On My Way Back Home - See You Sunday!

I am writing this sitting in Johannesburg airport with my team, Stacey Miller and Ben Cloud. We piled into a 66 seat bus with delegates from 18 nations on board. I sat beside a South African worship leader from Cape Town Vineyard and in front of me was the couple who pastor the Harare Vineyard in Zimbabwe. It seems that wherever I turned, I was connecting with someone from the Vineyard in Zimbabwe. The room next to Stacey and my room was full with the Zimbabwe team -- I gave them all an mp3 player that I brought from our generous church. The mp3 players were loaded with Kingdom of God teaching, something they need to hear over and over again.

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

As I talked and asked questions about Zimbabwe with the couple in front of me, the question Jesus was asked in the gospels, "Who is my neighbor" kept going through my thoughts. The church of Jesus Christ and the World around us cannot sit in comfort and ignore the social injustice that is happening in our world. Our society, whether we realize it or not, is crumbling around us. The forces of darkness are on the offensive. Any sense of security we have is really false. Things can deteriorate overnight, literally, as it has in other parts of the world. This is the hour to leave our comfort zones and be the CHURCH wherever we find ourselves. The gospel message and the transforming power of that message is the HOPE OF THE WORLD. No wonder it is call the good news. It is the lifeline between man being totally depraved or totally transformed.

The 4th day of the conference was just amazing. Great prayer times, a powerful message from the partnership in Burundi - Pastor Ananie spoke on the church being the hope for change in this world. We ended the day with a banquet, totally awesome food and a lot of special times of prayer after a message by the leader of the South African Vineyard's Costa Mitchell. Costa spoke on the need for everyone to rise to a level higher than where they are. To get out of our comfort zones, use the knowledge we have, and influence your world.

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to my church family at Dothan Vineyard for their all their support -- the prayer support kept us going and the way you have sent us forth to be a part of this historic trip is a commentary on the character of our church family and I am truly privileged to be their pastor.

Can't wait to be in church with everyone on Sunday. See you there! In a little while, I will be boarding a direct flight to Atlanta, 16.5 hours of flying and then home!

A Price to be Paid

Day three of the conference for me was a real heart rending day.  It started when the Vineyard delegation from Mozambique was introduced. As they went down the line introducing everyone, they came to Pastor Ezekiel's wife: "Everyone, this is the widow of Pastor Ezekiel who was murdered by a Religious group as he was planting a Vineyard Church."  There was his wife standing strong, proud and moving forward with what God had called them to. 

 

A modern day Vineyard martyr.  A real martyr.  Not just language used in a sermon or a historical account.  This is the real thing.

 

Then in the afternoon it was announced that we had a rare opportunity for a private screening of the new movie documentary, "Mugabe and the White African."  It is up for an Oscar and will soon be released to the public.  The movie shows first hand accounts of what is going on in Zimbabwe, how the government has taken ownership of all the white African farms, evicted the owners, sometimes beat them brutally.  Interspersed in it are comments by Mr Mugabe, in his gravelly tone, such as: "Our present state of mind is you are now our enemies," and, "I will never, never sell my country. I will never, never surrender; Zimbabwe is mine." 

 

Peter Chamada, the son of Nathan Shamuyarira, a Zanu-PF stalwart and former information minister, tells Mr Campbell a white African farm owner: "You are in the wrong home, you are in my home." Asked if a white person can still be a Zimbabwean, he responds: "Not any more. We don't want to have anything to do with you any more."

 

What was so surreal about watching this movie was the context I was watching it in.  With 18 other nations, INCLUDING, the Vineyard delegation from Zimbabwe. After the movie everyone was sitting stunned, shocked and amazed that the world could sit back and allow this kind of injustice to happen.

 

After the movie, South African leaders Costa Mitchell and Alexander Venter put everything in a Kingdom of God context.  How the church should rise and respond to this crisis.  How the Vineyard Pastors and churches in Zimbabwe need our prayers and support.  We ended the session laying hands on and praying over all the Vineyard Zimbabweans. This was the most powerful prayer time I have experienced the entire trip.

