Kasenga "Baptist Church"

I was asked to come and preach at a "church" in the bush this last week. The church has been without a pastor for 5 years and as far as I could tell they were not very interested in following God's direction for churches. This church is situated in an area where the village head man does not favor Christianity and the local Nyau has a lot of control over the people. In all - the culture/world has impacted the church more than the church has impacted the culture/world.

We preached straight knowing the only solution or true help we could provide is for the Spirit of God to take His Word and really work in the hearts and minds of the people. We had more than 10 people saved that afternoon and even a couple came forward to pray that recognized they have strayed from God's original path for their life.

After the service we met with some of the main people from the church about them having no pastor. I gave them some advice and told them what the Scripture says about the qualifications of a pastor. They seem to want a pastor but many of the men in that area follow culture and Nyau more than the ways of Christ. We really need to see God defeat their fears and bring forth spiritual victory!

An intersting note about this gathering was the amount of people that seem to regularly attend. For a church with no teaching pastor, no clear direction, no presence of God, and no separation from the world - between 100-150 regularly come?? But... why?

Nyau

A couple weeks ago we were preaching in the bush. After we finished at the church, we were driving down a trail and came across two Nyau. This was a first time for me. One was close to 9 or 10 ft tall and the other more like 5 to 6 ft in height. They both had masks over their faces and rags that covered all their body so there was nothing visible. (the picture to the right is an image from Wikipedia and not the exact image I saw).

After speaking to some people about this I found out they are part of a "secret" group that communicates with the dead and prays to the spirits. Only men are allowed to be a part of this group and most villagers flee when they see the Nyau coming. Much of what is said about this group is associated with witchcraft, charms, fear, and evil works. They often are able to control whole villages through fear and intimidation and even though so much progress has been made in Zambia - this group is still a very real force in the spiritual realm.

In my opinion, many of us dont consider spiritual warfare much. We dont think of a real battle that is taking place. Therefore, many of us dont fight a spiritual fight. This following verse tells us that we dont "wrestle" against flesh and blood (things seen) BUT that we do wrestle (among other things) against spiritual wickedness.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Sonrise Baptist Church

I was invited to preach the closing day of a 4 day conference. A new church had just been planted and some of the surrounding churches got together to give this new church a boost. The new church (Sonrise Baptist) is small but starting strong. The new pastor has a real zeal for God's word and for teaching his people the right way!

It was a glorious day - although the church doesnt have a proper building, we made the best of things and God brought forth fruit. At the invitation, we had more than 30 adults come asking Jesus Christ to be Lord and Saviour. Praise the LORD! On top of that, we had another 40-50 adults come and grab hold the altar of God asking Him for an increase of faith, unity, and protection!

After the service, I was again called upon to pray for some new babies from these churches. It was like a child dedication service - although this was not something I had planned out, it was still an amazing privilege to individually pray for each of the 34 children and mother's that came.

We returned home exhausted from preaching in the sun all day but thrilled at what God continues to do here in Zambia! Please pray for this new church and these new Christians.

Church

Preached again at Danny Bweupe's church on the subject of "Church". Seems like sometimes Christians just do church but don't really know what church is suppose to be according to the Scripture. The message was more like a teaching than a preaching but I felt the people just needed to understand their responsibility and commitment they have made. Going through different Scripture we talked about:

• The power of the church
• The people of the church
• The purpose of the church
• The priorities of the church

It is always my goal for these New Testament churches to be established on the foundation of God's word. The more opportunities we have to teach and preach I believe the more opportunity God has to work in the hearts and minds of His people!Please continue praying for these people to take their responsibility as the "church" even more seriously that we will all make a greater impact on this world for the glory of the Son of God! (as you can see, our daughter enjoys meeting everyone at church!)

Chadiza Survey

Last week we took a survey trip to Chadiza district. Chadiza is a small town roughly 60 kilometers from Chipata. There are already some churches established in this area. Our purpose for going was to go beyond the town into the outlying bush areas surrounding Chadiza and see the spiritual situation.

We began to drive out of Chadiza town and spent the next many hours going over some very rough terrain. In all, we traveled almost 200 kilometers stopping to pass out tracts in markets, talking to locals about the spiritual needs and seeing the likelihood of starting our church planting efforts in this area. This area is likely inaccessible during the rainy season since many bridges were broken and we were forced to cross dry river beds. It was no problem this time of year but come December or January - I am pretty sure our vehicle couldn't make the trip. It again showcased the need to reach these difficult areas with the gospel while there is still time.

Please be praying for God's specific direction as we continue to seek His face in our church planting efforts. As you can imagine, planting churches in these type of areas is no easy task but certainly one that is very worthwhile!