Blessing in the North

I had a God moment to share before I go into my recent training. I was contacted by a man who was working here for a few weeks for the government as a contractor. He is from Bluffton, SC and elated to know there was some "home folk" and a family he could connect with while he was here in Botswana. Chris Carter was such a joy for me as well. I got to hear about his life in SC and see how God is using him with the people he is working with here. He was looking for a church to attend and I took him to Open Baptist Church with me. I was sharing my Zambia trip to the congregation that Sunday so the message was about missions. Pastor Norman Sheaffer did a wonderful job challenging the church and us about the life of a church is missions. Without missions, a church is not living the life Christ wants us to live.

Tonya, Chandler and Parker were in the bush on a safari with friends. I was glad they got to see the heart of Botswana and share on facebook the adventure. The twins had to stay back because the look too much like food to lions. Little do they know they are more a stomach ache instead of a nice meal. Just kidding. They sat so well for Mr. Chris. Josh said he liked church when Mr. Chris was there because Joe behaved. The church was interested and joyful of the work we did in Zambia.

We had great training this week in Francistown with the Anglican Church of Botswana. If you remember, I held a training session with them in Gaborone in March. They were so pleased with the work that I was asked to go to the Northeast area and train 5 churches in that area. I love working with others helping them catch the vision of reaching children by developing children leaders. So many churches are faced with losing the next generation because as children grow older into teens and adults they do not get involved in church. The modern church is children and older people, nothing in between. I was asked to bring energy into their church. If you know me, energy showed up.

When I arrived at the church, there was a college age woman waiting for us. She introduced herself and began to tell me why she was there. She is a student at University of Botswana in Gaborone and just arrived home from school. She had been praying about what she should be doing to serve God and where that would be. On Saturday night her father told her to pray and God will help her know His plans. Then she said went to church and a pastor shared about a mission trip to Zambia he just went on working with children and how amazing it was for everyone. I knew right then that is what I wanted to do so I called me dad when I got home. He told me our church in Francistown was having training for children's leaders so that is why I am here this morning. "Hey, what a minute! You are the Pastor! Wow! God sent you to encourage me and now He sent you to teach me." How amazing. I was so pumped up about what God was putting together.

Well, the training just got better from there. We had 17 attend. 10 could not make it at the last minute so I was a little bummed out at first. There was so much energy and passion about the children not only in their church but in their community. They wanted to know how to get the church involved with children outside the church. We played games, laughed and put ourselves in a mindset of children and what is important to them to reach them. We were all blown away with the ideas and plans that came out of our meeting. When the training was over, one by one they expressed how well they were equipped and confirmed they were ready for the task.

Pray for the church leadership to embrace their desire to grow the ministry beyond their 4 walls. Pray for them as they put in practice teaching with only a Bible and using an organized schedule for the children. Pray as we plan for training at other Anglican churches in Botswana. Also a special prayer request for their school here for orphans lost a major supporter for food. Pray God will help them see how He will provide for the 114 children.

Our childrens' ministry kicks in full gear next week. We are expecting a team from Aiken, SC to go back to Gakuto and work with the church and school reaching the children about God's Grace. Pray for their safety traveling and time here. We visited the school and they are so ready for us to come back and share with the children. Pray the kingdom is growing through the children of Gakuto.