Tembo funeral

We recently had another death in our church family.  Mr Tembo had been a faithful member of our church for some time. The funeral was quite large as his many children and grandchildren came from all over Zambia to attend the service and say their farewells. 

We are grateful to know his suffering is over and has now completely put off the old man as he kneels in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chief Chinunda

I had the privilege of meeting with chief Chinunda,  a chewa chief. He welcomed us very kindly and we enjoyed our time together. He was more than thrilled to receive a study bible from us, speak of the gospel, and accept an invitation to attend our church. 

Jere funeral

Yesterday was the funeral for Dixson Jere. He started coming to our Church back in October of 2014. So thankful he had the opportunity to hear the Gospel message and receive the gift of God's grace. 

Last Wednesday I found him suffering at the clinic with severe bronchitis.  I found out he later died on Friday afternoon just two days later. He was 81 years of age.

We celebrated his life, encouraged his family,  and preached from the Scripture with the hopes that those yet living will consider their end.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Big Tree Bible Baptist Church in Zambia! This is a special our Sunday school put together... singing "Merry Christmas" and reciting Isaiah 9:6. To God be the Glory!

Surprise!

My brother in law lives in Alaska and, of course, my wife lives in Africa --- so, they don't get to see each other very often is an understatement. However, the team that came in November wanted to do something special for Savannah so they decided to surprise her with a visit from her brother.

 

Josh traveled all the way from Wasilla, Alaska to join the Alabama team and surprise her. It was a huge blessing. The surprise remained in tact and Savannah squealed with excitement as tears flowed. Josh was able to see a bit of Zambia, the ministry we are involved with, as well as spend time with his sister and three nieces. Joy was found and love sprung forth.

 

Our cup truly runneth over. All praise to our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

Uncle Josh with the Pestke family (minus Eliana)

 

Winshape 2014

We were extremely blessed to host a team from Chick-fil-a / Winshape. The purpose of this group coming to Chipata it to help local business leaders understand Biblical principles and choose to follow God's way in their personal life and in their professional life.

 

Will Sims has been the lead man in coming to Zambia for the last 3 years. He is an instrumental and inspiring man that truly is passionate to see people grow in their relationship with Christ as well as see professional growth.  This year, two men came from Chick-fil-a along with their wives. It was a true joy to have both couples with us as they poured out their hearts and invested in the people of Zambia.

 

The teaching they do while in Zambia is based on the principle of servant leadership that Jesus taught. The principle crosses all borders and is timeless. We praise the LORD for the work that is being done here in Chipata because of this group. Will Sims has also invested in Davis Mwanamoyo (a local business man), who has now taken some of these same principles to his own business and helped others with their businesses!! Success!

 

Will and Emily with Eliana

Witnessing a lion dinner

Enjoying some of God's creation with some of God's people

Hebron School with the team

Will Sims teaching SERVE

David teaching SERVE

Davis Mwanamoya encouraging people to move forward



Will pointing people to the Truth

Will Sims investing in my family

 

Team Work

We hosted a team from Decatur Baptist and Community Baptist churches in Alabama. The team objective was to teach a three day VBS for about 90 children, an adult leadership conference taken from the book of Ephesians for about 35 adults, and do some renovations at a local rural health clinic.

 

The team was outstanding. The leadership conference teaching was spot on. The VBS for the children really reached into the hearts of the people. The renovations at the clinic went very well. The attitude of the group well represented our Lord Jesus Christ! The temps while the team were here were easily in the low 100s each day. The circumstances were less than ideal to do intense manual labor and play game with kids in the open air but this group not only did it, but did it well!

Larry Waye finishing up with some solid teaching

 

Shane Wright teaching from Ephesians

Josh Fryfogle helping out with clinic work

Team devotions at the Js



Group Transport Zambian style



Seth Keenum sharing his heart concerning biblical families

Bro Jay Schug teaching God's word



Josh Fryfogle doing the work



God honoring people desiring to see Christ lifted up

 

Eliana Grace

On October 11th, at 11:50 am, little Eliana Grace Pestke was born into this world. We are thrilled. She decided to wait a bit before entering which in turn resulted in an emergency C-section. But, in the end, all turned out fine. Both mother and daughter are well. We praise the LORD for another beautiful gift.

 

Psalms 127:3-5 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

 

 

the whole world in His hands

There is an old Sunday school songs that goes, "He's got the whole world in His hands...He's got the whole world in His hands...." As we sing this song there are smiles on the faces of young people and old alike. The idea is simple - Jesus Christ (God manifest in the flesh) literally has the whole of mankind and the world in the palm of His hand. We take it to mean that everything is going to be ok. 

Truly - the God understood in the Scripture is in control and does have the whole world in His hand. Yet, when we face the thoughts of Ebola, ISIS, wild fires, terrorism, famine, and world hunger it is easy to quickly forget about the encompassing hands of the Lord.

