Making disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples...

The Great Commission tells us that we are to make disciples, who can make disciples, who can make disciples. We need to make intergenerational disciples and build capacity in those we teach so the message doesn't rely on one person but can grow and spread.

Recently, while in Burkina Faso with DML leader Pastor Theo Pare, he mentioned a recent training of 1000 people that was done by a "third-generation disciple."  When I asked him to clarify, he said that he (first generation) had trained someone to be a DML trainer (second generation), who had then taught someone else to be a DML trainer (third generation), and that person had just done that training.  

Throughout my time with Pastor Theo, he kept referring to this or that person as second or third-generation trainers.  

It was thrilling to hear. It reminds me that we are "losing control" of the message and tracking it. I call it "Godly confusion" as people are traveling here and there to share this good news of "work as a gift" rather than "work as a burden."  Below are just a few pictures I have received over the last few weeks, as DML leaders are making disciples, who are making disciples, who are making disciples.  Please join us in thanksgiving for open doors, as well as in supplication for those spreading the message in difficult areas, and for those hearing the message of purpose and calling for their time, treasure, and talent.

DML in Congo Brazzaville:  Receiving the message for the first time from DML Cameroon leader, Sister Joy.

The DML Pakistan team is in action, bringing the message of "work as worship" to pastors in a second city this year, with three more cities planned for the remainder of 2025.

A new partnership with the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, made up of many denominations and 70,000 churches!  Three workshops were held in three cities, led by DML Kenya leader Caroline Sudi and DML Tanzania leader Anthony Kayombo.

105 new trainers in Burundi from three major denominations: The church is responding strongly in Burundi as it seeks to eradicate poverty through combined efforts in business, government, and education.

Last week's group in Egypt.

Egypt: For Such a Time as This

I'm writing this blog from a balcony in Cairo, a city of 24 million people, making this city's population higher than many countries worldwide.  It's been eight years since I was here, and there are so many new roads and tons of new apartment buildings.  In many places, Cairo seems to be a sea of apartment buildings.  It is quite a remarkable city, contrasting between "Old Cairo" and "New Cairo."  One has buildings that date back hundreds and hundreds of years, while the other is new and modern.  I've always said that Cairo is the one city I would never want to drive in, and while there have been significant improvements with expanded roads, I still stand by that statement!  The driving here is still crazy!

DML operates on a "pull," not a "push."  That means we don't have an agenda for working in certain countries or places.  We wait to see what God is doing in a particular place, as evidenced by His people who reach out to us, and then we have multiple online meetings to determine if there is an alignment of vision.  But we didn't always do it this way.  In the beginning, when DML was very new and unknown, we did a bit of pushing.  Egypt was one of those places, so it didn't take root.  (Read here to see the writing on the wall from our first visits in 2015.  The title of this blog was "A Problem for Every Solution.")

What a difference it makes to join God and His people who share a similar call!  I was able to meet a number of leaders from all sectors who have started, are starting, or feel called to start reclaiming the marketplace for God.  The time seems ripe, not just for Egypt, but for MENA (the Middle East and North Africa), as some of these partners work in multiple countries.

Last week, I joined a meeting of about 30 leaders from business, government, education, and the church, all discussing how Christians must work together to reclaim the marketplace for Christ!  Although they were speaking Arabic, these people were speaking my language! This group is about three months old, debating whether to engage the church or work directly with businesspeople. I did my best to encourage them to engage the church and bring them along on the journey.

The main group I came to meet held a four-day DML conference at a Christian retreat center in Beit El Wadi, about 60 miles outside Cairo. We had a pretty intense four days of teaching and learning about a theology of work, Kingdom-focused wealth creation, and stewardship. Those in attendance came from a number of cities across Upper and Lower Egypt. It was a rich time of fellowship, sharing, worship, and learning.  

Lastly, another group works with churches to move outside the four walls of their buildings to do community development, and they want to add economic development to their portfolio.  

God is good, and I am so grateful to see Him work through His people worldwide!  While on this trip, I received many pictures of the rest of the team at work as well - in Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Burundi, and more!  

I leave for home on Wednesday, and ask for your continued prayers for these new seeds that have been planted!

Voodoo Easter

Travelling through different countries during holiday times gives interesting insights into the culture.  While Benin is more than 60% Christian, it is also considered to be the birthplace of voodoo, as I described in a blog post last year.  The common understanding is that when the Catholics arrived in Benin many decades ago, they allowed them to keep their animist gods, and since then, the two have blended.  While Benin may be the birthplace, voodoo is prevalent in many other countries, including Togo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Haiti, and elsewhere.

