Our journey through 2009

When a new year begins, many of us review the year that lies behind us and also look forward to the year to come. We think about the things we have to be thankful for, as well as the things we wish we’d done differently. Then we resolve not to repeat the mistakes of the past year in the one to come. We make resolutions to start new things as we dream of fresh starts and opportunities.

As Karen and I look back at the year behind us, we certainly have plenty to look at. It’s been a very busy year, filled with major life-changes.

A year ago, we were both planning a wedding and living in Scotland. I was pastoring a church in Moodiesburn, Scotland and had a great circle of friends in the area.

Today, we’re looking forward to our first wedding anniversary and I’m getting ready to start pastoring a church in Rosarito, México. I miss my circle of friends in Scotland but am also excited about the endless possibilities that await us on this side of the world.

How did we get from there to here?

JANUARY

We had a lovely wedding in Dinuba, California and a fantastic honeymoon in Cancún, México. Even as we rested on the beach, though, something within us was restless. We already knew in our hearts that God was moving us to México eventually, but now God was stirring our hearts and telling us that we had to begin to make our move immediately.

We decided we would announce my resignation from the church in Moodiesburn upon our return to Scotland and leave at the end of April. It was not an easy decision, but to not do so would have been wrong because we were confident that this was what God was telling us to do.

FEBRUARY

We returned to Scotland and began to tell the church and our friends what was happening. To our surprise, many responded well to the news. One godly man told me that he knew God was getting ready to move us and that he could even see it was the right timing. He said, “You’ve done what you came here to do. You’re a church-planter, and you planted this church.” We knew that the people would miss us and that we would also miss them, but their sensitivity to the Holy Spirit helped them to see that it was God’s will.

MARCH

With less than two months remaining before our departure from Scotland, we took advantage of the opportunity to spend quality time with good friends whom we knew we were going to miss terribly. We also had opportunities to continue to share the Gospel. On the last Sunday of the month, we both forgot that clocks had changed and were an hour late for church! That was embarrassing!

APRIL

Our last month at the church in Scotland was difficult. We came under a lot of spiritual attack and it was hard to say goodbye to so many people we loved. Yet, God was faithful and kept us strong. We also had the opportunity to visit one of Karen’s best friends on the Isle of Jersey, which was a real joy for us both.

MAY

Our move to America was an amazing experience. Whereas we hadn’t even known how we were going to be able to afford plane tickets to the USA, somebody in the States gifted us our passage across on the Queen Mary II. This trip, which we could never have afforded ourselves, was something we took as a sign that we must have been listening rightly to God when He told us it was time for us to move.

One day we had actually wondered if we had heard God rightly because the finances just weren’t there. I said to somebody from the church, half-jokingly, “Pray that God gives us $2000 tomorrow so we can book tickets to America.” The next day, I heard from somebody in America who said they were taking care of our travel expenses. They covered our trip on the ship, which was a real blessing and which — interestingly enough — actually cost less than the plane tickets would have.

When we got to New York, we took a driving trip across the states, stopping at churches all along the way to tell people about our call to México. It was a fantastic experience and God used it to get our fund-raising started for the mission.

We got to California just in time to attend my cousin’s wedding. When we arrived at my parents’ house, family members from all over America were gathered together, so we really enjoyed the chance to meet up with so many family members we don’t often see.

JUNE — JULY

June and July were spent with my family. My dad’s health has gone downhill quite a lot, so we committed to spending most of those two months helping my mom with his care. Staying in my hometown gave us the opportunity to catch up with a lot of my old friends as well as a chance for me to speak at several churches in the area and share about the opportunities God is opening up for us. I also spent quite a bit of time preparing materials for our work in México, including the curriculum for a course I’ll be teaching to train up evangelists for the Church of the Nazarene.

AUGUST

August was a phenomenal month! We went to Africa with an amazing team of people. Some of us didn’t even know each other before arriving, but we all gelled together like family and had a great experience serving God together in Tanzania. 290 adults made decisions to follow Jesus Christ, and many children and youth responded too. We also got to see the fruits of many years’ work continuing both through practical compassionate ministries in the communities and the continuation of vibrant churches that had been started during previous visits.

Karen and I both got really sick while in Tanzania and were out of commission for the last two days of the campaign, but we had such an incredible team that the work continued and people continued to come to Christ. Ernie Bayton, with whom I had previously served in Kirkintilloch, Scotland, took over the preaching for those last two days and did a fantastic job. The rest of the team also stepped up and demonstrated marvelous resolve and unwavering faith in the midst of difficulties.

