“My people perish for lack of knowledge…” Hosea 4:6

Drought (noun): a prolonged or chronic shortage of something expected or desired.

When we hear the word drought, we usually think of dry, dusty land, of lost crops and a shortage of food, of hungry children, of starvation.

The drought in western Zambia is now in its fourth year. The last corn crop was completely lost. The fish spawning grounds in the Zambezi river are dry, and cattle are dying. People are starving, and some have been reduced to digging roots in the bush to survive. One man was arrested for trying to sell one of his children for a bag of meal. The desperation is real. Our friends in the bush villages are among the desperate.

Meanwhile, there’s another kind of drought in Zambia. And, it's not due to a lack of rain. It's a spiritual drought, a drought of knowledge about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And people are starving and desperate for it, too!

Our dear Zambian friend and colleague, Percy Muleba recently recounted that he had just returned from his first trip to Shangombo late last year, a village deep in the Western Province of Zambia, a village where we will begin training in 2020. Eight churches and 80+ students gathered for three days of training in Biblical Worship. And, it went very, very well. But, the situation there is desperate. How desperate?

One morning, a student approached Percy to apologize for being late to class. The young man said, “I am sorry to have arrived late. My grandmother died of starvation this morning.”

And then according to Percy, he turned, sat down, and joined the class for the rest of the day, so desperate was he for solid biblical training.

This is what we find whenever we teach in Zambia. Hungry people. Hungry for food to be sure. Desperately hungry. But hungrier and even more desperate for the food of God's Word, both theological and practical. It's very humbling to teach them. It’s an eternal privilege. And we are grateful for it.

Please pray for western Zambia that the drought will end. Pray for rain, to be sure. But, pray also that God's desperate people will be fed God's Word.

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Training under the tree in Nangweshi, Zambia