Why have I waited so long to send you dear friends and family an update?\u00a0 Now I have so much to share.\u00a0 The last time I wrote was on the day Shelley and the rest of my family left the USA to join me in Africa.\u00a0 In summary, I have been deeply encouraged and blown away by just how much the Lord of Glory has gone before us here and continues to give us the grace and strength to serve Him.\u00a0 In many ways, it has not been easy but it remains a great privilege to be here as a family and to serve here for the sake of Christ.\u00a0 Thank you to so many of you for your faithful giving to our ministry here and for your consistent prayers for us.\u00a0 We have been touched and impacted by both.<\/p>\n
This morning (early) as I opened the massive sliding gate to our wall fence with a Bible in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, I was greeted by the powerful rising sun and the noises and smell of Africa.\u00a0 All at once, I felt myself smiling.\u00a0 As I was walking down the dirt path looking for a place to pray, I thought why am I smiling?\u00a0 I was all alone with no apparent reason to be smiling.\u00a0 At that moment, I just realized that in the midst of missing friends and family and home and in the midst of dust and smoke and endless trash and poverty, I am just glad to be here and am humbled by the opportunity the Lord has given us.\u00a0 Let me give you a few glimpses as to what life here is like.<\/p>\n
While the Kirsches mission team was here, Kevin and I had a chance to attend a forum at the CCM Seminary.\u00a0 The Seminary had invited several Islamic Imams to come and teach us about Islam. There were at least 10 or more of them mostly in full garb.\u00a0 We were all crowded in a very small classroom.\u00a0 As the forum progressed, the air was so thick.\u00a0 It was by far the most spiritually charged and oppressive environment I have been in as a believer. The conviction and dedication level of these men was challenging to all who were present.\u00a0 The only thing greater than their conviction and dedication level was their level of deception.\u00a0 These men were clearly in the grasp of the enemy.\u00a0 By the end of the forum, we were all feeling the intensity of the spiritual warfare when at once I was called on to close the forum in prayer.\u00a0 I am so grateful it was I.\u00a0 I wanted our Lord and Savior to have the final word.\u00a0 At this point, I was agitated and wanted to do something.\u00a0 Christ got the last word in as I boldly and loudly prayed Philippians 2: 5-11: \u201cHave this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.\u00a0 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.\u00a0 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and earth and under the earth, end every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father. Amen!\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in the same week, on the day Shelley\u2019s purse was stolen, Kevin and I decided to go to the street where the money changers are downtown in order to see if any of them might have any information for us related to the theft.\u00a0 The money changers are men who illegally exchange US dollars for Zambian Kwacha\u2019s.\u00a0 They can be friendly but mostly serious in their work.\u00a0 After talking to Freddy a little while about the purse incident, I felt led to share Christ with him.\u00a0 Right away, he identified himself as a Jehovah\u2019s Witness.\u00a0 In a very short while, we found ourselves in a serious discussion with 3 to 5 people who had gathered around to listen and at times join in.\u00a0 Since we were on a very busy downtown street corner, there were many people passing by.\u00a0 All at once Freddy motioned for a lady friend to come over and join in.\u00a0 She was clearly reinforcement for them in that she had an official Jehovah\u2019s Witness badge on and a Witness Bible too.\u00a0 She was intense and very well trained.\u00a0 Thankfully a few days earlier (because of the encounters at our home with the Jehovah Witness ladies that Lydia posted about) I had checked out of the CCM library a book on cults in order to learn more about Jehovah\u2019s Witness.\u00a0 This helped as I let them all know that when you look for books on cults you will always find Jehovah\u2019s Witness in every one and you will never find Christianity in any of them.\u00a0 I also advised her as to why the New World translation was created and how recent it had been translated as opposed to the Holy Scriptures.\u00a0 Eventually Kevin went to the vehicle and got out the Bible so we could show those gathered around how the Jehovah\u2019s Witness Bible was manipulated to show that Jesus was not really God in certain verses.\u00a0 The lady was not happy.\u00a0 When I accused her of being in a cult and using a Bible that was invalid, she accused me of saying things of the devil. Eventually she left and almost immediately the climate changed and we made some head way with a few of the men remaining.\u00a0 In fact, a few of them asked some very good questions and were trying to understand the distinction between the true Gospel and the false gospel.\u00a0 Then a few of them asked us if we would give them a Bible to read.\u00a0 Overall, we were encouraged by this encounter and opportunity.\u00a0 I have since ran into each of the men downtown who have asked for a Bible.\u00a0 They reminded me that they are still interested in reading the Bible so I plan on following up with this soon.<\/p>\n
