Faith in the Fog

On the way to Tanzania

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the prayers and support that have launched me on this epic journey to Tanzania. So many of you have put your money where your heart is to make this happen and I know there will be pastors in Africa who will be eternally grateful. I started this morning off at the Corner Bakery in Preston Center where my Academy Bible Study meets. It is an awesome time where grads from West Point and the Naval Academy get together for Fellowship and the Word. Awesome. My buddy Jonathan Spinks and I presented our vision to go to Iraq to share the Gospel with the troops this year and the men were very enthusiastic. I may have come off a little hard on the you need to give money piece, but when you believe in something, all bashfulness about money just ebbs away. It is how this trips was paid for.

I arrived at the airport several hours early, which was good, because I had ticket issues. Thankfully after three ticketing agents worked the computers, I was finally given a ticket. While they were doing that I was rearranging bags to keep them under 50 pounds which Praise God they all made it under 50.  With that taken care of I made it to my gate and met a really neat guy named Dion who is heading to Berlin for the World Track meet. Pretty Cool. We talked about what it was to train an athlete and we talked about faith. I showed him the I Am Second website. Unfortunately Volume always becomes an issue when showing someone that and I should have had earphones ready, but you never know with these things.

I got on the plane, napped, woke up for some food, napped again and then woke up ready to blog.

So now, I must think about what I am going to say while I am in Tanzania. We have our first meeting Saturday evening in Dar Es Salaam. I googlemapped the area so that I might know where the internet café is and where I will be staying. I couldn’t find where I was staying, but I did find an internet café. I thought we would be roughing it in a village somewhere, but it turns out, the pastors are coming to us in Dar Es Salaam. I am going to go and speak at one of their churches, which will be amazing, but I really wanted to get out among the people.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is not a sight seeing trip, but a chance to train local pastors so that they can share the Gospel effectively in their own communities.

Here are the list of talks that I am going to be doing. Feel free to give me any feedback for what you think these African Pastors need to hear. The topics were given to me by my Mission Trip Leader, Ambilike.

Pastors need to connect with the community, people outside of the church as the example for others

Feed the Flock through different teaching techniques.

Conflict Resolution

Equipping the Saints: Delegation

Okay, I am going to be videoing my thoughts along the way and posting them to www.youtube.com I will title them all Chris goes to Africa I,II, III, etc.

First Night in Africa

bili

The rest of the journey to East Africa was uneventful but long. I sat next to an Austrian lady on the way from Kilimanjaro to Dar Es Salaam. Her name was Irma and she just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was pretty neat to engage her in conversation as she talked about how wonderful socialism was except for the fact that it paid for all the Muslims who come in the country illegally and they don’t pay taxes but receive all the care that the rest of the Austrians receive. I guess that goes on everywhere.

She loved Obama and wondered if I loved him too. She told me about her life and that her daughter was soon to have a baby and she was excited. It was her first grandbaby. Her daughter was 38. She said that most look to get a solid career first and then add a baby. We talked about faith and she told me she was born Catholic, but doesn’t ever go to a church unless it is for a wedding, a funeral, or a baptism. She considered herself more Buddhist. Mainly because she went to India and saw how the Buddhists lived so peacefully and the Catholic priests have sex with everything that moves. She did say that, the priest who married her daughter and son in law was different, but she was sure he was the only one.

I told her about Jesus and about salvation. She told me that everyone has their own way to heaven and we just have to tolerate one another. She told me Jesus was one of the masters, but not the master. I said that it was really hard to believe that, because Jesus made so many exclusive claims about himself. It is impossible to follow Jesus and believe the words that He said in the Bible and then say, it doesn’t really matter what you believe, we all get to heaven, because Jesus’s own words and the words of his closest followers tell me that I must believe that Christ died for the sins of man, and that he rose from the dead and in Him I have forgiveness.

I told her about coming to faith and that had to leave. She thanked me for being so kind and it really was a wonderful conversation, but Irma doesn’t know Jesus. Pray for her. Again, for me to say that would be arrogant in her eyes, but if I didn’t ask you to pray for her, I wouldn’t really be genuine would I?

My hotel is in Dar Es Salaam about a mile or two from the Indian Ocean. We got in late and Ambilike picked me up from the airport. There of course were a hundred taxi cab drivers pleading with me for me to ride in their taxi. Ambilike who is getting his doctorate from Dallas Theological Seminary and from Tanzania picked me up. He had trouble driving on the left side of the road as three years in America had totally changed his driving habits. We drove about 3 miles from the airport and turned down a dirt road. Although a city with hundreds of thousands of people, only the main roads are paved. People are buying and selling and are out in the streets all night. Ambilike told me that it was like that because the days are so hot. But it shouldn’t be too hot because it isn’t summer here. Wait till February and no one is outside during the day. The whole different season thing is kind of weird. This is the first time I have been south of the Equator.

