Discipleship Makes Her Feet Dance!

I had to start teaching just hours after the long trip from Grand Rapids to Accra, Ghana.  I felt pretty good, but I knew it was a stretch to be my best.  It turned out well and after teaching we were to go to dinner (although I was ready to go to bed).  God’s timing does not wait for my rest!  During the dinner, a key business lady began to share her excitement about the DML message and work.  It is always nice to hear from busy people that the message is appreciated.  But my eyes (beginning to droop) snapped open when she told us that she had shared about the message and upcoming workshop of DML with another Christian business leader; she told her how work is worship and God’s plan is to disciple every member of the congregation to be disciple makers in every corner of the community.  She then really got my attention when she said this important, successful business person got up and danced at the news!  Really, I asked, they danced?  She said yes because it affirms business as a calling through which the message of making disciples is to flow. 

At the heart of DML is discipleship. While business training is critical to our mission, discipleship is critical to God’s desire of developing ambassadors of the Good News. To make effective business people without making effective disciples is to major on the minor part.  We are all called in a variety of occupations, but also called to be disciples who make disciples. DML is first about making disciples and second about making good business practitioners. It is what makes our feet dance and our hearts sing. We love business and making disciples, and we will not do one without the other.

Discipleship in the Local Church Fuels the Ministry

By the end of 2018, we will have formally introduced DML in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ghana, with initial discussions in Liberia, Burkina Faso, and Togo.  Our focus has been on understanding the best way to introduce DML so that it is both effective and sustainable. 

The holistic approach of integrating faith and work is becoming a major concern for churches and denominations in Africa.  Africa will double in population by 2050 and then double again by 2100 (if current projections hold true).  Economically the African economy is expected to grow 10-fold, from 1 trillion dollars now, to over 10 trillion dollars in the next 30 years. 

The African Church understands that it cannot hide behind the walls of a building if African Christianity wants to impact the continent and world.  African church leaders have seen a correlation between church decline and increased prosperity in Europe and America.  Leaders do not want to follow the same path.  They want to move their model of church from a place to gather to a place from which to scatter.  Discipling Marketplace Leaders (DML) provides a solid Biblical basis for seeing work as a God-given directive (Gen. 1:28, 2:15).  This affirming of work as a holy calling has begun to give leaders hope that the church has relevance in a growing economy.  The rising generation wants a faith that is relevant to every area of life. DML connects the Sunday service with life lived out the other six days of the week.

Our “official” date of launching Discipling Marketplace Leaders was 2016.  Starting with a few dozen participants in 2016 we have seen over 20,000 leaders attend one or more of our trainings in 2018.  We are now being approached by Christian leaders who want to implement the vision and ministry across their denominations.  One denomination has 10,000 churches and over 10 million members.  Another has over 5,500 churches and a million members.  Another wants to field test it in one diocese and then roll it out in other dioceses across their country.

We have the message, we have the delivery, and we are building the structures to help implement this ministry across Africa.  But to do business training without discipleship is to take away from the church its greatest resource for sharing the love of Jesus in every community.  We desire to see every local congregation discipling every member to be released as light, salt, and leaven in every community.  

Discipleship Leads to Amazing Growth (i.e. God is Good!!)

The following table shows the expansion of DML over the past two years.  The cost per person per training is kept low as DML partners with other ministries rather than setting up its own organization in a country.  We also require participants to provide a portion of the training costs.  This keeps the training cost per person to under $10 per event.

Activity	2017 (12 months) (five countries)	2018 (Jan-Sept) (seven countries)
Introductory meetings/attendance for pastors and church leaders	Not measured	231 meetings with 570 people
Awareness Creation meetings/attendance (more formal 2-hour or 4-hour meetings)	8 meetings With 444 people	73 events with 16,404 people
Two-day events/attendance for Pastors and Church Leaders	18 events With 694 people	16 events with 1,298 people
Seminary Classes/students trained around the theme of DML	4 classes with 43 students	9 classes with 206 students
Churches using “Thirty Days in the Marketplace”	53 churches With 1694 members	36 churches with 6,383 members
Total number of business people trained in one of our three training programs	558 businesses	860 businesses
Business events/participants involved in advocacy	18 events with 539 participants	33 events with 1,375 participants
Cities/Countries where DML is active	24 cities in five countries	47 cities in seven countries
Denominations where DML is active	32	48

As you review this report, we ask you to try and look beyond the numbers to the faces of men and women who are beginning to understand the role they play in God’s economy.  They are moving out of the shadows and into the light of understanding their call to be God’s chosen ambassadors whose parish is the auto shop, corner kiosk, small market garden and hundreds of other small businesses.  It is in these places where they are in touch with thousands of vendors and customers in need of the love of Christ. The starter gun has sounded, and we have a strong surge out of the blocks.  But we know and understand that we are in a marathon race to see the local church reenergized to move from the four walls of a building to be the Church in the four corners of the community.  Your prayers and support are part of the foundation that makes this ministry possible.  On behalf of the global DML team, thank you for joining us as we seek to disciple the next generation to be God’s light in the marketplace.

