Traveling Home

Some people hate long flights, I’m not one of them. Where else can you sleep sitting up with people snoring all around you? Or watch movies you’d never take the time to watch in real life? Now I know why I skipped “The A-Team” when it was in theaters. It wasn’t even a decent free movie.

After a good time yesterday morning praying with Joseph (the group leader) over their new church property, I flew out from Mwanza to Dar es Salaam. I had an eight hour layover so I settled into the only restaurant at the airport so I could study. Tanzania was playing Morocco in football and it was fun watching all of the porters cramming up near the TV cheering their national team on. They lost. Morocco had much better forwards.

Once I boarded the flight to Amsterdam I was able to meet several of the Moroccon football players as we all we waited to take off. They looked bigger on TV.

I realize that if your reading this blog you’re catching it all at once. Internet was a total bust in Mwanza so I’ve had to wait until I got home to upload the entries. Waiting in Amsterdam wasn’t all a loss. Who doesn’t need a Starbucks Amsterdam mug (not to mention a good cup of coffee)? Mary Beth will be most pleased!
I plan on returning to Mwanza in April to teach the Pastors a course on Bible Doctrines. They had two responses to my teaching: 1) Shame for previously taking the Bible out of context, and 2) a desire for further theological studies. If the Lord allows I will be able to return for a few more trips to equip these great men further. I have nothing but admiration for these men who work through the difficulties of extreme poverty, lack of education, and a growing Muslim influence in their government and culture. They’re standing strong for Christ and I count it an honor to stand with them.

I plan on finding funding for two projects:
1) A grinding machine for Lucy and her women’s ministry partners. The cost for an electric one is only $1,000, but it will allow them to get the job done faster, and more importantly, provide an income to provide for their families.
2) The beginnings of the church structure at Joseph’s church. For $1,500 I can give them a metal roofed structure that is nothing more than poles and a roof, but will enable them to build up mud brick walls over time. This will be a great beginning to their new church location that will give them a base for evangelism and training. Currently they meet under a shade tree or rented classroom when available.

Thanks for your prayers and interest in this journey. If you wish to help with either of these projects, please let me know.

- Blessings, James

P.S. As we were boarding our flight, a voice came over the airport intercom welcoming everyone to join in the church service at one of the airport lounges. Amsterdam is an interesting city. Take that Portland!

Teaching-Day Four

What a wonderful week we’ve had together. Our last day together was centered around learning the Application: “What should I do?” step of Inductive Bible Study.

I walked them through this basic point: you are wasting your time if you read and study Scripture but don’t intend to obey it (James 1:22-25 & Luke 6:46-49).

We started by looking at condensing the verse or passage down into a principle or truth. That was a new thought for them, but I think they got it.

One of the exercises I took them through today was the “application wheel” where we ask how this applies/affects God, us, our families, other Christians, non-Christians, our work/school, our culture, and Satan. We looked up several passages, found the main principle and then worked the applications out for the varying relationships. It was fun and I saw the lights coming on!

After lunch (lunch is from 2-3pm here), I meet with each Pastor and heard their prayer requests and prayed for them. We closed the day by giving them each a copy of the Africa Bible Commentary. This one volume commentary was written with the help of African Pastors and includes various studies that relate to their specific situations (ancestor worship, modern-day prophets, African church history, etc…).

Although it’s only one volume, it’s the only commentary available in Swahili, so it’s a blessing to them. Only two of these Pastors have any sort of library, so it’s their Bible and this. There isn’t even a study Bible in Swahili, so we’re pretty spoiled back home. BTW, this just came out in July, so none of them have even seen it yet. Some had heard of it, but it’s too expensive for them to afford. However, it’s only $20, so I paid for them. Seems like good use of God’s money.

Tomorrow I fly home and will touchdown on Sunday at PDX at 1:45pm (Mwanza to Dar es Salaam to Amsterdam to Portland). It will be good to be back home. I miss my family and “real” food! Thanks for your prayers.
- Blessings, James

Teaching-Day Three

Our most difficult day is behind us! Our entire day was focused on properly interpreting the Bible. The two most difficult rules of interpretation to grasp for the group was, 1) Interpret Literally, and 2) Interpret in Context. I could see the wheels of their mind turning as we covered these.

It seems that for many African Pastors every passage of the Bible can be taken out of context and used with no regard to the original intent. We had several examples of this that we worked on in our class today.