After the team went home, Karen and I had another test coming our way. We spent a few days in Nairobi, Kenya. One day, we took our laptops into a local coffee house, The Java House, which has long been one of my favorite haunts in that part of Africa. While we were there, somebody managed to take Karen’s rucksack without anybody — even the guard who was on duty — seeing what happened.

Among the items that were stolen were our passports, the adapter for Karen’s computer, our camera, and various other things. What followed was an interesting visit to the police station, which included having to fill out our own police reports and paying to have them signed by a policeman, and then we spent two days journeying back and forth to both the American and British embassies to get our passports replaced.

We did manage to get our passports replaced in time, however, and thankfully our spirits also remained strong throughout the ordeal. We knew God was taking care of us, so we just made the best of the situation and went with the flow. We were especially grateful that we got everything in order in time for our flight as we had yet more important work awaiting us at the next stop.

SEPTEMBER

We spent most of the month of September in Spain. I spoke at a retreat on the coast one week and at “each one win one” conferences for the next two weekends. We really enjoyed spending that time in the region of Catalunya, Spain. The scenery was breath-taking, the people were great, and God did some incredible things in people’s lives. For one of the most interesting stories from that time, see my post from the 6th of October.

OCTOBER

In October, we got some more time with my family in California and I spoke at churches throughout Central California. Then, at the end of the month, I preached at revival meetings in Vancouver, Washington. That was a great week as I got to catch up with several great friends and I got to introduce several of them to Karen for the first time.

NOVEMBER

We started November out by going to Loon Lake, Washington. It’s up in the hills of Eastern Washington and is right by a beautiful lake, surrounded by green trees and lots of deer. We had a wonderful time there. Once again, I caught up with old friends, introducing them to Karen, and God did good things in people’s lives at the revival meetings.

The rest of the month, we spent more time with family and friends, and I also spoke at a couple more churches in California. We had the privilege of spending Thanksgiving with my family before leaving for our new post in México. It was Karen’s first Thanksgiving ever, as it’s an American holiday, so I enjoyed introducing her to the tradition.

DECEMBER

Our new life in México finally began after almost a year of preparation. We arrived safely in Chapala, near Guadalajara, on the 5th of December and I preached the next day. The people are so welcoming and enjoyable to be around that our first day of ministry was a great experience. Two people came to faith in Christ, a father and daughter, and the day ended in the best possible way… with a bunch of us sitting by an outdoor taco stand eating carne asada tacos and enjoying each other’s company.

From the 9th to 16th, we went to Panama for an evangelistic campaign in the capital there. The heat was intense, especially with no air-conditioning, but the people were wonderful and the atmosphere beautiful and charming. 17 people responded to the call to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior during the meetings, and we had an incredible time with everyone there. We also got a chance to see the Panama Canal, which was a fascinating experience in itself.

We’re settled into México for the long-haul, though we’re still not at our main destination. Although we had originally planned to be based out of Chapala, we’ve been asked to relocate to Rosarito, just south of the California border. There’s a church there that needs our help so, in addition to my other duties, I will be pastoring that church as of the 17th of January.

Until then, we are enjoying this part of México. After a lovely Christmas in Chapala, we ended our year helping a mission team from America in Monteón, near Puerta Vallarta. Karen helped in the kitchen, serving meals to the team, and I translated for the English speakers and helped them teach the children.

Now, as I walk down the cobbled streets near the house where we are staying, I hear the sounds of México. Mexican music plays on people’s stereos, a horse is parked in the road, the smell of chiles is in the air. We sat down today at another taco stand and, as I ate my taco and drank my Coke, I couldn’t help but think of the journey God’s brought Karen and me on so far in our first year of marriage. We’ve come a long way and I can’t wait to see where God takes us in the years to come!

Made for rhythm

I was recently watching a video on Facebook that our missionary colleague, Hazel Bech, put up. It was a video of a group of Christ-followers in Rwanda worshiping God. Their faces were vibrant as they sang and danced for Jesus! I was impressed by the sincerity and joy I saw in those faces. I also loved watching the worshipers dance. They had such rhythm!

As I sit here typing in a coffeehouse, they’re playing music. It’s good music and I can’t help but notice it has rhythm.

Did you know God made rhythm?

I just looked up a definition of the word online:

Rhythm: n. Movement or variation characterized by the regular recurrence or alternation of different quantities or conditions

Music doesn’t exist without rhythm, and its rhythm is really just a reflection of Creation. Everything God made has a natural rhythm.

