My Movie

Here's a compilation video, with music, of my year.

Hope you enjoy it.

Burkina Faso

Stumbled upon this today. Keith ministering in Burkina Faso, a country in west Africa.

Always interesting to grapple with theological issues like baptising a man with two wives. Scroll down to read that account.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2

Genocide II

The day of our flight, our plane didn't take off until later in the afternoon. We took the opportunity to see the Genocide Memorial/Museum in Kigali. They don't allow pictures inside, but here are a few from the outside with my comments.




The Memorial















Mass graves. About 260,000+ were murdered just in Kigali.










The black wall was intended to have names inscribed on it, much like the Vietnam memorial. There are so many unidentified remains, they were, and are, overwhelmed. It's virtually blank.










Remains continue to arrive, eleven years later.

Workers continue to create mass graves to accomodate the remains.









Often entire families are placed in a single coffin. I only scribbled a few notes, but I believe there are the remains of six or seven people in the coffin on the left. Some have as many as 13.

























Our guide.











Why did it happen?
The short answer is the depravity of man. The longer is that this is one time you can blame colonialism. First the Germans, then the Belgiums basically created the Hutus and Tutsis. The Tutsis's were the minority under the Belgiums; however, they were elevated politically, socially, and economically. Often without merit, creating artificial tribal tension.

After independence the Hutus began to pay back the Tutsi's. Then the Hutus militarized. They began widespread murder, and planned the genocide fairly extensively. After the president's plane was shot down the Prime Minister assasinated, all hell literally broke loose.

One million murdered in 100 days beginning in April 1994.

Why didn't a Tutsi just claim to be a Hutu to save herself?
The genocide was well organized. There were essentially neighborhood captains to point out who was what.

Today
Today no one carries a tribal identification card. They are Rwandans, one language, one people. The reconciliation effort is amazing. The country is peaceful. There is hurt and bitterness, but they are overcoming and moving forward.

The trials.

Guts

Our man, let’s call him “Z,” from the Middle Eastern country I won’t name has guts, and an unwavering faith in, and commitment to, Jesus Christ. If only 2.5% of your country was Christian, you’d have to have faith too. Here’s a story he told us during his praise report time in Rwanda.

Z grew up in a nominal Christian home, and as he entered his teen years he came under the influence of Muslim friends who, through their encouraging, convinced him to convert to Islam. The further he grew in Islam, the more irritated his parents became. The irritation grew to the point that Z joined the army to get out of this house and away from his family.

As a convert from a Christian family to Islam, he stood out. He stood out enough in his army unit that they made him the unit’s Imam, or spiritual leader. I guess you could equate this to a chaplain in the U.S.; however, Islam would be the only religion allowed in this army. The position encouraged him to learn more and more about Islam, although a recent convert, he had a responsibility that he took seriously and he needed to become educated further in the faith. But a funny thing happened.

The more he learned, the more discouraged he became. Where was the assurance of going to heaven? Where was the hope? Mohammed wasn’t even sure he’d go to heaven, how could an Imam in the army fare? That’s when he found Christ, the giver of hope, and began following Him.

Z speaks matter-of-factly of the death threats on his life, but he is totally undeterred. He’s a pastor now and our national leader in his country, so his mission is to plant churches. He said the Jesus Film http://www.jesusfilm.org/ is the most effective tool in his country. When he first began to show it, they only played it in Christian schools and churches. No Muslims were seeing the film—a problem.

Our man Z above passing out a Jesus film. Note the mark on the man's forehead sitting on the street. That's from praying.

A problem Z sought to rectify. He rented a movie theater and printed 500 invitations. He took his invitations out on the street (a not totally legal maneuver), and froze.

After a few minutes, he ginned up the courage to pass out the invitations. Four hundred Muslims came to the movie. He printed a thousand invitations and ran the movie on two days the next time. Then he did it again, and again. After the movie, he and a few other believers would stick around to answer questions, show the Evangecube, and share the gospel (good news). He repeated this for a year and a half until the government shut him down.

Muslim in the theater lobby.

So what to do now? Z is a creative guy who serves a creative God.

The poor people in the rural villages have no means of personal transportation, and will hitchhike rides. Z shared his plan with an American. The American financed the purchase of a minibus for Z. Now Z and his disciples drive the minibus throughout the countryside and pick up folks who need a ride. Once inside, they play the Jesus film on a mini DVD player and use the Evangecube to share the gospel. They stop along the road at service stations asking for mundane, totally unnecessary checks just for the opportunity to share the gospel. He is indefatigable.

On the bus.

In the villages.

Since 2001, the Lord has used him to plant about 60 churches. Hallelujah!

I made it home last Thursday night. Coming home required about 37 hours of travel time. Who doesn’t love airplane seats? I have a few more dispatches brewing from my notes to get to you. I’ll space them out over the next few days.

