Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus!

Alex Sibiyo, IMC Live School Graduate and Zambian Evangelist working in Namibia

We were delighted to hear that our recent Live School graduate, Alex Sibiyo, was visiting in Mwandi. Sadly, he had come because of the death of his grandfather with whom he was very close. Eric and I (Doug) went out to the IMC land where Alex was camping to express our condolences and to catch up with him.

Doug and Alex standing before the IMC tent

Alex had been instrumental last Fall in a fruitful evangelization work in Lutaba, Zambia that had resulted in the planting of a new church. Now, he told us, he's working with Pastor Ernest of the Global Movement of Salvation Church in Katima, just across the border into Namibia, about an hour from Mwandi.

The church is small, but has a global vision as you can see by its name, something not uncommon in Africa these days. Pastor Ernest has invited us to train his leaders in Namibia in August, and Alex concurred that our training would be helpful.

When we asked him how the evangelization efforts were going, he described the process to us:

First, he said that he spends time getting to know the area where the people live that he is trying to reach. He wants to understand their context and the things they are dealing with day-to-day.

Second, he takes the time to get to know people, learning about their families, work and situations. In other words, as he put it, "It's relational."

Then, once a relationship is established, he feels free to share his testimony which he described as "letting them know how everything changed when Jesus came into my life." In particular, Alex talked about how the love of Jesus for him is what amazed him at his conversion and continues to amaze him.

Finally, if they are interested, Alex invites them to worship where they can "hear the Gospel" and, perhaps, respond in faith.

It was very exciting hearing him describe how he has been putting into practice what he learned from IMC Live School training.

I asked him if there was anything he had learned as he had reached out to people. "Yes," he said,, "People want action." When I asked him what kind of action, he continued, "People want to see if my actions match my words, If what I am telling them about Jesus can be seen in my life."

One last thing. I asked Alex what theme our training should take in August. His response was simple: "They need to know more about the deep love of Jesus!"

Please pray for Alex and Pastor Ernest as they continue to build the Global Movement of Salvation Church. And pray for the students whom we will be training in August. We can't wait!

A Great Week!

Top Row (L to R): Ezi, Chikuta, Chembo, John, Timothy & Joseph; Bottom Row (L to R): Doug, Allan, Abby, Paul & Limbi

What an awesome week! And what amazing students! We never expected to be training in Livingstone this summer, but the Lord set it up and are we glad he did!

Pastor Paul, a dear friend of Percy and Muyunda's, set up the training and recruited the students. Thanks, Paul! Graciously, Pastor Elvin and his wife, Ezi, of Greater Harvest Rhema Church, hosted our class. What a great couple! Like almost all Zambian pastors, they are tent-makers. And, amazingly, it turned out that Elvin was the customs agent Percy had previously hired to handle our shipment of supplies. God is good!

Our focus this past week was threefold: Abby targeted Pastoral Care & Family Systems, Eric focused on Empowerment, Skill Development & Holistic Ministry, and I taught Missionary God. All were eagerly received.

Comments by students at the end of training were encouraging. One said, "I had never been taught these things before. I will now put them into practice." Another commented, "Many of our members need encouragement and now I feel I can do so."

It's possible that we will work with these students again this summer. Abby received a call from Ezi yesterday who expressed their desire to see us again. We'd love to deepen our relationships with Paul, Elvin, Ezi and the other students.

By the way, we worshiped on Sunday with Pastor Elvin's congregation. I (Doug) was invited to preach. I focused on the Lord's Prayer and the sermon was entitled...Petitionary Prayer: A Catalyst for Mission.

Please pray that we will be used to help multiply healthy church planting and mission over the coming weeks!

"Be fruitful and multiply!"

"And what you have heard from me...entrust to reliable people who will be able to teach others also."  2 Timothy 2:2

The Apostle Paul came to understand in the course of his missionary journeys that he had to hand off the mission to qualified leaders who, in turn, would hand off the mission to other qualified leaders. In other words, Paul understood that mission multiplication of indigenous leaders would have the greatest long term impact.

That's why we're always looking for this multiplication principle at work during our training. Interestingly, during one of our breaks, we saw it in a beautiful way, as the photo above shows.

Paul, the pastor who had organized last week's training, is a very accomplished worship leader and musician. He found himself approached at every break by other students who wanted to learn more about using the keyboard in worship.

It was a beautiful thing to watch Paul gently and skillfully teach these younger leaders. As their relationships deepened, we knew the multiplication principle was at work as these young leaders were returning to their different congregations to apply what they had learned from Paul.

Please pray that our training continue to be multiplied in formal and informal ways in the coming weeks!

Reunited and it feels so good!

Percy Muleba (R) and four of our Livingstone students. We have a total of eight students, six men and two women from five churches!

We've been in Zambia for a week now and it's been great to get back. Percy Muleba, our dear friend and colleague, welcomed us last Friday and has been directing our training efforts since then. It's been great to see Percy and spend time together. We'll see his wife, Muyunda, and his daughters, Thabo and Nsala next week. What a privilege and joy to work with him!

Just before leaving the States, we received word that our Three Weeks Intensive Training, scheduled to be held in Senanga, had been postponed until 2017. Well, that was a bit of a shock, to be honest, as understandable as the reasons were.

Yet...God had another plan in mind. You know how he likes to keeps us in a place of dependency and trust, right?

In any case, Pastor Paul, Percy's friend and a worship leader in Livingstone, was very glad that we were suddenly available. He immediately organized a week's training with seven young pastors and leaders he knew in Livingstone (plus himself). And what a great group of young leaders they are!

In addition, our Mwandi friends immediately requested that we give them the remaining two weeks for follow-up training, so that's what we'll do next.

At the last minute, Fawlty Towers was able to extend our lodging in Livingstone and Kati Wallis, our Australian missionary friend, was able to provide housing in Fiona's old house in Mwandi and that was quite a relief, as well.

God's plan for us this summer is unfolding. Percy has suggested we simply buckle up our seat belts in the back seat and let God do the driving. So, that's what we're going to do!