Africa Journal: Day 13 – January 8, 2009

From my journal:

” … it’s our final full day of ministry in Mali … tomorrow morning we pack up and head back to Bamako.  God, You’ve done amazing things this week, continue today …

Habakkuk 3:2-4 ‘Lord, I have heard of Your fame, I stand in awe of Your deeds, O Lord.  Renew them in our day, in our time make them known, in wrath remember mercy.  God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.  His glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth.  His splendor was like the sunrise, rays flashed from His had, where His power was hidden.’

Father, make Your fame known in our time here in Bangassi.  Allow the Malian people to know that this is a very personal decision, one that they don’t need permission from anyone else to make.  Give them courage and boldness to choose You!  God you are good and Your glory endures forever, continue to reveal Your splendor!

… We’re showing the Jesus film in Marena tonight after a warm reception from the chief and the villagers this afternoon.  I’m running the tech. stuff tonight, so hopefully everything runs smoothly, and that there are no technical problems.  Bring glory to Your name tonight Father, I love and trust You…

Just returned to Bangassi from Marena, and I wish I had more to say … WHATEVER!  God showed up HUGE, after the film we had 58 people stay to pray and receive Christ!  58 new Malian believers!  When we got here, there were only 12-15 known believers from the past trip in this area.  Approximately 61,000 Fulanke people in Mali, and 58 new brothers and sisters in Christ tonight! Praise you God!  All honor and glory go to You, nothing that we could have said or done could have accomplished what You did tonight.  God, with this excitement and exhilaration, my heart is breaking for these new believers . . . we leave in the morning, our trip is over, what follow will happen?  What discipleship will there be?  Pastor Andre has already said that he would come back to visit, but for him, on his motorcycle, it will still be a several hour trip, and he can’t continue to do that.  God, I beg that You send a pastor to come to Bangassi and Maurena.  These people need an indigenous pastor to be called and raised up to come to this area to shepherd these believers …”

What an amazing day.  We did get to have the community health clinic today . . . actually we did it twice, once at the clinic in the village for a handful of men and women, and once in the school while the kids were in class.  Hopefully they took it all to heart and are taking the steps necessary to keep their drinking water clean.

In the early afternoon we loaded the bush bus and headed toward Marena to greet the chief and ask permission to show the film that evening.  As with every village we pulled into, when we arrived we were immediately surrounded by swarms of children and interested adults. We took the short walk to the chiefs courtyard, and had a very pleasant visit with him and the village elders.  They had remembered that a group had come last year, and wanted to show the film during their festival, and had hoped that we would come back to show it.  We also found out that there had been a “white man” who had come and built a house and lived with them for 2 years with the Peace Corps.  We don’t know anything about this man, or know of any Malians that may have come to Christ while he was there, but this Peace Corps volunteer had to have been a Christian, and had to have planted some major seeds!

I clearly remember that evening … not sure I’ll ever forget it.  It was the end of our ministry in Mali, and we were exhausted.  I remember several of the girls staying in the bush bus during the film to get some rest.  We arrived back in Marena just before sundown to set up the projector and screen and began playing some Malian music about 20 minutes before the film was going to start.  We also showed a Popeye cartoon as a “preview”, they loved it.  Every evening that we showed the Jesus Film, Pastor Andre would introduce the film, and then toward the end, right as the guards came to the garden to arrest Jesus we would pause the film and Pastor Andre would share with them . . . from what we gather, He was asking them questions about if this man, Jesus had done anything to warrant being arrested and mistreated like this.  That night, although I couldn’t understand a word he was saying . . . I could tell he was “bringing it.”  He was speaking with such boldness and passion, it was really a neat experience.  Well, toward the end of the film, after the death and resurrection, there is about a 6 minute “recap” of the film, and in previous nights, most people began to leave during this part of the film, but here in Marena, nobody moved.  Pastor Andre came back up after it was finished, and people started to filter out, but there was a crowd that remained.  Myself and the rest of the tech. crew went to work getting everything torn down and packed up, and when we finished, we saw what was happening . . . there was still a crowd of people talking with Andre and Michele, our interpreter, and Randy.  As I walked over to see what was going on I realized they were taking down names … names of all of the people who had just prayed to receive Christ!  What an adrenaline rush! These people were so excited and hugging us and shaking our hands as if they somehow knew that we were now connected through the common bond of Christ.  It was awesome.