How have I spent the last three days in Rwanda? Making sausage. The next email will give you another great story, (Here's some kids singing) but those stories are the when boots hit the ground. A lot of work goes into making those moments of God saving the lost, of lives restored, and of churches established. Here’s a quick view into that work.

The ministry is in a transitional phase. For years there were three organizations under the same proverbial roof:

· Evangecube
· Global Missions Fellowship (church-planting mission trips)
· GoLeaders (Leadership and church-planting training)

These were siloed, for the most part. Now they’re coming together to:

· Equip Leaders to
· Evangelize to
· Establish new churches.

But we’re integrating everything now. Yoseph, the man I profiled yesterday was instrumental in planting over 1,400 churches this year. That’s just one example. The Lord of the Harvest has used this ministry to plant a multitude of churches all over the world. While the Lord is the one who draws those to be saved to Him. And Jesus said, “I will build my church,” his instruments to complete the work are us fallen guys.

We don’t just show up in Rwanda or Bolivia or Romania and churches and disciples simply fall into our lap—although oddly enough, it feels like that. Behind the scenes there are meetings like the one happening this week where we:

· Plan
· Strategize
· Improve processes
· Hear amazing praise reports
· Talk and set budgets
· Tackle obstacles
· Let the iron sharpen the iron
· Make sausage.

This builds the foundation that allows the Lord to pour out His blessings. It has been tremendously encouraging to see and hear all the African national leaders, our man in the Middle East, and our Asia coordinator. Hear their praise reports, hear their concerns, their hearts and their visions.

Let me be your witness to this aspect of the ministry. These are all outstanding men of God. Spiritually deep, totally committed, professional (odd word, but it’s accurate), and full of God’s love.

Yosef

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy) ….

Hebrews 11:37-38

Here is a couple of whom the world is not worthy: Yoseph and Rebecca Menna, our Ethiopian national program coordinators. I sat with them at lunch today and recorded a couple of their stories of God’s faithfulness. Here’s one.

Yoseph was in his seventh year of mission work in southwest Ethiopia. It was 1978 and the communists were in power. That year the communists told him to stop sharing the gospel, stop teaching and preaching Jesus, and to return to his home.

He continued anyway.

On a Tuesday shortly after the initial warning, he received a letter. In the letter, the communist government informed him that they had five witnesses that would testify that he was still sharing Christ. It said that if they found him preaching, they would kill him. And, finally, that he was to appear in their office at 9 a.m. on Thursday. He knew that was an appointment with his execution.

All the other missionaries he was working with had fled. He stayed, praying and patiently instructing his disciples how to move underground with the work. He also encouraged them to move on after he was killed. The government then sealed the town, trapping him from escape.

On Thursday morning he and Rebecca walked to the office, he had to tell his disciples to not follow him. He didn’t want them to become discouraged when they heard the shot that would kill him. One young man tried to follow him, but Yoseph sent him away.

When they arrived at the communist party office, Rebecca waited outside. They had heard that the men inside had killed an anti-communist earlier that day. He said that when he entered the men’s eyes were red, dark, and full of murder. The Lord removed any fear from him. He says he was ready to meet Jesus.

The communist leader stood and yelled. Shouting that they had told him to stop preaching, to acknowledge Mao, Lenin, and Marx, not Jesus. Then all the other joined in, shouting vigorously at him. He sat, silent. Finally, he said quietly and calmy, “I’m here. Do what you must. God has called me to this work. Communism came while I was doing my work. I can’t stop now.”

Outside, Rebecca made a request to the guards: She asked that if they killed her husband, for them to kill her too. The guards inside with Yoseph, after his statement, shouted more and more telling him to stop preaching, then to just go, go away. And he was released. They quickly gathered their things in suitcases. Loaded them on their donkey, yes their donkey, and walked three days to their home. I joked that they were imitating Joseph and Mary.

When they arrived at their home, a man—a communist—was living there. He knew they were ministers of the gospel and he immediately informed the communist officials in that town. They were apprehended and both thrown into prison for a few days, released and warned again to stop preaching; however, they simply continued to work in the underground church.

As I leaned back after listening to this, Yoseph told me a few interesting things. One is that this was one of several occasions of near death. Six children and a booming ministry later, he is happy and says every day is an extra blessing now. The second thing is that when persecution came, it strengthened the church. The real disciples went underground and continued to worship. The nominal Christians fled or agreed to become communists. Those real disciples formed a stubborn root that became extremely strong. Ethiopia appears to be reaping the harvest now of that faithfulness. Thousands of new churches are being planted every year—thousands! And Yoseph is a huge part of that.

Sunday, Church

This church was established by God, but He did choose to use GMF to do it. Last JUNE!! There were 200 adults at this church.

