Mission Trip to Fiji and Beyond (Oceania)
DiscipleMaking in Fiji and other Oceania countries had been carried out in a trial and error and piecemeal manner; however, the conference acted as the opportunity to officially launch GDI in Oceania.
October 16-25, 2026
Greg and Lily Ogden, Brian Tracy (Lead Pastor of Evangel Assembly near Boston, MA) with Ben Dolavale, GDI Regional Director for Oceania, as well as Dan Qeleni, Dr. Maika Vuki from Guam
Greetings from the place everyone would be delighted to visit, Fiji. When I said we were going to Fiji to hold a 3-day training in disciplemaking, I got two consistent reactions:
Yeah, right, Fiji, disciplemaking conference, who are you kidding?
Can I carry your bags? Certainly, you will need assistance.
After being here for over a week, I now see the relevance of that reaction. This is a beautiful location in the South Pacific among the other Oceania island nations. We are a couple of hours flight from New Zealand and over a little over 3 hours to Sydney, Australia.
After a week with some of the key players in this ministry, I can truly say that this small band of disciplemakers is fighting above their weight category. I am convinced that in five years the island nations of Oceania (Samoa, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, and more) will be popping with MicroGroup-based churches. The Lord uses the obscure in the world for his greatest impact. This will mean that many points of light will be showing itself in New Zealand and Australia.
Why am I so confident that this will happen? After 3 full nights and the better part of 4 days at a retreat center with 16 committed leaders under the leadership of Ben Dolavale, our Oceania Regional Director, and Dan Qeleni, local pastor, I met the people who have the conviction and passion to spread the power of disciple making multiplication throughout Fiji and beyond.
Let me give you a picture of who was at this conference. I have regularly said, it is not about many people come, but the right people. Though we were small in number, we were passionate. How many times we did utter GDI’s motto: Start small, go slow, go deep, THINK BIG.
Two young pastors joined us from Hawaii: Landon, the lead pastor and their discipleship pastor, Phillip, are in a 3-year church plant. Through Pastor Ben’s influence a few years back MicroGroups were launched. By December they will be nesting 24 groups. Brian Tracy, Lead Pastor at Evangel Assembly in Wilbraha, MA, and co-presenter, was able to come right alongside them because he was a few years ahead of them in seeing the church become MicroGroup based church.
I sat across from at breakfast Captain Koro, a Fiji Airways pilot, listening to his story of how the MicroGroup has allowed him to become vulnerable in the trusting environment of his group. His newfound vulnerability has transformed his relationship with his teenage son. Instead of approaching him with dominating authority, he comes in weakness. They have bonded like never before.
Sita is Pastor Dan’s wife and fellow disciplemaker at Unity Baptist Church, where I preached on our first Sunday, and Brian led on Oct. 25. She took us on her transformative journey in discipling women.
In a nutshell, she said with tears in her eyes, she has found her purpose in life. Being in intimate relationship with women she has seen a depth of fellowship and engagement with the transformative impact of God’s Word.
One of the many results has been the formation of 3 Coaching MicroGroups (CMGs) for women. Through Brian’s efforts he had recruited three of his female coaches to be available to start coaching relationships with three groups. There were four women plus my wife, Lily at our conference.
During our session, these four plus Pastor Ben’s wife, got on a zoom call with Wendy McCloskey to establish regular weekly CMG to learn what a MicroGroup is like and how to reproduce it with women in their respective churches. Two other groups are forming, one in Fiji and another women’s group in Guam.
Let’s not leave out the men. We had strong presence from the Gospel Brethren denomination. The head of the association is in a MicroGroup and has a vision for making this a centerpiece of their denomination with 29 churches on Fiji.
I spoke on Sunday, Oct. 25 at local expression of Gospel Brethren church. Howard, one of the elders, is in a MicroGroup with Ben, and has recently consented after being strongly urged, to run to be a member of Parliament as an agent for good. Captain Koro, who kept us laughing, is also an elder at this same church.
Kenneth came to us from Papua New Guinea, where his tribe is in the midst of warfare with a neighboring tribe. A major portion of his village has been burned to the ground. Yet, here is with us having already engaged with Discipleship Essentials and now using a version of the simplified Discipleship Essnetials in his native PNG language.
He desires to be a peacemaker in the midst of this tribal conflict. From the island of Vanauatu came 74 years-old Pastor Kalo with his wife Mary. They have labored for over 50 years on this island. Mary explained to Lily that when they arrived the people were naked.
