Team Zambia 2018- Day 7

Team Zambia 2018- Day 7

THE BIRTH OF A CHURCH

It was so gratifying to see God drawing people from the compound to the new church this past Sunday. The first service at Lusaka Bible Church Makeni Villa was a wonderful blend of music, vision casting by the new pastor and the Word of God. (In fact there were three sermons! They say: “we don’t come to church to leave.”)

Since there was no choir yet, which is a necessary part of any African service, Pastor Joseph, his wife, and their 7 children provided special music.  The head deacon, Mufaya, also led the church in hymns.  We also joined in with special music as the “Mzungu Choir”- a term of endearment Africans use for white people. 

NEW BELIEVERS ATTEND FIRST SERVICE

It was great to see the people we had led to Christ attending the very first service.   Two of the women in attendance, Miriam and Angela, are part of a family of 4 who all came to know Jesus this week.  The young men that Donnie asked you to pray for were there as well!  Mr. Muchunga and Mr. Garver were in attendance as well.  One of the teams prayed with Mr. Garver on an issue with his job and Mr. Muchunga accepted Jesus and hoped he would soon have a Bible so he could begin to go and tell others about Jesus as well. 

NUMBERS DO TELL A STORY

Our 5 teams drew our Gospel presentation 149 times, for an audience of 356 people, and saw 178 people pray to receive Christ.  One of our teams was quoted as saying “You could live your entire life and never see anything like this.” 

YOU KNOW YOU’RE HOME WHEN

You know you’re home when you see the orange and white Whataburger sign.  It’s nice to be back on solid ground after 22+ hours of flight (7 hours and then 22 ½) enjoying a hamburger Texas style (which was much better than the zebra burger Donnie had on Saturday). 

Team Zambia - Day 6

VBS PARENTS PROGRAM

Over 150 children and 40 parents attended our VBS presentation of the Bridge to Life.  It was so good to look in to the faces of the parents we are praying will become part of the Lusaka Bible Church in Makeni Villa Compound.

EVANGELISM JOURNEY

Today marked the end of our evangelizing in the compound, but the journey for the Lusaka Bible Church in Makeni Villa Compound is just beginning.  We wanted to share a few stories from this week that are just the tip of the ice berg of what God is going to do here. 

Lee & Mike:

“While sharing the Gospel with an individual, a teenage boy started asking questions such as ‘Why did God put a tree in the garden that Adam and Eve couldn’t eat?’ and ‘Why are there different colors of people?’.   As he continued to ask more questions, more young boys came to hear and ask questions.  He then asked if he could walk with us as we shared the gospel with his neighbors.  When we arrived at the next group, the woman we were sharing with was struggling to understand.  This young man suddenly began interpreting for us! 

Jessica & Kim:

“One of the groups that we shared with had come to understand they were in the Kingdom of Darkness.   When we explained how they can know Jesus and live in the Kingdom of Light, one of the women shouted, ‘Today is the day!’.  The expression of joy continued as they learned that they were not only saved but safe and secure in Christ and that a church was being planted in their community where they could continue to learn of God’s purpose and plan for their lives."

Ashley, Blake, Donnie:

“We met with a woman on Thursday who asked us to pray for her daughter who was ill.  We prayed for her immediately and asked God to heal her.  Today, we found out that she came and sought out one of our groups to hear the story of Jesus because God had healed her daughter! The entire family ended up trusting Jesus for eternal life.”

Annalyn & Krista:

“On Tuesday, we encountered a woman that wanted to hear our story as we were heading back to the bus.  We made an appointment to meet with her the next day.  The next two days we would go to the place we promised to meet her only to find that she was at the market selling goods.  Finally, today, she was there along with many more who continued to show! We learned that God’s timing was perfect as we saw 8 people come to know Christ from that divine appointment.”

Kay & Don:

“We began to share Jesus with two women.  One woman stated she knew Jesus, but that her neighbor that was with her needed to hear our story.  It was quite chilly out, so she invited us into her home.  We continued to share the gospel with them and the neighbor accepted Jesus! “

Lydia & Randy:

“A man who was selling shoes had a message that said “Jesus Loves Me” on his hat.  We began to speak to Him about Jesus and what He believed. We asked him if we were to die today, would he go to heaven.  He answered that he would.  While training for this trip, we learned that many believe they will go to Heaven because of good works, religion, and other false teachings.  When he was asked to state why he would go to Heaven, he stated ‘because of John 3:16.  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’  We rejoiced with our brother in Christ.”

Team Zambia 2018- Day 5

Team Zambia 2018- Day 5

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING- THE BOYS CAME TO CHRIST

Thank you for praying for the young men who were leaders among their peers in VBS. Three of them came today and truly understood the gospel. All three prayed to receive Jesus.

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING- Greg Davis has been feeling much better and was able to rejoin the team for VBS this afternoon.  

169 kids attended VBS Today.

 

THE HARVEST

The Harvest this week has been extraordinary and has shown that God truly does honor the faithfulness of workers in his field. Here are some of the results so far:

Our team has presented the gospel 115 times in the last four days to 256 people and 111 people have trusted Jesus as Savior.

SHARING THE GOSPEL IN A BUS!

In sharing the gospel today one of our teams came across an area where busses park. One group of guys were working on their bus. They asked if they could share a story and they actually  opened the bus and invited our team in to talk. The team shared the story by drawing it on a piece of paper. In the middle of the presentation they had to move the bus so they stopped and helped them push it out of the way and then they had to move to the bus behind in order to finish sharing the gospel. Even with all the interruptions, all three men prayed to receive Christ.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS TO PLANT A CHURCH IN AFRICA?

We thought we would give you an idea of what has gone into our mission and where we fit in.

Here’s the basic idea:

1.     The International Mission Board issued an invitation to come and work in Zambia

2.     The Missionaries identify a church in Africa with a vision to sponsor a new church

3.     The Sponsoring Church identifies an African national who is called to Pastor

4.     The Missionaries combine with the leadership of the sponsoring church to train the new pastor.

5.     An area is selected where a church needed

6.     The missionaries and sponsoring church leaders cover the area through prayer walking

7.     A location where the new church will meet is located. (usually a school)

8.   A MISSION-MINDED CHURCH SENDS A WELL-TRAINED TEAM TO SATURATE THE AREA WITH THE GOSPEL (THANK YOU CASTLE HILLS)

9.     The names of all new believers are carefully recorded and given to the new pastor

10.  The new pastor partners with mature believers from the sponsoring church to follow up on each new believer.

11.  The Church Grows and Plants Another Church