People in the Southern Hemisphere actually are more communal, more open and friendly than those of us who live in the North. I find this true especially in Africa. Wherever I go, people are warm, inviting and sharing. If I go into a shop looking for a bag of sugar and there is none, the shopkeeper or whoever else is standing close by, will race off and come back in minutes, take me by the hand and actually walk with me to where I can buy the needed sugar.
Yesterday I was sitting on a bench in one of the more upscale neighborhoods of Nairobi, earplugs in, waiting for Roger. Not long after I sat down, a woman about my age, wiping her brow, asked if she could sit down beside me. Her face was dark, soft and beautiful…with eyes that betrayed her loneliness and worry. As we talked she mentioned she came to this place to walk daily. Her husband had died three years ago and her adult children were in much pain over the loss of their dad, “even after all this time.” This worried her greatly. I was surprised when she asked where I was from that she had been to California, actually, not only California, but within two hours of my home. In fact, she had been to the US three times. Later she asked why I was here. I could see her interest grow as I talked about sharing the love of God with others in simple, unstructured ways without buildings or money or corruption. I explained to her how we look at Scripture together, read it, talk about it, that each one takes her turn to tell what the Word of God is speaking to her personally. God becomes real; relationships are not built on hierarchy. Instead, they are built on equality, sharing God’s love in practical ways, experiencing the fullness of the God-life together.
As Roger walked up, pleadingly Naomi looked at me, “Can we meet again? Please come to my home and tell me more about what you are doing.” Sincere or not, I don’t know, but what I do know is that we live in a desperate, lonely and very needy world. People want to be heard, belong, be loved and recognized. God is the only One who can do all four…consistently…and He, in turn, desperately wants to prove that He can and He will. On a bench or in a pulpit, who is in front of you today and what are they seeking?
For me, today, it was Naomi. We have plans to meet again soon.
The air was electric as I watched live TV, along with much of Africa, whooping and hollering as Eliud Kipchoge crossed the finish line and busted the two-hour marathon barrier. He became the first human ever to do this, defeating the ‘unbeatable’ mark by 20 seconds. The fact that he is Kenyan and I am in Kenya naturally meant that I was with people who were expressing themselves loudly and boisterously! “He did it.” “YAYYYY…I can’t believe it!”
But seriously. This is an incredible feat! Think Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile! Or Michael Phelps taking home 8 gold medals in a single Olympics.
This African, running in Vienna, broke one of the unimaginable barriers that many thought would not happen in the foreseeable future. Yet he did it! Vision, hope, years of training, and he accomplished what seemed impossible. I was surely caught up in the moment of human achievement, excitement, and, even inspiration.
Now, if you can transition with me from temporal accomplishments to eternal ones, then you are, in fact, catalyzing barrier-breakers with us! And it is also inspiring and powerful.
As we head to Rwanda for this week’s leadership conference, I am reflecting on these young, African barrier-breakers for the Kingdom. They are passionate, they are trained and/or learning, they are diligent and faithful and disciplined.
They are hungry for the glory of God to fill the earth, and they want to do all they can to see this accomplished.
They have big vision and even bigger goals. They are motivated by the unreached and willing to do what it takes so that NO one lives without hearing the Good News of God’s revolutionary love at least once. The African facilitator of this conference has set this motto: “3.19 Billion yet to be reached with the Gospel. If we don’t change nothing will change.”
These young leaders are unhindered by the limits of others or the traditions of those who have gone before them. They believe that they can see movements multiplying disciples, churches, and leaders throughout their own nation and even throughout the continent. They are focused on seeing new, unreached areas penetrated with such movements. And they take with them the constant desire to see the neediest of those reached lifted and empowered.
All of which seems like an impossible task. Humanly it is!
But we are not relying on human inspiration, but God’s encouragement and Spirit. And, like this Eliud Kipchoge, they are part of a team that brings this about. If you are reading this, that’s you!
“We visited a 68-year-old woman who had a son with a mental problem.… No group of believers had ever visited this family.”
Though we have just arrived in Africa, this story (following) was shared with us by Solomon, a new leader from Zambia, who has been receiving online training for the last three months. Because of his progress, we will meet with him next week in Rwanda where he will receive intensive hands-on training from African leaders. He so appreciates what he has received so far:
“Within a period of three months I have accomplished what I couldn’t in 27 years of pastoral ministry. Thank you for the training! We now have 10 groups of disciples; I was only responsible for the first and last group. The rest of the groups were established by my disciples. We have a total of 63 disciples with 25 new baptisms. We have learned that the proportion of our harvest is dependent on how much seed we sow. We should never be content with the current work, but we have to cultivate a lifestyle of disciple making.”
He goes on to explain how he and five disciples visited the woman with the mentally ill son:
“Her house was decapitated, and the grass was falling off! She was happy to see us and welcome us. We remembered the teaching on connecting with persons of peace by helping solve problems. So, we sent one of us to buy foodstuffs and gave it to the lady and her son. We later engaged someone to do the thatching of the roof.
“Our gesture attracted a group of about 30 neighbors. We then shared the word with them. They encouraged us to establish a Bible study group. They told us that no group of Christians had ever visited this family or shared anything with them. They said that what we did is a demonstration of the love of Christ.”
Grateful to you – the people who stand with us. We never imagine, for a day, that we are walking alone in this calling. It is a team, a community, a called-out group working together with us that allows the work of Appleseed to take place. What a blessing and joy to have you walk with us.