The hard part was driving away from Marena that evening knowing that we wouldn’t be coming back, and another group probably wouldn’t be here for another 6-12 months.  Continue to pray for those believers that God will do a miraculous work in their lives, that they will have an impact on the other villagers that they encounter everyday, and that God will send them a Pastor/leader.

-E

Pictures of the health class, set-up for the film, a night shot of the film, and a few shots from the Marena film:

Teaching the community health class in the school:

Setting up the screen for the film:

Great night shot that Aaron took:

Getting names from some Marena villagers after praying to receive Christ:

The morning after Pastor Andre transferred the names of the new believers in Marena to an emerging leader in Bangassi:

Africa Journal: Day 12 – January 7, 2009

From my journal:

” … we’re on the back end of this trip, and it is a weird feeling … not wanting to leave this place, these beautiful people, but getting tired and worn out from the drastic change in culture and speed of life here.  I met with my prayer partners today and shared with them my desire for our team to be part of something on this trip that we can look back on and say that only God did that … we prayed for a morale boost for the team for tomorrow, which is our last full day of ministry in Africa.  I can’t believe it’s almost over.

We didn’t get to do the community health class today because the doctor had to be away, so we’re planning on it for tomorrow.  Because we didn’t do the clinic, we went to a lake that was about 40 minutes away for an extended time of prayer, rest, lunch, etc.  While we were there Randy led us in a time of prayer and really asked us to seek God’s wisdom for where we were supposed to minister tomorrow … there is a village, Cocolo,  that they tried to show the Jesus film to on a previous trip that wasn’t willing to let them show it … and there was a village who wanted to have the film shown, but couldn’t because of a festival in the village that evening.  So, with only one more opportunity to show the Jesus film tomorrow, Randy wanted us to pray for where God was leading us, and ask Him to bring us all to agreement on that.   After spending time in prayer alone and together as a team, we agreed that we needed to stop in Cocolo on the way back to Bangassi from the lake, and greet the chief, and just let them know we were praying for them, but that we would go back to the village, Maurena, that wanted to see the film for tomorrow night.

God I pray that you would help me to never forget this place or these people.  Cause me to never quit praying for their salvation, and for You to reveal Yourself to them.  God use tomorrow to reap a harvest for You in Bangassi and Maurena…”

We had a morning full of ministry in Bangassi . . . more visiting people in their courtyards, having tea, soccer “clinics”, games with kids, helping build water filtration systems, and prayer walking.

I’ve noticed that I haven’t written much about the water filtration projects … more than likely because that wasn’t something that I was personally involved with, but it was a big part of the compassion ministry we had in Africa.  It teamed with the community health clinic that we ran, which taught about the dangers of drinking dirty water, and taught how to make sure that you were drinking clean water.  The filter project was mainly headed up by a couple of Malian nationals that came with us from the Capitol.  “General” Madu played a big part in this ministry.  In each village they took a group of men and taught them to build water filters in barrels and using other resources that were easily obtainable for them … all of the resources we used to show them actually were purchased in Bamako before we left for the bush.  Anyhow, Madu and his team taught these men in the villages to build and maintain these filters with the hopes that they could then teach others in the village to do the same thing.   During one of their times together, they were trying to get the men to realize that their water was dirty, so they went to the well and put the well water through the bio/sand filter, and you could see bugs crawling up the side of the filter … this surprised the men, and their reaction, although shocked, was a good one because now hopefully they will see the need to filter their water.  One of the worries is that they have lived so long doing things the way they always have, that they won’t actually follow through with learning and applying something new.

