Re-capping the April Trip to Zambia

Hello Friends,

As most of you know I returned home on Thursday the 24th. The Lord blessed the trip to Zambia.

Lou Ann and I left that evening for parts unknown and ended up at Cumberland Falls on Friday. It is a beautiful place and recommend the Dupont Lodge as a great place to stay. Great food too. The Falls were gorgeous. They don't compare in size to the Victoria Falls but the beauty of both declare the awesome Glory of God.

I arrived in Livingstone, Zambia on April 2nd. It was my joy to overnight in Johannesburg with Hennie and DiDi. This gave me a chance to recoup from the long 18 hour flight from NY. I stayed with them last September too. When I arrived in Livingstone I was met by Kennedy Mukumbo. He is family to Denson. The trunk with our computers did not arrive so we proceeded to his guesthouse and got settled in.

The Sunbird Guesthouse is a nice fascility. I was so very comfortable and therefore grateful for a nice place to stay while we waited on the computers to arrive. You can check out his business at http://www.sunbirdguesthouse-livingstone.blogspot.com/. I helped him develop this site to attract more business and be competitve with the other higher cost places near the Falls. I ate with the Mukumbo's at their home in the evenings. May the Lord bless them now and on that Day for their kindness to me.

April 3 - The trunk arrived and we began the "process" of clearing customs. It took two days and $950 to accomplish this. We were thankful it did not cost more and that they arrived safely. I had planned to leave Thursday for Monze but we ended up staying until Saturday.

In between times I had the joy of revisiting the Victoria Falls. Because of the recent heavy rains they were on FULL display. I will try and attach a few videos to this blog. Again, the majesty and might of God are seen in His creation.

April 5 - Kennedy drove me the 4 hours to Monze where I met Denson and we made final preparations for the conference to begin Monday. On Sunday we both preached in two different churches. I preached at the Reformed church where our host, Joseph Phiri, is the pastor. Denson preached at Pastor Derek's church (Pentecostal). Both of us preached on the Authority and Sufficiency of the Word of God. A needed message all over the world as feelings, opinions and personal interpretations dominate much of Christianity today.

April 7 - 10 Monze Pastor's Conference. This conference was sponsored by another rural church planting organization (Evangelical Rural Missions -ERM). Denson and I were not surprised at the mixture of "ilks" but we were surprised that there were also six women "pastors" in attendance. 'NOW don't you know' this put a bit of pressure on me to be "sensitive" and not overbearing with these dear sisters. I must say that all of them were totally sincere in their sense of "calling." So I too had to be careful to "speak the truth in love" as we dealt with critical leadership passages in the conference. This basic conference is focused on church leadership, i.e. male leadership. I taught from Acts 20, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. These made up the heart of our study.

I am pleased to say that the Scriptures were well received by the Grace of God and His Holy Spirit's working. Some of our sisters struggled but four of them were challenged to re-adjust their thinking and admit that the role of the man and woman are different in Church just as they are in the home and nature. The equality of the Christian man and woman and the priesthood of the believer was emphasized. The brothers were challenged to respect the sisters as equals in the church while recognizing God's established order of leadership.

April 10th when we finished the conference Denson and I loaded up and headed to Lusaka but stopped in Mazabuka on the way. This is the home of our dear brother and Hub leader Michael Mufaya (MU-Fi-Ah). Last July our team from the US and South Africa worked with local Christians to evangelize hundreds and plant several new churches. Pastor Michael is our leader there training the new pastors.