We made it to the Fine Travellers Hotel. Weird spelling, but I don’t think they care. The area we are in reminds me of Iraq. Hastily built homes surrounded by Cylinder block walls. Outside the window of the hotel, I can see someone’s crudely made outhouse. The smell is what you would come to expect in this environment. I am stared at by everyone. Needless to say there aren’t exactly a ton of white people walking around and to say that I stand out is an understatement.  My room is about the size of the office that you have in your house. The mosquito net above the bed is standard for every room in the hotel as malaria ravages the place. I am only slightly jetlagged so far.  I went to sleep and set the alarm for 5:30am.

I awoke around 5am to the mosques blaring their call to prayer. I pray that we never get Sharia law in the US for that reason alone. Although, the residents in Deerborn, Michigan do everyday I guess they deal with it. I had that in Iraq. There is something eerie about the call to prayer that I can’t describe. It is sung not spoken so it is a nonstop drone calling all those who are follower of Allah to do their duty.

This morning I am preaching at a church nearby. I don’t have a suit with me, but evidently even though everyone is super poor, they still wear suits to church. I could strangle the idiot missionaries who hundreds of years ago came to Africa and changed the dress code. This is not a place for a suit and tie, but like America back in the 40s and 50s, you didn’t go to church without one. I wonder how I will appear to the Africans who are expecting to hear from an American Pastor.

I guess they will have to get over it.

The hotel has a neat veranda that overlooks Sinza the part of town that I am in. Beer bottles and liquor bottles litter it from last night’s party. Take away the dirt roads and poverty, and this hotel looks like the aftermath of an American Frat house party—smell and all.

I am preaching this morning on Luke 15. I am asking the people if they are stingy with grace.

In Him

Chris

Preaching in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Africa

The rest of the team went off to preach at their respective churches. I waited in my hotel room, prayed, stared at the ceiling, paced about and watched the news. The news was given from an African point of view, but seemed to be like any US show would have been 20 years ago. The news was in English and broadcast out of Johannesburg, South Africa. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were all over the news for their views on Africa and their pledges to help.

Patrick picked me up at around 0930. He was around 62 years old and had been led to Christ many years ago by missionaries in Tanzania. We exchanged small talk on the way to church which of course felt like we were going to die several times, but the driver was skillful enough to use evasive maneuvers to reach his destination. When we got there, I wondered if we had come to an old warehouse to pick up something. The tin roof was not much for insulation and the four walls were cracked. As we approached I heard loud shouting. Patrick looked at me and said, this church is a little more charismatic than most conservative Baptists are used to. I smiled and nodded and we watched from outside as men and women were fiercely praying.

When the shouting stopped, Patrick guided me in. There was another young white man there, who I could only assume  was a missionary like myself looking to share the good news. His name was Derek and he was from South Carolina. He would be teaching the Sunday School Lesson, while I preached. I wondered for a moment if this happened every week or if these pastors got to speak often. Derek’s message was great, but the translation, I know must have been challenging for them to hear. He spoke on that we are all Pharisees and in need of a savior and our good deeds can’t get us anything but hell apart from faith. I liked Derek and we had an instant chemistry afterward.

After Derek spoke, we sang and danced. This wasn’t individual interpretation, but rather choreographed moves that could be on MTV, if we weren’t so gosh darn oriented on Jesus. I then got up and  preached Luke 15. My emphasis was on the fact that Jesus was into lost people and he wanted us to stop worrying about their sin and worry about their soul.

After preaching, Patrick got up and gave an update that they were going ahead with their building campaign. I wholeheartedly agreed with my nose on this issue. They were way overdue for some more space.

We prayed and danced for another hour and then we were all dismissed. I made it back to my hotel room and sat down for a moment. I was exhausted.  About thirty minutes later, the rest of the team returned. Hannah had preached to about 250 people in a Moravian church, Paul preached to Anglican church, Joel had preached and we were all tired. We needed to get Hannah some dresses because her attire was not quite to standard.

On the way I discovered, I left my debit card in the ATM last night. Thankfully, I had the number to chase and after being transferred 100 times and explaining the situation through in and out cellphone coverage, they canceled it and sent me a new one home.

We then ventured forth to find Hannah dresses. I ended up getting three shirts which are technically more dressy as they are the African dress up shirts. Pictures to follow. Hannah got a dress and two skirts. Bartering was fun and Ambilike did us proud by getting the prices way down.

We then met back at the hotel to plan the conference which starts  in the morning. After meeting everyone for the first time, we discusses what will happen and the fact that we will witness for an hour every day! Fun!

After, we ate dinner at the bar next door which is still blaring music as loud as possible at 11pm. But I guess that is what bars do and I shouldn’t be surprised. We had chicken and fries. The chicken had very little meat on it, but it was tasty enough. Although, that was all I ate for the day, I wasn’t starving, more just in slow motion.