It was a good day at the lake.  We found some shade and just took some time to pray and reflect and relax.  Our prayer time together was really cool, it was neat to see how God brought all of us together with the same mind about what we should do in regards to showing the Jesus Film the following night … and boy what a story that is … stay tuned to hear that tomorrow. When we got back to Bangassi, we busted out the guitar and had a time of celebration for what God has done here so far, had dinner, chili … which didn’t settle well for me, and off to bed fairly early for me.

This has been such a growing journey for me … to go back through this and to recall what God was doing, and to see how he was working when I was oblivious to it at the time.  I hope it has been at least somewhat encouraging to those of you who are following along. Until tomorrow…

-E

Some photos of the water filter projects:

Preparing barrels: Madu: bent over in sweater, Lamine (our driver) squatting at barrel

“General” Madu:

The lake and celebration time in Bangassi:

lunch at the lake:

Singing songs in Bangassi:

Africa Journal: Day 11 – January 6, 2009

From my journal:

*note … one of these excerpts is from my quiet time in the morning, and one is from a writing a did during the showing of the Jesus Film*

“…I’m led to pray for healing today.  Father, should there be someone with an illness or disease that needs healing Lord, do not allow us to be fearful of praying with faith and expectancy that You are the God that does ALL things.  Father, in the powerful name of Jesus, whose blood has covered me and my sins, I bind satan and his demons from any work in the hearts minds or lives of our team today.  He has no authority over us, because You have already won the victory.  I trust in You, give us boldness and authority as we pray and serve You today…”

Later that evening (at the showing of the Jesus Film in Bangassi):

” … at the Jesus film tonight and there is a huge crowd! Praise God.  Tonight God, bring revival to the village of Bangassi.  Father make these people shout Your name in praise as they go back to their homes tonight, because You are worthy.

Father I pray tonight for Elephe, Quaraton, and Harajada.  You know who they are!!  LOL.  Bring them Your salvation.  Stir in their hearts as they see the images and s they hear the truth about who You are.

God bring glory to Your name.  I pray for the young lady who came to have her hand worked on today.  She promised to come to the film tonight, and as she watches tonight, help her to KNOW, beyond a shadow of a doubt that You can, not only heal her hand, but You can save her heart and soul too!

God I know You restored the withered hand, made the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak, and raised the dead!  Tonight, in faith, I pray You would heal that young lady’s hand.  Take the infection away, reduce the swelling, cause the sores to disappear, leave her with no pain, and full usage of her had, in Jesus name, and for nothing other than for His glory!”

Did you catch it?  I didn’t until I was going back through this journal.  This particular morning, for whatever reason, I was prompted to pray for healing . . . and for power and authority and boldness to pray for healing for those who needed it … later that day, Mariam (the lady with the infected hand) came into our camp.  I had been reading through some of the gospel accounts during my morning quiet times, and had been reading stories of healing, in addition, I had been talking with my 2 prayer partners about praying in faith, and not shying away from praying those bold prayers … then this morning, seemingly out of the blue, I write this in my journal.  I don’t believe in coincidence, and think that God was at work.  It’s so funny how I didn’t make the connection from my mornings prayers that day to Mariam coming into camp that afternoon until I just re-read the account.

Aaron, one of our team members happened to be an ER nurse, and had brought some supplies that had been donated for our trip . . . he did a great job working with Mariam.  He said that the infection had likely started as a skin rash and had spread so severely, that in his opinion if she hadn’t been treated, the infection would have gotten so bad that she would have, in a short amount of time lot her had, and perhaps her life.  After cleaning the wounds, and giving some medicines he explained that she needed to clean it three times a day and change the wrappings . . . and in addition the wrappings needed to be boiled in water and then dried again before using.  The great thing is that for the next few days while we were there, I would see Mariam throughout the day, and her bandages were changed, she was doing it.  But, even more amazing than the fact that she was doing what Aaron had suggested, she came back the next day to have him look at it again . . . and in Aaron’s words “even if she had been in America and received the best treatment possible, there is no way that her had should look this good after what it looked like yesterday.”  Thank you Jesus … does the story get even better?  Yes, Mariam accepted the Lord!

