Musicians Bless Bulawayo Youth

In early December, the John Ivins Band from Powhatan, VA came to Bulawayo for 10 days to minister to the youth of Bulawayo Baptist Church, by leading their annual youth camp, plus a number of other ministries. After flight delays, the team arrived in Bulawayo on a Sunday afternoon, and immediately dove into ministry, leading the Sunday night youth service at the church. Even though the team was tired, it was an awesome experience for everyone.

Early the next morning, we left for a whirlwind visit to Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park. During two short days, we were able to visit the Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and a World Heritage Site, spend a night at a lodge by a watering hole in the game park, game drive (where we saw lions!), and still be back in Bulawayo in time for the group to participate in The Crave, which is weekly service held on Wednesday nights at Bulawayo Baptist for the young adult group (ages 19-30).

On this week, the band members led out in a panel discussion, answering questions relevant to these young adults. The topics covered centered around healthy relationships and marriage, and included what do families look like in the states, how did you choose music for your ministry, how does your ministry impact your family, and for Billy and Amy (the one married couple in the band), how did you meet and fall in love, plus lots more.

On Thursday morning, the band had the opportunity to visit Mazwi, a relocation area for people who had formerly lived in a squatter camp. They were able to lead a short worship service for members of Mazwi Baptist Church and others in the community. It was certainly a lively time, with lots of singing, dancing, and celebration. And all with a couple of acoustic guitars and a djembe! That was quite a different experience for the band, who are used to playing with electric guitars, a full drum set, and all the electronics! But God was glorified in all they did.


 Friday was the first day of the youth camp. After spending the morning setting up, sound checks, etc., the opening service was held on Friday evening. What an awesome time! There was great music, and the youth really did worship the Father during the evening.

Since the band's bass player could not make the trip, Mthabisi, one of the young men in the church joined the band for the weekend.  A gifted musician, he really did an awesome job. 
                                     

 John (Ivins) was also the keynote speaker for the camp, and all during the weekend he brought powerful messages based around the theme for this year’s camp, Making a Difference.”

 John led them first through understanding that if they want to make a difference in the world around them, they must first determine what they believe. From there they can impact those around them. He showed them how their choices affect those they come into contact with. And he helped them to understand some of the ways God speaks to us to guide us in our lives to make a difference. During the final service, each of the small groups shared the Lord's Supper.  What a meaningful way to close out our camp weekend. 

This was a very special time for me (Ramona Beam), since these are old and dear friends, who came to ministry alongside me here in Bulawayo. I often had opportunities to play with them before coming to the field, and it was a very special blessing for me to have the chance to sit in with the band once again on keyboard.
                                    


Thanks, guys, for this very wonderful time. I’m hoping this will be the first of many visits to Bulawayo for the band. Of this trip, John said, “We have visited in many different countries doing this type of ministry, but it was mostly just a one-time thing, and we were content to leave it at that. Never before have we all felt that we really need to come back and continue to develop the relationships we have started to form here.”

Submitted by Ramona Beam, Member of Zimbabwe Evangelism Team

Student Retreats January 2016

This year we did not have one student retreat, but three. One of the major reasons we did this was to try to include more young people and give them the opportunity to experience a discipleship retreat. We had retreats in Gokwe, Gweru and Sanyati. Our longtime partnering and supporting church, friends, brethren, family from First Baptist Murray State KN were three this time, Sanyati boy Warren Edminster, his daughter Lauren and a young man named Joel. I am so grateful for their support and their efforts to come here. I am amazed how they go out of their way to remember Zimbabwe and have a burden to see Zimbabwe’s young people grow in their faith and transform generations. The Theme for the three retreats was from 1 Peter 2:9-10: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his glorious light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." Our lessons were based on this scripture and we also used discipleship material from a book by Watchman Nee: The Normal Christian Life.

The Gokwe retreat was held in Gokwe Central Baptist Church at the Gokwe Center. We had young people from most of the different areas of the Gokwe association. Some also came from Kwekwe, Gweru, Bulawayo as well as Tongaland. We had over 50 young people and a few even joined us from the nearby Methodist Church.

Pictured here are Warren and some of the young people from Gokwe and Kwekwe, also with him are Pastor Bongola from Tongaland (standing 2nd from right) and student Pastors at the Baptist Theological Serminary Shakie Chekai (standing 1st right) Norman Ncube (seated). P

Rev Lackson Chiombera is seen here relaxing with some of the advisors. I (Willie Green) am wearing a hat. Also pictured is the new Gokwe Association youth chairman.

The second retreat was in Gweru at the Baptist Conference Centre. Even though there was a much smaller group of young people at this retreat, we had young people from Chinhoyi, Kwekwe, Bulawayo, Harare and some student pastors from the Baptist Seminary.

We had great sessions on the theme just as in Gokwe, but also because of our numbers we had a different touch to the retreat, we had opportunities to go into discussion groups with different questions based on the discipleship materials.

For some this was a time of renewing acquaintances with young people from different parts of Zimbabwe. For others it was a time of making new friendships.

