School supplies for orphans

More than 50% of the kids in most schools in Zimbabwe have only one parent living as a result of HIV AIDS. About 1/3 of the students are orphans. As a result, these children are at risk of not receiving their education. Thanks to several churches in the U.S. who have donated funds to purchase school supplies and Baptist Global Response who has paid for exercise books (like spiral notebooks) we have been able to help many students in rural schools in Mberengwa, in and around Gweru, in Bulawayo and in Harare this year.



After the school supplies are obtained, we go and visit with the headmaster (principal) of each school and seek to obtain a list of the most needy children in the school.



Then we ask him to assemble these children and we pass out the supplies to the children themselves because we want to ensure that the pupils receive them. Then the headmaster usually allows us to address the students and give a brief witness to the students and pray for them.



We have been able to supply children in primary (elementary) schools and secondary (high) school. We do not have middle schools in Zimbabwe.



It is such a wonderful experience to see the excitement and gratitude on the faces of the children who receive the school supplies.



“O God, you are the helper of the fatherless . . .You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed. . . God sets the lonely in families.” (Psalm 10:14,17,18, Psalm 68:6a NIV)

Pray for the orphans of Zimbabwe that God would be their helper, that He would listen to their cries, encourage them, defend them, and give them families that will love them and take care of them.

Orphan Care Center in Mberengwa

Near Neta in the Mberengwa Resettlement Area are 16 abandoned huts in an old farm compound close to a primary school and a high school. The community has been concerned about the number of orphans in the area who are not able to attend school. Some of the new Christians are giving of their time and efforts to help refurbish these huts so orphans can live in them (like a boarding facility) during the school term. During the school holidays and on weekends they will live with their extended family members.



In order to refurbish them, the roofs are being re-thatched. They will each have one small narrow window and a sturdy door placed on them.



Plans are to put 2 sets of bunk beds in each hut, so eventually 64 orphans could stay here. Pray that all will be in place for the orphans to be cared for before the beginning of the next school year in January 2012.

Baptism at Shauro

Seventy-four new believers were baptized on March 20, 2011 at Shauro in the Mberengwa Resettlement Area. Because there was no surface water, children helped pump water from the well to fill the tarp-lined animal watering trough. Then the baptismal candidates, as well as observers stood around and watched, singing choruses as one person left the water and another entered.



Soon to graduate seminary student, Willie Green, was given the opportunity to baptize for the first time and baptized men, women, and children of all ages.



During the baptism, this beautiful butterfly symbolically flew in and out among all those observing or waiting their turn to be baptized.



After the baptism, we all met under the shade of three shade trees to worship together.



Continue to pray for these new believers that they will grow in their knowledge and relationship with the Lord.

Lifestyle Evangelism

Recently, Zimbabwe Evangelism Team Member Marleen Robinson had two opportunities to witness as she was going about her daily routine:

Having completed the business I was doing I exited a building and a man approached me who was selling paintings. He had four nice paintings but I told him I didn’t have room in my house for any of them. I asked him his name and if he went to church. He said his name was Mr. Motsi and that he attends a Catholic church. So I asked him if he knew for sure when he died that he would have eternal life with God? He said he didn’t know, but I assured him that he could know, and quoted 1 John 5:13. Then I asked him why God would give him eternal life and he gave an answer about trying to do good things or go to church.

He listened while I shared the gospel with him. I often asked questions to see if he understood what I was saying. When I finished talking with him I stressed the importance of making a decision soon because no one knew for sure when they would die. I told him he could think about it or that I could lead him in a prayer to ask Jesus into his life. He replied, “Madam, I am prepared.” To which I asked, “You mean you are prepared to die?” He looked a bit shaken, but said, “No, I’m prepared to pray!” So Mr. Motsi became a believer that day.

Please pray for him that he will find a Bible and begin reading the book of John. I may never see him again, so pray that he will get involved in a church where he can grow as a believer. Pray also, that he will share his salvation with his family.

Another day in the flea market I met a man named Thomas. He was selling just the item I was looking for and assured me he could get the number I needed. He was smoking and I told him that smoking could kill him because it could give him cancer and he could die from that. Of course he countered with how hard it is to quit. I told him that it may not be easy, but I knew a way he could have the strength to stop smoking. I told him that Jesus could give him the power in his life to stop. There were several other curio vendors there who listened and began participating in the conversation.

