February 2003 - Posts

• Moving of the Holy Spirit

  God is touching and preparing resistant hearts Kamba and his family came to Christ here in Farakala, Mali. Amadou's (Brian's language helper) cousin Sibiri also converted. We are happy to report that they are committed to God and anxious to grow in him through discipleship. Two men from Nangola, a village about five miles away, came to our house to report there were 41 people in their village considering becoming Christians. My wife, Jenny, and I were hardly over our shock when the message came that those living in the village next to Nangola are also interested in the gospel. This is not normal for the Senoufos. They have been described as resistant to the gospel by various mission groups, as well as by other Malian ethnic groups. The missions that have worked with them in the past would be dumbfounded to hear this news. God is touching and preparing their hearts. What Jesus said in John 4:36, 38 is true for these Senoufos, "... and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest ... I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors." Posted Feb 28 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Small Beginning

  One man changes many lives Ndrasana didn’t learn to read until he became a Christian. He started a church with his wife and three children in their remote area of Sakalava, Madagascar. Their village has 300 people but at first only Ndrasana’s family was attending the church Now, the church never has less than 250 people on Sunday mornings and up to 400 on special occasions--some come from several other villages. Even more impressive is that Ndrasana trained most of the leaders of the other nine churches in this valley. Posted Feb 27 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• A Family of Believers

  God calls a family to himself Amadou, my language helper, told me about five children in the same family who wanted to follow Jesus. They wanted the joy and freedom in Christ that Christians have. When the kids told their parents they contacted Amadou because they themselves were not Christians. Amadou and I went to the family’s house to meet the children. The father, Kamba, said that he and his wife were also ready to follow Christ. I told them that I would teach them about Christ and what it means to accept him and be a disciple. When Amadou and I went to talk with Kamba and his family a few days later, I explained the message of salvation. I also asked very direct questions about becoming a Christian. Their responses were genuine. It was quite apparent that God was calling this family to himself. That night all five kids, Kamba and his wife as well as his sister-in-law prayed to accept Christ. Posted Feb 26 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Cost Counting 101

  Small kids pay a big price to follow Jesus I was dismayed when I heard the news. The kids who came regularly to my house in remote northern Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) had progressed steadily in their new lives as followers of Jesus. Now it seemed they had to compromise. At a special place out in the bush each kid's family would sacrifice cows and sheep to family fetishes. Parents and grandparents insisted that the whole family attend the sacrifices. Besides family pressures, the kids were facing temptation: eating sacrificed animals provided their best opportunity to enjoy good-sized portions of meat. For two hours I talked with the kids about why they should and should not participate in the sacrifices. We used as our starting point the Bible verses they had memorized and our discussions about how to apply them. The children concluded that when an older relative tells them to take an animal out to the sacrifice place, they must obey. But they decided they could not participate in sacrificing the animals or eat any of the meat. They agreed to stay away from the meat, banding together to help each other resist the temptation to eat it. They knew their decision would mean going hungry. Then we hit on a great idea: I could serve them a meal to help make up for what they had missed. So that day I gladly served the kids rice and, of course, a lot of meat. 02072456 Posted Feb 25 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Tears of Freedom

  Bars of sin were no match for God's grace When I first saw "D" the weariness in her eyes told me her story: physically she was walking around freely; spiritually she was trapped behind bars. We met at her grown daughter's baptism. Rather than opening D to the gospel, her daughter's conversion had increased her resistance. "Why," I wondered. Majda, one of D's co-workers, had on several occasions shared the gospel with her. Receptive at first, D gradually began to shut Majda out. Months passed and the tension at work increased. At times, D was almost hostile. One Sunday, Majda called to invite D to her house, and D came. While Majda's believing friend prayed in the next room, Majda showed D a video clip of Nicky Cruz's testimony. D began to cry. "Majda, I know all this," she said. "But I just can't move ahead, I can't come to God." Majda asked, "Is there some sin that you think is too big for God to forgive?" D cried, "Yes! Yes! I have so many sins, so many terrible sins, too terrible for God to forgive." Majda assured D that God could and would forgive her. With that D literally threw herself to the floor, sobbing and confessing her sins one by one. "Everything was wet," Majda told me later, "her shirt, the carpet, all soaked with tears." But then D stood up and said, "I'm free! I'm free!" D was baptized April 7, 2002. Though I had prayed that D's mother would come to the service, I was stunned when she walked through the door. She had vigorously opposed her granddaughter's conversion and was even more upset about her own daughter's. But she loved the service and has since come back for every church meeting. I'm thinking before long we will have another baptismal service. 02051554 Posted Feb 23 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• So We Showed Them Jesus

