My first Wedding in Africa:)

Pastor Victor and Devothe

For all the promises of God in Him are Yebo and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us - 1Corinthians 1:20(Southern African Translation).

January and early February have been victorious months for us here known mostly because of the spiritual opposition we have been through. We find in life that as we make decisions for God we most certainly will be tested. After being in Zambia on and off for almost four years now, I have always found that when Pr. Brown would travel for a conference or a visit that there would be attacks on the church. This past January was no exception particularly because it was the first time we had a Zambian pastor visit the annual Ghana conference. Pr. Belias Bwalya, one of the first graduates and ordained men in the ministry in Zambia, represented our church with Pr. Brown. What a great victory! I knew things would be coming much like one anticipates a coming storm, but was just waiting to see how they would come. A week after Pr. Brown left we experienced one of the heaviest rain and windstorms I have ever seen. It was so severe that it knocked down the back perimeter wall at Pr. Browns home. I thought to myself “Wow here it comes”. Along with that we had the funeral of the brother of one of our church members, severe sicknesses among the children in the church, personal car problems, and even vandalism of one of our member’s homes. We felt much like the Psalmist in Ps 116:6 who said he was brought very low but God helped him. Although we had great distress, we had exceedingly great help from God that went above and beyond our problems. It seemed that a peace pervaded our hearts and we would just tackle one obstacle at a time. So we at first said, “Wow here it comes,” and then we said,” Wow there it went.” With each situation God’s presence was overwhelming: the wall was rebuilt, the funeral was bathed in an anointing that touched the family, the sickness of our children brought us to fervent prayer that God answered faithfully, the car problems I’m sure have a way of escape coming soon, and even the vandalism of the church members home has brought that family closer together in unity that they hadn’t had before. Another thing I learned was that God allowed these trials to raise up different people in the church that otherwise may never step up on their own in their natural preferences. Like it says in Romans 5:3-4, that tribulation works patience, experience, and hope. It also brought us so much closer with the local leaders. I likened it to when David and his mighty men finished a miraculous battle in which the Lord overcame impossible odds. They must of looked at each other in disbelieve and laughed, amazed at what had just happened. To top it all off, we had the blessing of doing the marriage of our pastor in the southern Congo, Pr. Victor Ndwayo, and his bride, Devote. The ceremony was so perfect and beautiful; it was God’s way building us up in His love.

We have a great expectation and vision for the next few months:

• Bible school has recommenced and we have a large group of new students.
• We also have our couples Valentine banquet at the end of this month which is always a great time of encouragement.
• Then before Zamcon we will make another missions trip to Malawi this time accompanied by Pr. Scibelli (God willing). Our expectation is for God to be God (Ps 62:5).

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for our family we do not take them lightly, but rather covet them because they are so powerful and move heaven. Please pray for this area of the world, it is an open door we just have to walk through it. And lastly thank you for reading our newsletter.

The power of visitation

I know as a pastor theologically and practically of the importance of visitation to peoples homes in ministry, but yesterday I really experienced a unique manifestation of it. There has been a guy in our church that I have been wanting to visit for a while, maybe 6 months, but something always got in the way. This past Sunday as he was leaving the church, I said to to him, "This week will be the week." Little did I know that God would confirm that. Yesterday as I was in town checking the status of our car under repairs, who do you think I saw on my way to the bus. You guessed it, Fred! I love it when that happens. We are in a city of 3 million people and you run into a church member who you have been thinking of visiting. I thought of Hebrews 4:7 that today if you will hear His voice harden not your hearts. God was telling me that Fred needs a visit so I said lets change the plans and go to your house. Fred agreed and we were on our way. As we walked I was asking him about his plans for going to Bible school and he said he sent a letter to our Bible School director, Pr. Nelson. Well guess who we run into on our way to the bus, yup, Pr. Nelson. We talked for a few minutes and then on our way. As we dropped off at the bus stop and were on our way to Fred's house, guess who we meet along the way! You got it - Kenneth, another church member, who was visiting a relative (By the way Fred lives pretty close to the church). We arrived at Fred's house, met his daughter, and mother; and we had a blessed time of fellowship. As it was time to leave, Fred accompanied me to the bus stop as is common here in Zambia to "push" someone home. On the way guess who we met. Man your good! Yup... another member, Bernard, who has a small business by the bus stop selling cookies and shoe polish (a winning combination - you always get hungry shining shoes). Bernard was so excited to have us visit his workplace and Fred was visiting with me so he was encouraged. It was incredible. As I got on the bus I felt like I was traversing the streets of Jerusalem in the first century, praising God for the power of visitation not only in church members lives but my own.