When I asked Thomas if he knew for certain he would have eternal life he couldn’t really answer and another man answered when I asked why God should give someone eternal life. He thought going to church and doing good things was enough. I explained that there was nothing that we could do that was good enough. We talked about sin and how Jesus died on the cross and took the punishment we should have had.

When we reached the point of making a decision for Christ I asked him if he wanted to think about it or did he want me to pray with him then. He said he wanted me to pray with him. I asked him if he was really serious or was he just saying that because he was trying to please me? He said, “Yes, I’m really serious. I want to have eternal life with God and I want my children to know about God.” I led Thomas in a prayer for salvation and told him to start reading the gospel of John in his Bible. I told him I would be back in a few days to let him know about the items and that I would check to see if he was reading. I invited him to church and he asked me for the address which I gladly wrote down for him.

Please pray for Thomas that he will share what happened to him today with his family. Pray that he will become involved in a church so he can grow. Pray also that the other vendors who were listening will soon commit their lives to Christ, too.

Visioning Trip

The first step in working with a partnering church from the U.S., or group of churches, is often a visioning trip with representatives who come to see what kind of work they might be able to do. Recently a visioning team came from Trinity Baptist Church in LA made up of Pastor Steve James, missions pastor Greg Bath, Dr. Dick Landry, and Mike Reed, a nurse. They spent the first 2 nights of their visioning trip in a tent on the grounds of a primary school.

This classroom was used during the day for discussions about the potential partnership and meals were cooked and eaten here.



They began their tour in South Central Zimbabwe in the Mberengwa resettlement area which has been very responsive and is made up of a mix of Shona and Ndebele people. Missionary Gregg Fort put them to work showing the Jesus Film, preaching, playing with the school kids, and participating in a Sunday morning worship in which more than 40 people were baptized and participated in the Lord’s Supper together for the first time. Pastor Steve James stood in the baptismal waters beside Pastor I. as this special event was celebrated.



Greg Bath had an opportunity to address the school children and gave them a short lesson on trusting God in the storms of life.



Then missionary Gregg Fort took them on a tour of Tongaland where they were able to visit with Pastor S. and discuss the spiritual and physical needs in Tongaland which their church could address.



The tour concluded with a trip to Victoria Falls and a meal at the Boma where they were able to experience African food as well as a variety of game meat. They were all game to eat their mopane worm!



“Jesus (and his disciples) went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:35-36 NIV)

Pray for this Visioning Team which desires to help their church members know how they can personally meet the spiritual and physical needs of some of the people in Zimbabwe. Pray that God will show them where and how He is calling them to join Him in the work of His kingdom.

New Missionary Training 40/40

New Missionaries are required to go through an intensive 3 week training course once they reach the field. The emphasis of this training is to help the new missionary value the importance of culture and language learning as well as the importance of personal evangelism. Our newest team member, Ramona Beam, attended 40/40 and this is her description of the experience.


Surviving 40/40
During October and November, I had the opportunity to travel to Burkina Faso in West Africa to attend 40/40, which is a month-long, intensive on-the-field orientation for new personnel serving in the Sub-Saharan Africa Affinity Group.



After some visa issues which delayed my travel for a few days, I arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a Sunday afternoon and immediately jumped into the training sessions.
The training is divided into three basic parts, each about a week long. The first week consisted of urban training, during which we went out in pairs, with a local translator, to assigned neighborhood to gather information and talk with people. Each day, we were given an assignment to ask questions about different topics, such as health issues, family issues, death and funerals, religion, etc. Each of these daily field assignments, or DFAs was designed to teach us how to ask the right questions to learn about culture when we return to our own places of ministry. We also had many opportunities to share Christ with people we came into contact with. Afternoons were spent in debriefing the morning times, as well as lectures on culture, religion, etc.



For week two, we traveled to Ghana, to the village of Nalerigu where there is a Baptist hospital and guest house. The training followed the same format as the previous week, except this time we were in a rural setting. It was really interesting to me to find that the answers to some of the same questions brought very different answers here in the villages.
A highlight of the week was our formal introduction to the Nayeri, or head chief. We were given an appointment, then at the proper time we were ushered into his receiving room, where he sat with all of the sub-chiefs or village elders. We were given the opportunity to ask him questions, then we were given the traditional gift of a cola nut.



