Togo Adventures--The Millers in Kabiyeland

2008-11-19T23:07:00.004Z

Family Survey in Rwanda...

On Oct. 22nd, we and the Reeves family (our teammates here in Kara) left for a two-week survey trip to Rwanda. We are planning to transition to a new church-planting work there in the next couple of years. Many of you have been involved in supporting us on this trip, both financially and through your prayers, and we wanted to give you a brief update of how things went.

We are SO thankful to have been able to take this trip together as a family! We decided that we wanted to take this trip to expose our whole family to the idea of living in Rwanda sometime in the next few years. We have felt the calling to go and make disciples in Rwanda through Matt’s leadership and vision for how we can best be used as a family. God has called many more workers to our team in Togo and we look forward to seeing what God will do through them here. There is still much to do over the next few years and our plows and feet have not slowed from the task of our mission in Kabiyeland.

Thanks to all of you who helped by contributing financially and prayerfully to our trip. It was filled with blessings, insight, and encouragement from friends old and new. We were overwhelmed by the physical beauty of the country and yet daily reminded in many conversations of the ugliness and havoc that Satan has wrought there. We spent much of our time observing and absorbing all that we could from trips into towns and the countryside as well as conversations with people that we interviewed. Our main goals were: to visit with friends in the capital city, Kigali and scout out the goods available there, then make a visit to the town of Ruhengeri where we would like to live and work.

In Kigali we visited a genocide memorial with our family and the Reeves family. That was probably one of the more difficult things that we did together. It required a lot of talking together about what happened in Rwanda and how much help is needed there. Abby was especially struck by a section of the memorial that had pictures of children that had died (before they were killed) and some of the things that they liked and did in every day life. It brought it to a reality for her. We were also able to visit a project called Cards for Africa. Cards are made out of recycled paper by orphans or orphan led households to provide income and support for them. This peaked our interest even before we left and we began to wonder if we could use something like this as an access ministry into the country. Aidan had already made his first two pieces of paper as practiced before we left Togo. He enjoyed seeing the process at this place. We are not able to enter the country soley as missionaries or on a long term tourist visa as is the case here in Togo.

While in Ruhengeri for 5 days we observed several things while walking around town and talking with people: first, even though it is a tourist town, we are total novelties. It will be a shock to this town to see five white families move in with all their kids, but we will hope to be a blessing as we serve there. Secondly, a very small percentage of the population speak either English or French (less than 5%), so we found little fallback onto those languages. (We were thankful for the small bit of Kinyarwandan that we learned in the months before we left.) It will be a challenge to learn a new language, but we will welcome it if it means bringing hope and healing in a way that can be understood. Also the population of this area is extremely young; about 1/3 are primary school age, over 67 percent are under the age of 35, and 52 percent are under 18. We were also able to talk with several people about ministries that are available to people in the area. There is much work to be done to help bring people to a place of life to the fullest and true obedience to Christ’s commands lived out daily.

We also discovered some research on church-planting needs in Rwanda that concluded that 15,000 new churches need to be planted in order for every community to be connected to a family of faith. The region with the greatest need for church-planting was Ruhengeri. This information confirmed what Matt and Dave discovered during their survey in 2005, and helped us greatly in our process of discerning God’s calling for our families.

Our children have come back from this trip with a good picture of what Rwanda “looks” like even if they don’t know what it will be like to actually live there. We have been impressed with the flexibility, questions, insight that they have had from this trip. We continue to pray together and ask each other questions as we talk to God about our family life now and in the future.

Some other special highlights included:
-eating out a good bit at restaurants around the towns we visited
-trying out language and seeing how happy it made people (the children too!)
-smelling the fresh mountain air and seeing pine trees (a northerner can really appreciate that)
-driving no more than and hour and a half to get to where we needed to go
-dinner by a fireplace
-time with friends- the Dolingers and Garners especially
-making new friends
-traveling with the Reeves family in a common purpose
-song and story time with all 12 of us in one Landcruiser
-the quietness, order, and cleanliness of the country as a whole
-taking a short safari in Uganda and seeing lions, hippos and buffalo (AnnaMarie’s first safari, and she LOVED it)
-interviewing a lady ministering to other ladies that were victims of the genocide in the Ruhengeri region (very insightful)
-eating lots of good Rwandan cheese
-drinking the yummy passion fruit juice
-spending time at some beautiful lakes
-drinking hot chai in the morning and at night
-seeing our breath in the air on cold nights
-going to the market in Kigali and in Ruhengari
-Aidan and Matt running in their second 5K race together in Kigali (Aidan was the under 12 champ!)

Please continue to pray with us for the work here in Togo over the next few years. We feel a strange sensation having met these new people in Rwanda and yet still feel very tied to our friends that we know and love here in Togo. Pieces of our heart are being pulled all over the globe and we will gladly share if that means that God will be glorified. We are excited about the next couple of years of ministry we have ahead of us in Togo and about all the things God is doing here. We appreciate so much your participation in our ministry here, and your interest and support in helping us seek confirmation of God’s plans for our future. We love you!

Andrea Miller (and Matt)

Go to our family website www.togoadventures.net for a gallery of pictures from our trip

2008-09-20T11:32:00.006Z

Introducing Church Planting Movements...

This past July I, along with my teammates David Reeves, Murphy Crowson, and Marty Koonce, had the pleasure of attending a conference in Livingstone, Zambia (home of Victoria Falls) that provided training in facilitating the development of Church Planting Movements. The training was conducted by a man named David Watson who has, over the years, served as a missionary in India and is now training people around the world to help church planters become more effective in their work. Over the past 12 years, more than 40,000 churches have been planted as a result of David’s ministry and training.

This training has come to us in God’s perfect timing during a period of transition for our team that has included a process of evaluating our strategy and work among the Kabiye. Many of the principles we learned are ones that we have tried to implement over the past 8 years, but there are many new ideas that are like a breath of fresh wind from the Spirit of God. We have begun a process of implementing CPM principles in our work, and I have recently felt a prompting to document this process through this blog. My hope is to begin a conversation with those who have a connection to our work, those who are working in other contexts, and especially those who are also trying to implement CPM principles. I will share our ideas, our dreams, our successes, and our failures with the hope that our experience could be a blessing to others. The first few postings will be mostly catch-up, because we began implementing these principles about two months ago. Already we are seeing the fruit of obedience-based discipleship that allows the word of God to speak directly to people. I am excited to share the ways that God is moving around us, and hope these thoughts will be a blessing to you.

The links below will take you to a website dedicated to sharing Church Planting Movement principles:

www.cpmtr.org

and to David Watson's blog:

www.davidwa.org

2008-06-21T23:02:00.003Z

Cleansing the Amana house...

