2 things
The text from this post comes from an update I put on "The City" which we use at Shoal Creek. You can check out the post here.
Two things that I figured you all would be interested in!
1. Business Leaders Meeting:
We met on Friday night in Richard’s Bay (3 hours North of Margate) with a group of Business Leaders. This group came together around the idea that they would be creating funding necessary to move Church Planters around in northern KwaZulu-Natal Province. They will also be helping to mobilize leaders through training and coaching when necessary. One of the main things that they will be doing is helping to create ministry opportunity for Church Planter’s through HIV/AIDS training. Mercy Alliance has been able to offer project based funding alongside the TAN Foundation and local Business Leaders to get the Business Leader hub off the ground. As a SA team, we are looking at starting 5 total hubs of Business Leaders who have the same heart throughout the country. It was cool to see some local initiative to fund the work that is beginning to happen! They still have a bit to raise, but I don’t think it will be hard as there’s not much left to go for their start-up budget.
2. KZN Coalition:
On Saturday, we met with 20 representatives from different ministries throughout KwaZulu-Natal Province. It was a great time to hear some stories of what God is up to and where He is working. For us, it is great to see so many people getting on board and working to make this thing happen. It takes a lot of people to make a movement happen! We look forward to contributing to the coalition by helping in the way of Curricula Design and Mapping as we all work together to create disciples of Jesus in SA!
Update from Bukwini…& Shakira (these hips don’t lie)
We spent last week in Bukwini working alongside Mr. Vumile, a Farming God’s Way expert, and other community leaders. Oh, what a week it was! For the past few months Vumile and his lovely wife Patience have been traveling to Bukwini from their Transkei home in Qumbu in order to serve the families on the Bukwini Child Sponsorship List. Each of these families are caring for one or more orphaned children in this village. We are working toward each of them having a self sustaining garden in order to feed their families. Some of the people on the list have worked diligently in their gardens and have already produced a nice crop. One mama produced 20 liters of spinach alone! Others have put little to no effort into caring for their gardens which was such a disappointment to Vumile who has invested much time and hard work into making each garden a success. He isn’t giving up though. He has found two people who he has trained up in Farming God’s Way in the village and will be sending them back to walk alongside the families that are struggling.
We have a long standing relationship with community leader Mr. Njinjoni and his family who is playing an active role in the Child Sponsorship as well. Together Njinjoni and Vumile have worked to help others realize the importance of working together as a community. If I heard Vumile say it once, I heard it a thousand times, “One hour per day in your garden equals a lifetime of prosperity” and “You must work together, no one can do it alone.” If you spend five minutes with him you’ll quickly realize that he has a deep passion for farming and for people...with little patience for people who aren’t willing to do something for themselves. He will be going back to Bukwini for the next several months to work alongside the current leaders in the gardens of the village.
At the end of the month, we (Raymond, Shea, and I) will be going to Qumbu (Vumile’s home town) to train him in Church Planting principles. We all hope to see Farming God’s Way as an access tool into the community to plant Discovery Groups within Bukwini.
If you want to be a part of what is happening in Bukwini there is a trip scheduled to happen sometime in late-August 2011. You would get the opportunity to help plant gardens, work alongside Vumile, meet the people of Bukwini, and use a long drop for the very first time.
Our Banquet
Hey Everyone!
We are home and hoping you can come out to our Banquet on January 29th from 6-8 pm. Check out the image below to see the details. We'll be talking about what we do and why we do it!
training wheels
World Cup Fever
Don't ask...I just have World Cup fever and thought a SA colored mullet wig would help the fever...wrong...
Earlier today I tweeted..."Just finished our first discovery group in Bukwini. Kinda feels like getting on a bike for the first time. Shaky but excited for the future."
This is so true! When I was a kid, I learned to ride my bike rather quickly. However, I remember there being a time where I was shaky even with the training wheels on. Riding downhill, even with the nerdy training wheels felt so scary. I felt insecure and unsure of how to make a turn going that fast or how I would stop if I was moving too quickly. Sooner or later it was no problem to turn and stop with the geek wheels on, so then it was time for me to be a big boy. To take off the little wheels next to me and go for it without them any longer. I decided my first try would be down the big hill in Judah park behind my house in Maryville, MO. My dad proudly took off the training wheels and puffed up his chest as I stood at the top of the hill for the first time ready to make my first move without the wheels. I was brave and went for about 5 feet and got scared and fell on my side. No damage done, just to my pride. I quickly got up and tried again. I sailed down the hill like it was nothing and never looked back. Later that week I think I even built my first ramp and started jumping my bike.