If you would like to support this ministry as it expands and grows in 2019, please go to www.disciplingmarketplaceleaders.org/donate and follow the prompts to give to DML, or to https://www.resonateglobalmission.org/support/donate-now and select "Missionaries-Africa" and then my name (Renita Reed-Thomson).  If you prefer to send a check, please make it out to ICM and mail it to PO Box 129, Monument CO 80132, and add the code 609045 on the memo line. We thank you in advance for your prayerful consideration!

From the Mouths of Children

This past week, I had the privilege to be the speaker for theBible Study at the Victory Baptist Church in Kaduna, Nigeria.

I have to admit that it was a bit of a struggle for me to get enthusiastic about it.  You see, I had to teach Integrity and Finance with ECWA Seminary that morning from 9-12:30 pm.  Then I had to rush to another Baptist Church where we were doing a two-day workshop for pastors and church leaders from the area Baptist Churches (about 50 pastors and church leaders were in attendance).  I taught there from 1 pm - 4 pm.  I then was scheduled to teach at this particular church from 5:30-8 pm.  There was no time for lunch or dinner (other than some quick ramen noodles which I always keep in my suitcase for times such as this).  Normally, this isn't a problem for me to teach this much.  But the last two and a half weeks had been so exhausting (especially for me as an introvert) and weariness was settling in deep.

I tried to persuade the person arranging this to let me just speak for thirty minutes and then let me go.  But I could tell that they weren't going to budge.  So at some point, I resigned myself to the fact that I would be there for the full evening.

And, as God often has it, it turned out to be a blessing.

The church was in an unfinished building with a dirt floor, with more than 120 people waiting for Bible study to start at 5:30 pm on a Tuesday evening.  Let me emphasize this:  120 people, ready (and on time) for Bible study at 5:30 pm, on a Tuesday evening.  This is unusual.  And this is the average turnout, I was told, for their weekly Bible study.  Most of those in the audience were considered youth (which in most parts of Africa, means under the age of 35).  I spoke on 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 and talked about how work is an opportunity to worship and how we can witness through our work by working with excellence, being committed to our values, and remembering that we work for the Lord and not for man.

I then showed them the first session of the Poverty Cure, by the Acton Institute.  If you have not watched it, I would highly recommend it.  I love watching Session one and two with Africans because you can see the lightbulbs going on.  The first session is called "Charity that Hurts" and it begins to expose the audience to the idea that aid can be problematic, that looking for solutions from the outside is problematic, and that most answers can be found within ourselves (with the help of God) and our community.  I then broke them up into small groups for discussion.  The noise was astounding as people talked and argued and debated about these concepts.  The feedback was great, as it always is when we show it, with people responding by saying that they need to stop waiting for the answer, and instead, be the answer.


But the highlight of the night was that as the adults broke up into about ten groups to discuss what they watched, there was a small group of children, pictured here, who also came together as a small group and they too were discussing what they saw.  When it came time for the leader from each group to share what had been discussed, a nine-year-old girl in the back row, dressed in blue, stood up as the leader for the children's group.  She said something like this, "We also discussed what we watched in the video.  And we have seen that it is good for us to work with our hands.  There are things that we are able to do that we are not doing.  We need to not be fully dependent on our parents but also work."

Praise the Lord!  May a new generation arise that doesn't look outside for answers but knows that as co-creators with God, as image-bearers and reflectors of the Most High God, that they have the capacity and ability to find answers for themselves.

I leave for home today after a very full time in West Africa.  I'm looking forward to some family time this week over Thanksgiving.  I am so thankful to God for His faithfulness, His grace, and His mercy, and I thank God for each of you as well who have encouraged, prayed for, and supported this ministry!

Letting pictures tell the story

[Writing to you from Kaduna, Nigeria where we have DML events, as well as teaching a class for the ECWA seminary Masters students.]

To say that last week in Ghana was a busy week would be an understatement.  But to say it was a successful week, with many answered prayers, would be quite accurate.  We thank God for the past week with our DML partners from West and East Africa.

We spent time in prayer and worship as a team.

We spent time in planning and dreaming of how the Church could reclaim the redeemed marketplace for Christ.

