Taking A Breather: “…The Lord grants sleep to those he loves…” Psalm 127:2

Whew! Our first seven weeks in Zambia and Namibia have been a blur! We’ve travelled in Zambia to Mumbwa, Mongu, and Sioma, and to Katima Mulilo, Namibia, as well. Each stop has been rewarding and fruitful, and our training has been transformative for both our students and us. We’re incredibly grateful for the privilege of being here, and for your support, encouragement, and prayers!

Over the last seven weeks, we’ve seen once again how important relational training is. Deepening relationships have allowed for more pertinent and in-depth discussions which, in turn, have strengthened our confidence in the Gospel. Information given without the context of relationships is rarely transformative, in our experience.

Is it any surprise that Jesus chose only twelve disciples to live with him and be trained by him for three years? And, it’s interesting that the largest discipleship group that Jesus trained over time appears to be seventy-two in number (Luke 10:1). Of course, many more followed him during his ministry, but it’s perhaps instructive that there were only one hundred twenty disciples on the day of Pentecost when the church was birthed by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:15). My guess is that Jesus knew all their names.

The apostle Paul describes this transformative dynamic in his second letter to Timothy. In his final charge to the one he describes elsewhere as “a son” (Philippians 2:22), Paul says this: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it” (2 Timothy 3:14). It makes all the difference when we know the ones who teach us, allowing us to learn and, more importantly, become convinced. Relational learning provides knowledge that lays the foundation for belief that leads to trust which the Bible calls faith. We have seen this play out over and over again through the years, both in the States and here in Africa.

This past week we took a breather while we prepared for the second half of our mission. In addition to waking up without an alarm clock, we went on a one day safari to Chobe National Park, something we hadn’t done in four or five years. Chobe is only about an hour away and it’s home to four of Africa’s Big Five: African Elephant, African Lion, Cape Buffalo, and Leopard. Only the Rhinoceros is missing. It has the largest elephant population in Africa, estimated at 125,000+! In addition, there are Giraffe, Zebra, Nile Crocodile, Impala, Kudu, Sable, Water Buck, Fish Eagle, etc. You never know what you’ll see so it was quite an adventure. Again, what a privilege!

Please continue to pray for us. On July 27th, we welcomed our friends and GTN colleagues, Scott and Sandra Bauer, to join us here. We’ll be working together for two weeks including training leaders in Musokotwane and Livingstone, and teachers and kids in Livingstone. This is their first visit to Zambia so we’re praying they have a great experience. And remember, where we go, you go!

“I need someone to help me…”

Our focus this week has been on the Khwe people. There are six to seven thousand Khwe in this part of Namibia scattered over eight or nine villages in what is now a national park. Three years ago, before Covid, we had made three five hour round trips to two villages, Peoples and Chetto, to meet with Pastors Wilson and Nelson, and their members. We encountered zeal with what appeared to be limited knowledge of the Gospel, not to mention a significant language barrier. We were provoked by the Spirit and so have spent the last three years praying about this.

Fast forward to last week when Pastor Wilson and Matthias from the Peoples church attended our Phase 1 training here in Katima Mulilo. We wanted them to get a sense of what we could offer their church leadership and it seems to have been successful in that regard. Then, this Wednesday, we drove out to Peoples and met again with Pastors Wilson and Nelson who warmly welcomed us. We enjoyed seeing them, and spoke about the continued development of our relationship with their churches.

Our other reason for visiting was to meet a man named Soleri in Chetto. Soleri is about fifty years old, is Khwe, is from Chetto, leads the Chetto church with Pastor Nelson, and lived in a South African Khwe community from 1990-95. More significantly for us, he has, over the last ten or fifteen years, traveled to Europe several times to help those studying the Khwe culture and language. He now has a foot in both cultures and speaks good English. We were anxious to meet him and learn as much as we could in a one hour meeting. We enjoyed getting to know him, and it seemed to go very well.

Soleri allowed us to videotape our discussion and he was very willing to answer our questions about the Khwe and their way of life, and about the churches there. We learned about their traditional animistic religion, the so-called healing churches that mix hallucinogenic drugs and trance dancing with pseudo-Christian worship, and the small Christian churches that are in desperate need of discipleship.

During our conversation, Percy asked Soleri what his greatest need was. His paused and simply said, “I need someone to help me.”

So, we offered to help.

Over the next year, Percy and Pastor Jack will spend more time with Soleri, Pastors Wilson and Nelson, Matthias, and the Khwe to get to know them and understand their culture better. Over the winter, Abby and I will research and develop a very basic discipleship curriculum appropriate for both the Khwe children and adults. Then, next year, we will begin training in earnest. In our minds, this is likely a ten year project. At least, that’s what we’re preparing for. We’ll see.

Please continue to pray for us. On Monday, we return to Livingstone, Zambia for a rest. On July 27th, we’ll welcome our friends and GTN colleagues, Scott and Sandra Bauer, and spend the following two weeks together training leaders in Musokotwane and elsewhere. This will be Scott and Sandra’s first visit to Zambia and we’re very excited to welcome them!

The road to the Khwe villaGes is pretty muCh a straight shot from Katima Mulilo.