 

Again, the sense that our church, Dothan Vineyard Church, is a part of current Kingdom of God issues worldwide is quite daunting .  On the other hand, we are exactly where we need to be as a church - a part of what God is doing in all the world. 

 

 

Meat Sauce on Top of French Toast

As you know, Americans love to venture out with food - for breakfast at the camp we had a meat sauce on top of French Toast.  It didn't look that great but actually wasn't that bad, but kind of unusual.  Day 2 of the conference was very good - networking, great teaching, workshops and a bonfire to end the day.  At the bonfire Stacey and I had a great time of connecting.  He met and talked about an hour and a half with a couple of South African worship leaders.  I connected with an Indian couple who pastor a Vineyard in Durban - found out they know some people in India that I also know.  There are several generations of Indians in South Africa.

 

We had a networking meeting with everyone who is pastoring a Vineyard in Tanzania or is working in partnership with a Vineyard.  We had a nice group, 4 churches were represented: Arusha, 2 in Dar Es Salaam, and Iringa, The other Vineyard is in Ukonga but the pastor of that church is not at the conference.  It was obvious that there is very little connection between any of these Vineyards -- so this conference is of highest value to get these Vineyard pastors connecting and working together.  Part of the problem of course is the difficulty of travel in Tanzania.  The roads are not good, it takes a long time to travel, and the communication systems are not always reliable.  They have planned another get together today which is wonderful.

 

Last night was Tanzania night.  Each pastor and each partnership leader was given time to share on where and what they are working towards in Tanzania.  I had the opportunity to share about Dothan Vineyard leading the USA Tanzania partnership and explained about the purpose of our trips and what we hope to accomplish.  I gave the story of Peter Msgiwa's saying, "What's not happening?" on our first trip -- it became a hit, especially when he got up to share the message (by the way, he did a great job).  I explained that is our motto for our partnership, to find out what's not happening and address it.

 

Stacey ventured out and played soccer yesterday afternoon - they lost and had to be 'skins' - Stacey was glad no one was there to see it. LOL!  He had a great time.  Today is day 3, looking for a ride into the little village near here just to have a look around, because all we have seen is the airport and conference center . . . . hope to post more tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

PAN AFRICAN CONFERENCE 18 NATIONS REPRESENTED

Arrived at Cyara Camp, Johannesburg from the airport after a 2 hour bus ride.  It is a Youth for Christ Camp, rooming together with Stacey.  The first night of the conference was great - connecting with South African friends such as Derek Morphew, Costa MItchell, Andy Vaner Byl and others. My pastor friend Bubba from Birmingham is here with two people from his church - they are doing the same as us, partnering with an African Country and taking teams to build up the churches. (Kenya)

 

There are 18 nations represented.  After worship in the first session the conference asked delegates to stand in alphabetical order from each nation represented.  Then one person from each nation was given a flag to represent their country.  I ended up holding up the USA flag in front of the conference and it was one of those national pride moments - a great feeling to represent the USA. 

 

Nations represented: Angola, Australia, Burundi, Chili, Canada, Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Namibia, Norway, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, USA, Zimbabwe.

 

As the conference goes on, and our church is mentioned in the course of the conference, it just continually amazes me how Dothan Vineyard Church has been a blessing beyond words.  Our congregation has influence way beyond it size.  I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be a part of this church family, and wow, am I missing everyone. 

 

Tonight is Tanzania night and all the churches involved in the nation of Tanzania will get a moment to share what they are doing.  Keep the prayers coming, we can feel them.  So far our team has fared well, no sickness, everyone well, and best of all, God has made our trip a fruitful one in many ways.  Everyone who contributed in any way shares in the fruit of this mission.