We spent time laughing and fellowshipping together.

We had Yoseph and Sitotaw from Ethiopia.  We had Grace and Moses from Uganda.  We had Elly and Caroline from Kenya.  We had James from Tanzania.  We had Freeman from Nigeria.  We had Joy and Maxcelline from Cameroon.  We had Steve from the UK.  And from Ghana, we had Fanny, Beatrice, Afia, Derek, Yvonne, Rev. Johnson, Isaac, Pastor Adams, and Elder Johnson.

Our thanks to those who prayed for this trip.  Our thanks to those who donated to make this trip possible.

Please enjoy some pictures of our time together.  I wish I could share some video but the internet is too slow for uploading those!

The DML Team, with members from nine countries.  In order to reinforce the teaching of the environmental bottom line, we gave each team member a Brita water bottle and filters; no more disposable plastic water bottles while we were together and they can continue using it in their own context!

We had a worship service together which involved getting up and dancing to the Lord!

Every morning we had devotions with the hotel staff.  Front and center in this picture is Joy from Cameroon.

Dr. Ahilijah, President of Ghana Christian University, sat through our entire week of Training of Trainers, took the exam, and taught with me on Monday.  Very unusual for a man of his stature to do that!  He is an excellent trainer and passionate about DML!  We are thankful he is on our team!

We shared the Lords Supper together.  Serving us (right to left) was Pastor Moses from Uganda, Rev. Johnson from Ghana, and Yoseph from Ethiopia.  Three great men of God who are passionate about serving Him!

"God is moved by faith, not by needs."

This past week we had a delightful time with very thoughtful, experienced, wise pastors, church leaders, theologians, and business people.  The Ghana DML Movement team carefully selected representatives from the following regions of Ghana:  Northern Region, Ashanti Region, Brong-Ahafo Region, Western Region, Eastern Region, Upper East, and Central Region.  All regions of Ghana, with the exception of Upper West, were represented.  Then they selected leaders from Togo and Burkina Faso to join.  And we also had guests from Liberia, and guests representing Sierra Leone present.

We had great in-depth discussions with those who were thinking of the big picture - in fact they are now not calling this the DML Ghana Movement, but the DML Africa Movement.

We were blessed to hear thoughtful comments like this throughout the week:

• Africa is the most praying continent in the world and the poorest continent in the world.  We need to stop praying so much and start acting!  
• The Church views businesses like a refrigerator.  We just open the door and help ourselves!
• You cannot speak of the glory of God if you are not living to the glory of God.
• Are we teaching people to hear the voice of the Lord or are we trying to be the voice of the Lord to the people?

And the one in the title, "God is moved by faith, not by needs."  While I think we can debate this one, it does get one thinking.

These comments challenge us both as individuals and as a group.

And we also hear this feedback about our time together:

• We have rediscovered a truth that is in plain sight. As you shared from the Old and New Testament, we began to see what is clear:  Jesus and the disciples spent more time in the marketplace than in any other place!
• The theological teaching opens our eyes, but the practical teaching has equipped our hands.
• The training was filled with examples, laughter, and stories.  It gave me a fresh understanding of what it means to be the Church scattered.  We are salt, light, and leaven in the community.  Very, very practical.

Two of the participants shared early on that they had a vision of people walking arm in arm, linked together like a chain.  That in order to change the Marketplace and for the Church to have relevance in the world today, Christians need to come together.  As we closed our time together, we formed a circle and linked arms, and prayed for God to work in us and through us to be the change that we wish to see in our communities, in our churches, and in our nations.

On Sunday, all of our teams arrived from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cameroon, to join the Nigerian team, UK team, US team, and Ghana team already at work.  We know this week will be very full of activities, but we can't wait to see how God will use this time together to build each other up, and ultimately to build His church!  Please pray for our time together!

We Can't Wait...We Won't Wait

In 1945 a book called Toward the Conversion of England stated this:  "We are convinced that England will never be converted until the laity use the opportunities daily afforded by their various professions, crafts, and occupations."

In 1945, 30% of England attended church.  In 2018, less than 7% attend church in England.  In Europe, fewer than 3% of the population attend church weekly.  They have become secularized and now live in a post-Christian era.

Africa has come to Christ faster than any other continent in history.  In 1900, fewer than 5 million in Africa were Christians.  In 2010, 45% or 500 million Christians were in Africa.  By 2050, it is projected that there will be one billion Christians (out of the projected population of 2.5 billion) in Africa.  However, Church size is not necessarily indicative of Church health.  The question we are asking African Church leaders is will they equip the "laity" to use the opportunities afforded to them daily through their work to be the Church every day of the week?