The man speaking on the right is Joe Michael Kamau, our national leader for Kenya. He lives in Nairobi, the man on the left is his interpreter, Justin a Campus Crusade worker.

A baby in the crowd.

Me and Mamas. All of these ladies are widows. The woman to the left of me in this pic is a widow because her husband was killed in the genocide.

Mike Jorgensen teaching Church Planting, discipleship, and multiplication.

Mike conducting a discipleship exercise on the school grounds.

Mugabe

Robert Mugabe
Robert got on a bus last night to go to restaurant and he had his cube out. The folks asked him about it so much that finally the driver stopped the bus until he showed everyone the cube. He went through the gospel presentation and eight people accepted Christ.

When he arrived at his restaurant a woman from the bus saw him. She had the owner close the doors to the restaurant while he showed everyone the cube. Six more people accepted Jesus.


Kiddos
Sharing the gospel on the street.

Worship

Worship II

Worship III

Genocide

I broached the big subject tonight: Genocide. After training all the conference participants to use the Evangecube, we went into the lab (surrounding neighborhood) to use the cubes for evangelism—more on that in a bit. One member of my team, who served as my translator, and I connected so I asked him about what happened. I started by asking him what the lingering effects are on the people.

To first put this in perspective, this is only one person I’ve discussed this with, and he fled to Uganda during the actual killings.

His response was that some of the people are still traumatized by the event; however, there has been reconciliation between the Hutu and Tutsi. (If you’re scratching you’re head at what I’m referring to, rent Hotel Rwanda, or if you’re up for it, the more graphic Sometimes in April to get an idea for the 1 million who were slaughtered here in the mid ‘90s.)

Apparently the new mantra is “Never Again,” and the president of Rwanda (Rick Warren’s buddy) has even pledged to send troops to other countries to stop genocide if it looks as if one is beginning again. He told me they’ve sent some to Sudan, but I haven’t confirmed that.

From another gentlemen, I was told that there may be pockets of bitterness towards Christians and an openness to Islam because, apparently, the muslims would protect folks who sought sanctuary in the mosques while some Christian leaders and priests put up no resistance to those in the churches. Unsubstantiated by me, however, if true it’s shameful beyond words.

Imam becomes Christian Pastor
The man we’ll call “Z” from the closed Middle East country gave his testimony today. Z is an e3 partner (GMF guy) in his country and trains pastors and leaders to use the Evangecube all over the Middle East, including that one place where 100k+ of our finest and bravest are serving. He’s doing some fantastic work.

Here’s a real fast version of his testimony. He was from a nominal Christian family so under the influence of friends, he converted to Islam. He got flack from his family for becoming muslim, so he joined the army for independence. When his unit found out he had converted after growing up in a Christian family, they made him the unit’s Imam. Each unit in this country’s military has an Imam. An Imam is like a pastor for Islam.

To really condense a story, he realized that there was no guarantee of heaven for a muslim. After chewing on that for a while, he gave his life to Christ and received total assurance that his sins were forgiven and he was going to heaven after he died. Now he’s a pastor who drives a minibus around villages in his country. He offers rides to those without transportation and share the gospel with them once they step aboard. He’s been investigated several times by the intelligence service and has had attempts on his life, but he presses on towards the prize.

Photoblog of Thursday

Where we meet for the conference.

Curtis Hail, our CEO conducting Evangecube training.

Dr. Banda
The former vice president of International Operations for Compassion International and a former GMF board member, is with us here as well. He took a step down from the VP role to return to his mother country, Rwanda, to work for Compassion here. Really sharp guy.


Steve Cretin training the Rwandans to use the Evangecube.

Our Uganda national leader's daughter.

Practicing using the cube.

Going out into the "laboratory," the adjacent neighborhood to use the evangecube after being trained during the day.

Muvunyi John Peter on the left, me, and Pastor Emmanual Rokundo. Pastor Rokundo agreed to follow up on all the people who accept Christ from our trainees work in the neighborhood with the cube. There were just under 100 professions of faith this night.

Two ladies who accepted Christ after the guys on my team led them through the gospel presentation with the cube. The girl in the red was a muslim.

Rwanda Worship

I've always heard how moving African worship can be. Yet I was unprepared to experience it first hand. It is beautiful beyond description.

Tonight we arrived at King David school to meet the pastors and leaders who came from all over Rwanda to our church planting and evangecube conference. As we walked up a small hill into the building where they were waiting, beautiful acapello music wafted over us, around us, and through us. It was emotional, and perfect. We worshipped. We worshiped in a 30'-wide x 100'-long building with a tin roof, concrete floor, wood benches, and only two lightbulbs hanging from the rafters. I wish I could take you there.

Here's just a taste, a very small taste. It's 6 seconds, but difficult to see--2 lightbulbs, remember!