Arrived in South Africa

After a Sunday of driving all day (9 hours) we arrived in Dar about 5:30 pm, got checked into our hotel and had a delightful African meal at the hotel and then went and visited Ben and Melissa Miller who are part of the Columbus Vineyard Team planting a new church in Dar.

On our road trip to Dar, we had a wonderful stop for lunch at the Mikumi National Wildlife Park. As we sat in the open air restaurant, African native animals (in their natural, wild habitat) come past us to the 2 water holes just near the restaurant. What an amazing experience, one that was good for a team that is travel weary.

Now we have arrived in South Africa, Johannesburg with our team, plus Edmond and Dorothy Layatu from Dar and Peter Msigwa from Iringa.

I am writing this Monday lunchtime from the Johannesburg airport as we wait for our shuttle to the conference center where we will be attending the VINEYARD PAN AFRICAN CONFERENCE. This conference includes all the Vineyards in the African Nations as well as their partnership teams. This conference is to network, encourage, communicate, teach and build relationships among all the African Vineyard works.

Tuesday night is Tanzania night where our team will be introduced and we will have an opportunity to share about our partnership in Tanzania.

Orphanage visit, Water Baptisms and Last Day of Iringa Conference

Our day started out great . . . we went to a new orphanage and gave them support money, toothbrushes/toothpaste (thank you Mike Jones!), the soccer balls signed by the kids and mosquito nets. They were so grateful. I had fun talking with the kids and the director - we all walked through the orphanage and saw the dorms and also the school. They are teaching the kids many practical skills to enable them to support themselves. The AIDS CRISIS is still critical in spite of efforts by many organizations to educate the public. Sexual promiscuity is rampant in the culture, including the church. The only hope for AIDS relief are changed hearts - when you see situations like this in Africa you really REALIZE the gospel is the ONLY answer for humanities problems. No amount of education, litigation, socialization will solve the problems of mankind.

After lunch we went to a church in town to water baptize 6 people. Peter asked our team to do it and our first arrangement was that I go ahead and baptize them. So we arrived, I got changed and came out and saw the green mirky water. I was ready to baptize regardless. Stacey said he felt he should do it so I didn't have to. I didn't change my mind. He persisted and said he felt this is what He should do. I was so amazed at his heart and desire to serve his pastor in this situaion, so I agreed and Stacey insisted I do all the words, questions etc and then he will baptized.

Two Albinos were water baptized. In Tanzania Albinos are hunted and killed which has been a huge cultural problem. There have been 25 killings since March according to the BBC. They are targeted for body parts that are used in witchcraft. Now the tide by the Tanzanian Gov't has turned to protect them but their situation is still precarious. To know this and see them baptized was really touching. And to see Stacey do the baptisms out of such a servant heart towards me was moving to me beyond words.

The conference sessions today were just amazing. You could see the benefit of Dothan Vineyard's prayer ministry - the meetings built momentum and today the anointing and presence of God was so powerful. It was a great ending to 3 days of conference.

Tonight Peter Msigwa is inviting us to his home for dinner and then we pack, sleep and leave 7:30am Sunday for Dar. The drive is long and tedious - we then visit with some Vineyard friends in Dar and fly to South Africa Monday morning. If you don't hear from me for a couple of days, you will know its because of being in transit.

Thank you for your prayer support, we are seeing fruit for our labors. Thank you for your investment in the Kingdom of God. Dothan Vineyard continues to have an influence in the world greater than it size! I love my church!