We ate and watched Manchester United get defeated by Chelsea and the entire crowd at the bar scream and shout as if it were the super bowl. I just don’t get the pull of soccer. We then went to search for an internet café, but could find none open. We did find a cool mall that had all the shops closed, and decided to come back manana for another shot.

Until then, the mission continues!

In Him

Chris

First Day of the Conference

Last night around midnight, I got a knock on my door. Half asleep I opened it to see Ambilike looking at me slightly frantic.

“Chris, can you do a session tomorrow?”

I paused, exhausted. “Sure.”

“Ok thanks, someone just told me they would not be able to make it and we need someone to fill in.” Ambilike said.

I muttered something then stepped under the mosquito net and fell asleep.

I dreamed of being in the Army and Colonel Clark was criticizing me be because I couldn’t get my unit at 100%. I woke up around 3:30am relieved I still had two hours to sleep. I woke up again around 5:30 and went about the process of getting up. Shaving, brushing my teeth, careful not to use the water in the sink. I then got dressed with my new shirt that Ambilike had helped me barter for the day before. I stepped out the door to meet the others.

Hannah, Joel, Paul, Ambilike and I all met at 7am and headed down to breakfast this morning. The cooks had not yet arrived and so we forwent breakfast in order to make it to the conference center on time. I only at a dried piece of chicken and fries last night, so my stomach was not so excited about the fact that we were not going to eat. Ambilike apologized and I said, “Ambilike, this is Africa, it is supposed to be hard.” To which he responded, “But we paid for all this. We already paid for the food.”

I shrugged my shoulders and got in the backseat of the car and risked my life driving through the streets of Dar Es Salaam as fast as possible, which was probably about 40 mph at top speed. The traffic is like that of Dallas or Atlanta, but there is only one street and it isn’t a highway. So people are getting on and off busses and darting through traffic. Always an adventure. We arrived at the church and we late, but because the rest of the world was caught in traffic we were fine.

The church was huge. Three stories with a large main sanctuary. We went to the third floor and began setting up. Pastors started arriving almost immediately. There were about 10 in five minutes. Then nothing. We waited about 30 minutes and Ambilike went into stall mode. He introduced all the Americans. I stood up and spoke to the group and reminded them of our mission to reach Tanzania for Christ. It started with them. We all must connect and love the city and bring the flock to Christ.

I had a flashback to Iraq when I was talking to the Mosque elders and the elders of the town trying to convince them to partner with us in looking for terrorists. The smell of garbage burning permeated the upstairs of the church brought in by the cool sea breeze.

Paul then got up and addressed the assembly. He made use of the few Swahili phrases that he had picked up in the past couple days. The group of men immediately responded when Paul said, “Bwana asifiwe!” (Praise the Lord). The cultural sayings here are so universal that it is almost like being in Catholic church and doing a remix on the liturgy. Whenever anyone says Praise the Lord, everyone says without thinking “Amen!”

Reminded me of the Baptist tradition of saying, “God is good,” “All the time”, “All the time.” “God is good!”

Ambilike then opened further with what the conference was to be about and then he broke the group for tea. Paul and I used this time to hook up projectors and the like. I intend on using that tomorrow.

At tea, I scarfed down two roll looking things and a slice of bread and butter and a cup of Africafe. Fantastic stuff.

I then took 12 men who had been to the conference last year and began to teach them. I told the first group to give me observations, interpretations, and applications for Jeremiah 7, the second group Isaiah 56, and finally the third Mark 11:12-35.

I gave them thirty minutes for this and after that was going to have them give a report of what they found. My goal was that they would understand how upset Jesus was at the leaders of the church in Mark 11 the same way Yahweh was mad at the priests in Jeremiah 7, because they did not live out the truths found in Isaiah 56.

We had lunch which consisted of steamed rice, chicken, and collared greens. I had a great time eating with Gilbert, an Anglican pastor who grew up in the country. He didn’t start going to school until he was 13, graduated from high school at 20 and then went on to seminary and is now a priest. He had a genuine heart for lost people. Tanzania is totally reshaping my view of the Anglican church.

That is all for now. I will let you know how the rest of the day goes. Count so far at the conference is 59, and there were many people who could not make it today, but will be here tomorrow.

In Him

Chris

Conference Day 2

Day 2 of the conference went well. I am over the initial shock of being in the third world. The commonplace burning trash now only faintly reminds me of Iraq and mortar rounds. We woke up early and had bread and butter for breakfast with some excellent Africafe. You need to try this stuff. It is instant coffee that you just mix in with hot water, kind of like the kind we got in the Army in our MREs.

We made it to the conference and we all taught our respective classes. Mine was on the need for Pastors to be out in the community consistently. You know it is a strange thing being in such a poor place. Some locations have intense poverty, but then there are pretty opulent places that have grocery stores and the internet café as well as uniformed guards with rifles. Kind of intimidating.

After the sessions of the conference around 4pm, we headed out to evangelize.

