Mipundu BBC

Preached at a small church on Sunday - roughly 35-40 adults. We arrived at 9:45 - about 15 minutes before I thought church would start... turns out I was off. Church did not actually start until 11 am! Gave us some time to pray before the service and get a lay of the land...

Service began with the usual singing, dancing, announcements, and welcoming statements. We started preaching right around noon - the Lord brought forth the increase with 3 coming forward, 2 for salvation and one simply to receive some counsel. Although it was a 2 hour trip to this church - certainly a wonderful time seeing God's word reach out and impact lives eternally!

After the service, the church asked for some time with me to discuss their church project. They were hoping I could help with some bags of cement and possibly roofing sheets - it is my goal to see churches take more responsibility for these expenses. I encouraged them to learn sacrificial giving - of course, they were not impressed with my exhortation. I came up with an idea - if they really wanted me to help - I needed them to prove they were serious. If they were willing to give, so was I - I called the pastor over and told him I would like to take another offering... this time, for every 1,000 Kwacha (30 cents) put in the plate, I would put in 5,000 Kwacha! The people rejoiced and were very excited at this offer. So, the youth choir began singing as I held the plate - hoping the church would take me up on this offer. Sure enough - a handful of people came forward putting some 10,500 Kwacha into the plate --- I came through on my part and gave the church some 50,000+ Kwacha. I was a bit disappointed. The church had the chance to truly dig deep - this one offering could have taken care of all their cement needs and even start helping with getting some roofing sheets... but, sacrificial giving is hard to come by even in the bush!