We are in Ghana where a Discipling Marketplace Movement was born in June, through a number of key strategists who desire to see the message of DML move from border to border in Ghana and beyond.  

These leaders in Ghana wrote me in July to request if DML could start working in Burkina Faso.  We said no, as we don't have the time or the resources to add that country.  They said, "We can't wait.  We won't wait.  When you come to Ghana next, we will have them come.  The Church there needs this, especially as Muslims have taken over the Marketplace and the Church doesn't know what to do about it."  We are having two very key leaders of church and missions in Burkina Faso join us on Monday.

Then some leaders from Liberia came and asked if we are going to work in Liberia.  We said no, as we don't have the time or the resources to add that country.  They essentially said, "We can't wait.  We won't wait.  Where are you speaking in the area that we can come and listen?"  We are having three people from Liberia join us on Monday.

Yesterday we learned that the DML movement in Ghana is also bringing in leaders from Togo to join us.  We also will have a leader from Nigeria join us.  

Suddenly, what was a key event for significant leaders in Ghana has turned into an international event with leaders from five countries in attendance.  

On Friday night, we met with a couple of the leaders in the movement and heard their passion for this message.  But mostly what we heard is that God had been calling them into this area of ministry for longer than DML has existed.  Let me repeat that:  THIS CALLING HAS EXISTED ON THEIR HEARTS LONGER THAN DML HAS EVEN EXISTED.  And that is what is so exciting to us.  This isn't a DML message.  This isn't my message.  This is God's message.  We are a tool to be used in the purpose of fulfilling what God has called the Church to do, and for many years the Church has forgotten this component.  

Of course, we also tremble a bit at this.  Because we know that after this next week of intense meetings and workshops, the requests will come with a bit more passion for us to go to these countries.  And it's more difficult to say no when you have a relationship and hear the need.  

BUT we also know that God continues to raise up leaders who can take up the call.  Our focus in this next year is to be equipping leaders.  That is why we are doing a Training of Trainers in Ghana this next week.  We will be doing a Training of Trainers in Nigeria in January and in Cameroon in February.  We just did a training of trainers in Ethiopia.  And Kenya DML just did a training of trainers for Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.  So the team is growing and we are thankful!

Please pray for the Holy Spirit to be very present this week in the hearts and minds of those who will be with us this week - that this attitude of "we can't wait...we won't wait" may be fanned and fed by the Spirit of the Living God!

Faithful, Flexible, and Forgiving

My trip to Cameroon was canceled.  We have postponed the DML trainings in Cameroon until February.  Both major cities, Yaounde and Douala, are on lock-down by the government until the announcement of the winner of the election, expected on Monday morning.  Riot police have taken over the streets and gatherings have been canceled.  Citizens are currently blocked from using the internet.  It is expected that the current president, 85-year-old Paul Biya, will be announced as the winner again, starting his seventh term as president.  There have been many accusations of widespread fraud and voter intimidation, but all legal attempts to have the election rerun failed.  Prominent politicians are under house arrest and many journalists have been arrested as well.  Because of this, we don't expect there to be a lot of news coming out of Cameroon, so please pray for our brothers and sisters there!  Please continue to pray for peace in Cameroon, as well as justice and equality for all citizens of this country, both English-speaking and French-speaking.

I leave for Ghana this Thursday, where we have two very busy weeks scheduled.  I land on Friday at 8 am and then leave immediately for a three-hour talk on "Doing Our Business God's Way."  Hopefully I will be able to stay awake!  We then will have a two-day workshop the following Monday and Tuesday for pastors and church leaders, followed by a Training of Trainers for the rest of the week.  The exciting thing will then be Sunday, November 4, when our DML teams from Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Nigeria will all arrive in Ghana, and we will spend five days together learning, sharing, and growing in how to do this ministry to the glory of God.  Following that time, I will make my way to Nigeria and will be there for about ten days.

It is time for a brief update from home:

The big news is that Michael has left his job at Eerdmans Publishing Company after twenty-three years.  He served as the Sales Director for a number of years, and then as the Senior Acquisitions Editor for a number of years.  He has taken a job with a different publishing company called "Wipf and Stock" where he will start Monday in a similar position as Acquisitions Editor (https://wipfandstock.com).  Wipf and Stock is located in Oregon, but Michael will be able to work from our home in Michigan.  This will be a big change for him, as well as for us as we adjust to both of us working from home - at least when I'm here. He's excited about this change, and the opportunity to work with this new company which is growing and involved in some similar yet some different lines of books.

Michael's desk/office in our sunroom.