Our journey in South Africa can be tied to this example time and time again. Whether it be cultural experiences or spiritual ones. There is an obvious difference here on African soil, yet a glaring sameness. God is still God and he will get us through.
Today we launched our first Discovery Bible Study in Bukwini. We have a lot to learn, but we will stay faithful to where He has called us. We feel more confident now in the method than ever before. To make disciples just like Jesus did. To meet people where they are, just like Jesus did.
So we will continue, on our training wheels. Not knowing how to turn or stop. Not even knowing where to turn except to Him. We are confident that one day we will ride without the geek wheels down the hill and He will be guiding us as we go fast!
Mthatha meetings
We drove into the Transkei last night and arrived in Mthatha around 5 o’clock. We met up with Bongile, a contact we knew through Rufus (www.HuntSA.com) and we went straight to his sister’s house in a village outside Mthatha. She has a nice portion of property with a main house and 1 rondoval that Shea and I stayed in. This morning we found out that we were the first white people to stay in her house and village. I felt very privileged to know this! Bongile’s mother lives on the property with his sister and she came to visit with us this morning. She was in awe and wondered why 2 white people from America would want to stay on this property in this village. She said she was thankful to God for us being there, and we assured her that we were just as thankful to God for her and their hospitality to us.
One of the most beautiful things about my day today was the fact that God was my only commonality Bongile from Mthatha. We are meeting, dreaming, and scheming about how the Gospel can spread like wild fire throughout his community and the surrounding villages.
He has a vast knowledge of the culture and the Transkei. Today we listed the different villages that he has direct access to, and the number blew me away. He knew someone from over 25 surrounding villages. This is a great access into a big portion of the Transkei. One of the surrounding villages he has access to is Bukwini! Most of you who may read this blog are familiar with this village because of the involvement of Shoal Creek with the Child Sponsorship Program for the orphans of the village. Tomorrow we (Me, Shea, and Bongile) are headed to Bukwini to try and start a Discovering God group. Pray for us as this is the first time that we are going to crack open the Bible and help the committee of the village discover God for themselves. To see our strategy check out www.cpmtr.org and www.discipleship.co.za.
and we’re back
We arrived back in Grahamstown on Thursday evening and took Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to relax.
It has been nice to relax and get our minds ready, or as ready as possible, for what we came here to do. It's almost the same sense you have before you get married, or possibly before you have your first child...I wouldn't know what the second part of that is like...yet.
Before Shea and I got married, we read a book called "Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts." We met with Roy, the pastor of our church, and did as much as we could to get ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually ready for the transition we were about to make. But nothing seemed to make us feel like we 100% knew what we were doing. This feels somewhat the same. We've read books, training manuals, researched the web, and have been on our knees before God. I think we're probably as ready as we'll ever be, but there is still something that feels like there is no way you can ever 100% prepare yourself for this type of work.
For the stories we'll hear and be a part of...
For the lives we'll see change...for the good, and possibly the not-so-good...
For the students who will take their commitment with Jesus seriously...
For the students who might not...
Whatever happens in the time we are here, I know we were called here. For this time and for a purpose! Please pray for and with us. Please pray for transformation in the students lives.
see our faces
Hello everyone!
We haven't blogged in awhile because of poor internet connection at the JAM camp where we're staying, but we leave here at the end of this week and will get more updates soon.
We plan on doing video updates as well. We will shoot for 1 a week, but it may be more like 1 every 2 weeks. Check out our first one by clicking the link below!
how are you…i’m fine
The other day I had an awesome opportunity to speak at a school in Stellenburg. This was a different experience than I thought I would have in South Africa. It was a privileged school. These kids grow up in a culture that isn't much different than what we would see in America. The main difference is that they wear little Harry Potter looking outfits every day.
Before we went to the school, Gerhard (leader of Jubilani Africa Ministries) told us that these kids live in a bubble. He went on to explain that they don't know much, if anything, about the poverty that has stricken South Africa. They don't know about the kids who go to bed with empty bellies every night living in their own country. They didn't know that more than 2/3 of the continent of Africa lives on less than a dollar per day. They didn't know that the average age of Africa is 17.
