Home Safe

To quote a new friend from Malawi, David Chigamba, "From east to west, home is best." I think he captured it well and I can testify to it's truth as I am now home safe with my great wife and unborn child who's the size of a peanut, family, friends, and our great church. Thank you all so much for tuning in to this web log while I was away. I hope it was inspiring to some and as fun for you as it was for me.

If you would like access to the pictures I have posted online, please send me an email to chrisp@pcomonline.org and I will have them sent to you. I will leave this blog up for another week or so and then it will be deleted. This will be the last post. Aww, so sad. For the PCOM High Schoolers, I'll create a new one in the weeks to come just for you because you're so special! I'll keep you posted.

Peace.

Nairobi, Kenya

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a friend, Steven Mbogo who works as the Team Leader for AE in Kenya. So, I had the opportunity to visit some of the projects they’re working on in the slums of Nairobi. I was riding in the car with Steven and William (a staff member) and we were cruising around Nairobi, joking and having a good time together. And then we entered the slum and my heart sank into my stomach and the laughing came to a close. Even William said, "Chris, you look devastated." He was right. 300,000 people live in this incredibly small community that takes the definition of poverty to a level I thought didn’t exist. All of their houses are made of sheet metal, and some of the houses are 10’x10’ with five family members living there. There are no toilets. So, the residents would use their “front porch” as a toilet and then dispose the pollution paper in a trench in front of their homes. The pictures you see above are taken from the car, one looking down the road at a row of houses, and the other is of a man standing on his front porch. AE dug the trenches for the community because when it rains, the place gets destroyed since there are no roads. You can see the trench alongside the road and used toilet paper in the trench and on the street. By now, AE has built a number of community toilets on several streets and their vision is to provide toilets in all the slums in Nairobi. This is one of hundreds of slums. You can imagine the diseases that exist in such a community.

I was able to upload many photos from the entire trip onto www.snapfish.com if you would like to view them. However, I didn’t write a description of each photo so you most likely will not know what each photo represents.

We're Pregnant!!

I better get a lot of comments on this one! It's true.

I begin my journey home in the near future, and I'll spend one day in Nairobi checking out some of the work AE is doing in the slums there. I will be at the Celebration Service on Sunday!! And I am sooo ready to celebrate!!

Please pray for traveling mercies.

Peace.

What Would You Do?

Yesterday, following the worship service of the church I attended, a girl named Funu approached me for advice and prayer. Funu has a skin disease, where she has lost pigmentation all over her hands, portions of her legs and other areas of her body. She was very broken and desperate for healing. Her boss at work told her that her problem is two-fold: for one, her disease is a result of sin in her life. If she had enough faith then she would be healed. Two, her church, the boss claims, isn’t a strong enough church since they aren’t able to heal her. Funu’s boss proceeded to tell her that she’s going to the wrong church and that she must go to her (the boss’s) church, where they are very successful at healing people. And, if she doesn’t go to the boss’s church, and she doesn’t find healing, then she will be fired from her job, and unable to support her family. She is a young, single mother who has attended this church since she was a baby. This community of faith is her family and they pray for healing for her often. Funu told me all of this after the worship service.

Without telling my response, I’m curious to know how some of you might respond, from a theological perspective. This is actually the type of question I would be instructed to write papers on for Ray Anderson’s “Systematic Theology” courses. What does God think about Funu’s situation? Is it her fault because she doesn’t have enough faith? Is God punishing her? Should she listen to her boss and give up her job? How would you advise her? You might even want to write out your response in a journal or prayer letter. I think this would be a valuable exercise for any Christian, as we all have (or will) come across friends or family members who will need us to be the voice of God in their lives. I welcome your thoughts. Please remember Funu in your prayers.

It was so wonderful to hear comments from more friends! Major, I look forward to sharing stories and pictures with you. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Maybe we can plan a trip for our church together?? Lunch would be wonderful!! Silverson, thanks for taking care of the pcomers for me and I can't wait to get back to everyone either. I miss all of you greatly! Courtney, I'm so glad you're interested in the blog. In fact, I have already planned to create a blog for the high school group. Although, it will be much more creative with pictures and book/movie/music reviews, etc. I will include reviews on my teachings, devotions, and questions. So I will terminate this blog when I get home and then create the new one for all of you and let you know. Em, I really enjoy hearing from you and I'm so glad technology has provided us the opportunit