“Hey Chris,” Adson my new 20 year old youth pastor from Tanzania called after me with his thick accent.

“What’s up man?”

“I want to teach you Swahili.”

“That is awesome, why don’t you teach me some while we witness to some people in the village.”

He smiled and said, “Okay.”

Hannah, Adson and I walked about 50 yards South of the church and found two men sitting outside of a shop. The older man looked at us through glassy blue eyes which I couldn’t help but stare at. How did this African get blue eyes? His hair was white and his skin well wrinkled. He didn’t smile when we approached so I put my hand out to the younger man. “Shikamoo!” I said to the younger man.

“Marahaba,” came the blank response. The younger man looked us with suspicion. I wore my orange African shirt that I had bought at the market a couple days before. My sunglasses perched on the top of my head as I wanted to make sure these two could see my eyes. After getting a non-negative response from the younger man I reached for the older man’s hand.

Adson who has a personality similar to mine started talking in Swahili and smiling really big. He motioned to me and I nodded like I agreed with everything he just said. Adson then pulled out a track and asked if he could share with them. The men nodded and the younger man gave me his seat and found a seat for Hannah.

A young woman sat adjacent to them selling what looked to be small packages of rice. Adson asked her name. Her name was Glory. I wondered if she was a Christian, but it didn’t appear that she was. It turned out that the men were a father son combo.

Adson began to speak and a couple of people gathered around. They all listened intently. I pulled out a track that I had in my pocket in Swahili and handed it to the biggest meanest looking guy there. He looked fascinated by the whole deal and started to follow along with Adson.

Adson asked him to read verses and he did. I couldn’t believe this was working. I do prison ministry and it works really easy there, because what else do the men have to do, but here, these people could leave at any time and our small gathering had grown to a crowd.

Adson spoke for a good 45 minutes. There were a couple times I wanted him to get to the bottom line, but since I couldn’t understand anything he was saying, I just sat there and looked completely transfixed praying that these people might receive the Spirit.

A couple of men walked off and in the course of his talking more joined. The big mean guy left and gave his track to another woman who stared at if for a while, handed it to me and then left. I was disappointed and was dying for Adson to get to the point, but again I had to wait.

Finally Adson read the prayer. I know it was the prayer because all of a sudden everyone started repeating what he was saying. I looked up and saw the men and women sincerely closing their eyes and repeating his words.

When he finished, I asked Adson, “How many accepted Christ for the first time?”

“All of them.”

“For the first time?” I asked.

“Yes,” Adson said and smiled.

There were a couple of guys who looked Muslim among the crowd. I assumed that they were Muslim because they wore the little hat things. You know the little net looking hat that is like a skull cap? And then another guy had a very decorated African hat that looked Muslim, just because no one wears hats but the Muslims. There was a Muslim seminary near by, so I thought it a safe assumption. But the strangest thing about these men were they were transfixed by Adson even though they came in half way through his presentation.

They accepted Christ.

Could it really be that easy? I am comparing this to prison ministry, because it is a guaranteed thing there. When you need hope and you need God, it makes God easier to grasp. I understand why it is easier to share your faith half a world a way than to share it at your local Starbucks. They are hungry for it here.

I mean you know this. Isn’t it more fun to cook for those who want to eat your food as opposed to serving up meals for people who aren’t hungry? Of course. That just makes sense.

When do you need God? We have it so easy in the states. There is no government subsidy here. When they are poor they either work or steal. When they get sick, they trust God or die. In fact the closest hospital that an American will go to if they get real sick is in South Africa—about from New York to Dallas.

Tanzanian Pastors’ Trouble

My class yesterday on how to use different teaching techniques, shifted from how to teach to the major problem that pastors face in Tanzania. They said that there are many propagating the teaching that you must be baptized by immersion to be saved. And that if you are not baptized by immersion you are not saved. Now this is interesting. In the US, most of the churches that I have seen that are infant Baptists are not saved. That doesn’t mean that all are not saved, it just means I haven’t met many who are. But here in Tanzanian, the biggest denomination are the Anglicans and they are evangelical. It is really strange to see Anglicans witnessing just as fruitfully as Baptists. But it happens a lot here. It is really beautiful.

The problem the pastors told me is that there evangelistic crusades going on that are telling people that they are not saved unless they are baptized after belief. These pastors are frustrated because they feel that this is hurting the body of Christ by dividing it. I agree. In the past I would have been a die hard credobaptist (believer’s baptism) but after studying Martin Luther and Jean Calvin, I am convinced that those who believe in pedobaptism (infant baptism) are just as saved. Not my preference, because I don’t agree with their interpretation, but it is not a deal breaker for me. Salvation is by grace through faith.

Martin Luther while translating the Bible from Greek to German was wrestling the devil. The thing that he shouted at Satan when wrestling through the night was, “I am baptized.” Therefore is Luther identified his faith with his baptism, understanding that he is now a member of Christ’s body and that he died, was buried and resurrected with Christ why am I trying to wrestle that from him?