The other great struggle that they face is trying to find the deeper meaning in each passage. Even when the meaning is very simple and clear they want to find a “deeper,” more spiritual meaning. Again, we had many passages that we used as examples of the plain meaning of each passage.
Today’s topic generated many questions! Modern day prophecy was the subject of much of their questions. It’s a normal day when some, so-called, self-proclaimed prophet comes to town drawing large crowds around him or her teaching “new” and “just revealed” messages from God. Of course, they do all of this for a fee. If you bring all of your money to this prophet they promise to put God’s blessings on it. Then, of course, they talk the people out of their money-all in the name of God.

Tomorrow we finish with Application- “What do I do?” Until then…

- Blessings, James

Teaching-Day Two

Another great day with the Pastors! I had given them homework last night so they were finishing when I arrived.

Today’s training focused on “Observation: What does the Text say?” It’s so easy for us to jump into the Bible and already have decided what it says vs. slowly and methodically reading it looking for its actual meaning. Anyone can have this problem, but it seems that many African Pastors suffer from the desire to make everything an allegory. Their conclusions might not be wrong, but they didn’t get them from the text right in front of them. Correct observation is key to looking at the Bible without bringing our preconceived notions into it.

After lunch I had them pose for this picture so you could pray for them these next few days. Tomorrow will be focused on proper interpretation of the Scriptures. It will probably be the hardest subject to teach. Please pray for wisdom and understanding.

- Blessings, James

Teaching-Day One

Today has been a great day with the Pastors. We began at 9am with songs and introductions. Most of these men have traveled a day’s journey to be here and they are hungry for training.

Today was a foundation day-a day to remind ourselves about the sufficiency of the Bible in our everyday lives. We began the morning by looking at the power and the purpose of God’s Word in their lives. We then spent time looking at the Pastor’s responsibility to study and the Holy Spirit’s role in effective Bible Study.

I closed with an overview of the next three days:
1. Observation: “What does it say?”
2. Interpretation: “What does it mean?”
3. Application: “What do I do?”

I’ve given them the task of picking a short Bible book (4 Chapters or less) to read and re-read tonight. They’re to ask the “who, what, where, when, why, and how” questions and be prepared to share what they’ve learned first thing in the morning.

So far everything is going very well. It was a roaster last night with no AC nor fan, so I’m not looking forward to tonight. When I get back to my room I hope to put my running gear on and run a few miles. We’ll see if I can stand running in the heat-it’s 91 degrees at the moment.

Here are a few pictures from today:

Where I’m teaching.

What I’m eating (beans, rice, potatoes, and sweet bananas).

Who’s cooking (the woman in front is Esther-Pastor Joseph’s wife).

What I’m teaching (that’s what Swahili looks like).

Take care my friends. Please continue to pray for teachable and receptive hearts.

- Blessings, James

Made it to Mwanza

It was a long series of flights, but I’ve finally arrived in Mwanza, Tanzania where I’ll be for the next five days.

Pastors Joseph and Lucas picked me up from the airport and showed me to my accommodations for my stay. There is no AC, nor fan, but a slight breeze comes in from the lake every few minutes. That’s a nice touch.

All you really need is a bed with a net and you’re good to go. Thankfully the bathrooms have hot water-that will feel good.

After a few hours of rest to catch up on energy, Joseph and Lucas returned and we had a late lunch in town. They choose a pizza place and who was I to complain?

I’ll use the rest of the afternoon and night to settle in to my new time zone. As I write this it’s 7:05pm in Mwanza, but only 9:05am in Hillsboro.

Tomorrow begins four days of 9-5 training. I’m anticipating good times ahead!

- Blessings, James

Location:Mwanza, Tanzania, East Africa

Departure Morning

I’m sitting here at PDX waiting for my first flight to Tanzania. It will take me until Monday at noon to get to Mwanza and I hope my body is up to the task.

This week I’ll be training the Pastors in Inductive Bible Study Methods. The goal of Inductive study is to learn to Read, Interpret, and Apply the Scriptures. This is such a needed class in Africa, as many Pastors have not been schooled at all-and if they have been, they have not been trained to study the Bible for themselves.

Why Mwanza, Tanzania? Last January I had the good fortune to travel with my friend, Steve Van Horn of ITEM Ministries to Arusha, Tanzania to train these same Pastors and they asked me to return for more training. They are centralized around the lower Lake Region of Tanzania. Lake Victoria borders Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya and is a strategic location.

I have to board my first flight now, so I’ll tell you more of their story in the next post. Please pray for teachable hearts and minds.

Pastor James