About Madagascar

The mission is coming to a close tomorrow, and I am quite exhausted after preaching a total of sixteen messages since last Sunday. My guess is that there has been a total of seven hundred or so gatherings where AE staff have preached this week. I’m astonished to see how hungry these people are to hear the Word. I preached at a church service this morning that began at 9am. I left the service at 11am while it was still going. Another member from our team went to preach at the same church directly after me at 11:30. Then, I came back to preach there once again at 3:00pm and the same service was still going. I was finished by 5:00 and the service still had not ended. This Baptist Church had a service today that began at 8:00am and finished at sometime around 6:00pm. There were five different worship bands, a worship-through-dance group, three sermons, and a testimony all in one day. Unbelievable.

I have a new friend, David Chigamba from Malawi, whose on the AE staff and is in charge of writing the reports about the trip to all the AE staff, family, friends, and supporters. So I thought I would include below a portion of his first report regarding Madagascar and its people (I also helped him creat a blog for his reports. Check it out. www.aecomms.blogspot.com):

“What a joy again to write to you from the Island not exactly of Patmos but Madagascar. Yes! The long awaited mission has arrived. It has arrived in this far off Island to the south west of the Indian Ocean. Indeed to this special land visited and inhabited by people from all four corners, far and wide since the earliest times by the descendants of Semitic and Asian traders. Oh Madagascar, what a beautiful Island you are with your city placed strategically on a hill. Loved and chosen by God with 16 million people and 1,4 to 1,6 million people in the capital city of Antananarivo. Others say the island is almost one and a half times the size of California.

Beloved friends, I know you may be asking, why Antananarivo? I thought you guys were there last May/June? Yes you’re right we were here last May/June. But remember that was a mission to the leadership. It was about those who are influential in decision making in different sectors of life. But this time it is for everyone. We realize that the gospel is for everyone and so we will go to where we will find the people (stratified evangelism) - in working places, in homes, in churches, in market places and open places.

Madagascar needs the gospel just like the rest of the world needs it. If you read through the little booklet that we were given in the Aircraft called the “Madagascar Passport,” you will be baffled to read what the editor had to say on the customs and traditions of the Malagasy people. I guess it will be good if I quote some of it:

“…. There is first of all the circumcision ceremony of small boys practiced during the winter months: It is carried out individually by the families and is not a subject of great popular ceremonies.
….then there is the “fijoroana” starting with the organization of a gathering of the entire population of a village. During the meeting, incantations are addressed to Zanahary, the creator of the feet and hands and to his intermediaries among men who are the spirits of the ancestors to ask them for their blessings and their protection.
…..in addition to these two widely practiced traditions there is that of the exhumation of the dead common on the central areas of the mainland. The bodies are exhumed and wrapped in fresh shrouds. In Sainte Marie, the bones are unearthed, cleaned and then placed in small boxes. All this takes place against a background of the consumption of sizable quantities of betsabetsa (country spirits) and drink offerings. The reason for this ceremony, which takes place three to seven years after the death of a person, is to request the blessings of the ancestors and of God.
…Lastly, there is the “tromba” or the ceremony of the possession of the living by the spirits of the crowned ancestors of the former Sakalava kings from the west and the north of the mainland. During these trances these spellbound people transmit the royal messages from the dead to the living.”

I know you are asking is this true David? My friends, it is very true, in fact these are just some of the things that these people in this beloved Island are bound with. The funny part of it is that even most of the guys who are considered to be educated and are staying here in the city are so much into the worship of the dead. Talking to one of the pastors, he told me that one of the tragedy’s of Madagascar is that people are still blind and are so much into ancestral worship. He added that this has contributed so much to their poverty because most people would work very hard only to give the proceeds to the dead. He said to many people the dead are a higher priority and more important and honored than the living!”—By David Chigamba

Day Twenty

These friends from African Enterprise don’t take their preaching lightly. The program consists of some fifty to seventy gatherings per day: at churches, at schools, in the marketplace, on street corners, in stadiums, all over the city. Michael Cassidy was preaching on the street yesterday and hundreds of people were gathering around him to hear his message. Fascinating! Thousands of people are coming to Christ and this method of evangelism seems to work well here. I would just ask your prayers that the churches in the community will be able to handle the follow-up. I’ve preached seven times so far at high schools and universities since Monday. I usually just share a bit of my journey and talk about Jesus: abiding in him, walking with him, staying attached to him, living in the Kingdom of God…Bart Tarman style. I figure, if I only have an hour with a group of 500 people who I’ll never see again, the best thing I can do is talk about Jesus, whether they’ve been following him their whole life or they’ve never met him before. I’ve found that the Malagassy people have been thrilled to hear about Jesus.