Again, I think credobaptism only makes sense, but I know that pedobaptists can be saved.

So pray for the evangelistic crusades that they wouldn’t be divisive. That does no one any good. If you just have your churches switching people, then the kingdom of Christ is not advancing it is just making trades. God help us in our struggle for unity and doctrinal integrity.

Jesus Film

Communities in Tanzania are what you would call slums in the US. Houses hold a couple rooms and there might be indoor plumbing or there might be an outhouse. Trash is burnt every morning just outside the dwelling. Kids run around without shoes and think nothing of it. They laugh and play and have no clue that their counterparts in America are living their fantasy life. Or maybe they do, they may have dirt floors, but many have satellite TV and all have regular TV which is broadcast out of Tanzania and South Africa (the Europe of Africa). However it doesn’t seem to mthmatter, they just are always smiling.

Yesterday, the Life Ministry, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ showed the Jesus Film. All the children of the town were invited. So after the conference and after our street evangelism which I loved because I led three women to Christ through a translator. Leading people to Jesus here is as easy as walking across the street and saying hello. These three women listened to my presentation and accepted Christ. It was amazing. Another 11 year old Muslim boy came to faith in Jesus. It was incredible. God is working here, I wish you could be here with me. Maybe next year you will come with us.

So after the street evangelism we set up for the Jesus Film. Kids came out from everywhere. While it was still daylight I got to play with them. While we were playing some of the Massai Warriors who have migrated to Tanzania came up to us. They were wearing their wilderness African garb intermingled with a northface jacket and basketball shoes. The Massai are know for their jumping dances. We asked them to sing and dance for us and they did. They sang in Massai which is different than Swahili. They sang using guttural breathing. They all knew how to harmonize which baffled me. How do they know how to do that? I can understand why their choirs are so good, they practice from 5pm-10pm daily—probably cause there is nothing else to do, but these Massai Warriors were just awesome. Part of their dancing sort of looks like you are having a seizure while standing up and then hopping. They took turns hopping while the others sang the rhythm.

Of course, I had to join. So I jumped and hopped and yelled out my best African war cry. All of the Tanzanian children watched in amazement and wonder and clapped with the rhythm.

I grabbed the children in my arms and they were very loving. They swarmed me just touch and laugh and play. Awesome.

When it got dark we turned the Jesus Film on. While it was playing those with Life Ministry went around and witnessed individually to people watching. Adson later told me that 25 adults came to Christ. I gave my testimony in between part 2 and part 3. I say in between part 2 and 3 because they are using reel to reel film. This killed me, couldn’t someone put forth some cash for a projector and a digital version of the film? They use the film everywhere and it has an awesome effect. You can’t do the Jesus film in Dallas, no one would come or care. You set up a projector on your local cul de sac and maybe  your neighbors will come, put a Jesus Film projector and screen on a dirt parking lot of a church and 100s of kids and parents show up. When the pastors spoke in between the reels, the volume was turned up on max. It was far louder than the call to prayer for the Muslim Mosques. I then understood why they had to get permission from the police to show the Jesus Film. No one was sleeping nearby.

I can’t believe how easy it is to share Christ here and how willing the people are to hear it. Crazy.

In Him

Chris

Hannah is sick

Hannah is sick tonight, Wednesday night here. Her face is pale and her forehead hot although she feels cold. Please pray for her. Ambilike and I laid hands on her, and asked for God to heal her, but she is just feeling horrible. A combination of Nausea, cramps, and fever is causing her to shut down. Pray for her health. If she doesn’t get better by morning we are taking her to the hospital.

Hannah feels better

Hannah feels a lot better. She still has a little acid reflux going on, but her fever broke and she feels a lot better. What a relief. Thanks for all the prayers.

In Him

Chris

Day 4 Session

On Day 4, we went over how to deal with conflict resolution. All of the pastors that I was teaching had been in the church for a while, but they still faced the struggle of figuring out how to deal with these issues. Here is what I taught.

Conflict Resolution

Matthew 18/1 Corinthians 6

Gentlemen, being a Pastor means being a master of conflict. If you aren’t daily dealing with conflict in your church, then either your church is the most spiritual one of all time, or you don’t know what is really going on. So that may be your first task when you get back to your church, find out what is really going on. But for most of you, I am sure that you are burdened by the amount of disputes and quarrels that go on between those who are supposed to have the Spirit of God. James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church, knew this as he addressed the church that was dispersed because of persecution.

James 4:1-3 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?  ² You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.  ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

The early church I am guessing looks like your church. Across cultures and across continents there is one thing that is constant. Sin. And if you have a church on this planet it houses sinners. When the Holy Spirit indwells the Believer that doesn’t mean they will never sin again. In fact, that is something that even Paul struggled with. If Paul struggled with sin, then your congregation will struggle with sin. Thankfully, God doesn’t give up on us as we struggle to overcome our flesh. He has given us the Holy Spirit who imparts wisdom and I am praying that in this session the Holy Spirit would give you wisdom as we walk through how to work through conflict.

