Passion4Christ.org

Today will be a good day for sending some photos. We have struggled to find an internet café that is not so slow that we have to spend a long time trying to get just one object either sent or received. The delay can be so long that you are automatically logged out of the email account and you have to start all over again. The one we found yesterday is much better, so here are some pictures.

 

The picture below represents the five men who have either organized this seminar or are teaching it. First is me, then Jeff Hawkins (Harvesters Intrl), Denson Mushitala (Zambian leader of Harvesters), Steve Van Horn (International Training and Equipping Ministries) and Keith Walsworth (Cumberland Area Pulpit Supply).

 

 

Denson lives in Chingola, Jeff lives in Kentucky and travels to Zambia several times a year. Steve is the leader of the teaching team I am with and has been to Africa thirty times over the last ten years. He is the main reason I am on this trip. Finally, Keith has a ministry in Kentucky helping to train pastors for smaller rural churches that do not have a leader. He is on this trip exploring an international arm to his ministry of training pastors. It has been an amazing experience to meet and work with such deeply devoted and God honoring men.

 

Next is a shot of the pastors listening to the lectures. They have been so intent on hearing everything that is said. Their questions have been stimulating and sometimes a real challenge to answer.

 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of us teaching. First is Keith teaching a lecture and the second is me preaching an expository sermon as a sample of what we are seeking to show the men as a way of presenting the Word.

 

 

Finally, I have been asking at each stop if there is anyone who knows Jewel from her years in Zambia. Up until today I have always heard the answer “No.” We were getting a ride home with some of the pastors today and they commented that they were associated with SIM. So, I trotted out my usual question and there was an immediate recognition by three of the men. They all know that it will be a challenge for Jewel to remember them from so long ago, but here is their picture. I will bring home with me a note from each of them with their names, how they know her and which one is which in the photo. So, Jewel, can you recognize any of them? (Other readers of this blog should know that Jewel Remboldt was a missionary in Zambia for over thirty years.)

 

 

As we reach the end of our second seminar and near the end of this trip, it is a good time for some reflection on what I have learned. I never make an international trip like this without a conviction that the Lord has as much to teach me as I have to teach others.

 

I return with a deeper sense of appreciation for the resources we have available to us as pastors in the US. Books, seminars, DVDs, etc. are an amazing treasure trove of material to study. I come back with a renewed passion to read more, study more and take full advantage of what is available to me. Should the Lord place me again in front of some pastors who do not have access to this, I want to have done my work so that I can pour from that into their lives.

 

I also come home with a greater awareness and a certain measure of sadness for the chaos inflicted on Africa by the prosperity gospel, word of faith preachers and other TV preachers who do not teach the Word of God. Many of these pastors come from small churches that have immature members. These are enticed by the allure of the big names that come, put on a crusade, collect the money and leave. I want to do more to teach you about the false theology and twisted use of Scripture employed by those who follow these practices.

 

More later, but I don’t know when. Tomorrow we end the seminar and then have to drive to Endola. We have a room there and an early flight the next morning. I’ll check in the next time we have access to the internet.

 

God bless and thanks again for praying.

Pastor Bill