Doors of Hope on Windows of Soul

I remember slipping into the back row of the wooden plank church shelter, curiously resembling a single-wide trailer. The narrow building was lined with rough cut benches and a smattering of homemade sitting implements, all uninhabited for the time being. The vibrant, dancing praise from the small congregation was unusually devoid of dust, as the freshly cut grass floor covering the pale sand padded the excited worshippers, so thrilled to have their small village chosen for meetings of this sort. The Church was situated 100 yards off the shoreline, and in this windy season the steady sound of breakers striking Senero’s beach was a welcome addition to our song and dance. Our team of 14 outnumbered the local attendees on this Tuesday morning, but as the leader began to bellow “Mpambatira Mukama,” a tune now familiar to our visitors, every hand was raised while voices confessed in the Luganda language, “My heart longs for You, I love You my God!”

We had come to this landing site for a dual purpose: to pour gasoline on the flames glowing in the hearts of the few church members, and to plunder souls from the gates of Hell. Though I could go on and on describing the fruitfulness of the morning’s conference, the door to door ministry, the afternoon evangelistic meeting, and the evening showing of the Jesus film, there was one quiet moment unnoticed by all present, that was etched into my recollection that wild morning.

The boy was sitting next to his mother on the second-to-last bench as I came in with cameras poised to capture the moments of ministry delivered by members of Westside Church in Bend, Oregon. I had used enough stealth to arrive undetected by the other adults, but somehow caught the attention of this young child, no more than two years old. His double-take turned into increasingly longer glances until he swiveled around and faced me for an unashamed stare at this white intruder.

I can only imagine what the curious little guy was thinking, but as I looked into his unguarded eyes, all the busy logistics of planning and executing this difficult mission, the timeline for day, and even my current objective of capturing ministry endeavors on film all melted into painful reality. This kid lives here. He was probably born on these shores, stays with a splintered family in a filthy one room shelter, and knows no comforts but the rags that hang on his thin frame and the young mama by his side, busy breast feeding the newest arrival. In a fishing village of 500, with but one fledgling primary school and hours away from modern civilization, the little man has little prospects for a better life than his fisherman father who undoubtedly spends each night on the lake, toiling for food to eat.

Something about the stripling’s eyes made me reconsider my pitying thoughts midstream. Because of our close proximity to the backdoor, I could see a perfect reflection in his eyes of what now looked to me a glimmer of hope. The light streaming in from the open door encapsulated at the edge of the boy’s soul reminded me of the whole point of our ministry in Senero, the whole point of the Gospel. Jesus’ Good News remains focused on the transformation of lives--lives that clearly include children such as this. Due to the message of the cross, this boy need not live his life in an impoverished struggle for survival devoid of abundant life. Regardless of his whereabouts or life circumstances, the young man can grow as a child of the King of kings, with all rights and privileges of the godly.

As I quietly stole out the door to take my place in front of the Church, I soberly reconsidered my role as one who is called, equipped, and sent to point God’s children toward the hope of overflowing life. Jesus, burn it on my eyes!

A Recent Email

Subject: Lessons from Kibanga
From: Brent Earwicker
Date: June 20, 2009 10:50:57 PM GMT+03:00
To: Westside Church Mission Team 2008

Hey Guys,
Hope you're all doing great in your respective corners of the world. I just got back from a 150 mile, three day tour of the islands, visiting some of the places we've been in the past year, checking on the pastors and their sheep and praying about where to take our teams in the next month. Pastor Joash, Uncle Michael, and I returned to both Kaaya and Kibanga where we ministered with you last summer and I wanted to fill you in on the details of what I found there, since I learned a thing or two on the trip.