For several weeks I have been leading the elders of the N'Djei cluster through a study of what the Bible teaches about evil spirits. This study was in response to their concerns about some continued spiritual oppression in their lives. Though their experience of freedom in Christ has already made a drastic difference (the most common thing shared when you ask a Kabiye person how their lives have changed since they have accepted Christ is that they can now sleep), they still feel occasional spiritual attacks.

The past lives of most Kabiye Christians were filled with connections to evil spirits through the ceremonies and sacrifices that controlled them. We had noticed that even in Christian families that we were confident were no longer sacrificing, there were often still "artifacts" of sacrifice remaining in their homes. These artifacts included things like the bones of old sacrifices, small cowrie shells cemented in doorways, or pots used for eating sacrificed meats. For some reason these committed Christians had not yet come to a point where they were able or saw the need to destroy these things.

The culmination of our study was a process of renouncing connections to Satan's kingdom with the goal of removing all possible footholds in the lives of Christian families. We adapted 5 "steps of freedom" from some material by the Christian writer Neil T. Anderson. These steps include recognizing and renouncing the lies that Satan has sown into Kabiye culture, publicly giving forgiveness to those who have wronged us, renouncing pride and embracing humility, confessing repetitive sins that have enslaved, and finally renouncing all past ties to spirits and fetishes and destroying any items remaining in the house relating to these things.

Last Wednesday, Jerome Amana, one of the Elders of the N'Djei cluster, was the first to volunteer to take his family through the steps to freedom. At the culmination of this ceremony, Jerome brought out a pot out of which his family used to eat the meat that they sacrificed to idols. The pot was covered in cobwebs and obviously had not been used in years, but it's presence in the house spoke to the continued temptation Satan could have over them.

So, in what was one of the most meaningful events yet in our years among the Kabiye, Jerome and I together took the pot, smashed it on the ground, and bent down to break it into small pieces. We then walked together outside of his compound and threw it into a trash pit. The video below shows this momentous event.

I will share more in a future post about the process that this renouncing ceremony has started in N'Djei and other churches in Kabiye land. Praise God together with me for this step of faith and the victory it will bring in the lives of Kabiye Christians!

2008-02-03T14:13:00.000Z

Famine Relief Food Distribution...

There is great satisfaction in seeing an idea go from a prompting of the Holy Spirit to its fulfillment. Thanks to the generosity and soft hearts of many Christians in the US and Togo, 50,000 pounds of rice and corn (worth $7,000) was distributed to over 300 families in the Mandouri region of northern Togo this past Monday, Jan. 28th! This aid given in the name of Jesus was in response to the heavy flooding that devastated northern Togo during the month of August, 2007. In the Mandouri region, over 80% of all crops were destroyed. Mandouri is in the heart of the homeland of the Togolese Gourmantche people, on of the least-reached people groups in Togo. This act of mercy in the name of Jesus and of churches of Christ has helped to pave the way for missionaries who will target the Gourmantche in the near future.

We began our journey to Mandouri on Sunday when 12 Kabiye Christians, serving as representatives of the Kabiye Churches of Christ, loaded up into two trucks with Matt, Aidan, and Brett Emerson to make the 5-hour drive to Mandouri. The Kabiye Christians brought with them about 500 pounds of corn and yams that had been given by the churches. Matt had already made several trips to Dapaong and Mandouri to facilitate the purchase and transport of the rice and corn, so all was ready for us when we arrived.

The distribution began on Monday morning in the yard of a primary school with an official welcome and blessing from the governor of Kpendjal state, of which Mandouri is the principal town. A representative from the Kabiye Christians was then given an opportunity to address the crowd, sharing with them that the food was being given because of Jesus and to express his love. Working together with local community leaders before the distribution, 50 widows, the poorest of the poor in Mandouri, were put on a list to be given a sack of rice and corn. None of these widows are Christians (yet!). The gratitude in their faces was very precious. The corn and rice they received should feed them for at least two months, long enough to help them through the most difficult part of the dry season. After these widows, about 150 families from the churches in and around Mandouri were given rice. We then opened several remaining sacks of rice and distributed them to another 100 families who had come to watch, so that no one was turned away empty-handed.

The distribution went forward in a peaceful and orderly manner (an amazing thing in itself--food distributions have been sometimes know to degrade into chaos). The community was very appreciative of the help, and were especially moved by the sacrifice of the Kabiye Christians who gave even out of their own poverty. The journey was a time of encouragement and bonding for the Kabiye Christians who went, and they returned to their churches with a deeper understanding of the Kingdom of God and what it means to support those in need.

Thank you to all who gave to make this intervention possible, especially to Healing Hands International, whose $5,000 donation made this blessing something truly significant.

Please follow the link below for more info and pictures of the distribution.

2007-11-18T20:47:00.000Z

The response takes shape...

We have received our first official commitment of relief aid for the flooding in Gourmantche land! The source of the commitment is somewhat surprising and extremely encouraging. The N'Djei church, the first church we planted among the Kabiye in 2001, has decided to contribute a sack of corn. Now this is no ordinary sack, as we would think of it. A sack of corn in Togo is made up of 40 large bowls full of corn, weighs about 150 lbs., and costs almost $40. This amount is equal to over six-months of normal contributions for most congregations in Togo. We are amazed by the generosity of this small church and the way they have decided to give sacrificially.

We are anticipating other commitments to the relief effort in the near future. Healing Hands International is considering their response, and several individuals and churches have expressed and interest in helping. No doubt, these gifts will be of a larger size than that of N'Djei, but none will be more significant. We hope their generosity will inspire others to give.

Our overseeing congregation, the Homewood Church of Christ, will be collecting funds for food aid to the Gourmantche. Checks can be sent to:

Homewood Church of Christ
265 W. Oxmoor Rd.
Birmingham, AL 35209

Include in a note and on the check memo: Togo Flood Relief

All funds will be used to purchase food (rice or corn) to be distributed in the Mandouri area of northern Togo.

2007-11-05T19:55:00.001Z

Flood Relief Podcast...

Please check out this podcast recorded during our trip to Mandouri to survey the damagae done by the floods. The podcast is about 8 min. long, and you can listen to it from the website or download it to your MP3 player. Please keep praying that God will move to meet the great needs, both physical and spiritual, of the Gourmantche people. I will continue to update this blog and our website www.opendoorsforchrist.org as our response to the floods develops. The link below will take you directly to the podcast.

2007-10-27T21:24:00.000Z

Flood Relief Research Trip...

"Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?" He will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." Matthew 25:44-45

It is with mixed emotions that I return from our short trip to northern Togo to research the impact of recent floods on the town of Mandouri. I feel humbled and loved because of the hospitality of my African brothers and sisters in Christ who, in the face of a severe famine, provided our group of seven with some of the best food I have tasted in Africa. Their desire to honor God through showing hospitality in the midst of difficulty touched us (and especially my Kabiye brothers) very deeply. The strongest feeling I have is of urgency, because the needs are so great and people's reserves of food from the last harvest are quickly running out. Our trip brought clarity to the situation and the factors that brought it on. Here are the essential facts:

-Northern Togo has one rainy season, usually lasting from late May to late October. This year, the rains did not begin in earnest until August. When the rains did begin, they came at a level not seen in over 40 years, causing massive flooding, crop destruction, and weakening the walls of the mud dwellings that most people live in.