This past Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter, when we left the entrepreneurship training, traffic was backed up due to a considerable crowd on the road.  I was told that this was the voodoo Easter or voodoo Passover.  At this time, chickens are killed, and the blood is put on each person, which will then protect them for the next year.

January 10 is known as Voudon Day, a national holiday in Benin. For the first time this year, the President changed the celebration from one day to three days and offered international guests the opportunity to enter the country without visas to encourage tourism. When challenged by Christians, he reportedly said that this is their culture, the birthplace of voodoo, and it should be celebrated. During these days, various animals are killed, their blood is drunk, and ancestors are honored.

As always, seeing this in real life differs from reading about it. It becomes more real and sobering, and prayers for this country and its beautiful people become more urgent.

I observed another interesting fact in contrasting Burkina Faso to Benin.  Ouagadougou is known as a city with some of the highest numbers of motorcycles and scooters. It's a flood of these two-wheelers everywhere you go.  Consequently, there is no need for motorcycle taxis as most everyone has their own means.  You will see as many men as women driving them.  I learned that the goal is to give your son or daughter one of these as a gift when they graduate from high school.  Unfortunately, very few wear helmets, and I witnessed the death of one person as a result of a scooter accident.  

In contrast, in Benin, there are also many motorcycles and scooters, but they are only driven by men.  Parents are expected to give their sons these two-wheelers as gifts when they graduate, but not their daughters.  So, most women are riding on the back of these motorcycles as customers.  But everyone is wearing helmets! 

This observation informs me that these countries are doing better economically, especially compared to Burundi, where most families simply hope to purchase a bicycle at some point in their lives.  I have often observed three men pushing one bike up and down hills with their produce. Not an efficient use of time and we pray that this will change at some point in the future!

My time in Benin was encouraging, as I heard reports of people and the church doing better since they started the work of DML. The leader, Rev. David Sessou, the President of the Missionary Alliance Church in Benin, is now seeking to implement this in the seminaries and Bible schools and reach out to more denominations. While there, I was introduced to two other Presidents of different denominations.

I'm sending you this message from Cairo, Egypt, another unique city of 24 million people!  More updates on that next week.

While my Easter was a bit unusual, I pray this prayer from Peter Greig for myself and for you:

May this Easter day bring resurrection life to my heart and my home.  May renewal radiate within me and revival emanate through me.  May dawn displace the darkness, and spring replace the winter in my life.  May the God of hope so fill me with joy and peace this Easter, that I may overflow with hope by his power and life forever. Amen.

Butterflies and Terrorists

The butterfly effect states that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it causes a tornado in Texas. Small, insignificant events can have far-reaching consequences in complex, interconnected systems.

Last Wednesday, we were driving downtown Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to visit with the Senior Executives of the Assemblies of God church.  Traffic stopped for a while, and soon we saw the road was closed and people were forced to turn around.  

When I asked what was going on, I was told that it was because Algeria shot down a drone from Mali two weeks ago.  Curious as to what that had to do with the closed road in Ouagadougou, I was told the following:

Last year, Burkina Faso joined with Niger and Mali to form the Alliance of Sahel States.  [Sahel is the belt of land just below the Sahara Desert.] All three of these countries are ruled by the military (due to coups) and had been sanctioned by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).  So, they decided to leave ECOWAS and work together.  They have broken their ties with France and are now partnered with Russia, who is supplying them with weapons.

Two weeks ago, Mali was flying an armed drone close to the border of Algeria, searching for terrorists.  Algeria claims it crossed the border; Mali says it did not.  Mali said that Algeria harbors terrorists. Regardless, things have escalated, and now Algeria has closed its airspace to Mali, and all the countries have recalled their diplomats.  

Therefore, in Ouagadougou, security close to the president has also been escalated, hence the reason for the closed streets.

What a complex and interrelated world.  It's beautiful and difficult at the same time.

There was one word in the explanation that caught my attention.  The word "terrorist."

The word "terrorist" seems to be a word easily used.  However, it is a word that dehumanizes groups of people, reduces the image of God in them, negates their stories, and gives permission for starving, torturing, and even killing without remorse.  It justifies bad behavior and is dangerous.  As Christians, we should be very careful about using such words.

Some governments label certain groups as terrorists simply because they don't like what they do.  Some groups that are fighting for the rights and freedom of their people end up being labeled as "terrorists" by the stronger party. It gets picked up and passed along news channels.  And before you know it, all people in that group, men, women, children, old, young, sick, and disabled, are seen as terrorists.

