Minkoyo Baptist Church

Yesterday we were back into our normal routine of visiting different bush churches. The pastor had asked me to come months ago but when we started off for the church I didnt realize how far away it really was... He has us to be there by 11:00. We didnt actually arrive until about 11:45 --- now, in the States that would be a mortal sin but here in Zambia it is quite normal. In fact, when we arrived the Pastor himself was still not there... imagine!! What I thought was going to be a 30 minute drive turned out to be a 90 minute drive...

The church was low in attendance because of some sickness but things seemed to be going well according to the pastor and how the people have been working on the different projects and programs set forth. I preached a message from Romans 6 entitled, "Shall we continue in sin?" The people seemed to understand and hopefully God worked in all the hearts and minds of the people!

Crocodile in Baptismal waters...

We always talk about Crocodiles being in the same river that we Baptize people in. Of course, we don't often see these creatures during the baptismal services. Just last week we had 47 people baptized in the Kafulafuta River - this week, a deacon from one of our churches killed a 14 foot crocodile!! Anyone want to be baptized????

2010 Baptism Service

This year, in obedience to the Scripture, we had 47 baptized in the Kafulafuta River! Praise the LORD for their act of faith!

Night Preaching

We have had 18 messages preached so far... I have not been able to keep up with the blog as much as I had hoped but I do hope you have had a good taste of things in Zambia. (because of poor internet, this post is a few days behind). Our key speaker was Elijah Pule - he did a wonderful job of communicating God's word to the people!

Conference Preaching

We have had 8 full messages so far and another 11 to go! Please continue praying for the Lord to really move in hearts. After 6 messages, only 1 person had responded to the Spirit. However, last night we had over 50+ respond to the invitation! The temps have been very cold here but things seem to be warming up spiritually!

More Dental Work

There was a bit of a lull in activity on Wednesday - but Thursday was pretty much non-stop action!

Time of Change

Wednesday is pretty much a day of transition at the mission. The kids are leaving and the adults are coming in. It is hard to see the kids go - they are so fun to be around! According to the records for this year, there were 1,317 children in attendance with 75 Sunday school teachers supervising (imagine that!). There were 215 new professions of faith in Christ and 261 that came to a place of repentance. Praise the LORD! Thank you for all the prayers for this conference so far!We rejoice in all that God is doing in and through the work of bro. Larry Franklin! He has spent so many hours teaching and preaching and although the children have gone, he will be spending more time with the adults! Hallelujah!

Continue to pray for our adult portion of the conference as we kicked off last night with 2 great messages from Ephesians 5:8 - "walking as children of light"! As you can see from the pictures, we are literally bringing in people by the truck load!

toothbrush attack

During a lull in the activity, some of the dental students decided to give out free toothbrushes to those hanging around the outside of the clinic. Although they were warned, a human stampede ensued! You ever see people knocking down their brother or sister to get a toothbrush???

Singing Competition

I don't want to be a dentist

I am quite thankful for the dental team that has come - they are doing a fantastic job and helping so many people. At the same time - I am so glad I am not a dentist. No idea how they can be pulling teeth, sticking their hands in the mouth's of people, and scraping a metal tool across bone all day and at all enjoying that... wow!

"bush" dental team 2010

Dr. Elias and his team of 12 medical students and 1 assistant are at our mission to help minister to the physical needs of the people. The team has started working this afternoon and had a long line of people waiting for the free service. Praise the LORD for people like Jim Elias and his team willing to make the long and expensive trip to Zambia to help poor people get professional dental care! Thank you LORD!

2010 Life of Christ - VBS

We have started our Vacation Bible School - here is a 45 second clip of our speaker and the crowd he is preaching at... we have 39 churches in attendance so far with a rough guess of 700+ kids.! Bro. Larry is doing a fantastic job of going through the "life of Christ"! Please be praying and we would love to see our Great God move in the hearts of these people!

2010 Vacation Bible School

The start of our 2010 Vacation Bible School is upon us! We have 29 churches that have arrived with their children and a guess of around 300 children. More will arrive late tonight and many will arrive Monday morning...
Larry Franklin is with us to help reach these children with the gospel message. Bro. Larry will have 8 sessions of 2 hours each to present the "life of Christ". Please be praying with us as we expect our God to do great things.

Mifungu Baptist

This last Sunday we went into a very rural area to visit a church. The pastor (Pethios Musonda) asked me to come and visit his people. Although it is getting very close to our August Bible conference it is still important to visit churches and try our best to encourage God's people to continue in the work of the Lord.

(had to add a cute picture of my beautiful wife and daughter!!)

City of Salvation

About two weeks ago I was asked to come to a church in the city of Kabwe (3 hour drive). When entering Kabwe the town sign says, "welcome to Kabwe, the city of Salvation". Although I appreciate the city council wanting to be Christian in appearance, there is still much work that needs to be done spiritually.

Thomas Mwansa is the pastor of Faith/Victory Baptist Church. He is doing a fine job of discipling and teaching his members to live by the Scriptures. He does not have a large congregation as of yet but slowly they are growing. The church is in the midst of a building project and as Bro. Thomas said, many run away or wont join during building projects because they know there is a cost... shame! As you can see from the pictures - the church has done quite a job of completing the structure and making it very strong. Bro. Thomas has hopes of adding a Bible school and office at some point in the future as the Lord provides. The Lord used His Word that Sunday morning to bring forth a great harvest - the altar was full and I believe God was pleased!

Have you noticed - a lot of churches are good at the building part but not so good at the roof part...

Ibenga Central Church

Still trying to catch up...

A few weeks back we visited Ibenga Central Baptist Church. The church is growing quite well with over 125 members! They are in the midst of a building project. As you can see from the pictures the building is complete but no roof as of yet. The church is currently meeting in a school room and is jammed in there tight. The Lord blessed and we saw many come forward!

July Refresh Course 2010

Trying to catch up on my blogging...

After getting back from Chipata we moved straight into our July Refresh Course. The theme for this course was "being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ." We had roughly 60-65 men in attendance. I preached from the book of Luke 9:57-62 in which I highlighted 4 types of followers. We had different Zambian men teaching during the day to again help the national men take more responsibility and ownership for the work of the ministry.