Burkitt's lymphoma

According to the National Cancer Institute (www.cancer.gov), Burkitt's lymphoma cancer is, "An aggressive (fast-growing) type of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that occurs most often in children and young adults. The disease may affect the jaw, central nervous system, bowel, kidneys, ovaries, or other organs. There are three main types of Burkitt’s lymphoma (sporadic, endemic, and immunodeficiency related). Sporadic Burkitt’s lymphoma occurs throughout the world, and endemic Burkitt’s lymphoma occurs in Africa."
As most of you know, my father has been battling this cancer for the last year. After many months of chemotherapy, he was declared in remission. However, it was soon thereafter he was feeling sick again, only to find out the cancer had returned. Again, he was treated with radiation for 7 weeks in the hope of destroying the cancer. Again, we have just found out the cancer is back in full force. My dad was hospitalized on Friday and will begin chemotherapy again.
It is amazing how fragile human life is. Although I would wish this cancer on no person, it has slowed me long enough to realize the importance of human life and especially the importance of loving the one's closest to me. Love has a strange way of blossoming under the most strenuous of situations. My love for my father and respect I have for him has increased exponentially in the last 12 months. It is good to have a hero in this world - I am glad mine is my father.

AGM

This year's Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at Maisait Bible Baptist Church. Every year, GCMS has a meeting to discuss the events of the last year and plan for the events of the upcoming year. Before the meeting actually takes place, we incorporate a time of teaching a preaching while most of the leadership is present. It is a great way to unify everyone and bring people together.
This year, I was asked to teach on leadership. After much study and prayer, I decided to teach on the life of Moses and the key attribute of his leadership ability, humility/meekness. I tried to show how the 'glory of the Lord' was often in the leadership and life of Moses. It was through the glory of the Lord that Moses realized his place before God and was able to live in humility before both God and man.
This is the type of teaching that everyone appreciates, but it rarely implemented. We all would say with our mouth we want to be humble and meek, yet most of us never really strive for such a thing. At the end of the meeting, the entire congregation got on their knees, and prayed, asking the Lord to show forth His glory in their life, enabling them to walk in meekness and humility.

Sunday Services

Over the past two weeks, I visited two different churches. I have been unable to blog due to some health issues, so I am trying to catch up by putting two churches in one post. The first church (Lemba Bible Baptist) is located past Mpongwe down a wide dirt road. The church is in a building project and is almost finished. All that is needed is a roof! The church is praying the roof will be completed before the rains begin in the next few weeks... once the money comes in, it does not take long for the completion.


The second church visited (Twatema Bible Baptist) is located in the opposite direction taking rouhly 2 full hours. The first part of the trip is quick in which the road are paved. The second part of the trip is very rough going through extremely dense bush, over rocks, and tree roots, and over "bridges" hastily constructed.
Both trips were well worth the difficulties of the day. It seems the greater the difficulty in doing something, the more the Lord tends to reward the effort. In both services we had many come forward confessing sins and desiring to come to the Lord.
As you can see, Twatemwa is also in the midst of a construction process. The church on the left is simply made of mud brick with a grass roof. The church member have created a new building to the right made from burnt brick and hope to soon have roofing sheets added once some adjustments are made to the contstuction of the building.

Kafue Bible Baptist Church

Every week brings a new experience. This last Sunday was no different. I took a group of students from the Bible Institute and headed to Kafue Bible Baptist Church. To get to this church, we had to drive past Luanshya, past Mpatomato, and then drive in the bush for a while. As we were driving, I noticed a very small burn brick building with no roof on the side of the road. You guessed it - this humble building was the church. The service started on time and the Spirit of the Lord was evident. The singing and dancing before the service was enjoyable, but it was not until after the preaching concluded, that the real singing and dancing began!
It is interesting how the Lord often works. During the alter call, no one came forward. However, after the alter call and when it was the least convenient, a man stood and wanted to give a testimony. He went on for 5-10 minutes about how the message he just heard was truly for him and the impact it was making in his heart. Although he had not gone to the alter, the Lord did truly stir his heart and brought him to the place of proclamation! (Rom 11:36)

Bricks

We received a brick making machine in order to decrease the high cost of construction concerning churches, Bible Institute building, the future hospital, and the future orphanage. The machine actually just uses ordinary dirt and is able to make a construction quality brick that will last many years. This last Wednesday, I assembled a small group of people to help operate and test the machine.
We arrived at our plot of land in Kanyanda, part of the Mpongwe district only to find the dirt to be very sandy. Nonetheless, we did out best to make some bricks. Although the bricks were molded and appeared to work, they were unable to be used. In all, we were not able to produce 1 quality brick, but we had a great time, and learned some things that will be helpful for future projects...

Groove

This last Saturday I was invited to attend a youth fundraising activity. The youth in the Mpatomato area were all coming together to raise money so they could afford transport to different sections of town. The idea was then they would go and evangelize, but I am pretty sure the event was just planned so they could all get together and have fun! And fun they did have!! There was plenty of singing and dancing and even some well done skits - all in all, everyone had a great time.
The Zambian youth culture is changingng - just a few years ago, there was a large distinction between Zambian youth and American youth - the gap seems to be shrinking. The Zambian youth have the same music, clothes, and language.
I was asked to preach two messages - of course, I preached from the life of Joseph a man that had true character and the Lord used, even at the age of 17. As well as preaching from James 3, and the difficulty but necessity of controlling to tongue! It was all well received and fun to be a part of. Zambia will be in fine shape if these youth develop into the Christian leaders and workers they desire to be!

Kabwe

This last Sunday (Oct 1), I visited the city of Kabwe. One of our previous Bible Institute graduates is now acting as a missionary in the city. He is helping to train a couple of men that are pastor's in the area. Kabwe has a large sign on the way into the city - "Jesus is King - city of salvation". Kind of a strange title for a city, but salvation turned out to be the theme of the day.
The church itself is very small and just starting out. There were probably 50-60 adults in the service cramped into a make shift church with no walls. The members are still molding the bricks and preparing a 'proper' church building. Anyway, I preached from James 2 - the definition of true faith. The emphasis was from the beginning of the chapter - 'the Lord of glory'. After preaching on God's glory, it seemed as if the Lord had truly visited the church! At the end, 25 people came forward in which 15 made professions of faith and the other 10 were counseled concerning their Christian walk. It was great to be a part of....
After the service ended, I was escorted to an 'open-air prison' located just outside of the city. Never having been into a Zambian prison, I was not sure what to expect. This prison was a minimum security prison which did not even have walls. When the men were called together - roughly 1/4th of the prison population came to hear the word of God preached. Again, the Lord seemed to speak with clarity and conviction - I preached from Romans 8 - a short message on the difference between walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh. At the end, many of the men were desirous to seek a relationship with the Lord.
Although it was a 2.5 hour drive from the mission in which going to church became an all day event - it was worth it all to see men, women, and children all desire the Lord as He draws and moves in their lives! To God be the Glory!!!