  These kids came to play and stayed to pray Erika often lets about 28 neighborhood kids play in her yard, where they enjoy the grass and the toys--a real drum, a soccer ball and sometimes crayons and paper. One day Erika allowed them to watch a Veggie Tales video, even though the tape was in English and the children could not understand it. At the end of the video the children chattered about what they’d seen. One spoke out in his broken English, "Show me Jesus." Erika remembered that in 1999 she and CBI missionary Gary Bennett had shown Rwandan kids the Jesus film in their own language. Erika thought, "Mike and I are staying in Gary's house while he's away; could that film be here?" After a quick search she found it. "So we showed them Jesus," says Erika, "and they loved it!" After sitting spellbound for an hour, the children had to go home before the film finished because darkness was falling. But the next day 30 returned to watch the rest. Erika watched as the children heard the gospel presentation at the film's end. "I want so much to share my heart for them and for their need for Christ," she thought. But the language barrier got in the way. As if God read her mind, Felician, the Philips' night guard, came for the last 20 minutes of the film. Language was no barrier for him. When Erika turned off the TV, Felician stood up, asked the children some questions, and then invited them to accept Christ. All 30 children prayed with him! Felician then led them all in a celebration of praise singing. 02050253 Posted Feb 22 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• From Addiction to Compassion

  A recovered drug addict uses house arrest to set others free God had freed Victor from his drug addiction, but he was still a fugitive from the law. There was only one thing to do: he turned himself in to the police. Everyone expected the worst. Victor had no money to "gift" the judge, so it seemed he was headed for serious jail time. God had other plans. Victor was sentenced to a year of house arrest, an arrangement similar to probation in the United Sates. From there God's plans got really interesting. As Victor's former clients came back to him to do more business, he gave them a healthy "dose" of God's truth instead. Victor told them how God had freed him from his narcotics addiction and had given him a new life. Six months after Victor turned to Christ, a church sent a team to wallpaper his apartment and bought him a tea service so he could entertain his guests more properly. Not long ago, Victor was concerned only about where and how to get more drugs. Today he smiles over a cup of tea and shares the story of his transformation. Life still gets hard at times. A few months after becoming a Christian, Victor heard a rustling noise outside his home. It could have been an animal except that it had a groaning sound to it. Stepping outside he found his alcoholic father lying semiconscious near the building. Victor considered leaving him there. The last thing Victor needed, he felt, was the burden of nursing his father back to health, especially considering that his father would probably remain physically dependent and his mind might never be the same. Victor turned to walk away, knowing his father would freeze during the night. Then he turned, picked up his father and carried him into the house. And nursed him back to health. God's love had truly changed Victor inside--from addiction to compassion. 02042652 Posted Feb 21 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Hard Journey, Rich Rewards