That's not to say that some groups aren't doing horrible things to others.  I had a conversation with someone in Burkina Faso who shared that in his grandfather's village, the Muslim extremists came, lined everyone up, counted people off, and killed every tenth person.  The goal was to convince all the others to convert.  Burkina Faso has seen, and continues to see, its fair share of unlawful and inhumane use of violence and intimidation. 

But it's complex.  Like a butterfly flapping its wings and contributing to weather changes thousands of miles away.  We like things to be black and white, easily differentiating between right and wrong.  But there is a lot of gray when we believe that every person is made in the image of God, with the capacity to love and flourish. Every person has the capacity to grievously sin; every person has the capacity to be redeemed through Christ.  Everyone has a story.

What to do with such complexity? I seek to live this prayer written by Thomas Merton:

Lord, give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride, which is the heaviest of burdens.  Possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love.  Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for you alone.  Amen.

In other news, I am hearing so many testimonies of how God is reclaiming the marketplace in Burkina Faso.  What a joy to hear of the passion of those who are doing their work as an act of worship!  As we have been working here for about six years now, I'm hearing about "third-generation trainers," meaning that the ones we originally trained have now trained others, who are training others.  This is a delight to hear!

I had the opportunity to visit some farms and businesses last week, which is always so much fun to do (although doing it in 42C/107F heat made it a bit challenging). I saw a farm with 800 trees, 300 of which were a variety of mango trees that were so small. The trees in the pictures are only three years old and already very heavy with fruit!  The challenge is that the fruit is so close to the ground that their chickens can no longer be free-range as they peck all the mangos! 

This week, I'm continuing a youth entrepreneurship workshop and teaching a foundational workshop for pastors and church leaders in Ouagadougou. On Thursday, I fly to Benin, where I will do another entrepreneurship workshop over the Easter weekend. Then, on Sunday afternoon, I will fly to Egypt. Meanwhile, another part of the DML team is in Burundi, then going to Ghana; another team is traveling from Cameroon to Congo Brazzaville; another part of the team is heading to Malawi.  We covet your prayers as this team is on the move!   

"Why has this message come so late to Burkina Faso?"

This was spoken by a pastor from the Assemblies of God, Burkina Faso, at the end of the first day of training on the theology of work. He lamented the church's lost time in reaching more people by equipping every member to be the church every day of the week.  

I have felt that lament myself, many times.  While the message seems to be spreading rapidly in some parts of the world, so much time has been lost.  And in a few countries where we work, things seem to move very slowly.  You wish you could shake things up, scream and shout to get the attention of those so busy and distracted by so many things, yet missing this opportunity which could help them achieve their own objectives.

On the last day of training this past week, the same man stood up again to speak. 
He said, "I must repeat what I said the first day.  Why has this message come so late to Burkina Faso? I don't understand."

This time, others responded.  While they agreed with the lament, they also urged the group of leaders, who had gathered from the fourteen Assembly of God centers from across Burkina Faso, to not look back but rather look forward.  

"For whatever reason, it has come late; the key is that we don't let the message get lost again."  And so began the planning time for rolling out this message across this denomination.

The Assemblies of God Burkina Faso has created an entrepreneurship department that is assigned to teach a theology of work, Biblical wealth creation, and stewardly wealth management throughout the denomination.  Each leader from the fourteen centers is to select three people from each of the districts that are part of these centers.  There are approximately 70 districts, so that means over 200 trainers will be released to bring this message to the churches in their district.  

The leader of this department is Dr. Noufou Ganamé, who has a degree in entrepreneurship from Montreal, Quebec.  He is also a pastor and is leading the church he planted. The other leaders of this team are equally distinguished.  One works in the government and is a business owner.  Another is the principal of a school that teaches theology and agriculture.  Another works for the government in IT.  So, this team covers the main systems we address:  church, business, government, and education. (Pictured here: Dr. Ganamé (left) and Dr. Levi, at the School of Bible Formation and Agriculture.)

[Sidenote: Burkina Faso is a country of 64% Muslim, 26% Christian. I'm told that 80% of government employees are Christian and 90% of business owners are Muslims.  Christian parents do not encourage their children to go into business, as it is seen as a place of corruption.]

For the first half of this week, I will visit some businesses and farms in the area and then spend two days meeting with this executive team for training and strategizing.