This blew my mind!
I had never really thought about those kids and the impact that they can and could have on their country.
It was a really weird place to be, because when I spoke with them about what was going on in their own country, I spoke about the same types of things that I would in America. I shared a story that Gerhard told me about a girl he met in the Transkei. A 14 year old girl who was the leader of her family because her parents had died of HIV/AIDS. A 14 year old girl who took care of her brothers and sisters because no one else would. A girl who had no money for food. Every night she would put a pot on the stove with water in it and bring the water to a boil. She would boil it until her siblings fell asleep tricking them into thinking that they were going to get dinner. Horribly sad story, but a reality in many homes in the Transkei.
We showed them a really cool video of a boy receiving his FIRST pair of shoes. I would urge you to watch this video. It touched my heart and I had a very hard time speaking after seeing it. The boy didn't know any other words of English, except for the words "How are you? I'm fine!" He had no other way to express his thankfulness except for repeating this over and over. Gerhard said after they gave him the shoes, his excitement of just standing and looking down in amazement at this pair of shoes was priceless. He said the excitement was just bubbling out of him. Please watch this video...it will make your day.
This is the day! Kinda….
Today was bittersweet. What an amazing journey that God has us on, but it was really hard to leave behind our friends and family. Really hard. Didn't expect it to be really hard, but it was. I'm thinking that is a good thing though. If I wasn't sad I think that would be a bad thing. I think that would mean that we didn't have a community and family around us that we love more than anything. We have been so overwhelmingly blessed by many of your encouraging words, gifts, and prayers.
I read Matthew 5 today on the flight from Kansas City to Chicago. It was crazy how much we felt like this reading was meant for us today...even crazier that I don't even think it was supposed to be our reading for today with Shoal Creek's 7 Journeys.
Matthew 5:3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. 4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. (The Message Version)
Jesus brought a different Gospel. One that was counter-intuitive...one that said that those who are poor in spirit will be blessed. One that had a heart for those who had nothing...for the poor. Today we feel like we are at the end of our rope. There is nothing left to put our hope in...and I am pretty sure that is where He wants us. Today we lost all that was dear to us. Our community, family, and friends. I say we lost all that was dear to us, but we truly didn't lose ALL that was dear to us. Africa is very dear to our hearts and we are about to embrace that!
So this is where we find ourselves. A place that only a Father can take us in His chest and hold us close as we leave those we love and hold dear to us. A place where little orphan children may have a hope, a meal, a future. A place where indiginous leaders can emerge and radically change the Transkei for Jesus. A place where mama's and papa's can feel like someone cares about the fact that they are caring for 21+ children.
This isn't for everyone. I didn't think it was for me and I now feel incredibly blessed and humbled tonow be a part of this whole thing. Jesus had a counter-intuitive way of doing life when he walked this earth and related to those around Him. He loved BIG and left the rest to the Father. Where is God calling you to move? It may not be half way around the world, but it may be the cubicle next to you. The single mother caring for all of her children on your block all alone. The homeless guy you see on your way to work every day. I don't know...I'm not trying to say that I have any clue, I just feel like He moves in our uncomfortability. When we go to the end of our rope and have nothing else to rely on but Him.
This is the day! Kinda.....I've been building up this countdown for our leave, but we don't leave the US until the 17th. We are in Buffalo visiting Shea's family and then we will be off. Soooo.... 5 more days!
8 days of magic
Folks we are getting right down to the nitty gritty!
We are leaving in 8 freaking days! Wow...never thought we'd be this close.
If you didn't know, we are having a potluck at Shoal Creek Community Church on Wednesday the 6th at 6pm. Please come join us if you can make it. It will be a farewell of sorts, but more a celebration of what God is going to do with this mission. There will be prayer and worship and talking and laughing and crying. If you're into that sort of thing we'd love to have you come say goodbye to us.
We are having a second going away party at the Foundry in Westport KC. It is going to be this Saturday the 9th. We'll be there from 7 - 11 pm and would love to see each and every one of you there as well. This will be a good time to come to a chill environment and hang out with us one last time.
Kinda weird to have two going away parties, I know, but they will both be very different and special in different ways. Please pleease pleeeaaase come see us before we leave all we know as comfortable to move into the uncomfortable!
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