Getting to Know You!

Katima Mulilo, Namibia is a border town just across the Zambezi River from Zambia in what’s known as the Caprivi Strip. It’s a strip of land in the northeast corner of Namibia that allows Namibia to connect directly with Angola and Zambia to the north, and Botswana to the south. Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia meet at a single point at the eastern tip of the Strip which also comes within 490 feet of Zimbabwe. In some regards, it’s an artificial separation that divides the Barotse Kingdom so that there are a lot of daily crossings of the border at Katima Mulilo between Zambia and Namibia. The locals on both sides speak Lozi, and it’s not uncommon to find family members living on both sides of the border.

We were excited to return to Katima where we have taught for a number of years. We had three objectives for our three week stay: first, to do Phase 2 training with a class of local Namibians and several Khwe (popularly known as Bushmen) sponsored by our dear friends, Jack and Kalleny, second, to visit the Khwe settlements of Chetto and Peoples several times, and third, to participate in a worship retreat led by Percy Muleba’s Biblical Worship Training Center team. By God’s grace, we accomplished all three and it went wonderfully. We’ll share about the second and third of these in subsequent blogs, the first here.

We are slowly feeling our way when it comes to our relationship with the Khwe. Jack has been building a relationship with them for several years at Chetto and Peoples, about a two hour drive from Katima Mulilo into the bush, and we are grateful for his invitation to bring our training into their midst.

Last year, we brought two Khwe leaders, Pastor Wilson and Matthias, to our Phase 1 class in Katima. Their English was a bit limited, but it went surprisingly well. This year, we were excited to bring five Khwe leaders to Katima Mulilo, both men and women, named Regina, Maria, Jackson, Markus, and again Pastor Wilson. Regina’s English was quite good and the others did well, too. The local Namibians, Carlinah, Grace, Jack, Kalenny, Owen, Elias, and Sophia, welcomed them warmly and we had a strong class dynamic. Abby taught on “Family Systems” and Doug taught on “Servanthood vs. Servitude.” The two meshed well and we had strong breakout sessions and group discussions.

We were especially delighted that the Khwe felt at home and seemed to mix well with the locals, and that the locals were so open to the Khwe. As you know, we feel strongly about the power of relationships in a training environment, and our class size and students’ enthusiasm were ideal for this. The material lent itself to discussions, and pushed the envelope just enough to raise significant challenges to our attitudes, ambitions, and actions around the issue of the servant nature of Christian leadership.

If the last day was proof, our training was significant. Relationships were definitely formed, phone numbers were shared, and it was hugs all around. Everyone lingered for conversation and pictures, and seemed reluctant to go. We were thrilled!

Thank you for your love, financial support, and prayers. Your encouragement is essential to our work which we love so much. And, remember, where we go you go!

L to r: Markus, owen, pastor wilson, elias, jack,jackson, doug, and percy

L to R: Carlinah, abby, regina, sophia, maria, and kalleny

On the last day of class, Elias (L) got pastor wilson’s phone number!

jackson, markus and pastor wilson were poring over scripture.

Carlinah (l) and regina worked very well together.

Maria, elias and jack made a great team.

Percy and jack have been friends for twenty plus years.

Kalleny and sophia shared a bible.

Maria’s smile as she hugged carlinah on the last day says it all!

The Pause that Refreshes: “…refresh my heart in Christ!” Philemon 20

Bosco Kutoma was twenty years old when he became our student in 2012, just a boy by Zambian standards. I (Doug) can still remember well his eagerness to learn and his desire to study more as he walked me home from class on the very first day, enthusiastically questioning me about what his next steps should be. We both liked him immediately, enjoying his warm smile and passion for the Gospel.

As we left Mumbwa for Mongu, we were really looking forward to seeing Bosco and to meeting his fiance, Phenny. He is thirty-one now and over the last eleven years has successfully planted two churches, and is now on the church planting team for Hope Church in Mongu. Hope’s lead pastor, Moses, is an old friend of Percy’s and they enjoyed very much seeing each other again. Hope has planted 180 bush churches over the last twenty years, and Bosco has now been given the assignment of overseeing their church planting efforts in a new region of Western Province. In fact, he and Phenny, who is wonderful and delightful, are spending the month of May getting to know that region so that, after their August marriage, they may begin the new church planting process in earnest.

One of the exciting things we learned over two lingering meals with Bosco and Phenny is that the focus of their church planting efforts will be strongly on discipleship, and not as much on the sheer numbers of churches planted. The process will be slower, of course, but Bosco is confident that laying a strong discipleship foundation for each church will be a healthy approach, and more likely lead to the multiplication of other healthy churches. We are very proud of our student and friend, and excited as Phenny and he begin their new life together!

We also had the chance to catch up with our former students and friends, Yuyi and Mercy Mundia, while we were in Mongu, and were glad to see they are doing well. They were busily working on the planning of a large Gospel crusade coming to Mongu the week after we left which was specifically targeted on young people. It appears to have gone very well!