For example, there’s the rhythm of the seasons: from summer to autumn, from autumn to winter, and so on…

There’s a rhythm to the day: from daylight to night and night to day…

And God also made the human being for rhythm.

Now, I’m not saying that all of us possess a musical rhythm. That’s disproven at any given concert, where everybody is clapping, by the occasional person who is clapping in between the beats!

But our bodies and souls are made for a natural rhythm and, without that rhythm, we don’t function very well. A song without rhythm is just noise, and a life without rhythm is just chaos. In fact, when we don’t respect the natural rhythms of our body and soul, we fall apart, just as the efforts of a symphony orchestra would fall apart as soon as the rhythm was lost.

I mentioned this briefly in my last post. We have to find the right balance in life — the rhythm we were made for — in order to be healthy, spiritually and physically. Let’s consider some of life’s natural rhythms and consider what happens when we lose the beat:

• The rhythm of sleep

  Part of the natural rhythm of our bodies requires proper sleep. If we don’t sleep enough, our bodies begin to break down. Lack of good sleep can lead initially to moodiness, irritability and disinhibition. Then, if a person doesn’t respond to these initial signs by getting the sleep they need, lack of adequate sleep in one’s life can lead to memory loss, the inability to multi-task and apathy. It reduces a person’s ability to be productive and can also make a person dangerous on the road as a person who doesn’t sleep enough is likely to have “micro-sleeps,” nodding off for 5 to 10 seconds, perhaps without even realizing he’s doing so. (reference: Why sleep is important and what happens when you don’t get enough)

  Some people are very proud that they feel they can “get by” with little sleep. They become so driven in their lives and careers that they sacrifice sleep and refuse to recognize they are destroying themselves in the process, by stepping out of rhythm with their body’s needs.

  When a person’s body is not continually renewed through sufficient sleep, his or her body’s healing process is impaired, and the body’s natural defenses against viruses and other illnesses are also broken down. PhD and diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, Michael J. Breus writes:

  Studies show an increased mortality risk for those reporting less than either six or seven hours per night. One study found that reduced sleep time is a greater mortality risk than smoking, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Sleep disturbance is also one of the leading predictors of institutionalization in the elderly, and severe insomnia triples the mortality risk in elderly men. Remarkably, sleep loss may also be a contributing factor to obesity.

  I believe a lack of sleep can be harmful to our spiritual condition as well. Some people legalistically think that they have to get up really early every morning for prayer in order to be “spiritual” enough, but some people’s bodies simply don’t cope with that kind of schedule. If we are made irritable by a lack of sleep, we can’t claim that as a spiritual victory and, if we aren’t taking care of our bodies properly in the name of “spirituality,” we’re missing the point terribly.

  Here’s something the Bible says about sleep:

  “In vain you rise early
  and stay up late,
  toiling for food to eat—
  for he grants sleep to those he loves.” — Psalm 127:2

  God made us with this natural rhythm for a reason and He wants us to honor that rhythm by finding the balance in life necessary to make sure we get our sleep! A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research study, released February 28, 2008, states that one out of ten Americans are sleep deprived. No matter how driven we may be, this is NOT honoring to God. God made your body with a natural rhythm for a reason, and you need to get your sleep.

  For more information about the body’s need for sleep, as well as a consideration of how to help people who simply CAN’T sleep, take a look at these Helpguide articles:

  Sleeping Well: Understanding Sleep Needs, Cycles and Stages

  Tips for Getting Better Sleep: How to Sleep Well Every Night

• The rhythm of sustenance

  When I’m visiting Africa, I sometimes see children whose bellies are extended; not from overeating, but from malnutrition. Due to their poverty, they haven’t had the option to honor their body’s need for sustenance. They truly know what it means to be HUNGRY, and their bodies suffer as a result.

  Most of us don’t know what true HUNGER is. However, we may know what it’s like not to eat PROPERLY. Our bodies have very real needs, and we need to respect those needs.

  The Bible says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). Taking care of that temple, therefore, is not an optional thing. When we disrespect our body, we disrespect the God who made us and lives within us.

  Respecting the body’s natural rhythm of sustenance means eating properly if we have that option. I’ve had times when I’ve been so driven by my work that I forgot to eat! That’s not good! I’ve also been guilty of not eating PROPERLY. Junk food doesn’t keep the body healthy. My body has needs, and I need to work a proper diet into the balance of my life. To be honest, this is something I haven’t always done well, but I’m trying to work on it.