During the farewell lunch for Michael on Friday, his boss described Michael as someone who has exemplified being flexible and forgiving in their office.  They also remarked on what an incredibly hard worker he is, and how he is like the energizer bunny, which keeps going and going.  I would definitely agree with this assessment of Michael.  He is one of the hardest workers I know.  He bends over backward to help people, and he has a great ability to not hold grudges and to forgive those who have wronged him. He is faithful, flexible, and forgiving!

We are thankful for this new phase in Michael's life and the opportunities ahead.  God is good!

Twitches in Our Life

For the past three weeks, I have been dealing with pretty constant headaches and an eye twitch on my right eye. Twitch, twitch, twitch.  All day.  It seems to be directly related to fatigue and stress.  The eye twitch isn't very noticeable to other people, but it feels very obvious to me.  I try to rub it away.  I try to apply counter pressure.  I try to close my eye for a few minutes but to no avail.  Twitch, twitch, twitch.

As I've struggled with being irritable about it, it has caused me to think about how complex and intricate our bodies are.  I am fatigued and stressed.  I get headaches.  I get eye twitches.  When I rest and deal with the stress, the headache goes away and the eye twitch stops.  It's quite amazing, really.

It has stopped me from complaining, for the most part.  Because while I can point fingers to stress and fatigue, as an adult, I know that I have made the choices that are bringing fatigue and stress, and therefore I need to live with the consequences.  As I often teach, when I point my finger at others, there are three fingers that point back to myself.  While I'd like to exonerate myself fully from life challenges, that almost never works in this world of relationships and choices.

I need to pay attention to twitches in my life.  I need to be curious about where these twitches come from and what my part is in them.  I need to be curious enough to investigate the three fingers that point back at me.

And of course, that gets me to thinking about our amazing Creator and the role of the Holy Spirit in the twitches of our lives.  God has created our bodies, so intricately and wonderfully.  He has made us in His image, giving us the opportunity to be co-creators with Him.  He has not created us to be like animals, searching for our daily bread every day, but has created us for a much higher purpose than that - to be a blessing to others through the gifts and talents that He has endowed us with.  He has given us the Holy Spirit which often can feel like a twitch, reminding us and prompting us to do the right thing as ambassadors of the Most High God.  When we experience the twitching from the Holy Spirit, we can either ignore it and hope it goes away, or examine it and do something about it.

He has put us in the contexts of families and networks of relationships that can often act like twitches as well.  People who know us, love us, care for us, can act like an annoying eye twitch as they seek to lovingly (and sometimes not so lovingly) remind us of who we are and whose we are.

We can ignore these twitches.  We can continue to point fingers and lament the pains of life.  OR we can learn to appreciate these twitches, remain curious about them and have the courage to look at them full on.

Twitch.  Twitch.  Twitch.  While I'm not quite at the point of thanking God for my eye twitch, I do have a greater appreciation for it!

This week Friday I leave for Cameroon.  They had their election on October 7 and the results have not yet been announced.   There have been demonstrations and there is expected controversy for when the announcement is made, which should be while I am there.  We are unsure whether or not the program that we have scheduled will be able to go forward.  Please pray for this country and for peace; please pray for justice and equality for the people in this country who have felt downtrodden and ignored for decades; please pray for the safety of those who may be traveling for our DML program, should we decide to continue; please pray for wisdom and discernment on our part as to whether we proceed or not.

Ethiopian Economics

Ethiopia is considered to have one of the fastest growing economies in the world, for GDP per capita growth from 2000-2016 (IMF).  It has been lauded in many arenas because of this and it is believed that their GDP will continue to show great growth for the next five years at least.  Additionally, while much of Sub-Saharan Africa found the number of people in extreme poverty going up in the last fifteen years, Ethiopia decreased from 29 million to 20 million.  However, with a per capita annual income of $660 (per person) it is hard to celebrate with abandon.  That works out to be $1.85 per day, which is right around extreme poverty.

What is also confusing to me is the World Bank's report on the "Ease of Doing Business" as it relates to the last three years in Ethiopia.  In 2016, Ethiopia ranked at 146 out of 190 countries for the ease of doing business; in 2017, Ethiopia ranked at 159; and this year, 2018, they ranked at 161/190 countries.  This seems to be the opposite direction for a country that is seeing good growth in the GDP.

This report breaks down this number into a number of different categories, and for the ease of starting a business, Ethiopia ranks at 174/190 countries (because of a high cost, high number of procedures, and a lengthy process) and 173/190 for the ease of getting credit.  The lack of ability to get credit is alarming as most businesses need multiple injections of capital in order to grow their business.  When I ask what the interest rates are in the banks and microfinance institutions, I hear 15%-20%, which is pretty typical across sub-Saharan Africa.