One other insight: I had the strong impression from the Lord that we had to spend maximum time on implementation. The message I had is that we fail at the point of proper execution. Though we covered the biblical foundations of disciplemaking, we moved quickly to "The Steps in Forming a Healthy MicroGroup" and "The Best Practices of a MicroGroup."
Brian took us through coaching skill development, largely focused on how to listen. This was greatly appreciated. We had divided the participants into 6 teams (1 womens and 5 mens) in which we met to discuss and apply.
Even as I write this, my heart is bursting with hopefulness. If the Lord permits, I would be delighted to come back in five years from now and hear the stories of transformation and witness the expansion to hundreds of MicroGroups and MicroGroup based churches peppering the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. It will be so!
GDI Fiji and Beyond Conference through the eyes of Pastor Ben Dolavale, GDIs Regional Director in Oceania (October 19-22, 2026)
1. CMG Opportunity
On the first day of the conference, 2 men indicated their desire to participate in a CMG session. We discussed the concept with the men at different times during the conference and on the last day, Dr Maika and I set with the men and concluded a plan.
The 4 of us will begin meeting on 21 November to start the CMG journey of 10 to 12 weeks. The men have both requested a soft copy of Go Micro to begin reading before our first zoom meeting on 21 November. One of the men is the Dean and Associate Professor of the College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies at the Fiji National University.
2. GDI Oceania Leadership Team
Before the conference there were only two confirmed leaders of the GDI Oceania, however two others were identified during the conference.
The noteworthy inclusion in the Team is Merelesita Qeleni, wife of Pastor Dan Qeleni, who is going to be leading the efforts in motivating, equipping and coaching women to be disciple makers. Also a key denominational leader, where a number of MicroGroups are already meeting, expressed his availability to be included in the leadership team later.
3. Official launch of GDI Oceania
DiscipleMaking in Fiji and other Oceania countries had been carried out in a trial and error and piecemeal manner; however, the conference acted as the opportunity to officially launch GDI in Oceania. This means we are fully adopting the GDI Vision, Mission and Core Values and the implementation of the GDI Seven-Stage DiscipleMaking Pipeline.
4. Hawaii Team
Pastor Landon of Called Church in Honolulu was introduced with MicroGroup in 2024 during a mission visit to Fiji. He returned there and started a group and now, two years later, there are 24 MicroGroups meeting every week.
Then he invited the church Discipleship Director to attend the conference with him and the opportunity to meet with Greg personally was one of many benefits of attending the conference for them. In addition, Brian Tracy was the perfect person to be able to coach the Hawaii team through their stages of development, since Brian’s church is a few years ahead of them.
He made a deep connection with Landon, Lead Pastor, and Phillip, the Discipleship Pastor. The Hawaii Team have been supporting the GDI ministry in Fiji ever since 2025 by supplying Discipleship Essentials books, donating resources towards special needs, and leading conference geared towards the young people as a way of giving back to Fiji in appreciation of their learning MicroGroup disciplemaking from Fiji.
5. Kenneth Norabate of Papua New Guinea (PNG)
In 2025, I facilitated a MicroGroup in PNG with 3 pastors; however, our weekly Zoom meetings were frequently disrupted by poor Internet connectivity and disruptions caused by continuous fighting among tribes in the villages where these pastors are based.
Pastor Kenneth led the group of pastors in PNG. When the conference in Fiji was confirmed, I invited Pastor Kenneth to attend for an opportunity to learn, and be trained to equip so that he can lead the group in PNG.
He has already identified pastors whom he will approach to start a new MicroGroup in PNG. Some leaders and pastors who attended the conference heard the challenges faced by Pastor Kenneth and were convicted to provide support for what he is doing. I am thankful to GDI US for providing financial support to pay the return tickets for him.
6. Women Coaching MicroGroup
During the conference, the women participants attended a Zoom session with Wendy, a disciplemaker in Pastor Brian Tracy's church, where she introduced Coaching MicroGroups. The women have agreed to continue the coaching sessions in November to help prepare and equip the women to lead their own MicroGroup. Another female coach in the US, is willing to lead a Coaching MicroGroup session with the women at Acts 2 church in Guam. Dr .Maika is the associate pastor of the church.
7. In-person meeting of the first Oceania cohort members
The conference provided a wonderful opportunity for Dr Greg, Brian, Maika, Dan and Ben to come together in person following two years of their cohort zoom meeting. While Greg, Brian, Dan and Ben met in Manila in October 2025, this was the first time they all met together including Dr. Maika.