“You have helped us blow our noses!”

One of the challenges of training in Zambia is communicating well. Of course, this is obviously the case when our students don’t speak English, which makes Percy Muleba’s awesome translating skills so helpful. But, what about when our students do speak English, and very well? Well, funnily enough, it can still be a bit of a problem. As Percy says, “We both speak English, but we don’t mean the same thing.”

This hit home to me yesterday as I spent a couple of hours chatting with Pastors Pelekelo, Martinet, and Titus. We had enjoyed an engaging morning of training as we looked deeply at leadership and vision from the book of Nehemiah as he led the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. We had ended the morning with our students commenting that in order to lead well into our God-given visions, we will have to rebuild our own walls, the walls of our character. Indeed.

Then, after a good lunch, we began to talk about all sorts of things, from entrepreneurship and economics to hilarious cross-cultural misunderstandings. We laughed a lot over such things as what placing your hand in your pocket while preaching means (definitely not good here!) to the Zambian proclivity to try to go the extra mile whenever you order food. Just try to get plain white rice here and you’ll end up with white rice, but with a garnish of some sort (tomatoes, green peppers, tomato sauce, margarine, saffron, etc.) no matter what you insist! Seriously. Such fun! We laughed a lot about these things.

The conversation turned more serious for the last hour or so but, hilariously, as I concluded my “illuminating” thoughts on an important matter, Pastor Martinet spoke these words, “Thank you, father! You have helped us blow our noses!” I said, “What?” He repeated himself, “You have helped us blow our noses!” I said, “Do you mean clear your heads?” He said, “Yes, that’s it!” Pastor Titus began to laugh, then I began to laugh, then we all began to laugh, and then we just roared. What an amazing way to end a long conversation that had begun with discussing cultural misunderstandings. Hilarious!

So, if you ask me how it’s going at our Boot Camp, my answer is simple. It’s going great. We’re really helping our students blow their noses, and they’re really helping us blow ours! Any questions?

I watched in amazement as This highly skilled craftsman smoothed a Beautiful thatched roof Using this simple hand tool.

These awesome kids hung out with us during our training in mumbwa, zambia.

We love iT when our students dig deeply into god’s word during our training!

We spotted this male impala GRAZING with his harem on the road from mumbwa to mongu, zambia..

Off and Running

What an amazing first ten days! We arrived in Livingstone, Zambia on Friday, June 10th after a surprisingly restful flight and overnight in South Africa. Fawlty Towers welcomed us warmly and we began adjusting to the six hour time change.

On Saturday, Percy Muleba and his daughters, Thabo and Nsala, joined us for my 65th birthday dinner. His wife, Muyunda, and new daughter, Mwendabai, rested at home.

On Sunday, June 12th, we traveled an hour outside Livingstone to worship with our old friends at Musokotwane. Abby taught, I preached, and Percy translated. It was an awesome worship service with wonderful praise and prayer. We’ll be returning to Musokotwane later this summer for two weeks of leadership training. Our trip home was exciting. Two trains almost crashed head-on near Musokotwane. It was close (200 yards), and the engine of one derailed. Of course, this blocked our route back to Livingstone so we headed across country down bush trails, over a plowed field, through a quarry…Well, you get the picture. We made it in time for a late lunch with our friends, Elder and Wisdom.

On Wednesday we drove eleven hours to Mumbwa, located about two hours northwest of Lusaka. Thursday afternoon was spent with Biblical Worship Training Centre's (BWTC) Southern African Coordinator, Dan Mayeya, and his wife, Nana. BWTC is Percy's ministry in Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and...

Thursday evening, we met with the Executive Council of the local Pastor's Fellowship where we were delighted to meet Pastors Simon and Isaac, Rev. Bishop, and Bishop Bishop. That’s right! Both their first names are actually Bishop, but one is a Rev. and the other is a Bishop. So Rev. Bishop and Bishop Bishop. Bishop Bishop is, appropriately, the Chairperson of the Executive Council. Such fun! And great people.

Friday morning, we cast vision with the entire Pastor's Fellowship for future training. It seems likely in 2023. Then on Friday afternoon, we began a three day retreat for local worship leaders and their teams with several of their pastors present. Percy, Abby, and I are all teaching, Percy on Worship Warriors, Abby on Wounded Healers, and I on Guilt, Shame, and Fear. All the training has been adapted to worship leaders.

This morning, Abby teaches and I preach at Calvary Church, Dan and Nana's home church. Then, we’ll finish the retreat Sunday afternoon followed by dinner at Dan and Nana’s, along with their husband and wife co-pastors, Peter and Agnes.

Monday, we’ll drive about eight hours to Mongu through Kafue National Park. (Hope we see some animals!) We’ll spend one night in Mongu and say hi to our old friends, Yuyi and Mercy Mundia. Then, Tuesday, it’s two more hours to Sioma where we’ll be holding our Phase II Boot Camp for our Master Trainers, Pastors Titus, Martinet, and Pelekelo. We’ll be in Sioma for about two weeks.

It’s been an exhilarating start to our training. We’re grateful we’ve been resting very well at night. Please keep lifting us up in prayer. And, remember, where we go, you go!