-Many people in Northern Togo plant in fields situated near rivers because their relative fertility allows them to have a good harvest without using fertilizers that they cannot afford. Because so many plant near rivers, around 80% of the crops planted by people living in the Mandouri area were destroyed during the flooding resulting from two months of heavy rains. Most of the corn, yams, and soybeans that make up the staple diet of the Gourma people were lost.

-The rains stopped suddenly at the end of September, so later yielding crops such as okra, millet, and sorghum have also failed.

-20 people were killed in the floods, thousands of acres of crops were destroyed, and over 20,000 people had parts of their houses collapse.

-Unless there is intervention from those who have been blessed by God with an abundance of resources, famine and disease will overcome thousands of people in Northern Togo.

Now that we have this information, I feel somewhat overwhelmed because the needs are so great. The international community is providing some help, though it is coming slowly, and the government officials we spoke to on our trip have said that it will not be enough. At the very least, we want to help the 200 or so Christians in Mandouri in the Pentecostal and Assembly of God churches. We would like to do more, but must put that into God's hands. Anyone interested in helping can contact us by leaving a comment here or through e-mail at kabiyemission@yahoo.com.

I will also post more information, pictures, and a podcast of our trip on my research website www.opendoorsforchrist.org (see the link below).

Our friend and host Pastor Pascal Lamboni shows us his fields that were destroyed in the floods. He is holding a head of rotten corn.

2007-10-21T23:15:00.000Z

Flood relief to the Gourmantche...

Last month the Northern half of Africa was hit with the heaviest levels of rainfall in decades. This over-abundance of rain led to some of the worst flooding ever seen on the continent. One of the worst-affected areas was northern Togo and the prefecture (like a state in the US) of Kpendjal. The area affected by the flooding is in the heart of the Gourmantche people of Northern Togo, a highly-animistic group that we have targeted for a new church-planting team. For the past two summers, we have taken our interns to this part of Togo for a survey trip. God is moving among some of our former interns, and they are in the process of forming a team to target the Gourmantche.

I was recently surfing the web and came across a satellite image of the flooding in northern Togo and Ghana (see the link below). When I saw it, I noticed that one of the hardest-hit areas was the town of Mandouri. This has become a special place to me because for the past two summers our interns have been hosted by a Pentecostal church in Mandouri. They have given us a place to pitch our tents, cooked us meals, and been our guides around Gourmantche land. They are very excited about the possibility of a team locating in Northern Togo to preach the Gospel, and they lack any hint of denominational competition, which is very refreshing. As I looked at the map, I realized that these people I have come to love live in the middle of this horrible disaster. The picture above is of some of the Gourma children of Mandouri. Over 20 people lost their lives in the flooding in northern Togo, and more than 13,000 people's homes were destroyed. Of even greater concern and broader scope is all the crops that were destroyed by the floods, setting up the likelihood of a famine throughout the region. I began to feel the stirrings of God's Spirit within me and knew that we need to do something.

Yesterday, I called my friend Pastor Pascal, who has worked with the Pentecostal church in Mandouri for several years. He confirmed my fears, saying that many people (he included) had lost all of their crops, and they feared that famine was on the horizon. I decided then to make an initial trip to Mandouri to investigate the aftermath of the floods. I also decided to invite some leaders from the Kabiye churches to go along, hoping that this could be a good opportunity to mentor them. So our plan is to make the 5 hour drive to Manouri this Thursday. I will bring my camera and video equipment in order to document what we see to make it available to those who may be able to help in the States. I also hope that God will move in the hearts of the Kabiye Churches to do what they can to help. At the very least, we will do what we can to help our Christian brothers and sisters in Mandouri. But I hope that God will move through this to bring about even greater aid that will serve as a beautiful sign of the love of Jesus and those who claim him as Lord that will pave the way for the Gormantche Team that will one day minister in this area. Please be praying that God will bless this trip and this effort to show the Gourmantche people the love of Christ. I will continue to update this blog as things develop, and will also post information on our website www.opendoorsforchrist.org

2007-08-26T22:22:00.000Z

Sudan Survey...

I must begin with an apology for my absense from the blogsphere for more than a year. Our family spent the 2006-07 school year in Searcy, Ar, where I served as the Visiting Professor of Missions at Harding University. The year was full of activity and blessing, and updating my blog was low on my list of priorities. But now that I am back in Africa (the blog is called Togo Adventures, after all!) I will be posting regularly again.

My most recent adventure was a survey trip to research the Dinka people of Southern Sudan. God opened our eyes to great needs, both spiritual and physical, in Southern Sudan, and I pray that our survey and the information we gathered will lead to a team targeting the Dinka very soon. I have promised in our newsletter to share some of my experiences in Sudan with you. With this goal in mind, I have published a site on the web that includes some photos and commentary and an edited version of a digital journal I kept on my i-pod during the trip. I would like to direct those of you who want to know more about this trip to this site: web.mac.com/kabiyemission or click on the hyperlink that says "link" at the bottom of this posting, which will take you to the podcast:

2006-06-14T00:20:00.000Z

A Child of Faith...

Essosolam and Piyalu are Christians in the village of Ewede. Piyalu had one child early in their marriage, before either of them were Christians, but then for some reason her womb was closed. They tried for years to get pregnant again, but were not able. Essosolam took Piyalu to the doctor, and then to different charlatans and traditional healers who all tried to find out why she could not get pregnant. The charlatans prescribed sacrifices and took their money, but nothing happened. This past Friday, during a village visit with our summer interns, Essosolam told us his story:

"After a while," he said, "the charlatans asked us to stop coming, saying that there was nothing more they could try. We pleaded with them to try a different sacrifice, but nothing would work. Then the Christian's from N'djei came to our village and began teaching about God's word, and we came to believe. We decided to put our trust in God and pray only to him that he would bless us with a child."

Every month, Piyalu would go through great pain as her cycle ended. She would basically be bed-ridden for three days out of every month. But despite all this, they remained faithful to God and put their trust in him. Then one month, the pain stopped.

"We didn't even know we were pregnant, and were still praying. When we finally realized it, we waited three months to be sure that the pregnancy would last. We then began to tell people. All our friends in the village were amazed, and asked us which witch doctor we went to or which sacrifice we made to make this happen. When we told them that we didn't do any of these things, that we just prayed, they said this is was truly a miracle! The witchdoctors were the most surprised of all. Because of this, we have decided to name our little boy "Essonawa," which means "God has seen" because God saw us in our suffering and gave us a son.”