What a great, great experience.  Mariam took a special place in all of our hearts during our stay in Bangassi.

Some of the pictures today will be of Mariams hand, so if you get queasy . . . you might move on!

-E

Sunrise during a morning quiet time:

Mariam when she first came to have her had looked at:

Removing the bandages she came in:

Tracy loving on Mariam:

Aaron giving instructions on how to care for her hand:

Back for a check up on second day:

Africa Journal: Day 10 – January 5, 2009

From my journal:

“We’ve driven out of the village a small distance this morning to have some retreat from the hustle and bustle of  Bangassi, for some team time, but most importantly for some quiet time with the Lord

I’m reading/meditating on Romans 8:36-39 today and the thing that seems to come up to me the most right now is that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Nothing … another part says “neither the present nor the future.”  I stress and worry so much about what is to come, that I lose the beauty of who God is in this moment.

I know the truth that nothing will separate me from Him or His love, but I pray my eyes, ears, mind and heart are opened to see that love, and that my hands and feet and voice will be used to BE that love.  God, take all of who I am, for all of who You are, that’s all I want …

… Praise the Lord, there is a new believer among the Fulanke today!  We’ve been praying for this and You are doing it!   Even as I’m writing this, another man has come into our courtyard to talk with the “Christians.”  God, I pray that if this is another seeker, that You would draw him to Yourself right now, redeem Your people!

*Two! … two new believers today! Praise Your Father!”

God is mighty to save!  There were no really appropriate words to describe what I was in the middle of experiencing on this particular day.  We were seeing God, and seeing the process of Him bringing the Fulanke to Himself!  There is a cool “back story” about the happenings of this day:

This was our first full day in Bangassi.  We had arrived the night before and only had time to set up a make-shift camp for the night.  Randy, our leader from Stonebridge had asked the chief if there was a place we could use to set up camp that would offer a little privacy, and they were going to check on the possibility of using the health clinic building (which was on the outskirts of the village and not close to anything) as a temporary housing site for us, but they wouldn’t be able to find out until the next day, so night one we just set up our beds in the Chief’s courtyard.

Day one in Bangassi, we didn’t have anything planned, we were going to use the day to familiarize ourselves with the village, and hopefully (in our minds) be able to move our camp from the current location, which was the commerce center of Bangassi, to a more secluded area.  However, this wasn’t happening.  We just weren’t hearing back from the people we were supposed to hear back from to see if we could used the clinic.  So, before sundown, we decided we would just make our camp here for the week, and that for some reason, God wanted us right where we were … enter “seeker #1″.  Literally, this man just walked into our camp and asked how he could know Jesus! … we hadn’t done ANY “ministry” yet! He became a believer!  Within the next hour … enter “seeker #2″, another believer!  God wanted us right there in the center of the village for these people!

What an amazing start to our time in Bangassi!

If you would, would you pray for those new believers in Bangassi … that God would continue to reveal Himself and His plan for their lives to them.

-E

Other notable moments from the day:

We saw a pack of Baboons when we went for our quiet time/team time (or whatever you call a group of baboons):

I got to try to jam with some African musicians and dancers using the Cora, an African instrument:

Kristen, Jenna and I were invited by a village woman to visit the garden with her while she went to water:

Pastor Andre, the first national pastor from Sebekoro, came with us to Bangassi for the week of ministry there:

This is the boys camp in Bangassi:

EPIC “weekend” in Lee’s Summit…

Well, I was scheduled to lead worship at a youth retreat weekend in Lee’s Summit this weekend with my friends from No Longer Quiet, however they decided they needed to cancel based upon the forecast of 6-12 inches of snow that was supposed to fall today.  SO, instead of a whole weekend, we just had a Friday night service/rally.  It was SO good.  I love leading worship, I love being used by God to bring His people to His throne, and I love leading worship with these people.  They are my friends, co-ministers, and family.  It has been interesting and fun to see how the “faces of NLQ” have changed over the last few years, but it never ceases to amaze me how God takes those who are willing to serve Him and use them for His glory.  Thanks to all of you guys/gals for what you mean to me, and for allowing me the privilege of serving along side of you!

