Zimbabwe Day 3

Here is a video of the children singing at the school. The first is in the classroom and the second is in the courtyard of the buildings that house the classes.

Zimbabwe Day 3

We were in Neguve doing a Vacation Bible School which was followed by a revival. The video is a preacher in the area leading singing prior to Danny and me getting up and speaking about the church and the gift of grace. The music this day was awesome, both at the school and at the revival. As you can see the preacher leading the singing was very energetic. It was such a great day. These people really loved to sing and love God. After Danny and me spoke 195 people came forward to give their lives to Jesus. It was yet another overwhelming moment when God moved in a very powerful way. I loved being able to speak outside. I can only imagine what people in the village around us were thinking when they heard 700 plus people singing together. It is one of those times I thought about what it must have been like in the book of Acts when the first century church met where ever people would gather. What a testimony to how awesome the God is we serve.

Zimbabwe Day 2

I woke at 6:30 in the morning to singing. By the time I got my video camera they had stopped singing, but these women were walking through the village praying and singing. They would stop at different huts and pray. Then they headed for the church where we had a teaching time at 10 and then a church service at 11.

It was amazing to see these women committed enough to get up early and prepare for worship. The worship service was fun, there was a lot of energy in the singing. We took communion and they took up an offering. I was a little surprised they took up and offering considering the average income is about $1200 a year, but people still gave.

I got to preach that morning. It was really cool. I talked about the wondering cattle that are in the village. Since it is dry, people let their cattle (pronounced "kettle") wonder. At the end of the day they go and gather their cattle to come home. While I was talking about the wondering cattle we had a cow and some goats wonder by (we joked that it was my 3-d power point). I compared it to the lost sheep and lost coin. I challenged the church to go out and gather those who are wondering through the village without God.

During announcements after the message, a lady turned in an announcment about a lost goat she hoped people could help her find. I bet none of you have heard that announced in a church service before.

Later in the day I got to see the community gardens and the houses that are being built for the preachers. From there we went to the Moshoko Christian Hospital started by the Pruets in 1958. I will blog on this later.

Zimababwe Day One

After getting to the village at 5 am on Saturday Morning we unpacked and got to bed about 5:30am. We were up at 7:30 getting showers and eating breakfast. At about 9:30 we headed to the church where we were greeted by an enormous crowd of children. When I stepped off the bus children surrounded me wanting to shake my hand and say, "Hi, how are you?" It was an overwhelming experience.

During the children's event I was talking to Blessing (one of the young men helping with the Mushayamunda Trust)and he shared with me that 70-80 percent of the children in attendance were without a father and a mother. They may live with a relative, but they have no parents. Some of the children in the video walked up to 20 miles to be at the event.

There were about 2200 present that afternoon and at the end we offered a decision time where over 300 present made a decision to follow Jesus.

One of the highlight came later in the day when a 12 year old boy, who has nothing, came up to me and shook my hand. As he shook my hand he said, "Jesus loves you."

How can people who have so little understand the love of Christ? I believe it comes from having to trust Him for everything and seeing Him provide everyday.

Do you have Censorship?

This is the first blog about my trip to Zimbabwe. It was an awesome trip and I am thankful for all the people who prayed for our team while we were gone. I am also thankful for a church that supported my journey.

There is so much to share that is life changing, I will share some things this Sunday with some pictures and video.

We did Vacation Bible School at different villages throughout the week. We would go to a local school in a village where they would allow us to take time out of their regular day to share about God.

I was the one who told the Bible story for the VBS. After I was done I would tell the children they could ask me any question about my life they wanted. We were in the village of Mukazi. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. The school meets in what used to be the homestead of a white farmer. It sat on the top of a mountain that overlooked the plains. It was run down, with broken windows and dirty walls. It was obviously a magnificent home at one time.

Mukazi is in an area that is very oppressed by the government of Zimbabwe. When I asked the third grade class if they had any questions about the United States a girl asked me, "Do you have censorship in your country like we do?"

You have to be careful talking about politics in Zimbabwe, but obviously this third grade girl wanted to know about the freedom we have in the United States. The first answer which popped into my head was, "No." But I stopped and remembered where I was and answered, "Sometimes."

We could never do in our schools what we were doing in Zimbabwe. The impact that was made for the kingdom in Zimbabwe in that week were amazing. I wonder what it would be like if we had the same freedom in the schools here that they have in Zimbabwe.

Christianity in Decline

When I logged on to the Internet this morning the headline on my homepage stated that 25% of the world is now Muslim. Below the headline there was another headline discussing the decline of Christianity (you can read it here

Here are a couple statements from the Fox News article by Bruce Feller:

"In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims."

"The number of Christians has declined 12% since 1990, and is now 76%, the lowest percentage in American History."

"The growth of non-believers has come largely from men. Twenty percent of men express no religious affiliation."

"Young People are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20's profess no organized religion."

"Americans are interested in God, but they don't think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God."

When is "the" church going to pay attention to what is happening in our culture? When are we going to really take seriously our call to make disciples instead of just growing a church? People are growing farther and farther from God and the church does not seem to get it.

What are your thoughts? I would love to here them.

Down at the River

On Monday morning I had the opportunity to walk into the chilled waters of the Kent River, not to fish, but to baptize Lori. As a baby her parents had her baptized, which is a tribute to them because of their desire to see her grow up knowing Jesus. After a few years of praying about being immersed, Lori decided this is something she wanted to do and I got to participate.

Lori did not want to be baptized in the traditional setting. She decided that she wanted to do it outside in a more natural setting. So she picked a place on the Kent River. It was awesome for several reasons. First, it was a place in which God provided the setting and the water. Maybe this was the more traditional setting. In the book of Acts they used whatever water was available at the time. This baptism took me back in time when baptism was not just a ritual, but had a deeper meaning.

Another reason this was meaningful was because of the public witness. While we were praying a group of people were walking on a nearby path. They stopped and asked if they could watch. Think about it. We make baptism a closed event for the most part. We may invite people to come to church when someone gets baptized. But the witnesses are mostly believers. But outside there are no barriers as to who may witness the story of Jesus' death burial and resurrection. I'm thinking we should baptize people in public places more often. What a perfect way to take the church out to the culture. Which is the goal of becoming a missional church.

Finally, whenever someone is immersed and united with Jesus' death, burial and resurrection it just tells the greatest story of all time. Remember when you were a child and you had your parents read the same story every night? It never got old. This story does not get old either. The story of what Jesus did for us never gets old because it's personal. This story includes you and me. This story is about how Jesus loved us enough that he paid our penalty of sin so we can be with him forever.

It really does not matter where the story is told. The important thing is that the story is told. Thanks Lori for letting me share in that story with you on Monday.