It was such a joy for me to hear this testimony of faith and the faithfulness of God! We are praying that the example of Essosolam and Piyalu waiting on the Lord and being blessed by him will be an encouragement to you, and that it will lead to many others being reached with the gospel of the living God in their village and beyond.

2006-04-23T21:06:00.000Z

Community...

One of the most exciting things to observe in the development of our work among the Kabiye is the creation of community. It happens little by little, as people who once did not know each other find their lives being woven together and as a result enriched in ways they had never imagined. I am actually convinced that this development of community is one of the most important aspects of planting churches, and have observed that the churches who do community together the best are usually the strongest. Community is also one of the most effective tools for drawing others to Christ, as they see something in the love that Christians have for each other that they would like to become a part of.

This has been a great couple of weeks for community building in Kabiye land. Last weekend, all the churches in our small but growing movement came together in the village of Lassa Tchou. In all, 80 Christians from 14 churches came together for a weekend of prayer, praise, and study of God’s word. The highlight of the weekend was a prayer-walk in which the Christians were divided into 8 groups who spent an hour together walking from station to station where they were directed to pray for different subjects. Praying together is one of the best ways to build community, and this exercise led people to connect with God and each other in a powerful way.

The spirit of community has continued after the retreat, as well. During the weekend, the Ajadaa church made it known that they would be making bricks for their church building, and because there are only a few men in the congregation, they would need help to get it all done in time. The concern is that since the rains are coming, if they don’t finish soon, all the work they have already done will be wasted. So this past Saturday, I drove out to Lassa Tchou where I picked up a group of 12 Christians who came armed with their hoe’s and buckets. After dropping them off in Ajadaa, I drove to the road to Sanda Te where another 16 Christians met me, also equipped with their tools of service. The Ajadaa Christians were overwhelmed by the response of these two churches to their need, and the joy of being a part of a community larger than themselves was evident on their faces all day long. It was with great joy that we all jumped into the mud and started making bricks!

During lulls in the work, Christians from these three churches, some who had never met each other before, spent time talking and singing together. It was a beautiful time. On the ride back to Sanda Te, everyone in (and on top of!) the truck sang with all their might praises to God, full of joy from a day spent in community.

These initial steps of community building have been very encouraging to us. It shows us that God is molding our churches into a family that matches the name they have chosen for themselves, translating “Church of Christ” as Yesu Cecewiye, “The Family of Jesus.” We would do well as Americans who are part of a culture that is very individualistic to consider the power of community and evaluate how connected we are to our brothers and sisters in our own “Families of Jesus.”

2006-03-08T07:56:00.000Z

Blessed Be Your Name…

Blessed be your name, when the sun’s shining down on me,
when the world’s ‘all as it should be’, blessed be your name.
Blessed be your name, on the road marked with suffering,
though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be your name.

Every blessing you pour out I’ll turn back to praise.
When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say,
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your glorious name.

You give and take away, you give and take away,
my heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name…

(words and music by Matt Redman)

I’ve sung this song for more than a year, but it has only been in the past few weeks that I’ve truly come to understand it. Its meaning has become clear to me as Andrea and I have gone through the process of her miscarriage, which happened almost two months ago. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted any blogs in a while, and this is mostly because I have wanted to share with you some of my thoughts and experiences surrounding the loss of our baby, but being pretty heavy material, it has been easy to postpone. Some distance makes the writing a bit easier, though I know that those who care enough about us to actually read these postings are an easy audience!

Many of you know the details of what happened, so I will be brief: Andrea began experience cramping in the 4th month of her pregnancy, which developed over the course of the day into spotting. By the next morning, she was bleeding heavily, and the miscarriage had begun in earnest. The complication with this was that the town in which we live has no reliable emergency care. But God’s hand was on us, and a missionary nurse, Jeanette Alderman, was able to quickly come to our aid. When she took Andrea’s blood pressure, it was 70/50, (dangerously low) so we decided to evacuate her by airplane to the Baptist hospital in southern Togo. Jeanette’s husband Randy is a bush pilot and was able to quickly prepare his plane, so within about an hour of having called Jeanette, we were in the air and heading to the hospital. The hour and a half flight was one of the longest of my life, and that’s saying a lot with all the flying we have done! But God’s hand was upon us, and Andrea’s contractions calmed and she was able to hold on until we arrived. When she was admitted, her blood pressure was down to 60/40, and, as a doctor put it to us the next day, she was ‘white as a sheet’. Within a half an hour, Andrea delivered a tiny baby boy who was, of course, stillborn.

Even now, it is difficult to think about that time without shedding tears. There are feelings of loss, but different that those that I can imagine if one of our other children were to die. It is the loss of an imagined future with this child. What would he have looked like? What would his personality have been? What would have made him laugh? These are questions that we will now have to wait until heaven to have answered.

After spending some time with Andrea and ensuring her care, we decided it would be best for me to fly back to Kara with Randy and drive back to the hospital so we would have a way back home. Our teammates had graciously taken care of our children, and I was able to see them for a few moments and explain to them what had happened. Aidan seemed to be the most affected, and asked, “What will we do to remember him?” The five hour drive back was a time for me to deal with the reality of what had happened to us. Up until that time, we had been in crisis mode.

I began the drive by listening to some praise and worship music. I desired to be in the presence of God, but felt the need to be led there by others. I see now that the Spirit was directly in control of that choice.

Somewhere between Sotoboua and Blitta (about 2 hours into the trip for those of you who do not know Togo!) the song ‘Blessed Be Your Name” came up on my i-pod, and as I sang along, I realized that this song was speaking directly to me. The poignancy of the words hit me so suddenly I was almost shocked. When the song ended, I played it through again, and began praying that God would help me to be able to sing it and truly mean what I sang. Through the words of the song, I was led to reflect on the way we rejoiced and blessed the name of the Lord at the births of Abigail, Aidan, and Asher. But how to bless his name at the death of our fourth child seemed very difficult. So I continued to pray that God would help me to sing the words with integrity. Then I heard the last line of the bridge, “My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name,” and I realized that it was a choice I had to make to bless God’s name in all things. His Spirit reminded me that death, sickness, and pain was never a part of his plan for this world, and that the death of our child was not a part of his will, but a result of the fallen-ness of the world. And in that context, a fallen world still under his control, he knew what was best for our child and for us. I was finally able to sing “Blessed be your name” with all my heart. At this moment, it was like a well burst within me, and I cried cleansing tears that almost required me to pull the truck over. I don’t remember the details of the rest of the trip, but I know it was spent joyfully in praise of our God and in his presence.