And, thanks to all the staff and students at Lee’s Summit Community Church for letting us be a part of your EPIC weekend!

What “EPIC” moments have there been in your life lately?

-E

Africa Journal: Day 9 – January 4, 2009

From my journal:

“On the road to Bangassi.  Left Sebekoro today, but before we did we received the blessing from the chief … we were ‘given the road’ (meaning we were free to leave).  Also, the chief gave us all African names before we left.  Mine is Sidi Fofana.  I was actually named after the chief’s first grandson, which was quite an honor.

It could be a long night, because we aren’t scheduled to arrive in Bangassi until after dark . . . they figured about an 8 hour drive.  Once we get there, we’ll have to greet the chief and receive permission to be in and stay in the village before we can set up camp or anything.  God, I pray for the Fulanke people that we will minister to during this week of our trip.  I pray for salvations and for the message to land on soil that is ready to produce a harvest for Your glory!”

This was my entire entry for the day b/c I tried to “write” while we were on the road, and that wasn’t an easy task.  This was a long day, and if you are following along, I mentioned yesterday that it was the beginning of a difficult 24 hours for me.  This trip was exhausting.  We left from Sebekoro pretty early in the day, and one of my responsibilities on the trip was to oversee the preparations/packing to travel, so I needed to make sure that we had all the tubs, and that everything was packed and tied down okay, etc.  When I woke up that morning, I went into pack mode, and didn’t spend time with the Lord before we left We drove the first 2 hours through the “bush roads” which were not roads at all.  Then the next 3 hours or so were actually on the paved road.  We stopped at one point for lunch and to make phone calls back to our home churches for a check-in … hopefully some of you were able to hear from us when we phoned in!  And spent the last 3 hours on more “bush roads”  … they were SOOO bumpy, and our van was so packed , it was uncomfortable!  That being said, I had attempted to read my Bible for a while on the road, but started to get a headache.

SO, by the time we got to Bangassi, it was well passed dark, we were all tired and hungry, had to wait to get permission to stay in the village, and I was in a bad mood.  My bad mood turned into “victim syndrome”  I felt like everything someone was saying or doing was a direct slam at me … I felt like none of my thoughts were being heard, and that everyone else was “out for me”  SO, I went and found a quiet corner and sat in the shadows so I couldn’t be seen and had some prayer time . . . and you know what I realized?  None of that stuff that I thought was reality.  Reality was that I was tired: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  So, I ate dinner, made my bed and went to bed, tomorrow would be a new day!

I do have to rewind though and share a crazy story from our trip to Bangassi.  In Mali there are checkpoints on the highway that distinguish different territories.  It would be like us passing from one county into another.  Well each of those checkpoints are run by local government, so they have the ability to govern it however they see fit.  Well, at this particular checkpoint, our driver got out to show our papers and our log, and all of the sudden we heard arguing, and it began to get heated quickly.  It came to a point where the guard actually sent another guard to go get handcuffs, they were going to arrest our driver, and we weren’t going to get to Bangassi, or so I thought.  Enter, Lamine.  Lamine was our other driver, and was also helping with some of our water filter projects.  This guy has the BEST personality of anyone I have ever met.  He connected with EVERYONE.  As we started to pray in the van for God to cover the situation, Lamine walked over to see what was going on, and no joke, within 5 seconds of Lamine getting there, the yelling stopped, and within 30 seconds, they had turned from yelling to laughing!  Turns out that the guard saw all of our tubs/luggage and a van full of white folk and thought he could get away with asking for money for us to get through.  Well, Lamine apparently got him “talked down” and told Randy that they were asking for the equivalent of 4 US dollars to get through the gate.  Randy said he would give them the $4 if he could give them a Bible too.  The crazy part was that the guard was SO grateful and excited to receive the Bible.  God is SO faithful!