  Following up on a former patient who followed Christ I had the opportunity to go to Fodonovogo, a village about 60 km (about 39 miles) away, to visit a 7-year-old girl named Mariam. She had been hospitalized here in Ferkessedougou for several months last year. While she was here, she and her mother became Christians. I went with N'Golo, the African head nurse in the inpatient department, Namena, who does the billing for all the hospitalized patients, and Pastor Issaou, the hospital chaplain. We left Ferkessedougou just before 8:00 that morning and got there about 10:30. We had to stop three times to ask directions because none of us had ever been there. The road was in very bad condition. Mariam's mother, Zele, saw us as we finally arrived at Fodonovogo. With her new baby, Leah, strapped to her back she ran to greet us. Soon her husband came. We went first to the chief's home, then to Mariam's home, where we were offered water and peanuts. We gave our greetings and our news, then gave the gifts we had brought--bread, clothes, medicines, candy, and some pictures we had taken of Mariam, Leah, her parents and me before she left the hospital. They were very happy. In return for our coming to visit, Mariam's family gave us gifts. In their custom, the woman in the group is offered the "condiments" because she is the one who prepares the sauce. So they gave me a big bowl of peanuts and then the only other Christian woman in the village, Fatoumata, added another bowl of peanuts to it. Then the chief of the village, along with Mariam's father, presented us with a sheep that they had just washed and combed. They told us of Mariam's bicycle accident, in which she had fallen and broken her leg. They had gone to the nearest village, where elderly Christian women put ointment on Mariam's leg and prayed for her. Mariam's father was on a trip when the accident happened, but before he got back Mariam was already starting to walk again! We felt a definite lump on Mariam's shinbone where the break had been, but she walks normally. While we waited for the meal, N'Golo, who'd brought along some pictures, told the story of Noah to an interested audience. Several people had come by when they heard that some visitors had arrived, so there was quite a group by this time. Afterward the pastor gave a short message. They shared some prayer requests with us and we prayed for them. They asked lots of questions: "Can we water our garden on Sunday?" "When you fast, how long is the fast supposed to last?" They have no Bible and they have no one to teach them on a regular basis. Our visit soon came to an end, but they want us to come back. We said we would try to come once a month. The chief told us that he would give us four lots of land to build a church or a hospital. And since there is a dam nearby, he said, they could bring electricity to the village for us. It really made us appreciate having a nearby church to attend, and a Bible to read anytime we want to. 02040249 Posted Feb 18 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• The Park Couldn’t Contain the Story of Jesus

  Even a fence couldn't stop the message In a rural community known for its collapsed economy, witchcraft and mix of Muslims and nominal Christians, a weekend outreach included showings of the Jesus film. Though we experienced no hostility during the first night’s showing, there was no visible response to the public invitation at the end of the film. On the second night we showed the film in the athletic field of a local primary school. This time dozens of young people stood at the public invitation to receive salvation in Jesus. At a girls’ boarding school next to the athletic field, residents lined the inside of the chainlink fence surrounding their compound for a chance to watch the film. They cheered whenever Jesus healed someone. When the invitation was given, four of them prayed--loud enough for us to hear over on the athletic field! Several outreach workers walked over to the school and received permission to go inside and counsel the girls. God answered our prayers "that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored" (2 Thessalonians 3:1). 02040248 Posted Feb 17 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• An Eternal English Lesson

  God's message reaches around the world When we were invited to attend the Team Effectiveness Seminar in Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) in February 2001, we jumped at the opportunity. We were not only looking forward to the time of training, but also excited about seeing first hand the country where so many missionaries with CBInternational we had known, lived and worked. During our flight we looked down at the vast Sahara Dessert and were stunned to realize that only a few hours earlier we had left the emerald green fields of our ministry home in Ireland. This was only the beginning of a week of wonder and contrast as we tasted just a bit of the culture of Côte d’Ivoire. The long hours of warm weather were a welcome balm to our dampened, cold Irish bones. We were astounded at the masses of young people on the streets of Abidjan and later Bouaké, even late at night. One evening when Sherri Schneidermann, a nurse at Baptist Hospital in Ferkessedougou, told us how she enjoyed going out and eating “street food,” we asked her if she would mind if we tagged along. We gathered that this was the equivalent of the Irish take away restaurants. The food was being prepared in large kettles of different shapes and sizes, and on grills over open fires. The cooks were obviously experts, chatting with their guests as they chopped and stirred. We were sitting on the dimly lit street enjoying chunks of meat on sticks and fried bananas, when a nicely dressed young man walked up to us and politely asked in English if we lived in the area. He told us that he would like to find someone to converse with on a regular basis so he could improve his English. We told him that we weren’t from there but he could talk with us while we ate. We quickly realized that his English was very good and he told us how he wanted to speak English like an American. His name was Soungari and he was working on his master’s degree in English at the university. In the course of the conversation we explained what we were doing in Ireland. After listening politely he told us how his Catholic uncle had reared him although his father was person. His mother’s side of the family was Roman Catholic and his father’s people were person. Because his mother’s brother had no children he was acting as Soungari’s second father. Soungari had never heard a clear presentation of the gospel and was especially interested in the concept that Jesus took the penalty of all our sin, and that nothing we can do is enough to lead us into a right relationship with God. Tim told him that all he could tell God was that he was a sinner and ask for forgiveness and accept Christ as Lord of his life. When asked if he would like to do that, Soungari said he would. He prayed a simple but seemingly knowledgeable prayer, repenting of his sin and inviting Christ into his life. Sherri then re-explained salvation in Christ and began chatting with Soungari in his language. She found out that his tribe came from an area close to Ferkessedougou. She told him that he could come to the hospital when he was visiting his family, and someone there would be glad to meet with him. She gave him some Christian literature before we headed back to the conference center.   We have often prayed for Soungari, asking God to give him boldness to go forward in his Christian walk. We were fascinated by Côte d’Ivoire, and have a new appreciation for our missionaries there. We have left a bit of our heart with Soungari. 02040247 Posted Feb 16 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Boisterous, Bountiful Grace

