Wonderful Season of Prayer

I had a wonderful season of prayer today. Felt the need to spend extra time with my heavenly Father and unburden myself with the great needs I felt weighed down with. I have been concerned for the lost people that I have been ministering to and felt so strongly to plead with God to have mercy upon them and to take away the deception and darkness that is clouding their minds. Also for the lost in China and North Korea, Africa, Europe as our missionaries labor there. Prayer for our church. I have been following Paul's example of the prayers he recorded in his letters. I have been pleading with God that our people here would be filled with a knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding; that we would therefore bear fruit in every good work; that we would know the great hope of our calling, the riches of our inheritance and the great resurrection power that is in us. And chiefly -- after that amazing prayer we just studied in evening Bible Study -- that we would be given strength to know the width, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ and so be filled with the fullness of God.


After I finished my pleadings and petitions I was just resting in His Fatherly presence...loving Him and enjoying His nearness. Feeling at peace and filled with Him. I then thought... "What a wonderful thing it will be to be in heaven. To be near Him like this all the time. To know this peace, safety and security. To know all is well and to feel person to person His great love. To look upon Jesus, enthroned, glorious, loving and to know He loves me and loved me by sacrificing Himself for me. Oh how blessed are those saints who have gone on before us. What a privilege to continue to serve Him here and glorify His name, and also to know that heaven is my home and homeland even now!!"

The Call to be a Pastor

We had a very good day in class. My friend Randy Pizzino is teaching on the Holy Spirit. He is doing an excellent job. I spoke today on the Cross as a Revelation of God. The men were very reponsive and have expressed that this week has been a time of much learning and spiritual refreshment. God has been among us and it has been a blessing. I am conscious of people praying for us. I have gotten very close to the men here. I wish all of you could come with me and meet these dear men. Many have paid a high price to be where they are. The sacrifice and poverty, subsistence living, all mixed with joy, humility, and love. They are so very grateful for the instruction. These men take their call as pastors so very seriously and labor so diligently. It is an honor to be with them.

Wednesday Photos from Zambia

Here are some pictures James took today during our teaching session.

Please Pray for Me: Having Reaction to Malaria Medication

Please pray for me. I have had a reaction to the malaria medication and am experiencing restlessness and anxiousness. I went to a missionary doctor here and he took me off the medication right away but he said the symptoms may continue for another week. He did put me on another medication for malaria and said he didn't want me unprotected since we were in a high malaria area. I don't want to alarm anybody, I just feel the need for prayer. I took a Tylenol PM last night and finally got a good night's sleep and felt more rested today. Otherwise I'm doing wonderful; the teaching is going very, very well. We had a chance to go to the men's homes; it certainly welled up emotions as the poverty was immense. Pray also for these dear brethren.

Conflicting Emotions

We had a great time with the men today. It was just so depressing after the seminar because I went with James to take the men home. Some live in "compounds". These are the poorest sections of the city. I was once again shocked at the poverty these pastors live in; small one or two room cement block unpainted subsistence living. I was noticing how much these men were eating at lunch -- easily twice what I eat -- then I realized this was their only meal for the whole day. I have had emotions all across the spectrum today: from incredible thankfulness at how I have lived my whole life (our little neighborhood is literally like an Eden compared to the dirt, garbage, dust and depressing places here), to guilt that I have even complained once, to great compassion and admiration for these men, to the amazement at their joy. These men cannot even imagine how we live. They are much less in touch with US than I realized. I tried to explain what our football is and just assumed everyone knew what American football is like... but they had never heard of it.

God has raised up some dedicated and wonderful workers here. I have been moved again at how much sacrifice the missionaries make to be here. Keep praying.

More Photos from Zambia

Here are some more photos. The building is where our class is being held. The family is our hosts: the Williamsons.

Pastoring Pastors

The conference is going vey well. These men are so dear and so hungry for the Word. The practical pastoral questions went so well that we went way overtime. I taught today on Union with Christ and for over 2 hours we covered many texts and the men felt that this was very helpful and clear. I joked with them that I am giving them sermon material for a year and we had a good laugh. These men are pastoring under very difficult circumstances with much poverty, orphans, and needs. They are making heroic efforts to reach people for Christ. The individual conversations have been very good. Randy, James, and I are having a good time talking and sharing.