What started out as a potentially scary situation turned out to be a great opportunity to share the word of God!

-E

Packing the bush bus:

Lunch on the road to Bangassi:

Africa Journal: Day 8 – January 3, 2009

From my journal:

“… since being here, I’ve thought a lot about culture and languages, and I am very interested in these aspects of our ministry.  This causes me to wonder and think ‘why did God give me those thoughts, likes, etc.’?  Could it be that I am supposed to engage a culture?  Learn the language? Help story the Gospel in their language? Is it that I am supposed to go to Korea? Is that my ‘thing?’  The thing that I feel like I am supposed to figure out while I’m here?  If I stay in Springfield, what am I supposed to do? God, I have so many questions about what You have for me.  I trust Your plan and know that Your will is perfect, and Your timing is right.  I ask that You forgive me for my impatience in this area and that whenever You reveal things to me that I would have assurance that it is from You.  That You would protect my thoughts and actions from the attack of the evil one.

Father, I’m learning to depend upon You more and more.  I ask that You keep me in that mind, help me to always rely on You for all things.  Jesus, I ask that You refine my thoughts and desires so that only those that are from You will remain.  God take away the desires of my heart that are distractions from You.  God, I want a family.  I want to love a woman as my wife and live life with her.  I want to be a father, and love and nurture children.  God, as hard as it is for me to imagine life without those things, what I really want is what You want for me.  Clarify my priorities so that I only see You…”

This was our last full day in Sebekoro … we would leave in the morning to head toward Bangassi.  We spent a good portion of the morning climbing a “mountain” near Sebekoro to get away for some group time, and to pray over the villages of Mali.  The climb was fun, the view was awesome, and the environment lent itself to a lot of introspection . . . in the midst of such a vast land that is part of such a large continent on this earth that is part of our solar system in our galaxy which is just one of millions of known galaxies . . . makes you feel pretty small.  Gives quite a reality check.

We continued the same sort of ministry today as had been happening the past few days, and we were showing the Jesus film in one last village before leaving the next day to travel to the Fulanke people in Bangassi.  My mind however, was apparently in all sorts of different places this day.  This particular excerpt was just one tangent that I went on in my journal.

I think I went on this trip with no expectations about the people, ministry etc … but I think I had placed some sort of expectation on God to “reveal something” to me.  I don’t have any idea what it was supposed to be, but apparently I was pretty focused on it this particular day.  I really began to pray that God would rid me of all my selfish thoughts and desires and that I would begin to really focus in on Him and Him only.  To “seek Him first” like Matthew 6 says.  It’s hard to come to a place where you feel like you have to surrender all of your dreams and wants and desires, and truly be in the mindset that if I never get these things, it’s okay, because God is more than enough.  This was the beginning of a rough 24 hours or so for me emotionally … more about that tomorrow.

… meanwhile, I’m still learning to surrender to Him.

-E

During the climb:

View from the top ( you can see the village of Sebekoro in the distance):

Group Shot at the top:

Africa Journal: Day 7 – January 2, 2009

From my journal:

“Today we spent A LOT of time playing with and sharing with the children of Sebekoro … I played a lot of soccer today!  We also helped Bill and his family with another skit, this time it was the Good Samaritan.  It has been really cool to see how God is using everyone’s individual talents and abilities while we have been here, and on the flip side, it’s been cool to see God stretching each of us and forcing us out of our comfort zones too!