But as you get to know people and people begin to trust you, you learn the real story.  Let me share one with you (with permission from the business owner, whose name I will change).

Eyob is a carpenter and metal fabricator.  He won the award from the government last year for entrepreneurship which is a huge honor!  As a result of this award, the government gave him $14,000 worth of equipment, which he needs to repay over the course of five years at 0% interest, as well as a workshop that he can use for free. This is great!  Unfortunately, the two machines he has been given have yet to be used.  The reason is this:  in order to get the contracts that will give him a large amount of work, Eyob needs to have enough stock to run the machines efficiently and meet the demand.  He needs a loan of about $3000 to do this.  He went to several banks and microfinance institutions and was approved for a loan in this amount at 15% interest per annum.  But then, on the side, he was told (in each situation) that he would need to give 20% of the loan to people processing it as a bribe.  That essentially brings the interest up to 35%, something that Eyob knows he cannot afford.  Add to that the fact that most churches tell their members that they need to tithe off their loans, and suddenly he is looking at 45%.

So he continues to work from home, doing the
work by hand, but saddened by this gift that he has been given which is sitting idle. (Pictures of Eyob with machines that are covered and have never been used.)

This is a significant challenge and one that I am learning is not unique.  And unfortunately, these bribe demands are being done by non-Christian and Christians alike.

DML in Ethiopia is working on a way to address this but it will take time.

Another challenge is that of personal vehicles.  Ethiopia is a country of approximately 110 million people but only 500,000 cars in the country.  This means that 0.5% of people have cars.  The reason?  The government imposes a 230% tax for all cars that are imported in an effort to reduce the number of cars and protect the roads.  That means that a used car that is imported from Dubai at a value of $10,000, will now cost $23,000.  I'm told that cars in Ethiopia actually appreciate (rather than depreciate) because of these challenges.  My host told me that he purchased his 2004 Toyota two years ago for $10,500.  Today, he believes he could sell the car for $13,000 US.  Bizarre.

We continue to pray for breakthroughs for the citizens of Ethiopia, as well as other countries who face similar challenges.  The desire to work is there.  The ability to be creative and grow businesses is also there.  What we need is opportunities and a more level playing field to marshall that will and ability in a productive way.

Week Six, Eighth City, Fourth Country

Today we start our last week of this trip.  It started in Ethiopia, then Uganda, on to Kenya, and finishing in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.  This week, as with the previous five weeks, will be packed with training pastors and business people.  There is a deep weariness setting in but God has been good as we have been able to reach deep to summon the strength to finish well.

Last week, we were in Eldoret with pastors from 27 different denominations.  We were doing our two-day workshop for pastors and church leaders.  This was a "next step" from the two-hour presentation that had been done in March of this year, in which awareness creation is done for the DML ministry.

After the teaching in March, Pastor Joe purchased one of the three books we have written, The Grand Narrative of God.  [We wrote this book at the request of pastors who had gone through our two-day workshop and said they needed material to read through more slowly on their own, after the event.]

Pastor Joe shared with us that following the two-hour DML Awareness Creation event in March, he was invited to speak to high-level government officials and big business owners in Busia, Kenya.  He would have an audience of about 130 people and he was wondering what he could say to them.  The meeting would consist of Christians and a large number of Indian businessmen.  While many in the meeting would profess Christ, he believed that few understood how to be the Church every day of the week.

He read our book and decided to present its principles to the group.  He shared with us that the response was very, very positive.  Indian business owners who are very successful asked for his contact information and have been following up with him to learn more.  Government officials were challenged to do their work as an act of worship to the Lord.

We can't know how God will work through the people we speak with to be change agents for the Lord in their time and space.  We know that He has invited us to join Him in what He is already doing.  We know that the Global Church needs a paradigm shift as it relates to how we view the Church - too many of us define it as the building rather than the people.  We need a paradigm shift to understand that business people are not there only to financially support the mission of the Church, but according to Genesis 1 and 2, prior to the fall, they ARE the mission, the purpose, for creation.

We are learning that while almost everyone has "aha" moments during our workshops - and many people say that they wonder how they have missed this - changing the system is difficult to do.  We are used to "doing church" in a certain way.  We are used to "doing evangelism" in a certain way.  We are finding that people need to hear this message two or three times before the paradigm shift takes root enough for a pastor or church leader to effect change in their church.

Last week's training had bishops and pastors saying that their "theology is being rattled."  Some pastors said that "we thought 'subdue' from Genesis 1:28 referred to subduing the devil and sickness" (even though this word was used BEFORE the fall!).  Others said, "No longer can we just bind the demons of poverty; now we have the tools to actually teach people how to get out of poverty."