In Kaaya, I think you could sense (as I did) that the people there were humble, genuine, and overflowing with the love of God. Reaching them this time, we found them in the same faithful state, simply loving Jesus and working for Him with pure hearts. Pastor David and Jim (the church elder who speaks good English and is writing the book about the islands) took us around the whole of Lulamba Island (where Kaaya is located) and a couple surrounding ones so we could get a comprehensive understanding of what the needs of the places are. After our little tour, we sat in David's house and told the church leaders that they have a different spirit about them (that Scripture from the book of Daniel) and that continuing to be humble, obedient, and faithful would surely exalt them in due time.

These simple guys really opened up the door to this "new" island chain, and a day after leaving we all agreed we should take the team to attack Lulamba with the Gospel. Pastor David had a dream days before he knew we were coming this week. The Lord showed him that we would be setting our tents in his front yard - this terrified him since the island is so primitive, without proper facilities, especially for a whole team of whites! We left blessed, and are excited to bless them back in a couple weeks.

The next day, in a rush to get to another location before nightfall, we landed at Kibanga and asked for Sunday (the guy who they called Pastor, who was our main contact for the ministry there last year). We found him, hurriedly asked him where we could buy a little fuel, and as we scurried to get it poured into our jerry can, he gave us the good news/bad news scenario: The pastor from the church up the trail forced all the new believers from our crusade to walk to the old church building for weekly fellowship. This was the right thing to do since there was not a proper shepherd in Kibanga. He said many of them are standing strong in the Lord and continuing to make the walk to church. That was exciting, good news!

The bad news is that Sunday's wife left him with their seven children recently. He was so disheartened by this and overwhelmed by the burden of caring and providing for them alone that he gave up fellowship with the Church and left the faith. We found him in this state. As I took his hands with Pastor Joash and prayed for him, it seemed he was even a bit embarrassed to pray publicly with us. But after, he did seem a bit encouraged, and we pledged to call him in the near future to see how he's doing.

The trip was about checking on folks and seeing new places, but really took on a ministry of encouragement in every place we landed. Pastor Joash continually commented on the importance and power of simply visiting people and encouraging them in the Lord, since the impact on the people was so evident.

One major lesson I learned from the follow up this week is that we definitely went about our ministry in Kibanga the wrong way. We should never have gone there to do evangelism without properly connecting to a nearby existing church unless we were prepared to start one ourselves with a called, qualified, equipped shepherd who would stay and carry on the work. You remember the spiritual heaviness in the place and the attack on us personally, on the equipment, the LandCruiser, and every part of that mission. Then in the eyes of the unbelievers and believers from the area, we put emphasis on a man who didn't have a stable home life and wasn't able to hold on to Jesus when times got rough. The people called him "Pastor," but the Master hadn't. We attempted to start a "fellowship" in the area without a leader and set them up for failure. Good enough, God still works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. In the end, some were saved and are becoming disciples in a nearby church. But in future days, we'll for sure change how we go about our ministry here, especially in unreached fishing villages known for ghosts.

Just wanted to keep you in the loop and let you in on the follow up from your trip last year. Hope you're encouraged - please keep praying for all the precious souls on the islands!

See you soon,
-Brent

I Will Help: Stanley

There is a young man who came to us a couple years ago as we were beginning our first leadership school on Bussi Island. His pastor spoke for him, recommending he join the class and learn how to be a minister of the Gospel. Stanley Kabuye was enrolled and after months of strenuous labor in the Word of God, attended his very first graduation ceremony, receiving a certificate in Biblical Studies.

Now, just over a year later, Brother Stanley has remained a leader in his local church in the small village of Mabamba, on Bussi Island. He’s gone from a shy teenager to a man on fire, desperately desiring to reach his island with the Gospel. He accompanies the teams that go out from the Mabamba Church, preaching on the trails and from house to house.

Recently Stanley shared with his pastor the desire to learn to play the guitar. He knows that this uncommon instrument would be a big draw and that people would gather to hear him play and sing about his Savior. This ministry tool would provide a great opportunity to share the message of the cross with all who would hear him.

