February 2007 - Posts

• God's Dream Team

  For decades, a well-documented phenomenon has been occurring in the person world — men and women, without prior knowledge of the gospel, or contact with missionaries or Christians, have experienced dreams and visions of Jesus. But these are more than just dreams. I’ve personally met several people in Senegal who have come to Christ through dreams.  “In the last days,” says God, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28) I met a man to whom this has happened. When we met, I asked him how he became a Christian and an elder in the church. He told me that he was raised a person his whole life but began seeking to know God quietly. One night when he was sleeping in his hut, he had a dream of a Man in a White Robe who revealed the way to have peace with God. The figure speaking to him with blinding light introduced himself as Jesus and explained the whole story of the Cross in his dream. Suddenly, he felt an awareness of his sin and need of forgiveness. Then he began to wake up. When he rose from his straw bed it was dark outside, but there was a glow inside his hut that startled his wife.  He proceeded to tell her about the dream and that he must find a Christian and help him understand what it means to follow Christ. That is only one person among many that I have met who have come to Christ through dreams. According to one global mission expert, David Garrison, dreams are the second most prevalent way that Muslims are coming to Christ around the world. Stories from India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, North Africa, Indonesia and the Middle East all confirm the same claim. God is breaking through the political, social and spiritual barriers and speaking directly to people’s hearts. Though this is beyond my comprehension, I have become a firm believer. Our role as prayer intercessors is to ask God to break through and speak to hearts. While much of the person world is sleeping, there are Christians praying — and God is speaking. Have you ever considered yourself part of God’s Dream Team? As you pray for those who are seeking truth, meaning and forgiveness, God may answer in marvelously unexpected ways. Posted Feb 23 2007, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Meet Eduardo

  Meet Eduardo. He is 22 years old and is a member of the Villa Española Church, in Uruguay. Eduardo has been actively serving the Lord since he became a Christian about a year and a half ago. Like many of the young people in Villa Española, he grew up spending his days out on the streets, looking for a good time, getting into trouble, and messing around with drugs and alcohol. Then God transformed his life. Now he teaches Sunday school, leads AWANA, plays the guitar for the worship team, helps with the youth group, and on and on the list goes. The regeneration of his heart on the inside is bearing fruit on the outside. The next step waits for him. Eduardo is preparing to go out as a missionary. This will be the second young Uruguayan missionary going out from this church in the past year. From everywhere to everywhere, summarizes one of the five basic goals of WorldVenture. It is our joy to see this church, which has received missionaries in the past, take up the call of sending out its own. Please pray for Eduardo, that he will find his strength in God through all that he faces abroad, and for our church as we adjust to him being gone. Posted Feb 13 2007, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Gifts of Shoes, Nets and Grace

  Greetings from Kampala, Uganda. Last month I bought 58 pairs of shoes in one day. At our Masaka site, we had divided the kids into two groups: one for morning, the other for afternoon. This way we could shuttle everyone to the store in manageable groups. But the children were so excited, everyone came in the morning. We rented a van and the children's mentors took groups of 10 to the shoe store, where I was on duty. For eight of the kids, it was the first time in their lives to have shoes. One little girl, whose wardrobe for a long time consisted only of her school dress and a Sunday dress, had recently received a t-shirt from her sponsors. Now she was getting her first pair of shoes. She was almost beside herself with excitement. A children's Sunday school in the States gave us money last year for mosquito nets for the kids. Chronic malaria is a serious problem, so good nets make a huge difference. It took us forever to locate the kind that has a treatment which repels mosquitoes for years without further treatment, but we finally found them. So when the Masaka children returned to the church with their new shoes, they also received a mosquito net. One of the mentors told me it was so cute to watch the kids filing off toward home with the shoe boxes on their heads and the mosquito nets in their hands. Another Story of Grace Gifts Across the road from the Koro Abili IDP (internally displaced persons) camp where our children live is a school. Actually, there are four schools. The original school, Koro Primary School, welcomed in three other schools displaced due to the civil war. All four schools share one small campus. These schools also have no books. We collect textbooks no longer used by U.S. schools, which are shipped to us in Uganda. In a pickup truck, we loaded two book cases and about 200 books. Children and teachers alike were excited. They were packed so tightly around the truck it was almost impossible to move. (Even the rain didn't dampen their enthusiasm, though it did dampen their clothes.) We’ll be taking up more books as time goes on. Posted Feb 12 2007, 02:00 AM by Transformed

• Soft Hearts, Hard Hearts

  It was late one Monday night. I was talking to Lillo at the flower stand where he works, when we were interrupted. Lillo is from India. He has a keen interest for spiritual things. The week before, I had given him a Bible in the trade language of India, Hindi. He had read it nightly after work. Lillo asked me questions about what he was reading. He wanted to know about Mary and Joseph, and to confirm if Mary was really a virgin when Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. I began to chuckle inside when I realized that Lillo had never heard the story. He has heard the name Jesus, but he has never heard how Jesus came to earth, where he lived and what he taught. He really never understood the resurrection. He has questions about the Holy Spirit and the Trinity. Imagine my joy in having the privilege of talking to someone who has no preconceived ideas about the Christian faith? Just a few minutes after realizing the openness of Lillo’s mind concerning the Bible, an Italian man came up to the stand and asked if we had a light for his cigarette. We told him no that we didn’t smoke. He noticed the Bible was open on the work bench and asked us if we were talking about the Bible. When we said yes. Then he began cursing and expressing his displeasure for God and Christianity by means of several depreciating phrases. The one I disliked the most is “porco dio.” God is a pig. When the man walked away, I couldn’t help but think of the poignant spiritual contrast I had just witnessed. Lillo has an innate sense that there is a God who has the answers and he is looking for that God who can answer his questions. And this other man who is fed up with religion and God and anything that has to do with faith. Please, pray for both those whom God has softened and prepared here in Italy, and that God would have mercy on those burned by the steep Christian history in this place. Posted Feb 10 2007, 02:00 AM by Transformed