Week three consisted of actually going out by twos and living in a village, with a local family. While this was by far the most physically challenging, with no electricity or running water, sleeping on mats on the floor, and no “facilities”, it was absolutely the most rewarding part of the training. We had the opportunity to get to know our host families, eating what they eat, working alongside them, and learning first-hand about their culture and lives. My partner and I were guests of Rev. George and his family in the village of Sulamboma. This village has over 1,000 people, and Rev. George is pastor of the Baptist church in the village, which has about 100 members.



Having the opportunity to share with this church, I with the ladies, and Becky, my partner, with the youth, was an amazing time.
The final week was spent back in Ouagadougoug, for a time of wrap-up, debriefing, and some additional training.
A highlight for me came during the week in Nalerigu. An excerpt from my journal for that week says, “Yesterday our DFA assignment was to interview someone about medicine and the spirit world. Augustino (our translator) took us to visit a chief here in Nalerigu town. It was all very proper, following the protocols for visiting a chief. We asked for permission to ask questions, then Becky (one of my partners) went through the questions on our list. Augustino had told us before we got there this man was a chief and a traditionalist, so we were surprised to hear that he immediately goes to the hospital when he or his family become ill. However, a bit more probing and he did say that before the hospital came, his grandfather had been a traditional “herbalist”.
Becky asked him if he remembered any stories from his grandfather. Though he didn’t seem to, that opened the door for me to say that we know his people have many stories handed down, and we also have stories. I asked him if we could share a story with him from God’s Word. He told us he has an older sister who follows God. He sees many good things in her life, and he would like to hear these stories. Aha! God had handed us the perfect opportunity to share Creation to Christ! I started and went through the first part, then Suzanne (another partner) took up the story with Jesus and finished out. When we were done, this old chief looked at us and said, ‘I have heard your story, and I thank you for coming to tell me. I want to follow the way of Jesus Christ.’”



In all, our group of 18 new missionaries were able to lead 33 people to Christ during the four weeks of 40/40. So, in addition to all the great information we gained that will help us in our own ministries, there are 33 new believers who will one day join us around the Throne, singing praises to Him who is worthy.

Wildfire churches in Mberengwa

We have just recently returned from a trip to the Mberengwa resettlement area where the gospel is spreading like wildfire!

The first church, you may recall was planted in March when a group of volunteers came from Bryan, TX. to work with us and Pastor I. Shortly after that 97 were baptized in a Shona speaking village area. Among those baptized that day was Mr. M who had heard the gospel was being preached and walked many miles from his Ndebele speaking village area to hear the gospel.

He then returned to his own village and began preaching the gospel! A few weeks later he phoned our convention evangelist (Pastor I. ) to say, “When can you come to my village to preach and baptize. We have more new believers here than the other group does!” So Pastor I. took some Ndebele speaking lay-leaders with him and they preached and baptized about 100 new believers.



Since then, both the Shona speaking church and Ndebele speaking church have begun new churches! There were 6 groups that we knew of, but when we traveled to Mberengwa recently discovered there are now 7!

Pastor I. realized the need for on the ground lay-leaders so he is training two men – Mr. M. who will continue to work with his Ndebele people and Mr. R. who is the man behind so many of the church starts among the Shona people. (Mr. R. is the man in the khaki colored clothes holding the list of people being baptized. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but he was dancing with joy as a friend was being baptized.)



Before the baptism, Pastor I. called the baptismal candidates together to speak to them about what baptism means and that in order to follow Christ, they would be required to leave their old traditional practices behind.



Pastor I. then sent any men who had been directly involved with the ancestor spirits to Gregg for counseling and prayer to break their ties with the spirits. The women were sent to his wife E. and Donna.

On this day, there were 34 new members from several of the congregations who had previously not been baptized. Pastor I. asked Mr. M. (in tie/dye shirt) to assist in the baptism that day so he could learn how to do it properly.



It was a joyful time of celebration as God’s children boldly proclaimed they no longer belonged to the prince of darkness, but the God of Light.