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MISSION TRIP

Woke up this morning to the sound of mosquitoes buzzing around my head -- Wondering if Stacey will have the "runs" from the meat he bought on the African streets last night -- called my wife at 6:00 am local time, missing her A LOT! -- heard the sound of Muslims praying each morning -- excited about "AFRICACAFE" brand coffee in the morning and Spanish Omelets' whatever that REALLY IS -- laughing about directions to an orphanage today LOST IN TRANSLATION -- bought kids at the conference a drink at break time and they LOVED IT -- actually looked forward to the same old lunch of rice, beans, and cooked cabbage relish -- listening to Ben express concern that he didn't have enough to say and then wondering when he is ever going to stop -- tried to put my expensive crown back in my mouth after it fell out last night (thank God no pain right now) -- hope is renewed about a future church plant in Mwanza -- was excited to hear how good the worship was at Dothan Vineyard Wednesday night -- tired from traveling, road weary -- one more day here and back on the road again. Pray for great things on Saturday. Sunday We return to Dar Es Salaam, Monday we fly to South Africa for Pan African Vineyard Conference.

Great First Day of Iringa Conference

Today we began the conference in Iringa, we had 5 services. Ben Cloud shared twice, Stacey Miller shared once and I shared twice. Great response to the word shared, an overall great day.

Titles of messages:

The Hope of the Kingdom, "God is presently establishing His rule and reign in our lives."

Empowering Leaders, Finding Purpose, "Put God first then everything else is simply trusting Him to make it happen"

Revisiting the Call of God. "Without hearing the voice of God calling us to service we will live a life without aim or motivation for Him"

The Hope that Jesus Brings. "God exalts the humble, lowers the proud."

Vineyard Values "Understanding what the Vineyard movement is and what it is all about."

David Kimola and his wife Joyce arrived from Mwanza to be a part of the conference. He was one pastor who really responsed to the last 2 conferences in Mwanza, we paid for him to be bused in.

I gave out some John Wimber books today during the conference.

Long day, sensed God moving in the hearts of the people. Thank you Jesus.

Ben said, "I think this conference is hitting the intended targets, people who God has planned and prepared beforehand to receive the message. A guy attended today who belongs to a church he can't attend because he doesn't have enough nice clothes to go - he had been warned to watch out for other churches cause their message might be bad - he responded by saying this message we bring is relevant for where the people in Tanzania are at in this day and age, especially the upcoming generation."

Stacey said, "The start of an awesome conference. Believing great things will come from the conference."

We just made it to Iringa

We left Dar Es Salaam at 9:30am and arrived in Iringa by road 6:30pm, a 9 hour drive on some pretty rough roads. But we hired a Tanzanian drive, Ushindi, who knew how to handle all the potholes, animals, people, bicycles, baboons (they love to hang out on the side of the road waiting to be fed). There were signs saying, 'Don't feed the Baboons.'

We stopped along the way at a restaurant and the 3 Americans orders a hamburger and fries (steamed cabbage on the side!) It was good.

We encountered a section of the road close to Iringa that was blasting the side of the hill. Big delay on the side of the road, so guess what Americans do when delayed on the side of the road? Have a photo shot, what else!

We were greeting by Peter Msigwa on arrival, booked into our hotel and first thing was to find an internet cafe. Peter took us to 'Tanzania Literature Center' where I am writing this now. Can you believe 3 men put food second to finding an internet connection!

Our conference begins in the morning, we will have 5 sessions per day, so pray for us!

Well, food is calling . . . that's our next big project, finding something to eat . . .

Thanks for everyone's comments and posts and we feel your prayer support. Keep on praying, we can feel it.

Arrived in Amsterdam

I am writing from the Amsterdam airport on our 3 hour layover, smooth flight, on time and soon we will reboard a boeing jet for Dar Es Salaam.  Met up with my friend Ben Cloud from Arizona at the gate in Atlanta.  Beautiful landing, the sun was coming up, you could see windmills in the distance, beautiful canals, green and clean looking.  Stacey Miller is doing well, I am flying well --- so far, so good.  We look forward to meeting up in Dar Es Salaam with our dear friend Edmond Laytuu who will meet us upon arrived in Dar (10:30pm) and take us to our motel for a hopefully, really good nights sleep, and then up in the morning and a long drive to Iringa for the Vineyard Conference.