There are two types of conflict. There is conflict with those who have the spirit of God and those who don’t.

Let’s first talk about how to handle those who do not have the Spirit of God. We must be humble and gentle with them and look first to ourselves to see if we in any way have been offensive or wrong in the slightest. The reason why Paul commands us in 2 Corinthians 6 not to go into business with unbelievers, because the same Spirit is not guiding you and you have to constantly be worried about the state of that unbeliever’s soul in the course of your business. As a Christian we must live our lives in the most loving way possible to the unbeliever and so whenever there is conflict, the believer should seek to be wronged as opposed to defame the name of Jesus.

However, most conflict for Christians is among other Christians. Perhaps familiarity breeds contempt. But the most bitter conflicts come from inside the church, because the expectation is a lot higher that Christians would never treat another so poorly. Whatever the reason, conflict exists and as a pastor not only will you be in conflict with those in your congregation who get angry at you for not meeting a particular need or expectation, but you will be asked to work out other issues that may not even be in your area of expertise. That is okay. Matthew 18 gives us guidance on how to work this all out.

Matthew 18:15 – 19:1 ¹⁵ “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Confront a sinner in private

We must learn to confront people in private. Pastors you are the ones who will stop gossip in its tracks. The first way you handle any conflict within your church that is brought to you is ask the question, does the person who has sinned know that someone has an issue with him. If not, then tell everyone to stop talking about it. You won’t hear of another man’s sin until that man has been rebuked in private.

¹⁶ “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.

Elevate the level of confrontation when a sinner will not repent

If a person is caught in a sin or has sinned against another, then a couple people that that man is familiar with must be brought in to the situation. This is simple enough.

¹⁷ “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.  ¹⁸ “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. ¹⁹ “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.  ²⁰ “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

Treat an unrepentant believer like a Gentile or tax collector

Here again we treat the person like someone who is not in the family. They are someone we love, and always try to woe back to repentance. We should always try and woe that person back to repentance, but we do not treat them like family.

With a small organization there must be discipline, without it the unit will crumble. But every opportunity to extend grace must be afforded. We see this in this parable that Jesus gives.

²¹ Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”  ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.  ²³ “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.  ²⁴ “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.  ²⁵ “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.  ²⁶ “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’  ²⁷ “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.  ²⁸ “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’  ²⁹ “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’  ³⁰ “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.  ³¹ “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.  ³² “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  ³³ ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’  ³⁴ “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.  ³⁵ “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

You didn’t deserve Grace, but God gave it to you anyway.

Remove those who are unrepentant from leadership, and remove the person from the fellowship only when grace has been completely applied. What does that look like?

While I was living in Dallas, I took a homeless man in. I started to notice some strange behavior. He wouldn’t come home and sometimes he would end up in the hospital. He had had a history of drug problems, but he swore to me he was not using. I finally got him a job, but he didn’t show up. His drug use had sent him over the edge again and he was in the hospital. I told him he could stay on one condition that he would go to rehab. He said no. The offer stands to this day. You cannot force a person to change, that has to be something that comes from the inside out. That is the place where transformation begins.

Day 4 Session interaction

After I taught on conflict resolution within the church, I asked the pastors to share their experiences in dealing with these issues. The pastors shared their stories. One man was clearly frustrated. He told the group that a man who had converted from Islam to Christianity and has more than one wife recently came in to his church and took another wife from his church. He is no longer at the church, but the pastor feels responsible and didn’t know how to discipline him. The pastor was going to just kick him out of the church without going through Matthew 18 steps. However, before he could, the man left. The church was clearly rocked and he didn’t know how to handle this. Another pastor chimed in that many Muslims are trying to disrupt churches by doing similar things. Using money to lure young girls away from the church and then marry them. Once they are married they cannot be touched.

Another pastor shared that his minister of music had cheated on his wife and then disappeared from the church. He had left the church and shown up at another church. The church happened to be the church of a very good friend of his and he was able to warn the pastor. The man served in that church with their music for five years with no more incidents with his wife, but after five years he felt the guilt of being away from his original church and came back repentant.

Another man after the session pulled me aside and told me that a new Christian had recently approached him with a problem. He said that a man had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. He wanted to marry her eventually, but she was Muslim. The pastor had told him that he must no longer live with her. However, the man feels responsible because it is his baby and doesn’t want to leave his pregnant girlfriend home alone at night. The parents of the woman want him to marry her. (She is 20 by the way) But they want him to become a Muslim first. The man refused because he was a true believer, but he didn’t know what to do. The pastor told us that he had to enforce church discipline on him and treat him like a non-believer by bringing him in front of the church and openly rebuking his sin.