• The rhythm of exercise

  If our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we have no right to abuse it. Exercise isn’t something we are meant to do only when we want to lose weight or get nice looking muscles. Exercise is a need that our body has, and we all need to seek ways to get the exercise our body needs. This takes discipline and, once again, it requires finding the balance we need in our life-schedules to make sure we are honoring our body’s needs thus, as a result, honoring the God who made our body.

  

• The rhythm of rest

  Genesis 2:2-3 says:

  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

  God put the rhythm of what came to be known as the Sabbath rest into Creation itself. Even God rested, and He wants us to follow His example. In fact, the Sabbath was so important to God that He put it into the Ten Commandments.

  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” — Exodus 20:8-11

  I don’t believe that the Sabbath was created as some kind of legalistic “religious” day to be forced upon people. It was created as part of the natural rhythm of creation. We NEED that day of rest each week and, when we don’t take it, we are putting ourselves in danger. The body and soul need time to rejuvenate and be refreshed, and we also need that time for important things like paying attention to our family relationships and our relationship with God.

  Airplanes can only stay in the air so many hours before they start to fall apart. Why is that? Because if a plane stayed in the air TOO long, the stress would pull it apart. The same is true for us. If we stay busy too long and don’t take those times to rest, we fall apart physically, emotionally and spiritually.

  I remember the day I made the commitment to take a weekly sabbath rest no matter what. I was VERY busy and wondered how I could get all my work done if I took a day off, but I also knew I was struggling to cope with the stress and that I was tired all the time. So I decided to SCHEDULE a day off each week and find out what happened.

  Here’s what happened; I discovered, when I took one day off each week, I actually accomplished MORE in the remaining six days of the week than I had previously accomplished while working all seven. I also discovered that I felt better, was happier and easier to get along with. I was beginning to respect the rhythm of life and, as I did so, life began to feel more and more like the beautiful song it was made to be!

God made us for rhythm!

To find out how you can help children like the hungry children I mentioned in Africa, check out When I Grow Up, a glocal initiative started by Redeemer’s Church in Reedley, California.

Your Kingdom come?

When Jesus’ disciples — the men who traveled together with him for three years to learn under his tutelage — asked him to teach them how to pray, he gave them a very interesting prayer model. It’s one that has been prayed by many throughout the centuries, though I fear that many pray the words without really grasping what they mean.

He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” — Luke 11: 2-4

It’s a very interesting prayer, a very earthy prayer in fact. I’m particularly interested in these words:

“Your Kingdom come…”

Jesus didn’t tell them to pray, “Take me up to heaven someday” but “your kingdom come.”

What did he mean?

It might help us to think about this question: What is the “Gospel”? The word “gospel” is one that is used often by Christians, and it means literally “good news.” But what is the good news that Jesus came to bring?

Some think the good news is simply that, if we will believe in Him, we can go to heaven someday. However, in his ministry, Jesus preached “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17, emphasis mine) He didn’t talk about his kingdom being something that was only far away in the heavens, and his news wasn’t simply that “you can go to the kingdom someday.” He actually talked about something that was near, and when he taught his followers to pray, he didn’t tell them to pray, “Take us up to your kingdom someday.” Rather, he taught them to pray, “Your kingdom come.”

In order to better understand these words, “your kingdom come,” it can help to know something about the world in which Jesus first said them. He was entering into the age-old story of the Jewish people. They had once had their own nation, but then had gone into exile in a foreign land. For years, they dreamed of going back into their land, the land of Israel.

Although living in the land again, they were still in a form of exile. They were living under foreign rule and had for several centuries. They were hoping for freedom and believed, as the Old Testament had shown them, that freedom would come through the Messiah that was to be sent by God. The word Messiah, from the Jewish Scriptures that Christians call the Old Testament, means “anointed one.” They were waiting for the anointed one, the Messiah, to come from heaven and to bring his kingdom.

So what did these words, “Kingdom of Heaven,” mean? They did not refer to a place. Rather, they referred to God’s rule coming to earth; His justice and peace on earth. The Jewish people were waiting for a king.

As to how they interpreted this “rule of God” coming to earth, it depended on who you talked to. While waiting for the coming of God’s kingdom, there were basically three different groups of Jews who each chose a different way to use their time and live their lives until the King came.