We continue to be humbled by the opportunity that God has given us to present this message to His Church in West and East Africa!  We appreciate your prayers as leaders consider how to remember this forgotten truth from Genesis 1 and implement it in their churches!

The Challenge of Integrity

A student in my Integrity and Finance class at the Africa Theological Seminary in Kenya shared the following situation with me a few days ago:

When the whites were leaving Kenya in the 1960's, there were plots of land being sold at very reasonable prices.  My father and my uncles approached their father, my grandfather, to ask if they could sell some of his cows in order to buy the land.  He said no.  They reapproached him two additional times and each time they were told no.  Finally, as the last plots of land were going, the sons decided to secretly sell ten of their father's cows at several different points to buy several plots of land.  The father didn't notice (he had many cows), or if he did notice, he couldn't figure out what had happened to them.

Sometime later, when the truth came out, he saw that what his sons had done was actually a good thing, as the land had become quite valuable. In a warm culture, where the community is more important than the individual, does this action constitute a lack of integrity?

This is what the student asked, leading to a lively discussion.

Then he added this several minutes later:


The land that had been purchased was being worked mostly by the older sons.  The younger sons did not have land and wanted to farm.  So they did the same thing that their brothers did, and sold cows in order to start farming.  This time the father was very upset.  He went to the village chief asking for some justice against his sons.  The chief told the father that he should empower his sons to do the farming.  Not satisfied, the father went to the village police.  They learned what the chief had said and gave him the same response:  empower your sons.  Still not satisfied, he went to the city police to try to prosecute his sons for stealing from him.  They gave him the same answer:  empower your sons to do the farming.  He returned home, made amends with those sons, and they began their farming.

Again, a very lively discussion.

A few days later, as we discussed personal finance and budgeting and how this can create conflict in a marriage, the same student shared another story - this time about his wife.  She wanted to buy new furniture to replace what they had.  As most husbands and wives in many parts of Africa keep their money separate, she had some of the money and wanted her husband to contribute the rest.  It was a bit expensive and he had other plans for the money she wanted from him, so he asked her to wait.  After returning home from a trip, he came home to find that furniture in his house.  His wife had been able to come up with a good portion of the money but still needed him to add to it.

A lack of integrity? (I reminded him that maybe she had heard the story about his uncles and decided to do likewise.)

We had fun with this discussion, and in the end, we all concluded that the "end doesn't justify the means."

But the challenge of integrity is real and it is heartbreaking to hear the stories of how deep and widespread corruption can be in different places, affecting almost all people, from adults to children.  It is overwhelming to think about how that can change and be reversed.

As a class, we concluded that it needs prayer, appropriate action and standing up for beliefs, as well as obedience.

Update from the Road: Down but not Out

I am writing from one of my "homes away from home" in Kitale, Kenya.  I have spent more than three years in this little room.  It is the seventh bed that I have been in since leaving home three weeks ago.

In the three weeks, I have spent eight days traveling:  from Grand Rapids to Ethiopia:  Addis Ababa, to Arba Minch, back to Addis, to Wolayita, back to Addis.  Then by air to Kampala, Uganda, and then by road to Kitale Kenya.  I have spent twelve days teaching four different groups, in two different countries and four different cities.  I have had two days of Sabbath.

My last trip in June and July of this year was to West Africa.  It was 33 days with 21 days of teaching and 10 days of travel, with one day off in the beginning and one day off at the end.  During that time I was sick four times - each time on the first day of teaching a new group.  First impressions are important and so it wasn't lost on us as a group that each time I was sick was on the first day with a new group.  But I didn't let being sick keep me down - I didn't miss a minute of teaching time and, with God's help, most of the groups didn't even know I was sick.

But my prayer group challenged me to take better care of myself while I travel.  They reminded me that God rested and that I am certainly not stronger than God!  I committed to them to structure in one day of rest each week on this trip.  I have kept that commitment but it has not been easy!  Turning down speaking or preaching engagements, just to take a day of rest, feels like missed opportunities when in a place for such a short time.  But so far I have had the strength to say "no" to more opportunities and "yes" to my need for rest.

But there was one incident in Ethiopia which was a wake-up call to this again; by "this" I mean the spiritual warfare that we feel we are very much up against in trying to reclaim the redeemed Marketplace.  Last week Sunday, we left Addis early in the morning to drive to Wolayita to train women leaders from the Kale Heywet Church.  They were coming from all eleven regions of Ethiopia.  These are women who oversee over four million women across 10,000 local churches in the denomination throughout the country, and we were excited about the opportunity.  The goal was to train these women, who would then carry the message back to their regions, train their district leaders, who would then work with the local churches.