 

Thank you for your prayers!  I miss everyone already and I have only made it to Europe!

 

I was really focusing on the 8 hour flight to Amsterdam on Christ's mission in the world and how He has entrusted the fulfillment of that to us, His church today.  I was overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit as I mediated upon that -- just to think God has invited us and included us in the most important enterprise in the world -- reaching the lost for Christ and making disciples and building local church congregations to be an ongoing witness in their community.

Two Thirds of God is GO !

Go YE into all the world and preach the Gospel to every person! That's our command. Like someone said one time, You don't need a word to go, you need a word from God to stay! God has already given us the word to go.

Go in love, carry the good news to your neighbor, your own family, to your community, to the sick, hurting, lost, discouraged and those who are bound.

On our way to Atlanta to catch our flight to Africa, maybe I can write a note in our layover in Amsterdam. Thank you for your prayers in advance. . .

Unless the Lord Build the House . . .

Today I attended the Habitat for Humanity Faith Build Dedication.  What an amazing blessing this organization is and we are proud to be a part of a MISSIONAL group of churches in Dothan, Alabama.  Along side our fellow churches in Dothan, we celebrated, prayed, blessed and dedicated the new home we all assisted in building to the Denney Family.  Michelle Michel our Habitat Vineyard leader read the designated scripture reading.  Patty Harper presented a gift to the family from Dothan Vineyard, an ice maker for their new fridge. It was my job to present to Stephanie Denney a Bible for their new home.  God gave me the scripture, "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."  I thank God for Dothan Vineyard and their heart to give, work, bless and reach beyond themselves in so many ways. THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL. 

Time is Approaching

A team of 3 lead by Vineyard Church, Dothan will be heading to Africa departing Monday Sept. 7 and returning Sept. 19th.  The trip will consist of doing a pastor's conference in Iringa, Tanzania for the Vineyard Churches in Tanzania (300 pastors), visiting an ministering in an orphanage and then flying to South Africa to participate in the PAN AFRICAN conference.  This conference will consist of all Vineyard pastors/leaders who are working in any African Nation for the Vineyard.  It will be a strategic meeting, both in terms of equipping with the Word, networking, prayer and Kingdom relationship building.  Daily prayer times will be held at Vineyard Church, Dothan to cover our team.  Call Cathy Koretz our prayer leader for details at 671-0093.  You are invited to be a part of this mission through the all important avenue of prayer support.

On the road from Dar Es Salaam to Iringa, Tanzania.

Ribs for Missions

Today our MISSIONAL church was up at 4:30am cooking ribs to sell to fund missions both at home and abroad. I can't tell you how moved I was to hear about those who made this effort and it will continue Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

All of God's work must be financed. There is no cause greater than reaching people for Christ, making disciples, training pastors, and loving on people in Jesus' name.

If we are serving the greatest cause in the world then every effort behind it has deep meaning, including fund raising.

We are not just doing a mission here and there, we are Missional People in every move we make.

You can see photos of this and other tidbits of Vineyard Church life on our church facebook page (go to www.dothanvineyard.com and follow the link)

God is On A Mission

God is on a continuing mission. He is missional in heart, work and intent. Being missional to me suggests movement as opposed to talk, theories, ideas and just being an observer. God is heading somewhere and He wants to take a lot of people with Him. He's generous, He loves us and He wants to share Himself with us. It is not a mission that always works out in a simple, tidy way. Humanity has made a mess of things. God's intention was not this in the beginning.

Man's sin created the need for a mission to reconcile humanity back to God. Through Jesus the Father made the way for us to be reconciled back in a relationship with Him. Jesus served the Father and become our subsitutionary sacrifice. Through His work we can enter into an adventurous life of being a part of His missional heart. I serve Him. Therefore, I must be about what he is about.

We all need a 'check up from the neck up' regularly. We must check on our worldview to make sure we do not become irrelevant and we must make sure we are actually 'doing the stuff' that God is all about.