Then, I will leave the Assemblies of God and switch to the Christian Missionary Alliance of Burkina Faso. They have scheduled a concurrent youth entrepreneurship conference and a pastors' conference for April 12th to 16th.  

Please pray for the country of Burkina Faso, which continues to have extensive challenges of terrorism, having the highest number of deaths due to terrorism than any other country.  Please also pray for the Church in Burkina Faso for revival, growth, wisdom, and discernment!

May the things you do, do things.

"May the things you do, do things."

This powerful line was spoken during our prayer call the other week, and I immediately noted it.

It's a beautiful prayer that takes me back to the understanding that we are "blessed to be a blessing."  In life systems, continual ripples go out, and if things work as God intended, there should be no end.  It should just keep going.

May the things you do, do things.

Let me share an example:

Last year, a woman from Grand Rapids whom I had met in Liberia many years ago, connected me to a ministry in Pakistan (see where I'm going with this?). 

After several online meetings and presentations with this ministry, they decided to add DML to the discipleship ministries in which they were already involved. We did online training sessions for trainers and, thanks to the financial partnership of many of you, began to have the materials translated into Urdu.  

A few facts about Pakistan:  It is the fifth most populated country in the world, with the second highest population of Muslims.  1.37% of the population is Christian, or just over three million people, and the number of Christians is growing rapidly.  

Our partner in Pakistan is planning to reach a number of cities across the country in 2025, and I received their first report this past week.  I would like to share with you two testimonies included in that report:

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am Pastor Arshad from Victory Church. This was my first time hearing such a profound teaching on work theology, business, evangelism, and the workplace. The session was deeply encouraging, and I want to highlight an important takeaway. As pastors, we must equip our congregations not just to come to church to receive but to be prepared to "go" into the field and fulfill their calling.

The illustration of the cruise ship versus the warship was particularly impactful in helping us understand our role and purpose. Another powerful point was that God has called us to work—He did not create chairs and tables, but rather, He created us with the ability to work and build. This session made our purpose abundantly clear.

I am grateful to Lord’s Home and DML for helping us better understand God’s perspective on our work and business.

Greetings in the Lord’s name. My name is Nida Shaheen, and I am a banker at HBL Bank. This vision-casting meeting was truly deep and thought-provoking. I strongly encourage such theological teaching at every level within the Pakistani church.

Through both the Old and New Testaments, I learned that God's perspective on work and business is not new—it has been present since the very beginning of the Bible. The way God has progressively revealed His design for work and business was truly enlightening.

As someone working among Muslims, this session has encouraged me to approach my work with greater dedication, seeking to inspire my colleagues through my devotion and integrity. Another key takeaway for me was understanding that work is not a punishment but a divine calling for which God has created and appointed us.

I am deeply grateful to Lord’s Home and DML for providing this valuable learning opportunity. I look forward to applying today’s teaching in my workplace.

Do you hear how the things we do are going to do things? Years later, a woman I met in Liberia followed up with me regarding a connection in Pakistan. We followed up. The ministry engaged. Now, churches and banks have the potential to see change, and the ripples go on.  

Sometimes, we see the ripples immediately.  Other times, we don't.  Some of our partners see doors swinging open while others struggle to get a foot in the door.  But our labor is not in vain, and our prayer is that the things we do, do things.

The DML team has been enjoying a song called "Your Labor is not in Vain," which I've included here.  It's a song that reminds us that our work has impact and outcomes, no matter how big or small we feel our work is! Read the lyrics below and be encouraged this week. Be careful—it can get stuck in your head, especially the reminder from God that "I am with you."

May the things you do this week, do things, in Jesus' name!

Your Labor is Not in Vain, by Porter's Gate Worship Project:

VERSE 1:
Your labor is not in vain
though the ground underneath you is cursed and stained
Your planting and reaping are never the same
But your labor is not in vain.

REFRAIN:
For I am with you, I am with you.
I am with you, I am with you
For I have called you,
called you by name
Your labor is not in vain.

VERSE 2:
Your labor is not unknown
though the rocks they cry out and the sea it may groan.
The place of your toil may not seem like a home
but your labor is not unknown. (refrain)

VERSE 3:
The vineyards you plant will bear fruit
the fields will sing out and rejoice with the truth,
for all that is old will at last be made new:
the vineyards you plant will bear fruit. (refrain)

VERSE 4:
The houses you labored to build
will finally with laughter and joy be filled.
The serpent that hurts and destroys shall be killed
and all that is broken be healed. (refrain)