  Africans reaching Africans--their way Jack Robinson and Mary Anne Lattin For two and a half days in February, a carefully planned Christian event called the Jericho Project, or Jericho II, brought hundreds of Senegalese villagers together in a rural, open-air setting near the person town of Diourbel. Thirty miles away, the largest mosque in West Africa draws pilgrims from all over the world. Attending the event was the first believer in Jesus Christ from the entire area, who came to faith in 1965. Sitting in plastic chairs under a huge canvas for protection from the tropical sun, the crowd reached 2,400 people on the first afternoon. Several groups sponsored and organized Jericho II, including the indigenous Mission Inter-Senegal. CBInternational built the center that housed the event, and CBI’s Mary Anne Lattin worked behind the scenes managing the logistics. Meetings featured animated evangelistic preaching, testimonies of those who had come to Christ and three Senegalese Christian choirs. Other ministries included recreational activities for children and youth, virtually free medical and dental consultations every afternoon, and communal meals of rice and beef served in large metal pans. Jericho II was not conceived as a western type evangelistic crusade. There were no altar calls. In the Serere and Wolof cultures represented at the meeting, people rarely make individual decisions to change the religion into which they were born. But these African societies traditionally hold annual community events, charged with great emotion, during which community members receive direction from key individuals on how to prepare to live their lives together for the coming year. In such circumstances entire villages can make decisions of profound, life-changing importance. During the two and a half days of the project, 250 people indicated to leaders that they wished to follow Christ. Over 300 health consultations were made. Friendships were established. Understanding of the Gospel deepened. Good will was built toward the Christians and their message. Many people returned to their villages to consider together what they should do about what they had seen and heard. And the 1,000 children and young people who attended with their parents will be freer to make their own decisions for Christ some day. In this strongly person society, the dramatic numbers of local people attending the culturally appropriate outreach of Jericho II greatly encouraged evangelical Christians here. A team from Jefferson Baptist Church of Jefferson, Oregon, maintained a continuous prayer ministry around the encampment during the meetings and prayed as well with individual Africans with special needs. They also assisted in medical consultations and children’s activities. The impact of their loving, prayerful presence was not lost on the African Christians. This wholistic model of ministry may have implications for outreach in other person countries of the African Sahel, and it deserves further study. It was exciting to observe this creative, prayerful, laughing and boisterous community event designed and conducted by mature African leaders seeking to reach their country for Christ. They are already preparing for next year’s Jericho III. 02040146 Posted Feb 15 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Power of Prayer