I still haven’t sung that song in public worship since that time, and I don’t know if I would be able to make it through if it came up. But I am thankful that God lay in my hands the words from his Word, through this song, that I needed at the moment I needed them to process the very difficult loss of our baby. Since then the pain has faded and our lives have gotten pretty much back to normal. The experience has been strangely encouraging to my faith. While on the airplane, faced with the loss of our child and the possible loss of my wife, I saw hints of my faith being one that would be strong enough to endure. I am thankful that God spared me that second grief, but am more confident than ever that something of gold is being built in my heart. Andrea and I have enjoyed a time of increased closeness through this experience together that is very precious to me, and we have come to appreciate with even greater passion the blessing of our three children.

We wondered if we should name this boy who passed from us before drawing even one breath. As I thought about this, the Spirit brought to my mind the passage in Revelation that says each of us will receive in heaven a pure white stone with our own secret name on it. I think we have decided to wait to hear this, his true name, as the first and only name with which we will know him. Since God saw fit to take him directly to heaven, it seems right that he should only have his heavenly name. I do wonder what it will be…

Thank you to all of you who prayed, wrote, and called in the days following the miscarriage. Your words of encouragement were very special to us. We love you all so very much!

2006-01-14T21:23:00.000Z

Steps towards maturity...

During the past month we have seen some very exciting things happen in our work that indicate that some huge steps are being taken in the growth and maturity of the Kabiye churches. The first event was the installation of the first 6 Elders among Kabiye Churches of Christ in the N'Djei cluster of churches. This is a group of three churches that includes the first village we ever taught in 4 years ago. I had the privelidge, in the name of our Elders in the States, of laying hands on and praying for these six men who had been chosen by their churches to serve in this role.

But even more exciting was what happend the next Sunday. The Lassa Tchou church, which can also trace it's roots back to the N'Djei cluster, also had chosen 2 men to serve as Elders. For this installation service, though, we had the joy of sitting in the back of the church building and watching the N'Djei Elders encourage, admonish, and lay hands on the new Elders from Tchou. The teaching they gave them was quite familiar, as they pretty much repeated what I shared with them the week before, but despite this, it was one of the most rewarding moments I have yet experienced in our work in Togo. Seeing these new Elders step up in their role as leaders not only of thier churches, but leaders within the movement of churches among the Kabiye, was a beautiful thing.

This past Saturday we hosted a meeting of leaders at the Kara church building. Around 30 leaders from 15 of our 16 churches were present to meet to consider the process of selecting Elders and to talk strategically about evangelism in Kabiyeland. The new Elders from the N'Djei cluster and Lassa Tchou sat together at the front of the group and shared with the other leaders the process they went through in selecting Elders, followed by a long period of questions and answers. This two hour session did more to advance the process of churches organizing themselves bibically than many weeks of our teaching could have done, because it involved Kabiye Christians sharing their experiences with each other. The following discussion on evangelism also gave us indications that this group of churches is starting to think as an organic whole. They took very seriously the challenge we gave them to consider where they could reach over the next few years, and chose some locations that they will not be able to easily reach to send us. Altogether, more than 30 villages where there are no churches were recognized as targets for evangelism in the future! We are hopeful that the fruits of this meeting will begin to be recognized as other churches appoint elders and begin sharing the gospel with neighboring villages.

It may seem strange to some that we are encouraging the appointment of Elders so early in our work. But it may be helpful to remember that Paul's general pattern was to appoint Elders in churches after only about one year. One problem in Africa is that if a biblical pattern of leadership is not quickly established, churches tend to mimic what they see in other denominations, which often leads to one person being chosen as the head or pastor of the church. Sometimes it is difficult for this pattern to be overturned in the future, when the missionaries finally feel that the church is ready for Elders. We decided, instead, to encourage the installation of Elders in our churches as quickly as possible, not only to quickly establish a biblical precedent, but also to give us a longer period of collaberation with the Elders before we leave the field. This seems much more desireable than the "appoint Elders and run!" strategy that many missionaries have employed. There will be struggles, as many of these men are still learning foundational principles of the the faith. But we can already see the fruits of Elders being selected in these churches, both in the seriousness with wich the new Elders have accepted their roles and in the joy with wich the churches have accepted their leaders. In many ways, these churches now feel that they have 'grown up,' and are taking their mission in their communities even more seriously.

We would appreciate your prayers for these new Elders and for the other churches who will be considering how to organize themselves in the near future. We praise God that he is moving in such a way among the Kabiye that we have been able to witness these momentus events after only 5 years here in Togo!

2005-12-19T21:50:00.000Z

The Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda...

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Rwanda was our visit to the Virunga National Park to visit its famous residents, the Mountain Gorillas. The Virunga Park is home to six of the seven Volcanos making up the Virunga range (reaching as much as 14,000 ft.), and the home of the only remaining mountain gorillas in the world. The gorillas live in groups lead by a dominant male (called a silverback), several younger males, and the females and their babies. Five of these groups have been habituated to the presence of humans in the Virunga National Park, and eight permits are available for each group daily.

We arrived the night before our trek in the village of Kinigi, about thirty minuites north of Ruhengeri, and stayed at a guesthouse just a few yards from park headquarters. This was a prime location, because the assignments for the groups is on a first-come, first-served basis, and we had already decided to try for the Susa group, the largest group of habituated gorillas in the world with 40 individuals. This group had recently become even more notable because of the birth of gorilla twins. Group assignments are made at 7:00 AM. We were the first to arrive and had no problem being assigned to Susa group. Our guide, Olivier, gave us an orientation to the park and the gorillas. We then loaded into Dave Jenkins' truck for a drive of about one hour, where our trek would begin.

Our hike began at a school and quickly ascended through steep terraced fields, and with each step the view behind us became even more beautiful. It would be difficult to find a corner of Rwanda that is not beautiful, and this was definitely one of the most spectacular! After about 30 minuites of hiking, we arrived at the boundary of the park, an abrupt wall of dense foliage with fields running right up to it.

A group of scouts was waiting for us, having already located the gorillas based upon their last know position from the day before. At times the Susa group can range deep into the forest and high on the slopes of the volcano, requiring up to a four-hour hike to visit them. For our visit, though, they decided to come and meet us! They had been located not far from the park boundry. After a few instructions on how to behave in the presence of the gorillas, we pushed into the forest.

We walked about 10 minuites into the thick growth of trees and vegetation when I had the distinct feling that we were not alone. I then heard a loud "crack" and turned to see a huge male gorilla about 5 feet away, crunching on some bamboo. My first thought was that he was too big to be real! Sitting down, the top of this giant creature's head would have reached to my chest. My next thought was to realize that there was nothing between me and this huge creature, and that my well-being rested directly in the hands of this animal and his acceptance of our presence. We had been told that a habituated gorilla has never attacked a human, but this knowledge seemed less assuring when face to face with a real-live mountain gorilla! But it quickly became clear that our being there didn't bother him in the least, and my apprehension faded into awe of being so close to such a magnificent creature.