Rwanda

I’m in Rwanda today. Nice, short flight from Nairobi to Kigali. So bizarre to drive and walk along the streets where an enormous genocide has taken place. I’ve stood by the ovens in Dachau and now this. Not quite sure what to make of it yet.

Another missionary and I grabbed a cab this afternoon to head to a business district. Steve, the missionary, doesn’t have his luggage and I accompanied him on a hunt for cheap shirts and underpants. Our cab driver had scars around his eye an on his forehead. I wonder if it’s from that time? I didn’t ask.

Once I get to know the people better, I hope to ask about the genocide. On the outset, they are warm, kind, hospitable, and friendly. I spent some time in the morning talking with several twenty-something aged believers. On to the conference shortly ….

The Goat Story

“I’ve got three goats.”

This was the reply of a Masai pastor here in Kenya when GMF’s Kenyan national leader, Joe Michael Kamau, asked him what he had in terms of resources to plant a new church. Joe Michael was talking with the pastor about planting a new church among the Masai people in a rural area of Kenya.

Joe Michael asked him about the preparation he had done for a church-planting campaign. The Masai pastor replied that he had people from his church who were willing to do the evangelism and follow-up discipleship, and he had a man who could pastor the new work, but he was concerned that he didn’t have the resources to host the 16 people Joe Michael was bringing from Nairobi to help conduct the church-planting campaign. The pastor asked Joe Michael how much money he would contribute the campaign to cover the costs for hosting and feeding the workers. Joe Michael returned the question back to him, “What resources do you have for this campaign?” That’s when the Masai pastor told him he had three goats. Joe Michael told him to focus on what the Lord had given him, not what he lacked.

Later as the time for the campaign approached, Joe Michael and the Masai pastor spoke again. The pastor had secured two more goats, totally five for this campaign. He sold two, using those funds to buy wheat to make bread. He found a place for the workers to sleep, and he slaughtered two more goats for meat for the campaigners to eat. He used a plot of land he owned to start the new church on, and on their final campaign meeting day, he slaughtered the fifth goat for a celebratory feast for the workers and the new believers.

Hallelujonga indeed.

I heard this story at lunch today with Joe Michael. There are 65 people attending that “goat church” today. Amazing what happens when we use what the Lord has given us rather than focusing on what we desire.

“Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes;”

 Jesus (Luke 10:3-4)

The Office
We met with a dapper Kenyan attorney today in a quiet office, tucked away from the center of busy Nairobi under large trees and surrounded by blooming hibiscuses. The attorney is guiding GMF through the process of registering as a foreign registered company in Kenya. Apparently Kenyan intelligence has to check out us thoroughly before granting the registration. Then Joe Michael can get the office up and rolling and begin to receive shipments of Evangecubes for distribution throughout the country. The investigators vet these applications for groups using the registration as fronts to funnel money and goods into the country illegally. Please pray for the registration to go smoothly and quickly. This will jumpstart the next level of work for GMF here in Kenya.

Joe Michael is an impressive figure. I’m glad he’s a part of GMF. He appears to be an impassioned man for planting churches, evangelism, and expanding the Lord’s kingdom in Kenya and East Africa in general. Here’s a link to see him.

After lunch we met with the organization that is translating our church-planting training material into Swahili. I thought their approach to translating a document was impressive. First, they have three linguists translate the document individually. Then those three compare, contrast and argue until they’re satisfied the document is translated properly. Pray the Lord will use this training tool in a powerful, multiplicative way in Kenya for years to come.

Random Notes
Shortly before our plane landed last night, Kenya experienced an earthquake. There was no evidence that we saw from the quake; however, apparently a tall building downtown shows cracks now and there was a follow-up tremor today.

High of 75, low of 57. Suffering for Jesus I tell you, suffering.

Pray
For the registration
For the First Steps translation
For Joe Michael Kamau, our Kenya national leader
For our work in Rwanda that begins tomorrow. We particularly need your prayers regarding establishing the right national leadership in that country. Pray also for Curtis, Mike and Steve as they conduct several days worth of trainings in church planting and Evangecube usage.

Nairobi

23 hours after leaving Dallas, I arrived in Nairobi. Nothing exciting just yet. I arrived in the dark and took a small van straight to the hotel. A local who works for GMF escorted us from the Airport to the hotel. Checked in, ate a light dinner and now I'll crash.

Tomorrow morning we begin our Nairobi meetings, and discuss the next steps for the GMF office, and the Kenya strategy. Then it's up early for a flight to Rwanda.

Thanks for your prayers. The flights were smooth and went as well as you could hope. Aisle seats all the way. Hallelujah.

Amsterdam

Halfway to Africa. Two hours or so to Detroit, then 9+ hours to Amsterdam. Waiting about four hours to catch the next 9+ hour flight to Nairobi. Frustrating to sit in a cool city like Amsterdam for a few hours and not see a lick of it.

Duty free.

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