Of the seven gatherings I’ve preached so far, tonight was my favorite. I went to Antananarivo University and only fifteen people showed up. I was refreshed because I knew I would get some interaction from a small group. They had the place set up with rows of chairs and a big platform for me to speak from with a microphone, and I walked in and thought, “Not a chance am I standing up there with a mic.” So I had everyone sit in a circle and I scrapped my notes and sat with them and shared my life journey from childhood up until now…the good and the bad, and the peaks and valleys of my faith. I shared a few thoughts about Jesus and a couple of passages and then I opened it up for questions and stories from their lives. They’re all college students, of course, so they’ve gone through difficulties by now and they’ve been asking the tough questions about faith and life. I told them that I didn’t come all the way to Madagascar to speak at crowds of people and then flee, but that I wanted to hear their hearts, their questions, their struggles, and their stories. I told them that I’d love to help answer any questions (or maybe leave them with more questions to think about), but that I also came to learn from their stories because I believe that they have something to teach me. So we had a brilliant conversation and they are so intelligent and they ask great questions, and we sat in a rundown building in the university, and when the sun went down, someone lit a couple of candles because their was no electricity. We sat together and talked about our lives and Jesus for two and a half hours, and the few who weren’t following Christ decided they would like to begin the journey. The time was authentic, real, and most favorably, relational.

The Malagassy people are wonderful. However, I find myself so exhausted from preaching three times per day that I want to use every free minute sleeping. So, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to really absorb the culture and experience the territory, other than at the gatherings. I notice that people live in tiny, old, rundown, French-style houses and apartments, and the streets are dreadfully crowded with people and little cars. They sell meat on the street corners. The butcher wakes up at 4:00am every morning to catch his kill. He then cleans and slices up the meat and hangs it from his little box shed for sale. The meat hangs in the sun all day, until he sells it, and if he doesn’t sell it, he cooks it at the end of the day and shares it with his family (a little sketchy in my book). Maybe the leftovers go to waste, or to the people on the street…I’m not sure. He does this everyday because refrigeration is unaffordable.

The level of poverty once again is heartbreaking, and like most third world countries, the people are able to find joy elsewhere. Unlike wealthy countries, people who live in such poverty as Madagascar, are more apt to recognize their need for God, which of course, is the first step into the Kingdom. That’s why when I preach at these schools, and someone gives an “invitation” or “altar call” when I’m finished with my message, nearly every kid comes forward. Hundreds keep coming forward, right in front of me, every time. This is happening all over Antananarivo this week. Thousands of people are coming to Christ. I find it a bit overwhelming, actually, and I fear what may happen (actually, what may not happen) with all these people after we leave. We’ve partnered with all the churches and the pastors’ have been through extensive follow-up training, and there are many counselors who have specific roles in bringing these people into church families, but there are simply too many coming forward than can possibly be cared for. Even these friends from African Enterprise, who have been doing this sort of thing for years, are saying that they’ve never seen anything like this before. That’s why I so much enjoyed being with only a few tonight. Please remember these people in your prayers.

Great hearing from all of you! To answer your question, Courtney, you are correct in thinking that I was unaware of Michael's sermon. Remember, miracles are happening all the time in our world and God's presence is everywhere. Sometimes we simply must pay attention. Saur, I'm trying to put together your comments about your tattoos...I think we need to talk when I return. Em and Klaeb, thanks for your words and I can't wait to catch up on your lives. Billy, keep up the hell fire preaching. I hope you scare more people to their senses. Nancy, I've listened to the first nine hours of lectures for Church History. Awesome! I look forward to dialogue with you. Lynn, Wow! Good to hear from you and I enjoyed our time together in Kinshasa. I'm curious as to how you found this blog? It sounds like your doing some great work back at home. I hope we cross paths again. Bob, thanks for sparing me from the diarrhea story. The visual is less than pleasant. Mom, please get the tape of Jack's sermon. I would love to hear it. Devon, my love, I can't wait to be home with you! Thank you all for your words. Much Love.

Day Seventeen.