It’s been so neat to look over and see different people taking the initiative to share with a group of kids . . . Today I’ve seen 2 or 3 of our team sharing using the Evangecube or the soccer ball …

… another really cool thing that happened today was Pastor Andre got a motorcycle.  We gave some extra support money from our church and that money went to help Pastor Andre purchase a motorcycle.  Until this point their family did not have a vehicle of any sort, so any travel between villages to check in on/disciple believers had to be done via donkey cart or walking . . . this motorcycle will literally help to expedite the Gospel to the lost areas of Mali!  They were so proud of it!  I think I’ve seen 3-4 people trying to keep it clean today!”

We did a lot of the same type of ministry on this day as we had the day before.  While we were ministering with children and prayer walking the village Randy, the leader from Stonebridge, was leading a Discipleship Conference for Pastor Andre and the known believers from the area.  It was encouraging to see those believers show up early every morning, excited for and anticipating the teaching they would get that day.

I remember being so proud of everyone on our team, but especially Mark and Tracy.  I know how long we had prayed for this opportunity, and how many obstacles had to be jumped, but to see them really putting their whole lives into loving these people was a big encouragement for me.

I met my little buddy Madu on this day.  He became my right hand man for the rest of our time in Sebekoro … every time we would walk through the village or sit down for a little rest, he was right there at my side.

I miss the people.  Pray with me today for the people of Sebekoro, many of them still do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Pray that He would continue to reveal Himself to them!

-E

Pastor Andre’s new “moto”:

Me and my buddy Madu:

Tracy sharing with the Evangecube:

This weekend…

So, this past weekend I was in Columbus, GA at Morningside Baptist Church leading at their Disciple Now (d-now) weekend for the youth ministry there.  I’ve had the privilege to serve there during the d-now weekend for 3-4 years now with their youth pastor, Royce, who has become a good friend of No Longer Quiet ministries.

This weekend the speaker was Ronnie Hill, a full time evangelist from Texas.  Ronnie arrived and did assemblies at two of the area high schools in Columbus on Thursday, and invited all the students to a pre-weekend rally on Thursday night.  At the rally on Thursday night, 21 students gave their lives to Christ for the first time! What a great start to the weekend!!

He did a great job communicating with the students, and gave them one of the best lessons on sharing your faith, along with a simple example of one way to do that.   This was at our Friday evening service.  He taught the kids to share their testimony clearly and concisely in 3 minutes (well, that’s how long it should take to share your story, not how long it took him to teach them!).

Then on Saturday afternoon, all of the different groups were challenged to take the teaching and apply it in the city of Columbus.  So, during the afternoon, each group got to choose where they wanted to go to share their “3 minute stories.”  I was the leader for a group of 7th-8th grade boys.  Many of the boys were involved in rec-league baseball, and they chose to go to the rec fields and share their faith there.  While we were at the baseball fields, all but 2 of my boys approached people with the intention of sharing their faith in Jesus Christ.  I was SO proud of them.  We eventually decided to go to another location to share, and we chose the mall in Columbus.  While there, we were able to share our story with many other people … can you believe that in the span for 4 hours, our group talked to over 30 people, shared our stories with most of them, and my group of 7th-8th graders led 12 people to Christ!  When we returned to the church that evening, and all groups reported back from the afternoon, the approximately 70 students that were involved in the d-now weekend had been used by the Lord to lead 94 people to Christ!!!  In all my years of traveling in ministry, and attending evangelism camps, etc.  I’ve never seen students do anything like what these kids in Columbus did this weekend!

Cool story from my group.  Blake was one of my boys this weekend, and on Friday evening he accepted the Lord.  While we were talking about sharing your testimony and telling other people about what Jesus had done in your life, Blake realized that he didn’t have a testimony, and he came to the realization that he needed Jesus.  Then, fast-forward to Saturday afternoon when we were sharing our faith.  Blake was fearless and confident and bold with his new-found faith in Christ.  He shared with anyone that would listen, and a few people that I’m not sure wanted to!  Blake led 7 of those 12 people to Christ from our group!  I learned a lot from Blake this weekend!

