Day 22 Last Night in Zambia

It is hard to believe it is the last night in Zambia. In fitting style we were invited tonight to dinner at a very influential man's home. He teaches PHD students at the University of Zambia and is very involved in the Wesleyan Church. It was a God ordained time as one last time I asked him to identify how he believes God is moving in Zambia and what the Zambian church needs the most. His response was almost identical to the many others that I have asked those same questions. His response was the great need for leadership training especially for the Zambian Pastors. I have been invited back to teach leadership, and collaborate on starting a leadership institute to make the Pastors of Zambia the best trained clergy in the country. These are very exciting days for the Zambian church as God seems to be raising up a number of passionate Christians that have a vision for the future. They have not only welcomed us, but feel as if this has been a God ordained meeting for future Kingdom growth. My prayer is that God will raise up a mighty army here, that will change the face of not only Zambia but Africa as well. The country is wide open to the gospel moving forward. The Bible is not only accepted but welcomed as teaching curriculum in the schools. The country is undeveloped, but is sitting on the edge of a bright future. I look forward to seeing what God might do through a partnership of Christians across the world. What if??? What if we help them start a leadership institute to train, equip and release Pastors and new churches across the continent? What if??? What if God allows us the privilege of starting a leadership institute in Europe to train, equip and release Pastors and new churches across Europe? What if??? Jesus gave us the marching orders, 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.' I'm ready, how about you?

Be back in two days.

Pastor Wayne and Erin

Day 19 - Last Night In Kitwe

Well tonight is our last night in Kitwe. Today we went to the open air market where you find people buying and selling all kinds of things. The market consists of hundreds if not thousands of little shops made out of strips of wood or cardboard. Imagine a little shanty town that is solely for the purpose of buying and selling anything from clothing to pirated dvd's from China. Outside the market on the street are thousands of people that crowd the streets sitting on mats or blankets selling fruits, vegetables and all kinds of other things from watches to huge bags of coal for cooking. Tonight while we were in the market we experienced all kinds of things from Erin being proposed to, drunks wanting to lead the way for the white people, to pickpockets trying to steal cell phones from our front pockets. Being a Saturday night there were many that had already been drinking heavily and many that were smoking pot. After spending a little time in the market picking up trinkets we found a group of about 30+ street kids and spent some time talking with them. Using an interpreter I preached a mini-sermon to them about how Christ left his comfortable home in heaven and came to earth and live as a street boy as well. After all, Jesus did say that "foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of God has no place to lay his head..." You could see the light go on in some of their eyes as I told them Jesus became a street boy so they would know they could trust him to lead and guide them. I gave them an opportunity to pray to receive Christ and hope that some seeds were planted deep in their souls. Who knows, maybe a few of them will end up in heaven some day because of a short sermon about the street boy Jesus. There were a number of young street girls that were present also. We left them with a prayer of protection over them and headed home. While the street boys are very lost and living a life that is broken, there is such potential for God to do a work in them. They just need more people like Bob and Candace that are reaching out and giving them a second chance on life.

All in all it was an amazing time in Kitwe and I believe I have found a place where there is great potential of helping the national church here plant a new church and maybe even start an orphanage. I will be praying heavily about the future God has for Kitwe and Zambia and our involvement as a church. I will spend Monday and Tuesday with the National Superintendent discussing a possible partnership and future plans. Please keep that time in your prayers.

Tomorrow we head back to Lusaka where we will spend two days preparing for our departure home. Please pray that God opens the door for us to return without any delays or difficulties. Please pray for all to go well with getting our boarding passes and our navigating the departure from Africa and our safe arrival back into the USA. Thank you for lifting us up in your prayers.

Don't forget to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen to check out the latest uploaded pictures.

Love,

Pastor Wayne and Erin

Day 17

Beginning today we are on a 7 day countdown to our return home. We have been greatly blessed by God while here in Africa. We have spent the past week at the Walker's home, and will leave on either Sunday or Monday to return to Lusaka. We have spent quite a bit of time at the Nehemiah Boys Ranch teaching the staff and also ministering to the street boys that are now living there. It is amazing the transformation that you see in the boys that are now working as staff members at the ranch that were once street boys themselves. What a difference the love of Christ and a hand of grace can make in someone's life. Yesterday Erin and I walked through another compound and had lunch at one of the houses. We had sheema and a relish of vegetables and groundnuts (peanuts). It looked like a mixture of soupy spinach mixed with nuts. We also had some fried fish, and they were even nice even to cut the heads off for us. Most of the time they leave the heads on and enjoy the meat off the head and really enjoy eating the eyeballs. Like I said, we were glad they removed them:) Later that evening I spent a couple of hours with one of the Pastor's on staff whose name is Enoch. I was so privileged to teach him how to develop a sermon calendar, how to preach in sermon series and even how to put together a expository sermon with notes for people to fill in the blanks. He was so appreciative, as he has never received training whatsoever for preaching or pastoring. It is such a reminder of how blessed we are in America to have the opportunities we have.

Today I spent the morning in town and then most of the afternoon at the Ranch where they have a weekly ministry to children that are still living on the streets. They bus the boys in and while they are at the ranch they have a Bible Study, eat and give them a place to wash their clothes (the only clothes they have are what is hanging off their backs) and place to shower. They also give them an opportunity to just have fun playing football (soccer) or basketball. It was fun watching them try to figure out how to play basketball. It looked more like a game of Rugby than basketball. Tomorrow we return to the orphanage where we will bring the gifts that we brought from the US. We are looking forward to blessing these children that have so little. Peggy Eggleston donated a bunch of toys to take to the children, and we also picked up some supplies for them. They have so little, so any gifts they get are so very much appreciated.

Thank you again for all your prayers and we look forward to seeing our friends and family again soon.

Love,

Pastor Wayne and Erin

Day 13

Good Morning CMCC Family,

We had church this morning and God moved in a powerful way. After preaching on Philippians 3 where Paul spoke of those in the church that are living as enemies of Christ, I gave an altar call for those that wanted to abandon their all to Christ. We probably had a dozen people come forward for prayer. It was an awesome morning where God once again did a powerful work. Thank you for praying for us. You can read yesterday's blog to hear about our other activities and scroll down to see the awesome pictures we have gotten. We love you all. Have a wonderful day of worship.

Pastor Wayne and Erin