Soon after encountering this first gorilla, other dark shadows began to emerge from the forest and make their presence known. We would hear a crack in the foliage, and then be gently but firmly directed by our guide where to stand in order to allow the gorillas to pass. Several of them walked less than a foot away from us as they begin to move further up the slope. Soon the gorillas settled on the place that would serve as the setting for most of our one-hour visit, and to our delight, they decided to eat, lounge, and play in an open clearing with beautiful lighting from the noon-time sun. Though seeing the gorillas is almost gauranteed, where they will be seen is not, and we were greatly blessed to encounter them in an open area where viewing and photographing was easy.

The next 45 minuites were joyfully spent watching 35 of the 40 Susa gorillas interact with each other. The young gorillas were balls of energy, rolling around on the ground, dropping from trees, wrestling with each other, and beating their chests. The adults patiently allowed the younger ones to play around and with them, and everything happened under the constant supervision of the dominant male silverback, a huge animal who was obviously respected and deferred to by everyone.

Several of the female gorillas had babies, including one female named Poppy who before joining the Susa group had been a part of the original group studied by Dian Fossey more than 25 years ago. One of the babies was only one month old, and I was able to take what may be one of my best pictures of the visit of this baby getting ready to nurse. Even it's little tounge is showing!

One of my favorite moments during our visit happened when the dominant silverback heard some noise up-slope from us that bothered him. He immediately left his post overlooking the group and herded the gorillas up to the side of the hill we were standing on, less than 10 feet from us, where they all stood for several minuites staring up into the trees. It was amazing to know that they accepted us to the point of choosing to come near to us when they sensed danger. When the moment passed, one of the younger males passed less than six inches in front of us, gently tapping our guide on the leg as he passed. Soon after this, the group moved further up the slope. We followed for a while, but then, all to soon, our guide informed us that our time was up, and we needed to take our last pictures and "say our goodbyes." We reluctantly left the group and walked back to the park boundry, where the scouts were watching over our bags.

This was definitely one of the most amazing wildlife experiences of my life, and one that I hope to repeat someday. Aidan is already looking forward to visiting the gorillas someday, though he will have to wait 10 more years, as the minimum age is 15. The creative brillance of our God is most defenitely displayed in an amazing way in Rwanda!

2005-11-25T21:50:00.000Z

Reflections on

Rwanda...

About two weeks ago, I set out on a journey with my friends and co-workers David Reeves, Marty Koonce, and Murphy Crowson to survey the country of Rwanda. We were blessed to also be joined by Rosanne Dreher and Sam Shewmaker. The purpose of our trip was to see for ourselves the spiritual needs of this country that only 10 years ago was plunged into a genocide that was one of the blackest moments in the history of the world. More than 800,000 people were brutally murdered because of their ethnicity or their opposition to ethnic violence.

10 years later, the physical features of Rwanda have mostly healed. The government is making progress towards rebuilding infrastructure, leading the country to levels of development that it has never before seen. But the spiritual scars of the genocide still remain, along with many haunting questions. One of these questions that echoed in our minds during our visit was, “How does a country that was said to be the most ‘Christian’ in Africa become the stage for one of Satan’s most horrible acts in human history?” The answer, as we have come to see, is that though there are many church buildings in Rwanda and many people who visit them on Sundays, there are few true disciples of Jesus.

My purpose here is to share a few reflections and initial conclusions based upon our short visit to Rwanda, aimed mostly towards our friends and family who have been following and praying for our journey, and especially those of you who sense God speaking Rwanda to your hearts. Murphy Crowson began a more detailed step-by-step report of our trip on his blog : www.audienceofone.cc, so I will refer you there for a more global view of our journey.

I set out for Rwanda with an attitude I can best describe as “spiritual curiosity.” Our family has recently come to a place of openness to long-term service in Africa beyond our time in Togo, and we were looking towards Rwanda as a possible place to live and work in the future. On paper, Rwanda seems to be already a “reached” place, meaning that the number of Christians already in the country should be able to reach those left for Christ. But if this is the case, why was God putting Rwanda on so many people’s hearts, even providing funds in miraculous ways for people to visit? After hearing of one such miraculous provision for Murphy Crowson, this spiritual curiosity began to grow within me. Andrea and I had already discussed our possible desire to continue to serve in Africa, and we were hearing similar thoughts from the Crowsons and Koonces. What better situation could we find than to continue working in Africa with people we already know, trust, and respect?

So I decided to go along with Murphy and Marty to Rwanda, and to begin seeking God’s leading about working with them in the future. Our trip to Rwanda was originally scheduled for the fall of 2004, but was rescheduled to this year. I, too, wondered if God would bless me with the funds needed for the trip in such a way as to give confirmation of his will, and after one phone call and a couple of e-mails, God provided all the funds needed over the course of just a few days. God similarly provided funds for David Reeves, who had decided to join us on the trip, and Marty, all of which caused my curiosity about what God had in store for us to grow.

After several obstacles to our trip were overcome (a car-breakdown, a missed plane, and an aborted landing—see Murphy’s blog for more details), we finally arrived in the beautiful country of Rwanda. I was not prepared for the amazing beauty of Rwanda, glimpsed first from the airplane, where the hills stretched on as far as the eye could see, culminating in the great mass of the Virunga volcanoes to the northwest. The scale of the beauty only increased as we arrived on the ground and were introduced to the city of Kigali, which clings to the sides of several large hills (which would be called mountains in Indiana, where I come from!).

As we began having our first interactions with Rwandans, first at the airport and then throughout the city, my mind was obsessed with wonderings about the horrible things these people must have seen and experienced during the genocide. I was struck by the gentle and quiet spirit that pervaded the people, such a contrast to the loud, gregarious nature of the Togolese people. I was charmed by the warm greetings (they hug each other!) both children and adults gave us. That night, as we enjoyed the warm hospitality of the home of Dave and Jana Jenkins, I read the following verse included in a welcome note from Andrea:

“Your eyes will see the King in His beauty
and view a land that stretches afar. In your thoughts you will ponder
the former terror…” Isaiah 33:17

Our first full day in Rwanda was a Sunday, and we decided to immediately head out of Kigali and into the countryside. Nearly all of the missionaries working in Rwanda live in the capital city Kigali, so we were determined to get “off the beaten track” to get a glimpse of what is going on in rural Rwanda. Our first stop was in the town of Gitarama, where we worshiped with a branch of the Evangelical Restoration Church, a church that was begun by Rwandans shortly after the end of the genocide. There we worshiped with a group of around 300 people. The singing was amazing, and the people were very warm and welcoming. After worship, we interviewed the pastor of the church and asked for his understanding of the spiritual needs of the Gitarama region.