(Written on 10/2/05...there is another post published on the same day below. Please read in chronological order)
This morning I was invited to accompany Michael Cassidy to a church service of 1,000 people in attendance. It was a Pentacostal church, filled with great joy and life. Michael invited me to share the pulpit with him by giving a testimony for fifteen minutes or so before he preached. I had planned on sharing my story of how I met Jesus when I was sixteen, but then for some reason as I was sitting in the pew a few minutes before going up to speak, I felt compelled to share my journey through cancer instead. I referred to my journey as a storm that I brought to Jesus in order to find shelter, and then healing. The coordination with Michael and I was totally unplanned, but he proceeded to deliver his message, titled: “Bringing Our Storms to Jesus” (Mark 4:35-5:1). My story served as an appropriate introduction for his sermon. I won’t go into the details of his message, but when he invited people to bring to Jesus whatever storm they’re in (addiction, disease, relational problems, ancestor worship, etc.), every single person in that sanctuary came forward. Not one person remained in their seat. Michael’s message was powerful, and I was honored to share the pulpit with him on what may be his final pan-African mission after some forty years of service. The plan is for Steven Lungu (who preached at our church a year ago) to be his successor. Later this evening, there was an gathering for the community, serving as an opening service for the week’s mission, with approximately 5,000 people. Michael referred to my story again in his message tonight and I was humbled. The man is amazing…it’s no wonder he is such a hero throughout Africa.

Tomorrow morning I’m preaching at a public high school in the morning, and then at a church service in the evening. The morning’s message will be “Finding Miracles in the Ordinary” (Exodus 3:1-6) and the evening’s will be “Accepting Your Belovedness” (Mark 6:30-44, Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand). The idea behind the second one is just as Jesus took (or chose) the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it, so have we been chosen by God as his beloved (created in his image); we’ve been blessed by Him (that is, affirmed, not because of our accomplishments, but because of who he has made us); we have been broken (the pain that we have endured in this world), and we must accept our brokenness because it is through our brokenness that we minister to others, so long as we keep the brokenness under the blessing (that is, our identity is in the blessing, never the brokenness); so that we can be given to the world for restoration. Jesus was chosen by the Father, blessed by the Father (Matthew 3:17), broken in this world (through persecution and then ultimately the cross), so that he could be given to the world. In short, we have been chosen, blessed, and broken, so that we can be given. (The Life of the Beloved; Nouwen, Henri). We’ll see what happens.

You may be receiving these blogs after the fact, and I’ll probably be posting more than one at a time because I am limited to time and opportunities for internet. So, I try to keep up on my writing in a Word document on my laptop, and then when I can get to an internet café where my computer works, I cut and paste. So, sorry for the delays and thank you for your dedication in reading these. I hear that the week will get busier and I might find myself preaching at three or four meetings per day. Please pray for rest (and sanity).

Pan-African Mission

(written on 9/30/05)
I have now safely arrived to Antananarivo, Madagascar. The place is fascinating and I suggest you do some research on the history of this place because it’s very interesting. The streets are cobblestone and the architecture is 19th century French, and when I say 19th century, I mean, it doesn’t just look like 19th century, it was built in the 19th century. I think the phone in my room is from the 19th century. It’s one of those with the pulse dial that you put your finger in and crank the wheel. There’s also lots of rice patties here. Indonesian influence, mixed with French and some East African makes for an interesting combination of people and landscape. I’ve never seen anything like it. Knowing that the Esh and my parents were here together about a year ago makes it feel closer to home for me. I wonder if I’ll meet any of the same people. Esh, I can’t wait to trade stories about Tanzania when I return, too.

I’m sorry that I will be unable to post on the blog as often as I have been because the nearest internet café is about a mile away and I’m told that it struggles. Also, I believe we will be very busy this week, from morning to night. Each year African Enterprise conducts a week long mission in a particular country in Africa, working in various aspects of ministry depending on the context. So this year, it’s here and now in Antananarivo (‘Tana’). There are leaders from AE from Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. It’s fun hanging out with all these Africans! Steven Lungu, the man who spoke at our church almost a year ago is here. He’s the one who had the powerful story of how he was on his way to rob a bank in Malawi and he was contemplating blowing up a church because he hated Christians so much, and so he walked into the church during the middle of the service and was so moved by what the pastor was saying about Jesus that he walked up to the front, laid his A.K. 47 and his bomb on the altar and gave his life to the Lord. His mother gave birth to him when she was fourteen years old. Powerful. I had dinner with him tonight and he told me to shave my soul patch. He’s a funny guy.