The command to go into the world (Matthew 28:18-19) is ever ringing from the pulpits of New Testament churches. This command seems reasonable when nations are receptive, economies stable, and politics are western friendly. Yet worldly stability has no bearing on the command - the church still should and must confront the sin of the world with the solution of Jesus Christ. In fact, the message becomes more powerful when Biblical Christians run into the storms of this world only equipped with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

As Jesus once said... the harvest is plenteous but the labourers are few. Few because we often get caught up in the tribulations of this world instead of better understanding the triumph promised through Christ. Pray.  

Big Tree Two Year Anniversary

We had quite a wonderful celebration on Sunday (Sept 28th). Yesterday marked the two year anniversary of the beginning of our efforts to reach the Malongwe village area with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am deeply touched as I think about the many lives changed as sins have been forgiven and purpose and peace given. Hallelujah! Big Tree Baptist Church is not a very large place. Maybe if a stranger came he would not think much of our grass roof and mud pews and walls. Yet, in this humble building deep transformation has been found as the truth of God's word continually is declared and people seek that path of righteousness. 

We invited a guest baptist preacher from town (Harrison Banda) to encourage and challenge our people. Wow! He did just that. He spoke from Deuteronomy discussing blessings and cursings then brought it together as it relates to the New Testament Christian and the temple within them. Truly blessed. At the close, we asked if anyone would like to re-dedicate their life to walking with Christ... in God-like manner, the Spirit moved, and more than 20 adults immediately responded.. My heart was overflowing. 

 As is traditional with Baptist heritage - we celebrated with a church wide meal including goat meat, nshima, cabbage, beans, and tomatoes. Perfect day. As we all sat around talking and enjoying fellowship the children had made kites from bamboo stick and discarded plastic bags which provided great entertainment!

Sunday school reciting verses

Pastor Banda exhorting the people from God's word

Kite flying

love that family!

It has been more than 3 weeks since the Pestke family has all been together. Savannah and the girls are in South Africa in preparation for our new baby girl and I stayed behind to continue teaching and preaching.
Although the time has gone by fast I am so ready to be back with my family! It truly has worked out well to finish up some teaching in September and be free in October to fully focus on our new born and the rest of the family... but, oh boy, it has been hard to be away from these girls.

So, thought I would share some of those family pics!

baby girl getting a nap before her arrival

Analiese Joy enjoying life!

Gabriella Hope showing off those sweet cheeks!

unstable times

Isaiah 33:6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. 

It doesn't take more than a quick perusal of the different news stations to realize there is much tribulation in this world. There is unresolved military conflict in North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, and Russia to name just a few. There is a deadly Ebola virus that threatens West Africa and could cause hundreds of thousands of deaths (says CDC). People are being abducted all around the world. Small school girls are being taken from their classrooms and never returned. Tribulation is upon us the world.

Yet, throughout the Scripture we see over and over again the peace and stability that is known to those near to the Lord. Imagine, wisdom and knowledge brings stability? So, if we are living in a world of instability it is likely because biblical wisdom and knowledge is not prevailing. 

The hope we bring as missionaries to Zambia is not financial, academic, or really developmental in almost any way --- but, we do bring stability. We bring stability because our focus is to bring that strength of salvation to the people and build that foundation of wisdom and knowledge in order to make straight that which is crooked. Oh, that our Lord would bring an excitement for wisdom and that Christ's salvation would take control of the hearts of all of us! 

Truly, all this stability and salvation is right there - we just need to open the Word of God and allow our Lord Jesus Christ to speak. That is my prayer for the people of Zambia and for my own family. 

my loud neighbors

We happen to live next to an Islamic mosque here in Zambia. Every day and multiple times throughout the day there is an Islamic call to prayer or an "adhan". According to what I understand this is an integral part of the Muslim faith and is often time the first sound a new born baby hears or the first sounds allowed into a new home. From my limited understanding of Islam, this very loud sound should almost entice the hearers to come and pray! 

I must admit - for the last couple years I almost got so good at tuning this sound out that I didn't even hear it most of the time. However, over the last few months I have found myself listening more and more to this "lyrical and inspiring" prayer. I don't have much to compare this 'prayer' with but it has crossed my mind more than once that the people on the other side of the loud speaker are out of tune. Now I don't want this to sound like much of a critique since, (if you know me) I am almost never able to carry a tune. Yet, this is my confusion. Nobody is asking me to join the church choir. Nobody is asking me to lead a chorus or hymn. However, in my little town here in Zambia, every day, we hear the droning of "Adhan" from some apparently uninspired men. 

Maybe a question for another day... if praying is so important, why the need for the constant reminder?

not much but at least...

This Sunday I taught on the "purpose of our salvation". The thought occurred that it is likely many Christians only see salvation as that way of escape from judgment. But, truly, Biblical salvation forged from the nails at Calvary is the focal point of all Christianity. 

It is not my intention to re-hash my message from Sunday. I came to church prepared to preach. I came having thought through the materials. I came knowing what the day was going to be. And, yet, I stood before the people with much more angst than usual. Although for many --- many months I have been working to learn the language of ChiChewa, I just have not felt comfortable doing anything more than basic conversations, etc. This Sunday, circumstances fell into place, and I realized it was time to move outside my comfort zone. 

