We will be out of town for a week. We will leave tomorrow morning for Ghana. The whole family will go. I was invited to preach and also to come to a conference. We also need a little break. Please pray for me. I will be attempting to set my goals, plans and my calender for the next year.
I can’t believe that we are already in December. God has truly blessed this year and I am looking forward to what God is going to do in the future.
I wrote in another post about Marie Paul. She had TB of the spine. Because of this her spine became weak and has major problems. One disc is already almost completely gone. Her spine sticks out terribly. She is only ten years old and I felt that she would be totally crippled if we didn’t help. They are treating the TB. Don’t worry TB of the spine isn’t contagious. She is such a sweet girl.
We took her monday to a specialist. He told us to come back today. My wife took her. They put here in a cast. My wife said that it was terrible. They made her mom and Rebecca leave the room. Then you could here her scream and cry as they tried to push her back into place and put the cast on. My wife said that her mom, sister and her were all crying from hearing her suffer.
After they did this she couldn’t walk. Rebecca picked me up so that I could carry her from the car to the house. When I picked her up, trying to carry her like a baby, she just grunted in pain. The doctor said that she really needs surgery but we are not sure if that is even possible in Burkina Faso. Please say a special pray for her. I told our church people that I want to be their pastor. That means I must rejoice when they rejoice, cry when they cry and be there for them when they need it. I do praise the Lord, because I think if this would have gone on much longer she would be completely in a mess, with the situation of her back.
I was doing some calculations. I wanted to share them with you. We currently have over 14 million people. We have only 13 Independent Baptist Churches in the whole country. That makes one independent Baptist church for 1,076,923 people. Wow, we have a great job to do. We need some help.
I am always amazed at how they build here. So few tools but very effective. Here is a picture of the middle floor. As you can see it is ready for the cement, rock, and sand. We lack a little more than $3,500 to get this part done. Please pray for this as we really could use this section of the building.
Here are a few pictures of our churches in Ouagadougou. The first one is from our work here in Burkina Faso. It is on the edge of town, in a neighborhood called Tingandogo. We were about 25 adults and over 90 kids this morning.
The second picture if from Cissin. It is in the middle of Ouagadougou. We had about 45 adults here and 40 kids here this morning. You can see the construction in the background. This church is a little under a year old.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I have an older man named Zachary, that works with me. He has pastored two different churches. Actually, he has started two different churches. He was with the Assembly of God but had major problems with their doctrine for a long time. They finally asked him to leave. When he left, he looked for the truth and found that he was in agreement with the Baptist doctrine. He worked with a missionary in Ivory Coast for almost a year and then returned here to Burkina Faso. I have pastors and other christian workers come by all the time, saying they want to work with me. Of course the problem is that our doctrine isn’t the same and really they don’t want the truth, they just want the money. But I felt that Zachary was sincere and real.
Zachary has been with us for almost a year. He has been a great asset to the ministry. He told me the other day that he wants to start another church somewhere. I feel it is best for us and him, that he stay here for another year or two but then we will plan to send him as a church to where God calls him. Yesterday, we traveled to the town of Zabre. I bet they have over 10,000 people there. This is where one of the works he started was and very near to his village. We also visited his first work. It was a thrill to met his family, see where he came from and what he did. We also met his older brother. His older brother is the Imam(Muslim Leader) of the village. All the rest of his family has been saved by the grace of God. He told me that after his mother died, the family was divided. They had all of their houses in one courtyard but because of the Muslim brother they all had to get their own place. He has another brother that is a pastor. Anyhow, we had a great day. I forgot my camera and I am kicking myself because of it.
I saw a first tonight. I have seen this done many times in America but not here. The Burkinabe missionary to Mali is needing to change locations. We had already decided to help support him each month, but we wanted to help with his building. He wanted to build a hangar from wood and tin. The tin would cost about $200 and the wood $64. I felt lead to announce to the church that we wanted to give $100 for the tin. They were thrilled. Remember that we are in the process of building, and I want the church to pay for the roof on our building. John Cooley, another missionary, was present for the service and gave the other $100. Then the Pastor who is preaching the conference said that his church would give the $64 for the wood. I have never seen this before in Africa. It was a first and I am glad that I was there.
What a blessed day! God moved in the services today, and we had four saved. One young lady named Salie has been coming almost since we started the church at Cissin. I was always unsure of her salvation, but she told us she was saved. She hardly ever misses a church service. During his message, Pastor Ake said that he had a baptized member come to him one day saying she wasn’t sure of her salvation, and that day, she trusted Christ. Salie said she was baptized at 12 but didn’t really understand what she was doing. She gave her life to Christ this morning. We were overjoyed.
Tonight was a great victory for our church. As you know, we are having our first missions conference. We have attempted to teach faith promise. I know of only two other African churches that have done this. I am sure there are more but of the 50-60 that I know about there are only 2 that give faith promise. I decided I would be happy with a minimum of $40 as our debut. I pledged $10, so I thought the church might give $30. We had 32 people pledge. That was great, and they pledged $90 a month. That is absolutely amazing. I told them that I believe that a lot of what we want to accomplish will be centered around our obedience to give to missions.
Man alive, (have you ever noticed that we use some weird terminology) have I ever been encouraged. I was thinking that this conference would encourage our people and I hope it will, but I didn’t know how much I needed to be encouraged. I am with two nationals. One is an Ivorian pastor and the other is a Burkinabe, who got saved and trained in the Ivory Coast and then went as a missionary to Mali.
The Pastor has greatly encouraged my heart. There is a fight that goes on, not a physical one (well I have heard of it happening) but a fight of two different cultures and ideas coming together and clashing. This is the fight between the national(we use this term to describe the the people we minister to) and the missionary and it can be a big one. I have seen some horrible and terrible things go on between the two. People on both sides have been abused and mistreated. The Pastor, Ake Maxime, has been a huge blessing. He doesn’t seem to see the ministry like the others do. He isn’t relying just on Amercia to support him and the work. He told our people that their church is supported by their people. They are supporting missions(which is very rare once the missionary leaves). He has a great grip on the ministry. Sometimes we wonder if they(our church members) will ever get it. I taught the other week that there is a lie going around. The lie is that the Burkinabe are to poor and to uneducated to get the work done. I believe that this actually better qualifies them. In the Bible, most of the time God used the low and the poor so that in the end he would get all the glory. David was little, Gideon was from the poorest family in the neighborhood and he was the least in his family, Moses couldn’t speak right, a young boy had a small lunch that fed the multitudes, the disciples were just average men, Paul was sick (but was at his strongest when he had infirmities) etc. I told them we don’t need to think of American Christians, French Christians, Chinese Christians and Burkinabe Christians. WE ARE NOT DIVIDED; we are all children of the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Our God is the same God that divided the red sea, defeated Goliath, multiplied the bread and fish, etc. He can use us here. I know that I am considered a missionary in America, but I am their Pastor and Shepherd. I love my people(those who God has given us) and I want to see God use them.