The Outpost

Today the team went to one of the villages to lead a VBS as I stayed in the city of Gulu to complete the pastor’s conference.  They were in the village of Kidikal.  They were told that Kidikal was one of the hardest hit back in the days of the war with the LRA [Lord's Resistant Army]. Kony is the leader of the LRA who terrorized the area of Northern Uganda resulting in the Invisible Children video.  Gulu was the city of refuge all of the kids would walk to.  A great deal of witchcraft was in Gulu up until 6 years ago we are told.  The pastors have said when they began to join together to pray, Kony and the war moved away.  Today as we wrapped up the conference I could not help but get emotional.  The ground we were able to cover and the diligence these pastors showed to get through the week in high temperatures was incredible.  They understand God’s plan for the church through Paul [Eph 3:8-10], the importance of sound doctrine, and multiplying leaders.  ITs hard to believe that the conference is over!  It feels a little sad knowing that I won’t get to see these pastors for some time, if ever.  On the other hand, having an evening to watch the European soccer and catch up on emails is nice.  If you have logged on to dropbox be aware that the upload speed of the internet fluctuates between a whopping 8.6Kbs and 26Kbs.  That is kilobytes per second and most of you have Mbs which is a lot faster.  Again, the mindset of the poverty here is debilitating and overwhelming.  The village where the church is has many who struggle to have enough to eat.  Some struggle to clothe their children and many kids have no shoes.  Still their joy for Christ is truly incredible.  If I could get the video to upload from today, you would see what I mean.  The expression, the singing, the dancing in church clothes and high temperatures was pretty incredible.  I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to give these pastors a good start on their theological education.  Last night we showed the Jesus film in town…you know the one with all the whitey males and prozac Jesus?  It was helpful that the english was overdubbed with Acholi which is the local language of the people.  Showing a movie in the church brought well over 500 adults and children.  With the culture being what it is, they have to pause the movie with Jesus on the cross and present the gospel.  They asked me to do it so I did so and was grateful to have had that experience.  The children cheered very loudly every time…every single time Jesus came into the picture.  And then, after presenting the gospel and talking about the cross and having about 70 people say they were trusting Christ, we turned the movie on and proceeded to watch the end.  When Jesus resurrected, the screams were piercing!  I even took some video which will be loaded in about a year of how loud it was.  Such joy in poverty is life-shaping.  As I’ve reflected on our country over the past week in light of these pastors and their sacrifices I realize the work we have to do.  Working through the Pauline plan for church planting and the core teachings of the gospel gave me encouragement that if we take our time and lay good foundations, we can make missional churches in America that will withstand the tests of the culture.  The process is slow and not very popular.  But it is God’s way that he worked through Paul to reveal in Eph 3:8-10.  Every disciple is called to make disciples.  So with one of the questions I ended the conference with, I will leave you with.  If Jesus has called us to make disciples, and that means every person knowing him, than  are you discipling???  Asking you to continue to pray for us.  Much has been accomplished and more to do.  Blessings!