I counseled him that he should strongly urge the man to marry this woman. Further questioning brought up the fact that the woman was willing to marry him and come to church. I explained to the pastor that sin is serious, but this was a new believer who came to you needing advice and help with sin. I told him he recognized he was wrong, but his moral obligation to support the woman was getting in the way. I counseled the pastor to encourage them to get married and if they would not marry to forsake taking communion. I warned him that bringing him in front of the church for a public rebuke may cause him to become overly discouraged. He knew he was in the wrong and needed to be guided through the process of the seriousness of his sin, but guide him with wisdom. The man had come to him and needed more than a week to make such a tough decision. I also told him that in transformative grace that he offer his home to house the pregnant girl so that she would be taken care of in a Christian environment. Our talk ended with him convinced he could get them to marry. He thanked us (my interpreter Joel, a DTS grad as well) and walked away satisfied.

Afterwards, we headed to the streets for evangelism.

Adson and I take to the streets

Adson grabbed my hand and drug me outside. “Let’s go Chris!” he said with a huge smile and a thick accent. We walked out the door of the church, but Adson didn’t let go of my hand. We walked hand in hand down the road every part of me focused on the fact I was holding another man’s hand.

“Do you do this very often?” Adson asked.

“Never.” I responded. “Men in America don’t hold hands.”

Adson looked at me, “You don’t evangelize?”

I laughed to myself. Holding hands for men here is so common that to even think it strange was strange in and of itself. That is how it is in Asia as well. I remember the first time I went to China and saw soldiers holding hands, I was convinced the entire nation was gay. But that is just the way it is. I think America is strange to the rest of the world on this issue.

We walked with another pastor and found a couple of men in their early 20s just sitting down and hanging out. We introduced ourselves and Adson went right for it.

“Je umesikia juu ya kanuni nne za kiroho?” (Have you heard about the four spiritual laws?)

The men looked at him and shooked their heads no.

Adson went right into it.

“Mwenyezi Mungu anakupenda naya anao mpango mzuri sana kwa maisha yahoo.” (God loves you and has a very wonderful plan for your life.)

Adson went into his thing and talked for another 20 minutes. I was surprised that either of these guys didn’t walk off, but instead another guy walked up and started to listen.

He got to the fourth spiritual law

“Inakupasa kumpokea Yesu awe mwokozi na mtawala wako.” (You must receive Jesus to be Your Savior and Lord)

Finally, he asked them if they wanted to accept Christ. The first one already had, but the other two were ready to believe for the first time. We prayed and the new believers thanked us. Adson gave them his cell phone number and told them to contact him.

We then headed back to the church. I am continually amazed at how easy it is to lead people to Jesus here. Most haven’t heard. Can you believe it? When you say stuff like God loves you, they are blown away by that. They have always heard that God is angry and wants to punish them. So this stuff about a loving God who wants a personal relationship with you is just awesome. I am not a fan of the four spiritual laws, but they work. God can really use anything. He can use anybody and anything.

So what’s your excuse?

Session 5 Delegation

During session five I taught the men about delegation. I opened the scriptures to Exodus 18 and taught them how Jethro advised Moses to delegate.

Equipping them through delegation. Serve people by having them serve.

One of the things I admire most in people is hard work. I love to watch a man craft something out of wood. I love the look of a house that is built. In ministry, I love looking at a person that I have disciple and helped God grow into the man of God that they become. Pastors, I know this is your favorite thing too. I know that you love to watch those you have invested in become men of God with deep roots. I know that you also have other duties, such as visiting the sick, praying with the widows, dealing with the community, raising a family. There are so many things going on in your world that you can only do so much.

What I want us to talk about today is delegation. This may be scary for some of you, because you may believe that you are the only one capable of doing anything ministry wise in your church. That may be true, but if you don’t start delegate, your ministry will always be a mile wide and an inch deep. Moses had the same problem with the Israelites. He was good at decision making. He was smart, and most of the Israelites had a slave’s education. So who does he turn to? No one. He was handling every issue for 2 million people. Then he gets a visit from his father in law. For some of you, having a father in law visit is not pleasant at all, but Jethro offers Moses some great advice, advice that you all should heed as well.

Exodus 18:12-27 ¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.  ¹³ And it came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening.  ¹⁴ Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?”

Jethro asks Moses the same question I am going to ask you. Why do you alone sit as judge? The word alone strikes me as something that we should never be—alone. Yet that is what we do as leaders. Sometimes it is out of a motive of love, that you feel burdened because you don’t want to ask anyone to do what you don’t want to do. For example, you may think finances are the worst thing ever and for you to give the task of the finances of your church away would be the worst thing a man could ever do. Yet, that is exactly what someone may love to do. Don’t rob them. Moses probably thought that judging small issues was so tedious, that he couldn’t possibly place it on another, because he loved others so much. Let’s see what his response was.

There are essentially four types of leaders. There are probably a million degrees in between these stereotypes, but bear with me a moment.

