A world Class Team…

a world class team…. What a great two days we have had in the pastors conference, it has been a great experience. These pastors really want to make change, they really want to do great things, and they are so teachable, they are soaking it up. Tomorrow is my last day here in rwanda, then I go uganda to join the other team.

Can I just say, thank you pastor Kirk and Nancy. Thanks for being great leaders and teaching our people so well. This Rwanda Team is just incredible, harvest has the greatest people. Chad, Angeliegh, Roberta, Christa, Cameron, Chrystal, Stephanie, Cindy, Susie, and of course Bryson and Siearra. They have worked so hard they relate so well with the people here and they have spoken and they have been so great. We have such depth and true leadership in culture in our people. They are heros. Doing something to change the world.

We had right at 100 different pastors there today, all representing different churches. They were like sponges. It was emotionally overwhelming because the just draw it out of you.

Tomorrow we will be training childrens leaders, and pastors again, then having services for everyone. Sunday the team will be in churches as I travel to Uganda.
Monday we will start the medical clinics, and conduct those through the end of the week. God is so good, and we are priveledged to work for Him. If you are family of this team know that they are thinking of you, and you should be so proud of the work they are doing.

Chad spoke about connecting generationally
Angeliegh about reaching outside rwanda
Cameron about no limit living, no excuses, taking responsability
Roberta spoke on the value and importance of the local church, that girl can preach
Chrystal spoke on doing reaching out against injustice
Christa spoke on the importance of Childrens ministry in the church

Tomorrow
Cindy, Stephanie and suzie will be speaking. This has been so good for them and for the people receiving.

I look forward to meeting up with the uganda team and work with them for a few days. I heard from misty that it is goig well. They have truly been impacted already.

Continue praying for us, believe God to use us to do more than we thought possible.

Africa is an absolutely beautful place and the people are some of the most endearing in the world.

God is good….I’m not doing many pictures because the internet here is very slow, We will put them up when we get home and you can see it all.

-David

An eye opening experience

Yesterday was incredible! We started the day with an early breakfast, and a small meeting as a team, just to talk about the day and what our expectations were and the attitude we wanted to take so we would be the most effective in our ministry to these wonderful people.

After eating we boarded the van to go to a group home for Rwanda survivors. These are homes that are set up with extended family members who come together to help one another. This particular home had several young adults and teenagers, cousins who lost all of their immediate family and were helped by having this home provided for them and receiving support to be able to function. These kids were all trying to get their education and were helping each other live. There were children and early teens and young adults. 32 People in this house. It’s better than nothing, but it’s no near enough space. They are still facing difficulties like money for education, transportation for education and work, and money for medical bills.

We met with them as a team, and after the formal introductions and a bit of small talk, we ask them to tell us their story, one 23 year old young man stood up and begin to speak. He was very unassuming and humble and maybe a little intimidated. I will tell you now the story he told is hard to imagine, hard to even think about, never the less he actually lived it.

He was about 9 years old when the genocide came into full effect, and he was in his home with his mother and Dad and his two sisters. The soldiers busted down the door, they came to kill the family. According to his account they chased his mother and father around the house with machetes and killed them. They then proceeded to chase down his two sisters and killed them both. They came back and got the young boy, and built a coffin in front of him, and told him we are going to bury you in that coffin alive, in fear of such a tortuous death he ran for his life. He hid in the woods and waited to see if it was safe. They had a practice of burning the wooded areas and all the refugees would run out of hiding, when they thought they would burn to death. That’s what they did that day. So when it started burning he ran out of hiding and continue to run, until he ran into a lady who said she would help him, she told him not to worry, then she started berating him for his race, she threw him on the ground and said you are worth nothing, I know this is graphic but true, she then proceeded to urinate on him as if to say you are lower than human waste. She then had him beaten and cut and he showed us scars on his arms and legs and head where he was cut with a machete. They then pulled this nine year old boy who had just watched his mom and dad and two sisters massacred, stripped him of his clothes and tied him in the crucifixion position to a tree, and beat him, and left him for dead, to make sure he would die they set him on fire, then left. Amazingly the fire burned through the ropes and he was spared, when the ropes burned and ran to safety.

As we set listening to the young man it was hard to believe he was standing there in front of us even able to communicate such an occurrence. Can you imagine what this must have done to the mind of an impressionable nine year old boy.

They were made to feel like trash, lower than trash, like nothing. Like they didn’t matter, they were referred to as cockroaches.

As we listened the Lord prompted me to tell them the story of Joseph and how he was abused betrayed and was completely innocent, and how God had given him a vision, and I related to them that God has a plan and purpose for their lives as well, and they should hold on to that and move forward. We then prayed for those who were still suffering physically and emotionally from things that happened during that time, three of them had been shot and still suffer physically as a result.

Pastor Jackson, a man of faith and an excellent spirit is a great visionary and he and his church provide for this home and 23 others. The Church is alive and Well in Rwanda.

We then proceeded back to our meeting hall and had a great first day of conference. The people are wonderful, and have a true heart for God. We did worship, several of our team shared, and I spoke on the identity of being a child of God. The one thing that this nation struggles with is identity. We declared, you are Christian this is your identity, which transcends the thoughts or limitations that man puts on us.

We had a great time with the team and some pastors that with us to hang out, we had some great bacon cheeseburgers, yep that’s right, right here in Kigali. Things are going well, our team is awesome, let me say people of harvest are just a different breed and really live to serve.

Today we start the pastor’s portion of the conference and we hope to help them with church growth, reaching out and leadership development.

-David

Did you change the world today?

Just about every evening, my wife Janae and I will ask each other, “did you change the world today?” Most of the time when people think about changing the world we think in terms of massive amounts of money, major world shaking projects, and political power and influence. What I have found to be true however is that most major world changing goes on every day with normal people who decide to live their lives with purpose and passion about making a difference today.

I am a Pastor and my wife is a teacher, so our occupations put us in position to truly, effectively change the world. The truth is however, I know a lot of pastors, and teachers who are passing up opportunities to change the world. We can all effectively change things for the better, but it is not something that happens automatically, or without intention and purpose.

A pastor can have opportunities to bring change, but get busy with urgent unimportant activities, and have day after day go by not having changed anything, or brought help to anyone. A teacher can get caught up in the day to day, and even be resentful of parents who wont help or kids who wont behave, and just do “the job.”

Every day everyone of us, no matter what we do, have opportunities to bring change, to help someone, to raise the bar, to care, to love, to change the world.

My wife works in a school system with great need. She has been working with her second graders on a presentation they were going to make. They had to make a report get their parents involved, and then present it in front of the class and their parents.

As it drew near many of them, because of the lack of parental involvement, didn’t appear to be ready. She could have given in to the status quo and accepted it as the norm, instead she made an impassioned plea to the kids, and let them know her expectations, and because she has spent time loving them, and going the extra mile caring for them, it has created an atmosphere of trust and respect. They arrived on presentation day and did an outstanding job. She has created in these kids a desire to learn.

Kids in these situations are many times aware of things that never enter the mind of kids who aren’t living in poverty. They’re aware of facts like “no one in their family graduating from high school or going to college.” She has inspired many of them in second grade to say, “I will finish high school and I will go to college.”

She has also brought a great change in many of the parents, getting more active with their kids, realizing how special their children are, and becoming proud of their accomplishments. She has a word for these kids who have been beat down, and had very little expectations placed on them. She calls them scholars, she says to them, “you are my scholars, you are brilliant, and you will succeed.”

So do what you can today, and when you go home tonight ask your loved ones, “did you change the world today?” With a little effort we can say, “yes, I did.”

-David