I’m willing to help Stanley with occasional lessons to get him started, but he must have his own instrument to use in training and in the work of evangelism. An inexpensive good quality acoustic guitar can be purchased here in Uganda for around $200. You can help Stanley Kabuye reach his island with the love of Jesus. Click here to help.

All contributions given through this site are tax-deductible through our administrative partner, The Cause.

I Will Help: Lawrence

A few days ago I did an informal survey to the collective 1,000+ people that follow our ministry on Facebook and Twitter:

If I were to regularly post pressing needs of personal Ugandan friends, would you be interested in giving small $'s to help change lives?

Many of our friends and followers said yes to this impromptu mission that goes beyond our regularly scheduled programs and ministries - they would want to be involved. So from time to time, you'll see posts on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter, that give you opportunity to turn your pocket change into life change for people we are personally in contact with. Any amount, from $1 and up, will make a huge difference in the lives of these needy friends.

Here's our opening occasion:

My friend Lawrence is a brother from our life group in Entebbe. He's been looking for a job for a few months and has done some odd jobs around our house in the meantime. His landlord has recently informed him that he must find a new place to live by the end of the month, and with no income and while caring for his two year old son, his situation seems impossible. To top it all off, Lawrence was robbed of all his clothes Friday while away at an overnight prayer meeting. I'm raiding my closet to get him more than one set of clothes to wear, but you can help us refurnish his wardrobe. Click here to help.

All contributions given through this site are tax-deductible through our administrative partner, The Cause.

Update 12 June, 2009:
Thank you for your generous donations! The $50 that came in for Lawrence will not only help him with new clothes, but will also pay his rent for up to three months. A little bit goes a long way in Uganda.

Foundations of Fruitfulness

I had an important conversation with my dad last night. In our few minute video call via Skype, he inquired as to what our biggest encouragement has been recently. I responded that the worship times at church inside of the music ministry we’re helping to head has grown in leaps and bounds. To have an operational team and to be free from technical work to worship Jesus and lead others into His presence has been refreshing.

“Your greatest frustration?” The continual setback of acquiring our own water transportation for the field God has sent us too. One year after buying our first boat, the thing still sits in our driveway, unusable. A mechanic sits in the town jail, and a new boat sits on the beach without an engine. A call this morning to the Yamaha center after a month of waiting revealed that it may be another month of sitting before they get new stock for us to purchase.

As I voiced my thoughts on how to meld the ministry on the islands with the local church and my manifest lack of knowledge on the merger, Dad reminded me of what season we’re in: “Don’t you think as an American, you want instant results when it really takes time to lay foundations for future fruitfulness?” His gentle reminders to not be so hard on ourselves or expect everything to happen immediately was just the thing my little overwhelmed heart and mind needed. He took the pressure off.

One of the elders at Williamson River Christian Fellowship did the same thing in January - instructing us to pace ourselves for the long haul, and that we ought to take whole weeks to stay at home and be refreshed when necessary. To hear this from our biggest financial backers was a sizable stress reliever. Our pastor at Family Life Church told us over a Bloomin’ Onion at Outback: “Of course you’re not fulfilled! This is plowing season! We’re not reaping the full harvest at the church here either. But we have our hand to the plow...”

I’ve picked up a nice little nugget of literature off my shelf in the last few days: 50 Missionary Heroes Every Boy and Girl Should Know. This little chronicle of biographies written for children in 1913 is giving me a glimpse into the immense sacrificial labor so many went through to pave the way for the gospel throughout the nations. In bygone generations, it took years - sometimes decades - to win a single soul for the Kingdom. Here I am frustrated over some lost time with a boat engine while at the same time we’ve seen scores transformed by the power of the Word. In our 2.5 years in East Africa already thousands have been impacted by our simple proclamation of Jesus.

“...the good thing is that you guys are in this for the long haul. If if takes five to eight years to lay a foundation, it’s well worth the investment!” Thanks for the reminder Dad!