The Lord gave me the strength and ability I needed to get through my 30 minute lesson in Chichewa! I was excited and praising the Lord shortly after it finished. It may not seem like much but to teach in a foreign language for this thick head is no easy task. I still have a long way to go and looking back I realize I made some mistakes in my speech... but it was a good start. 

2 Thessalonians 1:12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I have been mistaken for who?

This last week we traveled a bit deeper into the rural area with the hopes of finding some new places to begin evangelizing, teaching, preaching, and eventually starting a new church. We met some fantastic people and a few of them even seemed interested in us coming! 

However, at one point I stopped on the side of the road to ask a few children the name of the village and if there were any churches in the area. The children froze. They refused to come near. They refused to speak. And, in complete rejection of their cultural values... they walked away from us. WOW! This was akin to a slap in the face. Quite disrespectful coming from a child. 

After speaking to some people about this incident we were told the children were afraid of us because they believed us to be "satanists". It is not every day someone describes me as a satanist. I have actually spent a great deal of time hoping to emulate Jesus Christ so that people would actually see His attributes in me and not actually see me in me. This is a new one even for me! 

Although we did see a couple churches in the area, the need for the radical life changing message of the Pure Gospel is still greatly needed. So many live in fear. So many live without hope. So many are bound by tradition. So many just do NOT know Jesus Christ. There is hope! 

Please pray with us as we seek the direction of our Lord. It is our desire to see these people receive the free salvation of Jesus Christ and experience the forgiveness of their sins. Jesus Christ is our hope!

Doorkeepers needed

It is interesting to read Psalm 84 and see the three main blessings spelled out in the text. The psalmist speaks of dwelling, of strength, and of trust. In each of these instances we see the blessing always comes back to God. When we dwell with God. When our strength is from God. When we trust God. This is an obvious and abundant theme throughout Scripture and yet a point many of us miss (myself included). It is easy to want the blessing but it is a different day when we actually experience the blessing. Truly the blessing is not self-made but comes as we live in the presence of God. 

I see desire within much of this passage. He writes about the longing of his soul. He speaks of his heart and flesh crying out to God. Perhaps many of us just don't have the necessary passion to chase after these types of blessing. Usually when we decide to pursue one direction we must forsake a different direction. It is normally called, "choices". We see choices all throughout the Scripture. When we choose to follow God - there are blessings to be expected. Is there anything more valuable than peace, love, joy, contentment, gentleness, etc? 

Oh, I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. This all comes together for me in the culmination of this verse. There requires an actual humility to dwell with God, to receive strength from God, and to trust God. Being a doorkeeper and dwelling with God is a much better life than dwelling in wickedness. However, none of us seem to set out for such a lowly position. Maybe that is the problem. We want more. We want what is in those tents but still want the blessing of God. Seems to be plenty of doorkeeper positions available. Applications being accepted. 

Getting Closer: Mukantha school

Thanks to the donations of some friends we were able to put a new roof on the Mukantha community school! As always, I underestimated the cost of the project but the Lord seemed to bring the funds to effectively finish the roof. Again, a huge shout out to Dan Jalowiec, Micah Jalowiec, and Luke Hayes for all the hard work they put into the installation of the roof. These guys not only work hard but seek to please the Lord in the way they work! Praise the LORD!

The school still needs a bore hole for clean water, door frames and window frames, doors and windows, a chalk board, and some desks but for now we are thrilled at the progress!

starting with prayer

executing the plan

precision work

looking good

all smiles

ready to use!

This do in remembrance

At our little rural church in Zambia we celebrate the Lord's supper roughly six times per year. It is a great reminder of the death of Jesus, along with the blood He shed for the forgiveness of our sin. I am always personally amazed at how much this sacrament changes me as I read through the verses that talk about Christ's work and sacrifice. It truly is wonderful to "remember" the finished work of salvation that Jesus Christ has done. Yes, salvation happens but once in a person's life but what a true joy to remember the Cross and remember that wonderful Grace!

A beginning: Mukantha community school

We have started a new project to help put a roof on a community school near our church plant. A women from the school's PTA came to us after Church one day asking if we could help. We eventually went to see the school and saw how shamefully the conditions were for the 80+ children. The PTA had done a fine job at building a new school but did not have the resources to put a roof on it and unfortunately the grass roofed school they were using was literally falling down. 

Thanks to some very generous friends of this ministry and their desire to see Christ honored, we were able to deliver the 80 pieces of timber yesterday and today the carpenters will begin the assembly of the trusses. (As you can see this is not a multi-million dollar school but is adequate... little is much when God is in it!) There is still much work to be done but we are excited of the future possibilities! At least... it's a beginning. 

old school

new school

There is still much we want to do at this school including a clean water bore hole, installing proper windows and doors, creating cement floors, attaching proper chalk boards but we are at least off to a good start!!! 

sweet little voices

Before our main time of preaching this morning we had the Sunday school children come and give us a song they recently learned. It is sweet to hear these little children learning from the Scripture, understanding God's direction for their life, and to hear them sing songs of praise!