His feeling is that the 24 districts of the Gitarama region need to have at least another 10 churhes each in order for every person to be reached (meaning that more than 200 churches need to be planted.) He spoke of areas in their region where there are gaps of 40 to 50 kilometers between churches. The suspicion we had that Rwanda is not as “reached” as it seems was beginning to be confirmed. Pastor Phillipe has promised to do a more in-depth survey of the Gitarama region which Dave Jenkins will pick up for us at the end of the month.

We found that the information we gathered in Gitarama was similar in other regions as well. Though there are many churches in Rwanda, there are many people who are not Christians, and there are many villages where people have to walk several miles before reaching a church.

In the interest of time, I will move on to share some of the conclusions God has formed in my heart as a result of this trip. Every step of our journey, from our unexpected delay in Accra, our transit in Nairobi, and nearly every step of the way in Rwanda, we heard God, mostly through other people, directing us towards the north-western part of Rwanda. When we asked questions such as, “Where is the most pagan or animistic region of Rwanda?” “What is the darkest part of Rwanda?” or “Where are missionaries most needed in Rwanda?” the answer was always, without hesitation, “Ruhengeri,” which is the main center of the north-west. One of the most striking experiences happened as we were on a shuttle-bus taking us from the airport in Nairobi to our hotel during our one night transit on the way to Rwanda. While we were in Accra, we met a missionary from the Assemblies of God who encouraged us to look up his friends Kent and Michelle Smith who have been missionaries in Kigali for five years. While we were on the shuttle, Marty began talking with a woman who had been traveling from the States. She and her family, she said, were missionaries with the Assemblies of God in Rwanda. As I overheard this news, I was trying to get Marty’s attention to find out her name. It was, amazingly, Michelle Smith, the very missionary that our friend in Accra told us to meet! When we asked her where missionaries were needed in Rwanda, she responded immediately, “Ruhengeri.” The chances of this meeting taking place as it did are so slim as to be nearly impossible, and we have interpreted it as the hand of God. The frequency of these responses from people both in Rwanda and those that we “happened” to meet in Ghana and Kenya gave us a clear message of where God wants his workers to go.

God opened doors for us during our time in the northwest, making it the most fruitful part of our survey. We were able several times to get off the main roads and into Rwandan communities where we saw with our own eyes thousands of people who need Christ and several communities with no churches. Leaders of existing churches encouraged us and even specifically invited us to come work among the people of northwestern Rwanda, even asking us to include training for their leaders in our future ministry. We also had a wonderful visit with the Mountain Gorillas that inhabit the virunga mountains, as the following photo of Dave and I shows (more specifics in an upcoming post, Brett!).

Less easy to explain is the overwhelming sense I had while in Ruhengeri and during the rest of the trip that God was calling us, the Millers, Koonces, Crowsons, and (I hoped) the Reeves specifically to northwestern Rwanda. God gave me visions of the impact we could have not only in Rwanda, but further a field into the Congo, Burundi, Uganda, and Tanzania. He spoke to us a dream of beginning a push from the east to unite churches from the east and west of Africa, some day “meeting in the middle” as Wendall Broom has challenged for years, and he revealed that those with experience both in east and west Africa would be best suited to help make this dream a reality.

In short, I feel that God has specifically and clearly called us to minister in Ruhengeri, Rwanda. The exact timing and logistics of this call have not yet been revealed, but the call itself has been surprisingly clear, unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. One aspect of this call that I find interesting and important, though, is that it in no way changes the calling God has given us to the Kabiye in Togo. I am more excited than ever about the next 5 or so years that we will be spending here and the amazing things that God will accomplish among the Kabiye. But at the same time, I now believe that God has plans for us to continue our ministry in Africa, in Rwanda, when our work in Togo is done.

As I read through the above statements, I realize they may sound quite bold. I am always hesitant to say that God has spoken specifically in a situation, so I do not share this with you lightly. This might be a good time to ask for you to share your insights on how you think God calls and directs us, and any thoughts this posting may have brought to your mind. I believe that God uses his people to clarify and confirm his callings, and would appreciate any insights any of you might be able to give. My experience and conviction has been that the normal path to calling does not always include such specific, dramatic experiences. Our decision to come to Togo was based much more on prayerful consideration of opportunities that were confirmed by the opening and closing of doors by God. It does seem, though, that God sometimes has such specific plans for people that this normal way of seeking his direction is set aside, and more specific word from God is given. This does not imply that we are more spiritual or important. Often it means just the opposite! God saved some of his most spectacular manifestations for the most dull (consider Baalam’s donkey!).

It is also clear to me that Churches of Christ have an opportunity to and should send several teams to Rwanda. In addition to Ruhengeri, our initial research would point towards a need for a team to settle in the town of Gitarama, working in the villages of the Gitarama province, and a second team to settle in the town of Nyagatare in the Umatara province where many new settlements are being established as people return from exile outside of Rwanda. There are also indications of a need for a team in the south-eastern region around the town of Kibungo, though we were not able to do an extensive survey of this region. Each of the towns associated with these regions could be logistically viable places for a team to live and out of which to base their work. We were not able to visit the south and south-western regions around the towns of Butare and Cyangugu, but we anticipate similar findings in those areas. We plan on writing a more detailed report on our survey findings in the near future.

I hope to share more with you all in the future as our thoughts and plans develop. I did feel the need, though, to share some of my thoughts with those that I love and trust quickly upon our return so that your prayers could be better informed and so that you could add your wisdom to the process of discerning God’s will into which we have entered. Your friendship, encouragement, and prayers are appreciated more than you know! I look forward to hearing from you.

2005-10-10T00:16:00.000Z

The World Cup...

An amazing thing happend in Togo this past weekend, though most people in the United States have not heard about it, or if they did, they did not grasp the signifigance of it. The soccer team of the tiny country of Togo defeated the national team of the central African country of Congo, earning Togo's first ever qualification to the biggest sporting event in the world, the World Cup. To try to put this achievement in to perspective for us Americans, imagine a community college basketball team. Not much history, not much money, not much chance, right? Now imagine that community college team making it to the NCAA tournament final four. The chances of that happening would probably be a bit better than the chances anyone gave Togo of qualifying for the World Cup!

Togo's victory made for quite an interesting day yesterday here in Kara. The game began at 3:00, and though it was important, I didn't feel it was important enough to cancel my Saturday visit to the church in the village of Lassa Tchou. But the Christians there were a bit relieved, I sensed, when I arrived early and announced that we would have a shortened lesson so everyone could listen to the game. After studying a bit of Mark 5, we closed with a prayer that I led. The only prayer request the Christians gave was that I pray for God to grant the "Hawks" of Togo grace to win their game. We parted ways, and I picked up a few updates on the game from the BBC while on my way home.