1. The first group are the ones we might call separatists. Their approach toward how they would wait for the coming of God’s kingdom was as follows: Separate yourself from the wicked world and just wait for God to do whatever He’s gonna do.
2. The second group are the ones we might call the compromisers. They would be represented by the example of King Herod in the Bible. He took this point of view to heart: Build yourself fortresses and palaces, get along with your political bosses as well as you can, do as well out of it as you can and just hope that God will bless it somehow anyway.
3. Then there was the third group, who were called the “zealots.” This was their approach toward waiting for the kingdom: Take the kingdom by force, fight a holy war and bring in the kingdom on earth by military means.

Now Jesus was a true revolutionary. He came to turn all their expectations upside down. His option was a fourth approach — one that totally fit with the predictions of the Old Testament, but which they’d all missed until he came. He WAS the expected KING, but his KINGDOM was different than anything they’d ever imagined.

Jesus didn’t do things the way people expected him to. From the world’s point of view, in many ways the Kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom. When God’s rule comes into a group of people, it takes a form that no other government or political movement on earth would even consider.

In Luke 4, Jesus stood up in front of a Jewish synagogue and explained the values of his kingdom and his interpretation of the words, “good news,” with the following:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” — Luke 4:18-19

When Jesus told his people to pray, “Your Kingdom come,” he was calling for a massive revolution. However, it was a revolution of a different kind. Rather than a call to upward mobility and a fight for free-market economy, it was a call to downward mobility. A call to “humble yourself in the sight of the Lord,” (James 4:10) and to “be the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) It was a call to speak out for those who did not have a voice in the world, to set the captives free, to release the oppressed. It was a call to the kind of revolution that only comes through love, sacrifice and service.

When we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we’re praying that God’s way of thinking would become our way of thinking, and that his concerns would rule in our lives. We’re praying that we would become less selfish and more selfless. We’re not praying that our political party would win the next election, but we are praying that God would help us to stand up for issues of justice in the world and to seek ways to reach out to the poor, the sick and the hurting.

Whenever we reach out in these ways, God’s rule starts to take hold in our world. We get glimpses of his kingdom NOW, knowing that one day his Kingdom will arrive completely.

“But,” someone might say to me, “doesn’t the good news mean we will have eternal life?”

Yes, of course it does! Jesus said:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16

The Greek word translated as “eternal,” however, does not just refer to something that starts at some day in the future after you die. That word, aionios, refers to something that has no end and will never cease. It refers to something that starts now and continues into eternity.

In other words, in biblical thinking, eternal life begins immediately when we trust Jesus. He comes into our life and then desires us to submit to him as King now and forever. Submitting to him as king, of course, does not just mean going to church and doing religious things. It means submitting our very lives into his hands and seeking to live in such a way that his kingdom principles are lived out in us.

And so we pray, “Your kingdom come.”

I wonder, when a young starving boy prays this in an African slum, what kind of image he has in mind. “Your kingdom come.” Or the woman who is being sold into slavery in order for her children to eat, or the little girl dying of AIDS.

When we consider that 25,000 children die every day of hunger, poverty, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes, what does it mean to pray, “Your kingdom come”?

That’s the equivalent of 1 child dying every 3.5 seconds.

And let’s consider the rest of this model prayer Jesus gave us. He said things like:

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Some people act like being a Christian is just about getting by on earth until the “real life” begins in heaven. But Jesus told us to pray that His will be done on earth.

About 1.1 billion people in the world don’t have adequate access to water, something you and I might take for granted, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.

Many millions of people around the world don’t have access to healthcare.

Between 1 and 1.5 million people die of malaria every year, a disease that could easily be cured for less than the price of a Happy Meal at McDonald’s.

“Your Kingdom come.”

I wonder what it means for little Peter, a young man I know in the Mathare slums in Nairobi, when he prays, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

As I said, it’s really a very earthy prayer. It’s about praying for God’s rule to come into the everyday situations of life, where people are suffering. And, if we read it in the context of the rest of the Bible, it’s clearly about praying with the knowledge that God wants those of us who can to help play a part in answering that suffering.

Even the words, “Forgive as we forgive those who have sinned against us,” take on an especially powerful tone if we think of them in the terms of their original context.

The original audience lived under Roman rule, in an atmosphere of oppression. They longed for deliverance…

Just like in the Mathare slums, where Peter lives. The people live in “houses” made of the flimsiest, dirtiest of materials. The first time I visited Mathare, I noticed a stream of dirty water running down the uneven, dirt road. I was told that it was both the drinking water and the toilet for the residents. Rubbish lined the roads and filled the corners between the homes.

The pastor of a local church told us that diseases like malaria, diptheria, AIDS, etc. were just as common to them as the common cold is to Americans, if not moreso.

