News from the North

Pat called today. He officiated a big wedding over the weekend and saw lots of old friends and old bible school students - who are now pastors. What great reunions he's had!! And what amazing stories they have to tell. Even now the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from Uganda is terrorizing the Northern part of Congo. One of our former bible school students is a pastor in the area where the LRA has their base of operations. He told Pat that a month ago they fled on foot to escape the rebels. They traveled through the forest for 3 weeks and reached Isiro (where we used to live). Thousands of people are being displaced. Please pray for this critical situation. Because Northern Congo is so remote there is not a lot of news getting out and it is very hard to get supplies in.

Pat has heard so many testimonies of God's protection and faithfulness during all the fighting. I'm anxious for him to come home - once I have pictures I'll tell more of the stories.

Today Pat went to Kisangani, in Northern Congo. Please pray for him as he will be ministering to pastors and holding a seminar there for one week. The Lord's Resistance Army is really on the rampage in this part of the country. I am not worried about him specifically in Kisangani - there is a very large UN contingency there and I don't think they would dare go there - but he will be ministering to people who have been very affected by this violence.

In the meantime I finished up my transformational development course today. We finished by studying HIV/AIDS and what the church can do in this area. Almost all the students (who are either already pastors or are lay leaders in their churches) admitted to feeling overwhelmed and under educated by HIV/AIDS, but by the end of the class they all expressed a desire to begin HIV education and ministry. I've received many invitations to various churches to help them start ministries in this area. It's been an encouraging 2 weeks!!

This week and next week I am teaching every day at the bible school here in Kinshasa. I'm teaching a course called "The Church and Development." My focus in the course is "Transformational Development." Transformational Development is basically looking at the ministry of Jesus and how he focused on touching, healing, and redeeming every part of man and encouraging our pastors to do the same - to tell the Good News in word and in deed. We have talked about the term "development" being more than just structures of "modernization", but that true development, from a Christian perspective, means that we are completely transformed - in our spirits, in our relationships, and in our physical life and how we lead it. We have had great discussions on the importance of the church here in Africa and the church's prominence in their communities. With this visibility they are perfectly positioned to help touch the tangible issues that their communities face, as they simultaneously present the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Next week we'll look at the issue of HIV/AIDS. We'll apply the strategies and methods that we've learned to developing a local church based HIV ministry.

Getting Started

Well, I have decided to join the ranks of bloggers. After years of trying to do a web site I have realized that.....well, that I can't. Giving me a web site and the whole Macromedia suite of software is like giving a 5 year old the keys to a Jaguar and telling her to have fun! I desire to do it, but I'm not techie enough, I don't have the patience to spend a lot of time in front of the computer, and I'm too cheap to hire someone to do it (I also wash and re-use ziploc baggies and feel guilty when I throw away used aluminum foil!). So here we go......