Some of the young men in this picture met together on the last night of the retreat and had a very special and deeply spiritual time of sharing and discussion. They testified to other young people how these retreats had shaped their walk with the Lord and how much they had benefitted from this. The final retreat was at Sanyati at the mission station where we had youth from all the surrounding churches in that association.

We had more than 50 young people join us for the evening services.

One of the sweetest moments at Sanyati was working with the children at the Vacation Bible School. The students who had come for the retreat went out and invited children to come and participate. They hoped about 30 children would be able to come, but over 140 children participated! It was great to see the young people learning how they themselves can minister to others and teach them what they have learned.

We hope and pray to be able to do more retreats in future years and we see ourselves having these in different areas but more particularly in the remote areas so more young people will be able to participate in these discipleship opportunities. God bless our friends from First Baptist Church of Murray, Kentucky, Warren Edminster, the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe, our Youth Director Rev. Lackson Chiombera and all the young people who benefitted from these retreats. Submitted by Willie Green, President of the Baptist Youth of the Baptist Covention of Zimbabwe.

The Sandra Jones Center

Old Hotel Rio is a place you just want to take your shoes off and run around in the grass. First because of the obvious, its grass, in Africa. But second because your running with a mass of 3 year olds behind you. You're running with the sound of tiny voices yelling, "Auntie!!!!" As you walk in for tea time, you scan the room for a chair to sit in. You see little feet, shoeless, dangling, and kicking vigorously in their seats. You sit with some older girls and they smile and giggle as you ask them about their tea and how school is going for them. They love to hear you speak, they hang onto your words as they come out of your mouth. They starve for your attention. You see, they have been left, they have been abused, they have been broken, and they need your love. They crave it, its why they ask if you will be returning to them. They want to be sure you won't leave forever. They have come to memorize the day and time of our coming and going, they wait outside as if they were just hanging out out there, in reality you can see in their faces they were waiting for us to drive up. These children have been brought to the Sandra Jones Center, now located at the Old Hotel Rio. They range from birth to 18. They have either been abused in one way or another or just simply abandoned. They are beautiful souls. Beautiful souls in need of Jesus Christ. Us Bulawayo girls have had the privilege and honor to invest our spare time and energy into these children. Some of their precious little faces consume my thoughts at times. They are so full of life, so full of joy, it just ebbs out of them into us and we keep coming back for more. So often I think we find ourselves more ministered to by those we are supposed to be ministering to. God has been good in opening doors and windows and flood gates for us to just pour into this group of children and teens. We have been given the opportunity to share the love of Christ through math tutoring, swim lessons, bible studies, and starting very soon a volley ball team! We take time to do every day things so as to invest for an eternity. We are excited to see what all is going to unfold in our time with these girls, but for now, we know that this is where the Father wants us.

Mberengwa Youth Camp August 2011

The Mberengwa Insiza Baptist Association was formed Easter Sunday of this year in the Mberengwa area of Zimbabwe, with eight churches making up the association. In June, another church was planted in the area. August 12-14, 2011 marked the first ever youth camp for the Mberengwa Insiza Baptist Association. There were 54 youth who attended the camp, held at Sharuo Primary School. The youth arrived all during the afternoon on Friday, some walking from as far away as 10-12 kilometers to attend the camp.



After an evening meal, and an initial welcome session and praise service, the youth found places to sleep in the classrooms at the school, girls in one classroom, boys in another. Early the next morning, some of the local ladies provided breakfast for the youth.



A goat had been slaughtered the day before as the youth were arriving, so for breakfast there was an ample supply of sadza, as well as a relish made from cooked cabbage, tomatoes, and onions, and, of course, the goat. Sadza is a staple in the Zimbabwean diet, consisting of mealie meal (similar to corn meal) cooked into a thick paste about the consistency of mashed potatoes. The camp sessions began after breakfast with Bible study times during the morning.



I(Ramona Beam)was privileged to be one of the speakers, and had the opportunity to share the True Love Waits abstinence program for youth with this group. Of those hearing TLW for the first time, 25 youth signed commitment cards to remain sexually pure until marriage. It was so heartening to watch as they came to me all during the afternoon, saying they wanted to sign the cards. Fifty youth had previously signed commitment cards, when TLW was presented during the Easter Conference earlier this year. Some of those youth were also in attendance at the youth camp. Please pray that all of these young people will be strong in the face of the many pressures that life brings here. There is so much temptation for youth to become sexually active, both from peer pressure, and sometimes even from older family members. Pray for protection from these things for these youth.



After lunch, also provided by the local ladies, the afternoon was a time for fun and games during the recreation time. The youth enjoyed games of soccer, netball, and others. For youth in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, times of carefree recreation such as this are rare, so they were enjoyed by all. Supper was served after a time of relaxation and personal time, then everyone gathered together for the evening service, which began around 7:00pm.



The service included an extended time of worship and praise, and oh, how these kids love to sing. And dance! To hear them singing praises to God at the top of their voices, and to see their energetic dancing as part of that praise, was just awesome. I must admit, I even gave it a try myself. They just kept singing; it just went on and on, and it seemed they never got tired. A message was brought by Pastor Willie Green, who is the youth coordinator for the association, and afterwards we went into an extended time of prayer, followed by more worship. Before we knew it, it was almost 11:00pm, and they were still singing!