This Ain't Your Typical Worship Time!

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we split up into two teams of 8 each. My team had Grant, the Toupins, Joni, Twyla, Cassie, and Matt. Tim Stevenson was also with us. They sang several songs, we sang two (I played guitar) and they asked for an encore for which we were unprepared, and there were testimonies from the community and our team. Then I spoke from John 9. The service was less than 3 hours but didn't seem that long. The picture here is of the table at the front of the service. People were instructed to come forward to present their tithes and offerings. The tithe basket was empty. The other was filled. You can see the offering basket at the top of the picture. Most of the cash came from us. There was an egg from a woman (possibly like the widow from the Bible), a note, and a partially eaten roll. Humbling.

After service there was an altar call for those who needed prayer. I was asked along with Tim to pray. All women, one had a baby wth malaria (baby Lazarus and mom Suzanne), another with stomach pains (Mary), and others with asthma and headaches.

After this we were served lunch: grits (in a cake), rice, chicken, greens with crushed g-nuts (like peanuts), fried cabbage, and tea with rolls. Yummy!

Afterwards we went to the rock drawings found in this area. There was a kid named Alex who hung around me there. He was 13 years old and a student in a Korean-sponsored school nearby. His English was good and he looked to be in good health. I enjoyed speaking with him.

Rest of the day was spent in rest awaiting our first full day at the church site.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Storehouse of Goodness

Image
How great is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. Psalm 31:19 When I think about the LORD and His goodness to me and those around me, I am so thankful. And yet, I'm not sure I've thought often about how He stores up goodness for me.  Have you? If we fear Him alone (and that's a BIG IF), then we can be assured of this promise: that He will store up goodness for us! The doctor gives bad news. God has goodness stored up for us. A spouse asks for a divorce. God has goodness stored up for us. Children make decisions that grieve us. God has goodness stored up for us. Fellow students or colleagues at our place of employment treat us with contempt or worse. God has goodness stored up for us. Dreams and goals we thought were important are no longer possible. God has goodness stored up for us. No matter what we encounter along the Way - whether calm or storm, peace o
Read more

Lessons of Trust

As promised, here are a few of the lessons learned after the challenges wrought in the experience on Thursday night's Living Last Supper: When we do something intentionally to God's glory, He receives the glory and protects us. Continue to put trust in God alone. As we trust God, if an outside organization desires access to the church, one must perform due diligence to verify who they are and what they intend to do. If there is no time to perform due diligence, then the offer remains unaccepted. The farther away an interviewer/videographer lives, the more due diligence is required. Interviewers or videographers rarely (if ever) pay you to do their work. If sufficient due diligence is performed, review ALL waivers before signing or making them available for signatures. If after due diligence, a group is allowed on site, increase security to ensure the group behaves as promised. And, the oldest lesson of all: people may not do what you expect them to do, but they will do what you
Read more

Who is your king?

  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”    Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”    Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:36-38a In a culture that stresses having the “right” identity, you and I have many.    For example, I am a son of my parents, husband to my wife, father to my children, grandfather to their children, a neighbor, a friend, a pastor.    You get the idea.    All of these relationships mark us – identify us.    While we might like to consider all of these identities equally, there is a hierarchy whereby one identity overshadows or has priority over another.    As we raised our children, my k
Read more