Steve & Nora

Steve & Nora

Friday, November 4, 2011

CC African Pastors Conference; CC Cape Town & Aquarium Visit

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Chipolopolo Outreach

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Thursday, November 3, 2011

CC African Pastors Conference

We attended ( Steve Nora & Timothy) the 6th Annual CC Africa Pastors Conference from October 10th through the 14th at Simonstown, South Africa. The speakers this year were Pastors David Guzik of CC Santa Barbara, Jim Gallagher of CC Vero Beach,Fl., Rich Chaffin of CC Laguna Creek, & Phil Pechonis of CC Cornwall, U.K. The theme of the conference was "Faith & Fire", with these outstanding men teaching the entire Book of Daniel. Simply wonderful, in depth studies which all of us attending were very renewed & refocused!

There were 12 African nations represented there, coming from the southern nations of Africa. The worship was great, with teams from five different fellowships sharing in the worship time of the conference, including Gabon,a small nation located on the western coast of Africa.I am always moved as I listen to Native African worship, which is so unique & beautiful!

It is always so rewarding to renew old friendships & meeting new brethren serving in this very large continent of Africa. The fellowship we enjoyed were so sweet, encouraging, & the Lord allowed us to pray for one another in such a special manner, lifting the needs of these different works up to our Lord together. There were prayers of encouragement, words of knowledge, prophesy, & prayers for the continued strengthening of the missionaries & pastors for the work of taking the Gospel to a lost world in Africa.

We have included some photos taken at the conference to give you a flavor of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the joy we experienced together in Christ!

We also had the privilege of being with the Naaktgeboren's in Johannesburg, where we love to visit when ever we can. One of the days we were there, CC Jo'Burg had invited a ministry that ministers to 40 young girls (ages from 10-20), taken out of the child trafficking bondage & are being rehabilitated by this wonderful ministry. CC Jo'Burg provided a day of crafts, swimming, B-B-Q, a film on the life & ministry of Jesus Christ, & Timothy providing Christian Rap music. Following the film, Nora gave a brief message on the love of Jesus Christ for all of us and asked if there was any that would like to receive Jesus as their personal Lord & Savior. To the glory of God, all 40 of these girls indicated they wanted to do so & Nora led them to Jesus Christ in prayer. Just before they left this event, they were presented a package containing a number of feminine items special to young women. It was a special day for us to witness the work of the Holy Spirit in these young girls lives. Please be praying for them as they have come out of the most horrible conditions imaginable.

Chipolopolo Malawi

WMI and Thirst Quenching Episode #2
Chipolopolo, Malawi
September 26-27-28-29, 2011

On our happy way again to another remote village named, Chipolopolo, it means “bullet” in English. WMI is busy working with the community leaders there and setting up a water purification system. Mr. Kastings Chilopa, a WMI contact, was our cheerful guide into this “tucked away” dusty village, that we would have never found on our own.
The Prado is packed, stacked and stuffed with 8 blessed people, supplies and equipment. We are so thankful that we have such a sturdy vehicle with a strong roof rack and two diesel tanks! God is, as always and ever, so faithful in providing exactly what is needed for these trips to the villages … as a team, we thank Him every day for all the provision and the open doors for the Gospel …. His Good Hand is upon us. May we never take any of this for granted because we are walking in Jesus’ footprints as we follow Him to these obscure places He loves so dearly.