Our three days in Mongu were well spent on old friends, lively worship at Hope Church, and rest. As we drove away on Monday, May 1st, toward Katima Mulilo, Namibia, about four hours away, we were refreshed and ready for our next week of training. Thank you for enabling us to be here. Thank you for your support and prayers. We are incredibly grateful. And, remember, where we go you go!

The 8 hour drive from mumbwa to mongu included 2.5 hours on this dusty and, at times, very bumpy gravel road.

On our way to mongu, we stopped for a quick lunch at a safari lodge. As we drove into the lodge, these BEAUTIFUL impala greeted us!

Bosco and his fiance, phenny, are a delightful couple. You can tell he adores her!

Starting Strong in Mumbwa!

Somewhere in my past, someone wise told me that in life you tend to finish the way you start. Poor starts are hard to overcome. It can be done, but it is difficult. Just watch how long it takes sprinters to adjust their feet in the starting blocks, and how disciplined their starts are. Life can be like this in many ways. If you start something poorly, you’ll find yourself trying to overcome your poor start throughout the “race.”

This principal of strong starts also applies when it comes to a new class of students. We’ve discovered that how we start is crucial. Expectations must be clear, and so must our purpose which is to deepen their relationship with Jesus so that he is the foundation, the center, and the goal of their lives. And, we seek to do this by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2) in a strong relational setting.

In this regard, we have to say that our start in Mumbwa was just wonderful. We think that, perhaps, this was the strongest Phase 1 training we have ever experienced. It was Jesus-centered, relational, and transformative both for our students and for us.

One student summed it up with these words: “Under your mentorship…my life has been flawlessly transformed…I want to be a pipeline for God to those who are thirsty for God, wherever that is.”

We can’t wait to get back to Mumbwa in late August to move into Phase 2. We’re grateful for the leadership of Dan and Nanah Mayeya and Bishop Bishop who gathered our class with a clear expectation of our approach and focus.

We hope the pictures below give you a flavor of our experience. Thank you for sending and supporting us, and remember, where we go you go!

The Power of Multiplication

Every ministry has to decide if they want to use addition or multiplication thinking. What do we mean? Well, if a ministry chooses addition, then the impact of that ministry will be measured by how many people are directly affected by the ones who lead the ministry. If it chooses multiplication, the impact will be measured by how many people are affected over multiple generations, beginning with those who are directly affected by a ministry’s leaders.

To illustrate, imagine taking a penny as your starting point and adding another penny each day for thirty days, that is one penny on day one added to two pennies on day two, three on day three, etc. if you do this, you will end up with $4.65. Now imagine taking a penny and doubling it every day for thirty days, that is one penny on day one, two on day two, four on day three, eight on day four, etc. If you do this, you will end up with $5.4 million, give or take a few pennies. That’s the power of multiplication!

Over the years, we have been asked so many times how many people we have trained. On its face, it’s a pretty simple question to answer if you’re thinking in terms of addition. But, if you’re thinking in terms of multiplication, it gets a little harder. How many have we trained? I’m guessing we’ve directly trained about a thousand students over our twenty-five trips. That’s awesome, and we’re delighted to have done this. But, we don’t think this tells the whole story.

Our Zambian director and dear friend, Percy Muleba, puts it like this: “We have trained more than ten thousand over the years. And I’m just being polite!” That is, we have trained more than ten thousand if you think in terms of multiplication, not addition. Our students have become trainers of students who’ve become trainers of even more students who’ve become…Well, you get the idea.

We thought of this when a young pastor in our Mumbwa class named Given, Jr. told us about his dream for the future of his ministry. Given, Jr. is currently planting a new church about thirty-five miles into the bush outside Mumbwa. His wife, Veronica, and he ride a motorcycle two hours each way every Sunday to lead worship and disciple what is now a fifty member church. It all started two years ago when a friend from the village called asking for help on behalf of her friend, a head woman in the village, who had a very sick ten year old daughter. The head woman had been taking the girl to the witch doctor and she had grown progressively and alarmingly worse. Given, Jr. and Veronica were willing, so this woman brought her daughter and left her with them in Mumbwa. Her parting words were, “If she dies, at least I know she will die in God.”

But, she didn’t die. Given, Jr. and Veronica prayed for her and cared for her, and she became healthy again. When they returned her to her mother, this head woman and her daughter were now open to the Gospel. Over about six months, Given, Jr. and Veronica led them to Jesus and discipled them. And a church was born. It’s been difficult, Given told us, because of the widespread witchcraft and polygamy in the village, but steady life transformation is happening!

Now, back to Given’s dream, in his words: “I want to raise a generation of people who deeply know God and are grounded in his Word!” We believe his dream is possible if he continues on the path he has chosen for ministry. After all, he’s already up to fifty disciples and he’s only twenty-nine years old. Now that’s multiplication thinking!

As always, thank you for your love, prayers, and support. We couldn’t do this without you, and it is our joy. And, remember, where we go, you go!

George Lufasi, Given, Jr. Kansabwa, Abby, and Nanah Mayeya

The now healthy and happy head woman’s daughter!

Given, Jr., his wife, Veronica, and a friend begin the two hour ride to worship.