The man who started this organization in 1961 is Michael Cassidy. He’s pretty much a celebrity hero in Africa. Everywhere I’ve gone so far in Africa and I’ve mentioned the name African Enterprise, they ask, “Oh, do you know Michael Cassidy?” His reputation here is that he has done more for the Kingdom in Africa in the last forty years than any other person on the planet, next to maybe Nelson Mandela. That’s his reputation, anyway. They give him credit for bringing reconciliation to such places as Rwanda and Uganda (not to mention others) and he, of course, takes no credit for such things. His simple vision is that the power for change and healing lies within the church, because God uses the church to bring forth his desire for restoration, so we must work wholeheartedly at bringing the churches together in order to work at furthering God’s Kingdom on earth. There has been (and still is in some places) great division in the church, and AE is incredibly gifted at uniting and helping churches to reconcile their differences. He’s here with us this week and I enjoyed getting to know him over dinner too. He speaks very highly of Jack Loo and Bob Lehnhart and is most grateful for the support from our church.

FYI to those who have no clue what AE is, African Enterprise is an interdenominational, international Christian organization that partners with local churches and other missionary agencies to carry the message of Jesus throughout Africa by word and deed. They have local offices in many countries in Africa and also one in the United States (Monrovia, CA) and one in Belgium. AE’s operations include evangelistic ministry campaigns, social development programs, peace and reconciliation programs, and church leadership training programs. In the area of social development, programs could focus on provisions of social services such as education, health, vocational skills, shelter, meals, clothes, water, good governance, capacity building, etc. They have a strong commitment to helping impoverished communities to become self-sufficient. To learn more, check out www.africanenterprise.org. I think that’s their website. Maybe it’s .com.

While we were in Tanzania, I visited a few sites where they set up water stations in rural communities where there was previously no running water. So AE Tanzania dug a well and built a shed with a pump connected with pipes and ran electricity, so now the community can gather water, and sell water to neighboring villages to make enough money to pay for the monthly electricity bill. What a great ministry they’re doing. The level of poverty in these rural communities is quite shocking.

I also saw several pieces of land that AE purchased to build different facilities for the community. On each location, they built a temporary house to safeguard the property. One of these houses was occupied by Everest, (our driver and the AE Tanzania technician), his wife, and three kids. It’s quite a shack. There’s no electricity and no running water. They say it’s only temporary until they are able to complete the project. They’ve been living there for five years. There’s an electrical pole about 20 yards away from the house that can easily provide electricity, and in fact, Everest said he can do the wiring himself. The only thing keeping him from it is $5,000.

One of these facilities will be a multi-purpose center that will be used for multi-faceted community development and rehabilitation, particularly in the area of HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Tanzania is a serious problem, and it’s getting worse. Approximately two million people are presently infected and living with HIV. So, this particular facility will be used for one, training church leaders to provide counseling for HIV patients and awareness. At the moment, research shows that very few pastors talk about HIV/AIDS, and if they do it is only a statement or two in a long sermon. Many Christians in Tanzania believe that talking about AIDS is “worldly” and losing biblical foundation. There are church leaders who will never counsel their young people to take an HIV test before marriage because the result could hurt the church’s reputation in the community. Second, the facility will be used as a retreat center where counseling and rehabilitation will be conducted, providing clinical services, meals, relief materials, etc. Third, medical services for those who may need a small dispensary. Fourth, a database center specifically used for HIV/AIDS research and awareness in Tanzania. I was given an impressive proposal with drawings. The plot of land is probably five acres or so. Of course it’s been sitting there for five years because they don’t have the money to begin the project. Building projects in Africa are very slow, and completed in stages spaced out over long periods of time.

As I mentioned before, I am very impressed with A.E. and I look forward to watching how this week here in Madagascar unfolds. I just hope they don’t make me stand on the street corners and preach with a bullhorn. Courtney, to answer your question, preparation for this trip mainly included raising money, studying and researching the history, culture and present conditions of the countries I am visiting, writing out my objectives for the trip and how I might accomplish those objectives, seeking prayer support from the church and other friends/family, other logistical preparations, receiving international vaccinations for yellow fever, hepatitis, meningitis, typhoid, tetanus, and malaria (taken orally), and of course, prayer. I was nervous about going several days before my departure, wondering whether being away from Devon for that amount of time would be unwise, so praying together was very important for us to receive affirmation for this trip. Thanks for asking!