The Jesus DVD

Upon our arrival and the warm welcome by the community and church leaders, we discovered that this village had never had any exposure to the Jesus Film, much less any other kind of visual ministry or teaching/training….excluding the WMI excellent training. A few of the older men had seen the Jesus film in another village many years ago but nothing recent and never in Chipolopolo. Needless to say, excitement ran through the village like wildfire. Several of our team took the megaphone and drove all around the fringes of the village announcing the showing of the film at the soccer (oops, football) field that evening. It is quite a sight to behold as a village spills out on an open field to view the story of Jesus’ life in full color and in their own language, Chichewa. They settled themselves by sitting in the dirt in groups, the children, at least 150 of them, together in front and about 100 youth, adults a little further back. They were attentive and “into” what was being shown about Jesus on the large screen…..from laughing, to being amazed, horrified with the torture and death of Jesus … to cheering His Victory over death. Imagine the impact on that dark starry night, the Gospel coming to life for the first time in Chipolopolo…. felt like we were on Holy ground. As far as we know, from later conversations, and our hearing all the voices praying the sinner’s prayer to receive Christ that night, many souls entered the Kingdom to the praise of His Name and the delight of angels. “Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” John 4:35 Amen!

A Life That Pleases Him

No one, except our Heavenly Father knows what is happening in the hearts of the people during these outreaches. But, during the four days of teaching The Word, worship, prayer and answering many questions, there was a definite change in the spiritual climate which began that first day with a very reserved attitude…. which is understandable. Presenting the life of Jesus that first night seemed to soften hearts and open ears. Everyday their understanding seemed to increase as demonstrated by their questions and consistent attendance at all the sessions. Several of the men had Bibles and only two of the women carried their own Bible to a small house separate from the Chief’s house where the majority of sessions took place. Two sessions divided the men from the women to address specific gender Titus 2 instruction. Again, facing spiritual resistance as culture and tradition was confronted by the Word of God, spoken in love and full of grace. All of this produced a hunger to grow in their understanding to know their Lord personally and how to live in a way that pleases Him. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” 2 Cor. 5:9
The men were challenged to tell their wives and children that they loved them and to be kind . That suggestion caused quite a stir and their chattering went on until they were convinced that since God was faithfully communicating His love and kindness for them that they should follow His example and tell their families that they were loved and appreciated by the Husband/Father.… this was a step of faith for them. All the men said that they did this and were happy with the results. This is a good starting point for their families.

The group of women was a different kind of challenge. They were complaining about their husbands … not being the kind of man that they hoped. They scoffed when they were encouraged to pray for their husbands, saying that prayer would not make any difference because they had tried prayer before. After a lively discussion, it was discovered that they were praying “a miss” as in James 4:3. Their admission of lacking faith, wrong attitudes and motives brought them to reconsider their own walk.

As always, there are many requests for Bibles. We tried to buy 25 Bibles before we went to Chipolopolo but found that the recent inventory here in Lilongwe was sold out. We are praying for a new supply and consistent availability. The team will return and bring Bibles with more teaching, as they requested… “Direct my steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.” Psalm 119:133
The children were with the team every day after school, they were taught Scripture…they had never heard John 3:16 before and memorized it … these are the same children that prayed the prayer to receive Christ during the Jesus Film. Worship, prayer and lots of fun games …. The highlight for them was receiving small bags of Jiggies … this is a huge treat!

We left the village with a strong desire to return and scores of kids running after the Prado waving good bye … they followed us until they could not keep up with us. We are so blessed to be part of what God is doing here in Malawi.
The following is Tim’s report from the prospective of seeing such a huge spiritual vacuum in village life for the youth and children. After all, they are the future for Malawi.

YOUTH MINISTRY – TIMOTHY

The Training of these Youth Ministers hit me a lot as they realized for the first time that we can teach the kids and have all the fun we can have! When we left the village there still will be a void and we can’t afford to live with the thought that those kids are not receiving any proper teachings. Just after Teaching about the importance of Kids and Youth ministry I received many compliments and words that reveal that there is a huge lack of Kids Church in Chipolopolo Village and surrounding. And when invitation was extended to those willing to be trained, six of the Youth came forth and expressed their desire to start leading kids Church in their various churches. I sat with them for the whole three days teaching and instructing them on how they can teach the Kids and youth. The Basic truth about God and Jesus, Bible lesson preparations, memory verses, invitations and some to do's and not to do.