We are grateful…
to the faithful African team-leaders whose hard work on the ground brings forth the fruit that we all celebrate! “I am going to run as hard as I can for at least the next 15 years,” 35-year-old Omondi said, “because I am young, and I want my life to count.” Imagine what will be accomplished as we cheer alongside this dynamic young leader (one of many) for at least another 15 years!
for the prayers that brought immediate results during this trip:
NO unusual health or logistical challenges through all of the conferences that took place for ANY of the participants. This is unusual and a real blessing!
The right people at each training conference – fully engaged, ready to learn, and eager to go and implement. “Nobody left early to catch a bus home on the last day before the traffic started. They did not want to miss a thing.”
for the fruitfulness that you and I are part of. When new ‘trainees’ come to training they are so surprised by the African team-leaders we work with who are baptizing hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people within their church networks annually. This inspires the new trainees to adopt and implement similar methods. What a harvest celebration!
to God – for calling each of us with a purpose that we get to walk out with Kingdom and eternal ramifications.
“In Bubanza a drunkard became a storyteller and then he went to the witch doctor and now that old man has become a church planter and even now the whole village has embraced the Gospel.” – Bahizi, Burundian Disciple-Maker
Bubanza is a province in far western Burundi. It’s a beautiful region in what at first glance would seem like a peaceful, rural area. Unfortunately, it’s a place with much unrest and many challenges. Government officials report that there is little peace with insecurity being at a high of 95%. Robberies are frequent in the villages. Theft of cattle and crops stolen from the fields is common. Women often abandon their husbands and children for prostitution in desperate need of money for basic needs (i.e., food). Men leave their families to remarry in other communities and provinces. Witchcraft is commonly practiced. Just this year over 29 witch doctors were named who continue to provoke citizens to murder others who have harmed them and/or their families. Gunfire and grenade attacks are frequent between political factions as well as continual raids from Congolese rebels along the border. It’s a place where we can hardly comprehend what everyday life must be like there.
Who or why would anyone go to such a region? Bahizi and his Burundian team are determined to see peace come to their nation. Their strategy? To reach every province and every village within those 18 provinces with the Good News of Jesus Christ. And, so, they pray.
And, Meshack and Jonas went. Often the team based in the capital city of Bujumbura use water filters as a way to show the love of Jesus to those suffering from sickness due to the polluted water carried from the river for drinking, washing, and cooking. Making the long, arduous journey by motorbike west to the village of Masha in Bubanza, they encountered many men sitting in groups under the trees drinking local brew. Led to one such group, they sat down and talked with a man named Paschal. Indeed, they discovered the extreme poverty and high level of disease and sickness in the area, so they had entry to discuss bacteria and the need to clean their water. As they kept chatting, Meshack asked Paschal if he could tell him a story, which Paschal willingly agreed to. So, he told him the Bible story of the very rich man and poor, sickly Lazarus. Paschal really loved that story and asked Meshack if he would come to his home and tell the same story to his two wives and nine children. Meshack agreed and also took a water filter with him.
Meshack telling God stories
When Meshack reached Paschal’s home, he taught the family about hygiene and the value of clean water and how to use the water filter. Then they all sat together while he told them the story about the sickly beggar Lazarus. Using the Discovery Bible Study method and since no one there could read, he then asked them to repeat the story that he had just told them. After that, he then asked each of the family members how they saw the story, what did it mean to them? When it was Paschal’s turn, he said, “When you were speaking the story, I see my life is like that rich man. Sometimes I have something but I do not take care of my own family.” Then he announced, “I will stop making and drinking local wine and stop hitting my wife and children. I will now take care of them.”
Paschal at his home
Paschal and his wife
And, he did! The second time Meshack went to Paschal’s home, there were more people there. Paschal’s own wives were telling him that Paschal is acting very differently toward them. Only the Word of God and the power of God and a life was transformed!
Soon after that Paschal wanted Meshack to go with him to the home of the local witch doctor. The entire village was terrified of this man because of his evil powers. When they went to his home, the witch doctor was very surprised to learn that they had come not to buy a spell but to tell him something. Paschal started in, “Salvator, you know all of us very well here in this village. I am here only because I want to tell you about my story and what has happened. I heard a story from Meshack and now my life has changed.”
Curious to know what exactly had happened, Salvator wanted to know more, and as Paschal told him the same story about the rich man and Lazarus, the witch doctor looked at him and said, “I have been doing many wrong things. There are so many conflicts between people and they come and want me to put a spell on someone to kill them.” Paschal went on to tell the witch doctor his testimony, of baptism, and how his life was changing. The witch doctor said, “I’m getting so very old and I’ve been behaving so badly using all these things to kill people who are innocent. I do not want to die like this rich man.” After that he confessed all of the things he had been doing for so many years and was baptized. Soon after, the old man went through the village and began telling everyone the same God-story about the rich man and how his own life story was changing now because of it.
Salvator, former witch doctor
Both stories spread like wildfire throughout the village. No one could believe it. This man they feared for their very lives was literally changing in front of their eyes. One God story and one changed life and many people in that village have come to believe in the power and love of Jesus Christ. First there were 34 people baptized, then there were 20 more. There are five house churches in that village today. People who left the village because of the evil ways of the witch doctor are now coming home, where many residents are coming together to build traditional small brick homes for them. There’s little doubt Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Word of God and the Spirit of God are still changing people, villages and nations!
Brooks 