First Teaching Day and First Nshima Experience

Just returned from the teaching. I believe we had a very good day. The men were very responsive and attentive. The men very much were challenged and humbled by the teaching on being Christ-centered men. They confessed that the culture in Zambia is much too personality oriented and about building their own personal kingdoms that Christ's. One man, whom I ate lunch with, was very moved and determined to live all out for Christ. He said he felt alone but was so encouraged to hear of others who felt as he did and he was tired of the compromised pastors in this city. It really is a shame that the prosperity gospel is so popular here. From what I can gather, the only one's who are prospering are the preachers. These men felt emboldened when they heard someone articulate what they felt was biblical but were somewhat intimidated by the health and wealth guys. TBN and other American TV stations have done immeasurable damage to the cause of Christ worldwide. These men are good men who are sacrificing so much to serve Christ here. Their sincerity and gentleness endears them to you almost immediately. James was surprised how quickly they caught on to my sense of humor!! He said he has not seen anything like that... I don't know if that was a compliment or not!!!

Lunch was a cultural experience. Poor Randy found out the hard way. We lined up for the meal and it looked like we were having chicken, mashed potatoes, spinach, and a gravy. So when Randy was served the potatoes he took the gravy ladle from the lady and poured it on his potatoes. She gave me the oddest look like... "I have never seen that before". I realized something was up so I just did what the Zambians did. You can imagine Randy's dismay when he got to the end of the line and there was no silverware. The reason was that we were not having mashed potatoes; we were having Nshima. It is a corn meal (like grits) but boiled down to be like (although a little more stiffer) mashed potatoes. You roll some in your hand and then use that piece as a scoop to eat the rest of your meal. So Randy's Nshima was very wet to work with. Hence no silverware. Zambians say you have not really eaten until you have had Nshima...so now I have really eaten!!!

Happy Lord's Day from Zambia

Had a good Lord's Day. Went to a reformed/pentecostal church in this morning so I could experience African worship!! It was very good. Felt a lot like a Dominican service. In the evening I preached at Conrad Mwebe church. It is a larger church and it was good. The folks were very appreciative of the ministry. Zambia is a very friendly place. The folks are quiet and kind and generally soft spoken. Being hard of hearing I miss a lot. Have had to ask the folks to speak up. It has been warm and rains a little every day. Very poor here. Seems even more so than the Dominican Republic in some way. Will meet with the pastors tomorrow. Randy Pizzino will take the first 2 hours, which is good because I am losing my voice a little bit...please pray. Very tired now and ready for bed. Tell me how church went. We met for church tonight at the very hour you were in the morning!!! So the leader prayed for the church there!!

Photos from Zambia

Here are some pictures from my day with the children: (For more photos and information go to The Lion of Zambia.)

Settling In, Still Jet Lagged

Getting an update from Greenville makes the distance seem not so great. Slept pretty well last night. Was awake from 3-4 am but got back to sleep. Still feel a little tired. Had some good talks with James and Randy. Megan and her assistant here, Katrin, had the orphan kids they support tested for HIV today. The good news is that only 2 (whom Megan knew about already) were HIV positive. The rest were not. After the test she brought them all back here to have pizza (some for the first time!) and to swim. It was fun to have them here and to get to know them and talk. Tomorrow I preach the evening service at a church here...we are going to visit a pentecostal church to let me experience an "African" church!!! This pastor is a good friend of James. Randy will preach at the church I am going to preach at in the morning. Looking forward to getting going. Once the conference starts will be really busy.

Long Trip to Zambia, Here Safe

I just arrived at James's house in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa and wanted to send along an update. Travelled about 29 hours all together. The long flight went well. The South African airline is one of the nicest I have ever flown on. Amber booked me in one of the front section seats so I had a lot of leg room. Actually slept off and on for about 6 hours. Had a 2 hour conversation on the flight here with a Muslim from India who lives here in Lusaka. We talked about each other's religion and I was able to share the gospel with him. All connections and flights went well. Got through customs fine. Very tired, though, and hope I can get a good night's sleep. Feel like I have been traveling for 3 days!!!