When I arrived at my house, I immediately knew something had happened when I saw a group of children jump up and run into their house, and then heard a dull roar erupt all around me, coming from all over our city. I ran into the home of our neighbor just in time to see the replay of Togo scoring a tying goal, bring the match to 1-1. Half-time soon followed. For the second half, I went to the home of another neighbor, a Pakastani man who has satellite TV. There, a strange mix of a Christian missionary from America, a Muslim missionary from Pakastan, and a Togolese friend all watched anxiously as Congo scored a goal, going up 2-1. Over the next few minuites, Togo improved their play and ended up winning the game 3-2. Every goal scored ellicited a roar of noise all over the city, and when the game finally ended, a party began that has not really finished even yet. Today the President of Togo declared Monday to be a national paid holiday to celebrate this most unlikely of feats.

So next June the Togo Hawks will travel to Germany to play against the best soccer teams in the world, and many people will hear for the first time about this tiny West African country whose total size and population is about that of the state of West Virginia. Hopefully their participation in the World Cup will open people's eyes to this beautiful little country with so many needs, and will result in more aid for them. At the very least, it will provide a country much in need of something to celebrate an opportunity to unify behind a common cause.

Allez Les Eperviers! (Go Hawks!)

2005-10-03T00:35:00.000Z

Around four years ago, while our team was in the middle of language and culture learning, we began a survey of Kabiye land. The goal of this survey was to discover where Kabiye people live and how many churches were already present. It was also a great adventure!

A typical survey outing included following little used roads that we had noticed in passing or marked on a map until they "petered out", and then hopping on our mountain bikes to follow foot-paths until we reached a village. Often the reaction of the people we met in these places was something like, "How in the world did you find us out here in the middle of nowhere!"

One of these villages I visited was called Tankoda. Tankoda is so much on the edge of Kabiyeland that you actually have to pass through the Togolese border post into the "limbo-land" between Togo and Benin in order to get there. The dirt road that leads from the border turns off onto an even worse path which crosses a creek (with no bridge) and goes on for several kilometers before coming to the village. Four years ago I drove in to Tankoda, and was told that this was the last Kabiye village on this particular road, and that beyond them were villages of the Kabiye people's cousins, the Muslim Kotokoli.

I remember thinking during this first visit to Tankoda how far away I seemed to be from Kara, and I remember praying that some day God's word would reach this remote place, though I imagined that it would be many years before that would happen.

My teammate Bryan Ries has been working with a church in a village called Tchikpe. Earlier this year, the Tchikpe Christians, along with Bryan, began a second church plant in the neighboring village of Tchikpiou. So far, 8 people in the village of Tchikpiou have become Christians. For the first couple of months that the Tchikpiou church existed, they alternated meeting on Sundays with the Tchikpe church. But when the rainy season began, a substantial river formed cutting off the Tchikpiou church from the Tchikpe church, making it impossible for them to enjoy their normal combined worship times. Now our first reaction to this might be to build a bridge, or find some other way to cross the river. But instead, the three-month old Christians in Tchikpiou decided to do something much more remarkable. If they couldn't make it to Tchikpe, they would just have to go to another village on their side of the river and convert themselves some more Christians to fellowship with! Guess where they chose to plant a new church...

I just returned today from my second ever visit to the village of Tankoda. I met there five Christians from the village of Tchikpiou, and we worshiped together with several seekers from Tankoda. We talked about how Jesus was also called Emmanuel, or God with us, and how through his death, he has made it possible for God do dwell in our hearts. One person has already been baptized in Tankoda, and several others should follow in the weeks ahead. What a joy it was today to see this place that I had visited those four years ago being reached for Christ by Kabiye Christians!

2005-09-04T23:28:00.000Z

A Blessed Sunday...Today our family went to the village of Kaacaade to worship with the small church that has recently started in this village. On the way we picked up several Christians from the village of Hade Te who came along with us for a special cluster worship (a meeting of two or more churches close to each other). Our car was packed with 12 people as we left the good road to follow a track through corn fields and forest to the village.

We walked about 20 minuites to a clearing under some trees where the Kaacaade church meets, and were plesantly suprised to find over 20 adults and another 20 children gathered for worship.

This was to be a special day because baptisms were planned, so many visitors came to watch. After some lively singing, some prayers, and a message from the book of Ephesians, we began to walk singing to the place chosen for the baptisms. Along the banks of the swollen Kara river, we stood and watched 9 people be baptized into Christ, more than doubling the number of Christians in this small church.

Just last Saturday we had a similar experience in the village of Lassa Tchou, where another 9 people were baptized. These baptisms have been especially encouraging for us, not only because 18 people have been added to the Kingdom of God, but also because of the timing. They have taken place right in the middle of the rainy season in northern Togo, which means right in the middle of the most agriculturally intensive time of the year. In past years, this has meant that the months of August, Septmeber, and October were some of the slowest of the year for our work. Many meetings would not take place because they would be rained out, or all the Christians would be out in their fields working.

But this year, something different has started to happen. The rains are here, but they are having less of a negative impact on our work. People are coming to our meetings. Often they are there waiting for us when we arrive. And now these baptisms. We are greatly encouraged because our churches are truly coming to believe what they sing in a popular Kabiye worship song most every Sunday, "It's not bread alone that gives us life. We must understand God's word as well."

Though these 18 baptisms have been surpassed in number in the past, their signifigance is great to us because they indicate a deepening of commitment in our churches who are developing a "faith for all seasons."

2005-08-21T22:11:00.000Z

Five years ago our family stepped off an airplane at the international airport in Lome, Togo, into a new world and a new life. Our first steps that took us from the climate-controlled cabin of an airplane into the thick mugginess of the tropical night were a foreshadowing of the great changes that lay ahead for us. Over the past five years we have been blessed by God with many adventures, from giving birth to two children in African hospitals, witnessing the new birth of hundreds of Kabiye people into Christ, to being chased in our car by angry mother elephants!

Our first five years in Africa have quickly flown by, and have easily been some of the richest of our lives. Our family has been personally involved in the planting of 9 churches, and our team has seen 17 churches planted and more than 300 people come to Jesus. Our typical family activities include hikes to mountains and waterfalls and camping trips into national parks where we encounter lions, hippos, and elephants. What a childhood our children are experiencing! And in our teammates we have found the joy of experiencing the depth of love and encouragement that can come when people live out the kind of communal life described in the New Testament. I can imagine no better life than the one God has blessed us with here in the tiny country of Togo, West Africa!

My hope is that this web log will give you a view into our life and adventures in Togo, and allow you to interact with the experiences we are having. One of our only regrets from the last five years is that many of our experiences have faded from our memories without being recorded for the future benefit of ourselves and others. This web log will give us another tool with which we can preserve our memories and share our experiences with the community of faith that supports us and has sent us here. We hope you will check in with us from time to time to see if there are new postings and join with us for a few moments in the adventure that is our life in Kabiyeland!