We enjoyed meeting Soleri and are GRATEFUL for his warm welcome.

What a privilege It is to Know (L to R) Percy, Soleri and Pastor Jack!,

These beautiful khwe children were playing near us when we met with Soleri.

PastoR jack’s loVe for the khwe people has opened the door for us.

“You use too much the nasals!”

We arrived in Katima Mulilo, Namibia with a sense of hopeful anticipation. We always feel this way when we begin training a new group of students. Our students were to be a mix of Namibian, Zambian, and Khwe, both men and women, from three churches. We were especially excited about Pastor Wilson and Matthias who are both Khwe and would be joining us from the Chetto community. The Khwe are what are popularly known as bushman or Sans people, but they much prefer Khwe (pronounced kway) which is the name of their language. Percy’s very good friend, Pastor Jack, was to be our host at his church, Jesus Kingdom Ministries. We had first met Jack in 2018 and had twice been guest lecturers at his Bible school on the same property so we were excited to see him again.

Well, how did the training go? It went splendidly. Our students were engaged, freely asked questions, openly discussed key issues, and we laughed together a lot. Abby combined her Wounded Healers training with Praying the Psalms of Lament. It was not something she had done before and it was very effective. Each of our students, at the end of the week, wrote his or her own Psalm of lament, and it was deeply meaningful for them. I focused, as usual during Phase 1, on Understanding Guilt, Shame, and Fear which led to serious discussions about unresolved personal issues and typical ministry struggles. Our own experience has taught us that leaders who fail to deal with their own unresolved guilt, shame, and fear - and the accompanying wounds - often cause serious harm to others in their families and the life of the church. That’s why we begin Phase 1 with these classes.

As usual, our students struggled a bit, especially Wilson and Matthias, with our American accents. Concerned about this possibility, I spoke to Matthias during a break on our first day and asked him if the look of confusion I’d seen on his face while I was teaching was because of my accent. His response was priceless. Shaking his head yes, and using two fingers, he pointed to his own nose and said, “You are using too much the nasals!” Smiling, I lowered my voice and, straining, spoke as deeply and sonorously as I could, “Would that be better?” “Oh, yes,” he said enthusiastically. Still smiling, I said, “Sorry, can’t do it.” I must say that he looked pretty disappointed!

Yesterday, it was our privilege to worship at Jesus Kingdom Ministries whose mission statement reads: “We exist to treasure Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, to enjoy Him above all creation and spread the passion to all people for God’s glory!” Abby taught, I preached, Percy translated, and Nathan led wonderful worship music. Afterward, Pastor Jack and his wife, Kaleni, joined us for a lingering lunch where we discussed everything from politics to the inappropriate influence of self-styled “prophets” on the local churches to the dominance of witchcraft on the local community’s life and thinking. It was a joy to be with them!

Please continue praying for us. This week will be a combination of personal meetings, video recording, and strategic discussions, especially about how we may more effectively reach the Khwe. We were very excited when Matthias told Percy this past Friday that our training had been personally meaningful to him, and that we had to bring our training to his people. And remember, where we go, you go!

Our Phase 1 class in katima mulilo, namibia, was great!

Small group breakouts went really welL because of our students’ enthusiasm, students like (L to R) chi chi, wilson, and elias!

It’s always beautiful to see our students digging into god’s word!

Pastor wilSon (L) and Matthias are from the Khwe community in chetto.

Matthias looks up a scripture passage during a small group breakout.

Jesus kingdom ministries welcomed us warmLy to worship. Many of their memBers were at their home villages because it was A holiday weekend.

Pastor jack and his wife, Kaleni (pictured here), are a joy to know!

These kids loved having their photo taken after worship.

“Our sermons must be well ground…”

We had an amazing time in Sioma, Zambia. The training went very well, and our relationships continued to deepen. The discussions were heartfelt, spirited, and deep, and the intersection of Abby’s teaching on The Use of the Psalms in Pastoral Care and mine on The Importance of Vision in Nehemiah was great. We had not previously taught these classes concurrently, but Percy asked us to, and he was so right. Thanks, Percy!

One of the benefits of teaching intensively over two weeks is being able to delve deeply into the scriptural text. The pastors all commented that they’d never experienced this at the level we did this year. We agree. One of Pastor Martinet’s comments reflected this when he said, “I’m learning that if our preaching is not well ground, it will choke others when we give it to them.” That’s well ground, not well grounded.

It was difficult saying goodbye to our old friends, as it always is. Now, Percy, Nathan, Abby, and I are in Katima Mulilo, Namibia for a new Boot Camp hosted by an old friend of Percy’s, Pastor Jack. We just finished day three of our training. Abby’s teaching a combination of Wounded Healer and the Psalms, and I’m teaching Understanding Guilt, Shame, and Fear. It is going very well because the students are open and engaged. We are grateful!

Please continue to pray for us, and remember…Where we go, you go!

Pastors Titus, Martinet, and PeleKelo have become dear friends.

Our visual learning project set-up now includes a B-roll camera, a boom mic, and portable lighting, not to mention our filmmaker, nathan kondowe.

Morning has broken at white sands lodge on the banks of the mighty zambezi!

Sunsets on the zambezi are awesome!