Pictured below: Abby teaching in Musokotwane; a mother and daughter during small group break-out in Mumbwa; BWTC local leaders Oscar, Nana, and Dan; our host church, Calvary, in Mumbwa.

Stinkin’ Faith

“It is not what a man does that is of final importance…The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence.” Oswald Chambers

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us…to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Christ everywhere.” The Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Abby and I are about to embark on our twenty-fourth trip to Zambia. I’ve been telling everyone it’s our twenty-ninth trip, but I counted today and I was wrong. Twenty-four life changing trips. Twenty four times we’ll have had the privilege of being with Christians who long to know more about following Jesus, who actively put into practice what they learn, and who are being changed over time to smell more like Jesus!

We’re always grateful when people ask us what we’ll be doing in Zambia and Namibia. In a nutshell, we “train the untrained to reach the unreached.” That is, we train small groups of Christian pastors and leaders, both men and women, from different denominations over time in relational, small group settings. These pastors and leaders have already evidenced a heart for evangelism and church planting, and are eager to join more knowledge to their Holy Spirit inspired zeal.

But, as time has gone by, we’ve come to see that there’s something more significant going on here than training, more than the simple passing along of what we have learned to eager disciples. There is “atmospheric” change going on. Friendships are being formed, relationships are deepening, character is being shaped, and destinies are unfolding. Over time, our students and we have begun to smell differently, to increasingly carry the aroma of Christ, to “be” different than we were as we have slowly “become” more like Jesus wants us to be, enabling us to “do” what he’s called us to do.

Increasingly, we want to carry in, with, and through us the atmosphere of Jesus, and to absorb the atmosphere of Jesus from our amazing students and dear friends while we’re in Zambia and Namibia, just as we do from you when we’re here in the States!

To put it bluntly, we just wanna have stinkin’ faith!

A number of you have asked about our itinerary so that you can pray more specifically for us while we’re away, which is awesome. So, here it is:

June 8-10: Travel to Livingstone, Zambia via Johannesburg, SA

June 10-15: Livingstone Zambia - Orientation with Percy Muleba

June 15-19: Mumbwa, Zambia - Phase 1 Discipleship Training

June 19-20: Mongu, Zambia - Visit with former students

June 20-July 3: Sioma, Zambia - Training Trainers Boot Camp (Phase 2)

July 4-17: Katima Mulilo, Namibia: Training Trainers Boot Camp (Phase 1)

July 18-26: Livingstone, Zambia: Rest

July 27-August 10: Livingstone, Zambia - Discipleship Training in Musokotwane and Kazungula, Zambia with GTN colleagues, Scott and Sandra Bauer (day trips)

August 11-September 6: Livingstone, Zambia - Discipleship Training in Musokotwane and Kazungula plus in-studio video recording of our training for the Virtual Learning Project

Contentment Or Complacency?

“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…” Philippians 4:12

Abby and I were enjoying lunch with friends recently when the subject of complacency came up, and the danger it poses to the American church. In any case, it’s gotten me thinking about the difference between complacency, which the Bible warns us about, and contentment, to which the Bible calls us.

I’ve been a Christian now for forty-seven years and a pastor for thirty-five of these. As you can imagine, I’ve experienced, been privy to, and dealt with every imaginable kind of struggle, whether moral, philosophical, theological, familial, ecclesial, political, and more. And, I can say with confidence that those who are struggling in these areas as they seek to follow Jesus are in far better shape than those who just shrug their shoulders and plod along.

Complacency is spiritual dry rot. It means we’ve grown accustomed to things as they are, and have no desire for things as they could be. It’s a depressive state. It’s a sleeping death. It’s a faithless place. It lacks color. It resists the prodding of the Word or the Holy Spirit. It kills marriages, churches, businesses, countries, and individuals. I’d much rather deal with an anigry Christian than a complacent Christian. At least the angry Christian is still alive.

Contentment, on the other hand, is rooted in spiritual vitality. It means we’ve learned to cope well with life as it is, and yet still desire life as it could be. It’s a restful, not passive, state. It’s life-giving. It’s rooted in grace. It’s colorful. Dealing with contented Christians is a pleasure because they’ve learned how to engage life in all its joys and disappointments, and continue to move forward in active discipleship.

Paul puts it like this: “I know what it means to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty…I can do all this through him (Jesus) who gives me strength.” (4:12) In other words, we’ve experienced the joys and the hard knocks of life in this fallen world, and have accepted the reality of life; we’ve learned how to thrive as we join Jesus in his mission to the world. And, we’ve been able to do this because of Jesus’ grace, and his transforming presence in our lives.

Some years ago, Creed sang a song from the perspective of a new father. The song celebrated life, a life of contentment, not complacency:

If I had just one wish/Only one demand/I hope he's not like me/I hope he understands/That he can take this life
And hold it by the hand/And he can greet the world/With arms wide open...

Following Jesus calls us to contentment not complacency. We’re called to take responsibility (“take up your cross”) as we live out our lives during both good times and bad. It means we do not disengage and shrug our shoulders in a kind of blind acceptance or passive “faith,” but allow the life-giving presence of Jesus to empower us. It calls us to put our hands to the plow and move forward with our eyes wide open, trusting Jesus as we look toward his blessed appearing and the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead!

“Brothers and sisters…one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

Contentment doesn’t mean you stop fishing!