Fast-forward again to Sunday morning when Ronnie was speaking in the main church services at Morningside.  I’m not sure what happened in the first service, but in the second service that the students were in, another 15-20 people responded to Christ for salvation … and several of them were baptized that morning!

What a great weekend!  I couldn’t not post something about it, giving God all honor and praise for the things that He did this weekend, and the amazing work He is doing in Columbus through a group of students who decided that it is “Not about mii” and it really is “All about Jesus.”

-E

Africa Journal: Day 6 – January 1, 2009

* Sorry for my brief hiatus, I’ve been in Columbus, Georgia since Thursday leading at a youth Disciple Now for a great church and a great friend there, and had no time to sit and write a new post, so I’ll start back up where I left off … hope everyone’s weekend was great!*

From my journal:

” … how cool to wake up this morning and start a new year in Africa.  I woke up to the bluest sky I have ever seen.  There is a window cut out of the wall just above my head in this old 3 room radio building that we slept in last night . . . and as my eyes opened this morning the contrast between the VERY neutral walls and ceiling, and the blue sky was crazy!  Not only did I wake to a blue sky, but to the sounds of goats, donkeys, roosters, and somewhere off in the distance children already playing and laughing.

We spent this morning after breakfast in prayer with our team, and then prayer walking through the village, just meeting and greeting people.  How different the culture is! People in the US could be very rude if you just walked up into their yard and tried to talk with them, but these people are SO nice and welcoming.

I’m learning quickly that we cannot go anywhere without a crowd of children following you . . . and I love it!  These kids are beautiful, and they have such a vibrancy about them. They want to touch you, hold your hand … and for me, they like to rub the hair on my arms!  Funny, and a little weird, not gonna lie!

I made a sweet friend today, his name is Vey.  He was my teacher … as we were walking/praying through the village I would point to things and ask “name?” and he would teach me (once he figured out what I was doing, he was pointing to everything to try to get me to say it) and then laugh at my attempts.

After we returned from prayer walking today, the guys set out to play soccer or “football.”  We had the “ball of many colors” that showed us about a perfect God, our sinful nature, Christ’s blood to pay for our sins and the opportunity we have to be cleansed.  If you choose to accept Him you then are called to grow in Him …

I got to share with the children, about 30-40 about the love of Jesus and their need for Him, what a joy! A seed planted.

After playing soccer for a while and helping the missionary family that was also visiting put on a skit of David and Goliath, Bakumba (she is a cook that came with us from Bamako, and will be here for our first week) made us another great Malian meal: rice, cabbage, eggplant, pumpkin and goat.  It was very good.

Tonight we are going to a neighboring village to show the Jesus film for the first time, I’m excited to see that!

Father, tonight, send Your Spirit down over our group and on these people.  Show up HUGE! …”

It was such a blessing to get to start actual ministry with the people of Mali.  I remember thinking that on New Year’s Day . . . . we had prayed for them, and studied the culture, but now we were actually there among them sharing the love of Christ in practical ways, and just loving them the way that we best knew how.

Also on this day, while we were prayer walking we visited the health clinic in Sebekoro, saw their “hospital beds” and the room where surgeries were performed and babies were born …

I’ll never forget the excitement on the faces of some of those boys when we pulled out the soccer equipment … they would ask us for the rest of the week “futbol?” They LOVE soccer . . . and we loved playing it with them and having the opportunity to share Christ with them through the love of a sport.

Re–reading the journal entry for today, and having just experienced some of the things that we did at the youth retreat this weekend makes me think a lot more about how I can be sharing Christ in my everyday life … not just on a mission trip, or at a church event, but in my everyday because I’m not called to go and make disciples just when it is comfortable or easy for me … just thoughts.

-E

Our cook, Bakumba:

A Malian meal:

One of the hospital beds:

Soccer:

Mark and Michele (our interpreter)  sharing with the Ball of many colors: