.
We have committed our time, strength, and lives to teach three concepts. First, the bedrock on which they must build their lives is Jesus Christ. Second, the foundation of their lives is their acceptance of Him as Lord and Savior. And third, what they make of their lives is connected to a commitment to live according to God’s principles as spelled out in the Word.

We at LATCOM understand that this is the primary work of the church. Our small part in this eternal task is to help the church fulfill this divine mandate by focusing our efforts on the development of current and future leaders who can then go on to teach and live out the principles society needs.•

We at LATCOM understand that this is the primary work of the church.