On the way to Wolayita, there were two very close calls with car accidents involving a donkey each time.  The number of animals on the roads in Ethiopia is amazing!  And donkeys are rather stubborn animals who don't like to move very easily (you see countless young boys struggling to pull or move their donkey one way or another).  But thankfully, we were spared from having an accident.  We arrived at the venue and began to settle in.

The deputy leader for the Women's Ministry, Bizunesh, who had coordinated the event accidentally dropped her phone and it shattered.  All the women coming from the various regions had been calling her for directions to the rather obscure place where we were located and now they would not be able to reach her.  We tried her SIM card in all of our phones but it didn't fit any of them.  She then checked her watch to see the time and realized her watch had stopped.  As the time-keeper for the event, she now had no phone and no watch.  Additionally, she had been coughing all day and had told me it was allergies.  But it now appeared to be a head cold that she was developing and she started to feel miserable.  We prayed for her and then set off for the venue.

We set up the two projectors that we use - one for English and one for Amharic.  The same two projectors that we had used all along on this trip so far both decided to not work.  They kept overheating and shutting down within the first two minutes of being on.  We tried everything to get them to work.  After twenty minutes and almost giving up, we realized it was a strange voltage issue and were able to get a voltage regulator which allowed us to proceed.  By this time, all the leaders from our team were realizing that we were having a spiritual attack of sorts and we were shaking our heads, smiling, and saying that we would persevere!

But we weren't through the attacks yet.  I had given the most recent Amharic version on a flash drive to the person who would operate that slideshow.  I watched it being copied to the flash drive.  As I began teaching, I noticed that the Amharic and English were not lining up - the wrong powerpoint was being shown.  I went to the person and informed him that it was not the right one - the right one was on the flash drive.  I went back to teaching but noticed that still it was not right.  I stopped teaching again and went to check on the problem.  When I opened the flashdrive on his computer there was nothing there.  Hmm.

Then, as I came close to the end of the teaching for that night, I began to feel quite ill.  I hadn't felt great all day - quite tired and nauseated on and off.  But that isn't that unusual, given the givens, so I didn't think it was anything.  But suddenly, at 8:23 pm (I was supposed to stop teaching at 8:30 pm) I realized that I was going to faint.  I assumed that I was probably dehydrated (the elevation is high but because the weather is very cool you don't feel thirsty).  I had fainted once before years ago because of dehydration so I knew the symptoms.  But I had two more slides to get through.  And it had been such a rough night with the projectors and the slide issues!  So I decided to push through in order to not cause a scene, hoping I could finish and sit down without anyone noticing.

But pride goeth before the fall, they say.  I didn't make it.  I finished my slides and said that I needed to sit down before I passed out...and then proceeded to stumble toward the audience and fainted.  My translator caught me on my way down.  When I came to, I was on the ground with all the women around me shouting and praying and extremely worried.  I immediately assured them that I was okay - I just needed water.

How embarrassing.

But what Satan can mean for evil, God can use for good.  As they processed what had happened the whole evening, they all decided to pray against strongholds.  They prayed that evening and then woke early in the morning to cover the training in prayer.  When I made it to the venue (still feeling a bit shaky), they declared to me that all strongholds had been removed and the rest of the time would be well.  And it was.

The fact that I had fainted however impacted the women in a way that caused them to listen to me more closely.  They kept saying I fainted because I had been working too hard and was exhausted - I kept telling them it was dehydration - but nevertheless...they believed that the message I had given to give to them was so important that I would press on despite exhaustion and so therefore it was critical that they get this message.  We had an excellent two days together and everything worked seamlessly.  The women interacted very well with the material and are very excited to start this work in their various regions.

Down but not out.

Expect the unexpected.

Keep pressing on (but if you feel like you are going to faint, sit down!!!).

As the picture says, the devil doesn't care if you go to church or read your Bible, as long as you don't apply it to your life.  Discipling Marketplace Leaders is about getting people out of the church building and reminding them that they are the Church every day of the week.  We are reminding them that their work is an act of worship.  We are reminding them to have a quadruple bottom line (economic, social, environmental, and missional).

We are beginning to reach some large numbers through large denominations, who can have a significant impact on the marketplace.  And my guess is that the devil doesn't like it.

Will you join us in prayer?

We are also in need of financial support.  Both Dr. Walker's support and my support are currently at a negative balance.  If you feel so led to give, please go www.disciplingmarketplaceleaders.org, click on donate, and follow the directions from there.  If you are not able to give, please pray for this as well, as God has been faithful to supply our needs since beginning this ministry!