Sudan Wrap-up for February

I wrote the piece below for a proposal recently, and then I realized it wraps this past trip up fairly well.

On this trip, I had a recently retired (25 years) Navy SEAL with me. He is a representative for a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). He represents a secular NGO made of believers who fund community projects that the church can use as platforms for ministry. We are praying the Lord would have us partner with his NGO on a few projects. After 25 years in the Navy and going to hotspots around the world with his NGO, he told me that southern Sudan was the most underdeveloped place he’d ever visited.

We (the whole team) also were of one mind that a big driver for the church in Sudan is the seemingly imminent war for succession of the South. The governments have signed a peace agreement that expires in 2010; however, many believe there will be fighting before then or when it expires. With that in mind, our goal is to plant as many churches as we can, with a supporting network of accountability and discipleship, as quickly as we can. The rough total from this past campaign:

• 230 Gospel Presentations
• 140 Professions of faith in Christ
• 130 of the 140 followed-up with for immediate discipleship

First, a brief preface to the strategy. In Luke chapter 14 Jesus warned us to calculate the cost of following Him. If we aren’t willing to die to even ourselves and carry the cross, (perhaps literally?) we cannot be His disciple. Sobering words that apply directly to Sudan. God has clearly called us to work there. He confirmed that call through scripture in August when He gave us Romans 15:20-21, “And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but as it is written, ‘THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.”

Per capita, only India and Indonesia have more unreached people groups than Sudan. It is an incredibly unreached place where, in the south, the vast majority of the people practice traditional, tribal beliefs and live in a stone-age environment. We are becoming more and more convinced that planting churches and making disciples in Sudan will be costly. Costly not only in the financial sense, but spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally. We need partners and participants who will calculate the cost and help shoulder what could be a very difficult load—a commitment to bring light to this very dark place. This was, conversely, a huge blessing on this trip. We left Sudan with a group of very committed men to keep our shoulders to this grindstone.

Our Plan

There is a surreal feeling at times when you move about in Sudan. You see elderly men and many men under the age of 25, but few in between. An entire generation, virtually, has been wiped out because of war. This fact mixed with the lostness of the people has created a vacuum on leaders. Combine that with very few roads, (none of which are paved) no electricity beyond generators and solar panels, no running water anywhere, and voice communication limited to satellite phones and powerful radios.

This was a "good" road. Unexpected rains stopped this lorry cold.

You can begin to see that there many obstacles to church planting, particularly building a church network; however, God is faithful and when we are weak, He is strong.

Now that we’ve spent more time on the ground, we have a clearer strategy for church planting. We first must find faithful men (2 Timothy 2:2), then train and mentor them for church leadership. To accomplish this, we’ve started a pastor/leader training center in Kajo Keji, Sudan. We’re also partnering with other training centers we can trust to form and mold leaders. Once they’re ready, we’ll send these leaders out to not only plant new churches, but to duplicate themselves and reproduce leaders.

A dorm room on "campus."

All of this is indigenous: Sudanese training, mentoring, and reproducing Sudanese leaders. Our goal is to equip and send, but to not create a system of dependency or to have too heavy a hand in the process, beyond assuring biblical principles in the process. Why? Because when/if the war comes again, we want the church to be able to stand alone if we are cut off from entering the country.

The classroom.

To create independent, self-sufficient pastors, we are looking at adding a vocational piece to the pastor training school. There we would bring in carpenters, mechanics, agriculture experts, and so forth to train the pastors in a simple skill they can support themselves and their families with.

So much, so much. What a task! The Lord can do all things.

And overarching all of this is the verse:

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

May we be obedient.

Wulu, Sudan

Mark Jordan speaking in Wulu under the mango tree.
The Lord established three new churches in Sudan through the campaign there two weeks ago, with the possibility of a fourth if a leader steps up. Our team divided up and worked in three areas. One was 27 miles away from the mother church, and it took our guys a full hour to drive there one way in a Toyota Landcruiser. It was a very rural area with no evangelical church within miles of the area. There were some very angry, disturbed bees who sent an entire cattle clan, and a couple of our guys, running, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Two very interesting things happened in Wulu. One I referenced earlier. It was when the guys on the team prayed Matthew 9:38, that the Lord of the Harvest would raise up laborers out of the harvest to be a leader(s) in Wulu. Shortly after praying that a young man rode by on his bicycle and told them, “I am the one.” What’s your name? they asked, and he repeated, “I am the one you are looking for.” Turns out he is a gifted evangelist and we pray he will continue to lead in that gift set for the new church.

Secondly, the week went something like this:

• Day one gathering the new believers together: 20 came to the new church
• Day two, 30
• Day three, 40
• Day four, 55 (35 of whom were adults)

This new church met under a giant mango tree and before the final meeting, the men cut away the grass and lashed poles together to form benches for the people to sit on. At the last meeting, the chief (the chief!!!, this is a big deal!) stood and said, “What has started here, we will continue.” Here’s a very short clip of the first day’s meeting. Finally, we provided a bicycle for the mother church to travel the 27 miles and back to keep discipling the new believers and mentoring the church leaders.

Tomorrow, final thoughts, stats, and our plan (for now) to establish churches in Sudan. In the meantime, check out Tim Kimberling’s photos. Tim shot a lot of video and is producing a DVD from this trip.

February Sudan Trip Part I

Kato, a pastor and missionary serving in Kapoeta.


Church planted in Kajo Keji in July '06. Note the structure behind them on the right. It has no roof because thieves stole the straw to cover it.


Michael Radler holding a two-week old baby. The father is teaching at a bible school we're starting in March.

Note the poles with no benches. The Anglicans come and steal the benches from this church. Drunks pass by on Sunday mornings and yell at them while they worship.

Our accomodations in Chukudum.

Dinner in Chukudum.

The kitchen on the church compound in Chukudum.

David Kaya, Pastor Jacob, and Boscoe. Jacob is the pastor of the African Inland Church in Chukudum. He's also hosting David next month for our church-planting training. Boscoe is a pastor/chaplain in the SPLA.


Leftovers from the war.

Musical instruments in the church in Chukudum.

The AIC church in Chukudum.

Those are .50 caliber shells in her hands.

They play a game w/ the .50 caliber shells. Setting them up in two parallel rows, then throwing other shells to knock them down.

This church tells a story. It's in the middle of nowhere. A Kenyan missionary built it and didn't consult the locals first. If you build it, they won't necessarily come. A waste of funds.


Driving to Chukudum from Kapoeta, we found these abandoned vehicles buried in a dry riverbed.

A few boys near Didinga mountain looking after their cows. Once we stepped out of the truck to get their photos, they ran away.


The road between Kapoeta and Chukudum. About 60 miles and it took about 6.5 hours to drive it.

Same road.

The bass.

The demining guys set up this display in a camp in Rumbek.

A few of the pastors we worked with in Rumbek. In the gray/black/white patterned outfit is Pastor Chol.

In Kajo Keji at a church planted in October 2005. The man on the right is meeting Michael Radler. He has polio, but radiated with the Holy Spirit. They told us no one has memorized more scripture than this man. He's counting it all joy.


Andrew, the pastor of the church in Kajo Keji planted in July. He's holding a Gideon New Testament. One of only two bibles the church has.