  Jesus is alive and interested in me! Venu and Raji Nair were born and raised in India. Venu came from the city and his wife Raji came from a rural area. They, like most Indians, were Hindu. They worshiped the many gods of Hinduism. They had heard of Jesus Christ in India and they were interested in this god also, as one more to take note of and worship. They married in the early 1990s and later they came to work for a company in Kenya. Venu played badminton and was quite an aggressive player. So much so that he hurt his knees playing. In East Africa he hurt his knee for the sixth time playing badminton and went to a doctor who wanted to take the excess fluid off the knee. This process damaged the ligaments further. Venu started reading medical journals and seeking medical treatment wherever he could get it to try to heal his knee and reduce the pain. Raji had been attending a women's Bible study led by CBInternational missionaries, in Mombasa, Kenya. One day she sought counsel from CBInternational Pastor Larry Bishop regarding the overwhelming problems she and Venu were facing. Larry asked her what she thought about Jesus Christ. As a good Hindu she thought he was just another god. Larry told her to pray to God and ask Him to reveal Himself to her, to show her who He was. One night they were attending a special outreach event at Fellowship Baptist Church in Mombasa. They were not impressed by the testimony of a visiting woman (a convert out of Islam) since her problems were nothing like the problems they were facing. After the service as they were standing in a side hallway of the church, the power went out. They were completely in the dark but yet they could see outlines of people. They watched as this woman walked through the courtyard and out onto the street. But then she turned around and came back inside to them even though they knew she could not see them. She took hold of their hands and began to pray. It was as if Jesus were speaking directly through this woman, as they heard in her prayer the answers to the many questions they had been asking. At the close of her prayer she dropped their hands and walked away without an additional word. Tears were streaming down their faces. Because of the way it happened they became convinced that Jesus was alive and interested in them and even calling them. God was revealing himself to them. Over the next year, Venu and Raji became more involved with Christians at FBC. But it wasn't until a church elder was shot in the church parking lot on his way to prayer meeting, that brought them to their next step of obedience. While visiting Joshua in the hospital and seeking to comfort him, they heard him say that he thought maybe he had been shot because God wanted to tell something to someone in their group, that God would use this shooting in some way. Immediately both Raji and Venu felt like God was speaking to them saying that Joshua, who also was a Hindu before, honored God by openly declaring that he was a Christian and that God was with him all the time. So Raji and Venu decided to get baptized to honor God and declare to the world that they are Christians and have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. As told to Glenn Kendall at an Asian Bible Study led by an Asian elder of Fellowship Baptist Church, Mombasa, Kenya, October 27, 2001. 02040144 Posted Feb 13 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• And the Angels Sang

  He came seeking and found life A young man had come and wanted to see me. My first reaction was a little groan. I really didn't want to be disturbed. The person turned out to be a young man named Mohamed. Even though he isn't from the people group we focus on, he had come to the Sunday night meetings at our home a long time ago (maybe a year or more ago) for a couple of weeks. After that, I lost track of him. It turns out that for part of the year he lives with his mother near Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire, but comes up to our town from time to time since his father lives here. This time he was up for the holidays (i.e., to celebrate Ramadan--yes, he comes from a person family). I had seen him in town a few weeks earlier and had a little chat with him and told him to come by sometime. Well, he did. After asking about his family, etc., I asked him if he had celebrated Ramadan and he said yes, but that he really hadn't become a full-fledged person. In fact, he was rather neutral about it. He said that he wasn't anything, he was just seeking. So, I started the conversation on the direction of truth and knowing truth. Since this is a major aspect of God's character, it is something that must be present in man if he is to be acceptable to God. God is truth and to be in right relation to him, man must be in truth. Mohamed readily agreed with this and after more discussion I was able to share some Scripture with him (1 Tim. 2:3–5, Jn. 1:1,14,17; 14:6; 17:17; the Romans Road--Rom. 3:23; 6:23; 5:8,10; 10:9,10; Eph. 2:8–10; 1 Jn. 5:11–13;  there were more, but these were the basics). It was a joy to see him come to understand the reality of who Jesus is and what he did for us on the cross, especially in light of the fact that we had just celebrated Christ's birth the week before. It was an even greater joy to hear him pray and ask God to forgive him and make him his child, and that he believed that Jesus had died on the cross and had been raised from the dead. 02040143 Posted Feb 12 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• A Christmas Gift

  Preparing to celebrate the most precious gift Fred, a former Uganda national missionary, told me that he used his Christmas bonus one year to provide Christmas dinner for the county prisoners. He reported, "We cooked the meat and rice, took it to the prison and spent the whole day eating, singing, and preaching. That was my most exciting Christmas. "We bought a calf six months ago," Fred continued. "Now the calf is big and will make Christmas dinner for all the orphans in our village." Posted Feb 11 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Christmas Festival

  Putting big holes in spiritual barriers The Licht und Salz (Salt and Light) Baptist Church in Wolfsberg, Austria, had 150 people in attendance at their annual Christmas festival. The response was very positive--at least three people told the pastor they want to begin meeting to read the Bible together. A local school teacher attended and was so enthused that he asked if his children could take part the next year. A leader of a church in another province was also there and his response was: "This is how outreach needs to be done in Austria!" The pastor said, "Up to this point I felt like our outreaches punched little holes in the spiritual barrier here. I feel like we just put a great big hole in the wall--I can't wait to see what God is going to do." (Robert Wascher is an International Partner in Ministry with CBI. The Licht und Salz Baptist Church was originally started by CBI missionary Paul Jorgensen.) Posted Feb 10 2003, 02:00 AM by Transformed