Kalalushi - Grade 12

This last Friday I was asked to come and speak to a group of young people in the town of Kalalushi. I really didnt know what to expect- when we arrived, I found 175 12th grade kids waiting to hear from God's word! Myself and another man both preached twice for a total of four messages - the Lord truly was in this place. We had many of the kids get saved and many were encouraged to live Godly lives. Many of these kids will graduate high school in the next few months - it is our prayer they will keep the commitments made at this meeting... to honor the LORD! There are many pressures these kids will face in the upcoming months - please pray for God to guide and protect these kids down the the straight and narrow path.

Annual Conference Baptism!

Many of the churches that come to our annual conference bring members that have been saved during the year but not baptized - one of the main reasons, where they live has no viable river for baptism. This year - we had 89 people baptized. The Kafulafuta river has its share of crocodiles - so, while the baptism goes on, there are some that keep one eye open for our neighborhood reptiles! Praise the LORD for the many that have taken the step of obedience towards our Lord!

2008 Conference

The theme is from 1 Cor 3:9 - "we are labourers together with God". Most of the messages have directed us to a right relationship with God first and secondly unity towards co-labourers. Many have been saved and many have been edified! We look forward to the continual impact of this conference on the churches of GCMS as well as the nation of Zambia!

Pastor Grace along with other Zambian pastors did an amazing job of challenging all of us to a place of Christian maturity. The alters were often filled with people truly desiring that right relationship with the Creator and Saviour of the world. Although the week was busy and most of our extremely tired - it has been well worth it to see the Lord do a work in front of our eyes. Many were saved, many baptized, and many demons were cast out - praise the LORD!

Make Shift Dental/Medical Clinic

During our annual conference - not only do we have a team from America that comes and feeds the people spiritually, but we have a team that comes to help with dental needs. For the last many years Dr. Elias has come and been a blessing to the Zambian people by extracting teeth and providing quality dental work that is unavailable or unaffordable to most Zambians. This year, Dr. Elias also assembled a medical team to come and help. This is a huge blessing - over the last three days, they have seen over 165 patients and we expect they will likely double this by the time they finish on Saturday.
Please pray for two specific children. One child is five years old - his name is Prince and is HIV positive. He had 5 teeth extracted. He was in a lot of pain. It was an emotional time in the clinic as the gravity of this little boy weighed on all of us. It feels great to help so many people - but to realize for many, this help is very temporary is stunning. The second child is an infant with a severe case of Malaria - the doctors were not able to break the high fever and are very concerned.

VBS, Final Day

Tuesday marked the end of the VBS - the Lord truly blessed as approximately 192 children received Christ as Saviour and many rededicated their lives. The group spent a lot of time discussing oursin nature and although the children initially did not understand, eventually the convicting of the Holy Spirit brought forth godly repentance. Praise the LORD!

VBS, Kafulafuta style

Vacation Bible School is in full swing - we are having a wonderful time as both American and Zambian are working together to present God's word! The team has presented the "big story" of the Bible - tonight will be the gospel presentation... please PRAY!

Wow!

There are just some times when the word "wow" describes it all. Saturday night we started our annual Vacation Bible School at Kafulafuta - in the morning, all the children gathered for morning instruction and to receive some things. At that point, I was told there were about 1,530 children. Since then, we have received many more and I would expect the number to be around 2,000. Like I said - "WOW!!"
The team from America is doing a great job as they partner with the Zambian Sunday School teachers to reach this next generation with the gospel. This group hit the ground running but has not missed a step! Please continue to pray - three lessons have been completed and Monday three more lesson are planned. The Monday night message is a presentation of the gospel in which we expect the Lord of the harvest to bring forth fruit that abounds!!

Moses Bible Baptist Church

I visited a new church on Sunday called Moses BBC. The pastor is a graduate from our Bible Institute and excited about the ministry. Pastor Fordson's church actually started on time - no small feat here in Zambia. The people were full of excitement, singing with their hearts, and listening as the word of God was preached. The spirit of the church was excited and one that truly seemed to want to know God - it was very refreshing. I preached a message on faith from James 2 - a few people came forward.
After some time, we all sat down and I looked out and saw a young man with a real look of pain on his face. The formalities of church were just finishing up - I asked my interpreter if after we were all done he would go and try to encourage and help this young man. After about 30 minutes, my interpreter came back and said, 'he got saved!!". Guess that explained his look of pain. Praise the LORD for this little church. They are growing and people are coming to the knowledge of the truth!