And I was told that the local government charges the people to live there. Their leaders live nearby in mansions partially paid for by their rent.

“Forgive those who have sinned against us…”

What about this part of the prayer?

“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil…”

I think about the many children I’ve met who steal bread, and the girls who have been sold into prostitution; spurred on by sheer desperation.

“Yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. Amen.”

The Bible assures us that one day every wrong will be made right, God’s Kingdom will come fully, all evil will be judged, the oppressed will be set free…

But the Bible also makes it clear that God’s Kingdom is meant to break into the world NOW through those of us who claim to follow him.

What are you and I doing to see to it that bits of God’s rule breaks into a world where so much pain and injustice still reign? I wonder if, after thinking through their meaning, we’ll think a little differently about these words when we pray, “Your Kingdom come.”

THIS is what it’s all about!

As we entered one rural village in Tanzania last month, this woman and child were among the first people we met. It was an emotional moment as we heard part of her story and discovered quickly that she was the literal personification of what our work in Africa has been about for the past 14 years.

She is a widow, and the child is an orphan. Through the help of our ministry partner, SEED International, they have been brought together to form a new family unit. They are just one example of many.

When I first started going to East Africa regularly, in 1995, I went just to preach. I told people about Jesus, and a lot of people responded to the message and declared that they wanted to become followers of Jesus Christ.

But this was only the beginning.

We soon realized that a lot of the people who responded then disappeared from the new churches that were being started, so we began training the local churches we were working with. We taught them how they could follow-up on those initial decisions to follow Christ by simply loving the people, giving them teaching and helping them to learn how God’s love applied to their everyday lives.

Soon after, we discovered that the people who made those initial decisions to follow Christ were staying in the churches as they realized that they were truly loved and that God’s message to them was relevant to their lives.

But that still was only a beginning.

The work grew to the point of teaching leaders in these churches how to start new churches and use them as bases to impact their communities in a powerful, transforming way.

Mark Redwine, from Montana, joined our team and participated in the teaching. We taught the church leaders that they needed to do more than PREACH about God’s love; they needed to PERSONIFY God’s love by actively loving their communities.

The Bible says a true relationship with Christ means “to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27b) Some people think that being a Christian is about being separate FROM the world, but the reality is that a true Christ-follower is meant to ENGAGE the world with radical love. The Christian’s difference from the world is particularly in the way he or she loves the people who are in the world.

Local churches started taking the teaching to heart and began projects in their communities to help the poor, the hungry, and the lonely. They were planting crops and raising chickens that could be used to help feed the hungry, working with the orphans and widows, and coming up with various imaginative ways to engage their local communities with radical love.

Mark Redwine also took the teaching to heart. A very practical man, his heart was filled with a compassion for the people and a desire to help them make this vision a reality. He started SEED International as a resource development organization to come alongside these Christ-followers who were serious about seeing change in their villages and towns, in order to help them develop the resources needed and get the education necessary to learn how to make that kind of difference.

Now, whenever we go to East Africa, we don’t just TELL people about God’s love for them. We are able to work together to SHOW them and, long after our teams have to leave the villages, the work of telling and showing God’s love continues.

One of the many successful projects that have been started by the churches there is the orphans and widows project. Due to the many diseases that ravage the land, there are always a lot of orphans and widows in this part of the world. So here’s what’s happening…

Orphans are placed with widows to create a new family unit, and the widows are helped to set up trade in some kind of industry that will enable them to make a living. This way, rather than children simply growing up in an orphanage and widows being left alone until they die, they are all given a second chance at living life and experiencing the joy of family.

This August, we had a lot of wonderful times with the people in the villages. 290 adults made the decision to become followers of Christ, and that was exciting because we knew that they were sincere and that they were going to be cared for by a community of Christ-followers who would truly love them and help them to experience God’s love in a vibrant and transforming way. We also ran medical camps for people who couldn’t afford health-care, provided education about AIDS to the villages, had team members lead exceptional ministry for the children, and met with and encouraged the men and women who are carrying on this vision to see God’s love transform their world.

I’ll never forget the smiles of this woman and this child. Their smiles reminded me, and will continue to remind me, that all the hard work and difficulties we’ve encountered over the past 14 years are worth every moment. They also remind me that, no matter what challenges or difficulties we face, it’s worth the effort of continuing for many years to come.

I wonder what would happen in the rest of the world if followers of Christ everywhere would follow the example of these loving Tanzanians and begin to engage THEIR communities with this kind of love. Is there any chance this kind of revolution could start in your community through YOU?