As you know, besides teaching on Marriage and Family in the Bible class I have also been praying that the Lord would provide through the Bible College and\/or Agape Baptist a few men that I could disciple.\u00a0 I would like to meet with them regularly in order to help them grow in their walk with Christ, help give them a Biblical understanding of the family and the importance of children, and help them to see how children who are well trained and intentionally discipled by their parents are critical to the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ.\u00a0 This is beginning to unfold in two natural ways.\u00a0 One is through the gift of hospitality that Shelley has in inviting many of the Bible College students over for dinner on Sunday nights.\u00a0 This has become our routine.\u00a0 As a family, we have benefited richly by these young men and their zeal for Christ, as well as, their desire to be a part of our family.\u00a0 Since we typically have family worship Sunday nights with the goal of reviewing the teaching from the morning worship time, we have just incorporated these guys into our family worship.\u00a0 They have enriched our times as we have sung a few of our worship songs in their vernacular (them leading of course).\u00a0 Their spending the evening with our family has really touched their lives as well.\u00a0 There are a few of these men who I believe I will have one on one opportunities with soon.\u00a0 The other way this is happening is through our church at Agape Baptist.\u00a0 Due to our family size and skin color, we really stick out on Sunday\u2019s!\u00a0 After our second Sunday of our entire family being there, one of the young dads approached me afterwards.\u00a0 Basically he said that he had been observing our family at church on Sundays and wanted to get together to learn how to love his wife better and to disciple his children.\u00a0 He really said it just like that.\u00a0 I was so encouraged by this, because I barely knew him. What I did know was God had opened this door.\u00a0 He and I met for our first time a few days ago, and it went very well.\u00a0 He asked on Sunday if we can meet again this week as well.\u00a0 God is definitely at work here!<\/p>\n
Lastly, I will begin preaching once a month at Agape Baptist which I am looking forward to.\u00a0 I also am getting a lot of opportunities to just give the leaders of the church a vision for how to better structure and organize themselves.\u00a0 This has been a humbling experience and one I feel very able to do after having started a church in the last 5 years.\u00a0 Due to time restraints, administrative challenges, and just not a clear understanding, Agape Baptist has been neglecting observing the Lord\u2019s Table.\u00a0 This is a serious issue in that it is one of two ordinances given to the Church by the Lord Himself.\u00a0 They asked me for help in this area.\u00a0 This past Sunday, I had the joy of presiding over the Lord\u2019s Table in worship.\u00a0 It was very meaningful to all of us, and I praise God for this opportunity to serve and equip the dear brothers at Agape Baptist.<\/p>\n
Believe it or not, there is still so much more I could share like the time I accompanied some of the men at Agape and a few women to a ladies prison to visit a lady who was there for murder.\u00a0 Although I could not understand all that was happening because most of the dialogue was in Bemba, I was also asked to pray for the lady while the guards and everyone were gathered around.\u00a0 I could also share about the difficulties and challenges of daily living for our family in a third world country or about the mixed emotions I have as I ponder how to live more effectively for Christ in Watkinsville post Zambia. I will try and communicate my thoughts and reflections a little more frequently going forward.\u00a0 Please know that each of you mean so much to my family and I.\u00a0 I am personally so grateful to each of you for your love and prayers for us here.\u00a0 You would be proud as we serve Christ and represent each of you here in our ministry to the dear people God has placed here in Zambia!<\/p>\n
For His namesake I am,<\/p>\n
Dave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why have I waited so long to send you dear friends and family an update?\u00a0 Now I have so much to share.\u00a0 The last time I wrote was on the day Shelley and the rest of my family left the … Continue reading