Here are the four types of leaders

Now which of these leaders would be the best? We would normally think that the smart and industrious person would be the one to emulate. However, Smart and industrious people are only as good as they keep going without passing out. Usually Smart and industrious people work themselves to the bone and their families suffer. The best leader is the Smart and Lazy. They find ways of doing things faster and more efficiently not always because of altruistic methods, but because they don’t want to work. So they therefore create systems which do the work for them. This allows them more free time to do nothing. In America, do nothing time can be seen as weak. But do nothing time is essential because it allows someone to think, to process ideas, and to gain new insight. It also allows the leader to be approachable. It is very difficult to ask a question of a man who is always in a hurry.

¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.  ¹⁶ “When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

Moses did have a point. God had given his statutes to him. How were all the other men supposed to know what God’s will was. God had told Moses what his laws were. He didn’t tell the rest of the people.

¹⁷ And Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good.  ¹⁸ “You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.  ¹⁹ “Now listen to me: I shall give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God,  ²⁰ then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk, and the work they are to do.  ²¹ “Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them, as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.  ²² “And let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.  ²³ “If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.”  ²⁴ So Moses listened to his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.  ²⁵ And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.  ²⁶ And they judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge.  ²⁷ Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell, and he went his way into his own land.

God sent Jethro to rescue Moses from his good hearted self. This principle is something that we need to work with. Jethro told Moses  to be God’s representative to the people. If you notice, Moses had to plead with God several times simply not to wipe the Israelites out. I don’t think you will have to be begging God not to wipe out Tanzania, but you will be bringing their prayer needs to Him, as well as seeking how you can grow your church. All the leadership classes in the world cannot replace the time you spend with your Heavenly Father.

Moses was to teach the people. Now, I don’t think that God intended Jethro to get a big microphone and have a class just like we are in here and teach everyone all at once. Now, Joshua did read the book of the law to all the people before they crossed the Jordan river and attacked Jericho. But even then, the people were divided up and the lessons that Joshua taught were repeated. To the people in smaller groups. Therefore, whoever you are going to delegate tasks to, ensure that you spend time with them to teach them specifically. You will be amazed at how a group of five people that you grow intimate with can change the world if you allow yourself to put your mind to it.

Moses was also to give them work to do. This was not so that Moses could be lazy, but it was so that his people could take the burden so that he could focus on leading 2 million people. Your congregation may not be 2 million, but it won’t grow beyond 10 if you don’t start letting other people work for you.

As we sit here today, I want you to divide up your day and I want you to write out everything that you do.  I am going to give you a list of positions that churches have, and depending on the number in your congregation, you are going to not need all of these, but you will at some point as you expect your church to grow. This will be your greatest strength. You see here is the other part of leadership. You must allow others to fail. Because in the words of Jethro, you will wear yourself out, if you don’t.

Oh and of course the thing that worries us the most. How do we pay for it all? With people, some of them are wanting and waiting to volunteer to push forward the work of God and they can do many of the smaller tasks in their spare time. I promise.

Here are a list of positions that may be helpful for your church. The key to remember is that an individual can only report to one person. This makes the job of figuring out what a person is supposed to do very simple and they are not getting conflicting guidance.

Pastor—that is you. You are responsible for the vision that God has given you. You must pray over your congregation and seek the Lord daily for where He wants your church to go and do. You are responsible for shepherding everyone, but if you can pour into five or six main people then they can pour into others as well. This will make a big difference.

Executive Pastor—manages the affairs of the church under the direction of the pastor. Ensures that the church can do all financially all that the pastor desires to do.—this may be what you as a pastor do as well.

Treasurer—handles all the finances and reports to the executive pastor

Children’s Pastor—responsible for all children’s ministry and reports to the executive pastor

Young adult Pastor—responsible for all young adult’s ministry and reports to the executive pastor

Senior adult and Widow care pastor—responsible for taking care of the elderly and making sure their needs are met and reports to the executive pastor

Care Pastor—responsible for overseeing those who are sick and need to be visited and prayed for. He also handles setting up weddings and funerals and reports to the executive pastor.

Session 5 Interaction

After I presented the material of the need for delegation, the pastors looked at me exasperated. I wasn’t sure if they were just tired from doing session after session after session or if what I said about giving up certain jobs to focus on the important thing of hearing God and His vision for their church.

I waited a couple seconds while the silence settled on them. Finally one of the pastors said, “Yeah, we are all worn out. But what are we to do. I can’t speak for everyone but we have denominational requirements that set for us what only we can do. We may face getting fired if we raise up other leaders to do things like counsel or marry and bury. We can’t afford not to fall in line with them.

Other pastors chimed in about the expectations of their elder board and that they may at any time be moved to another church and they can’t just bring their staff with them. I lamented for a moment as all the strong churches in America were pastor led and that the pastor had the ability to decide his own schedule.

Another pastor added that nothing will change if the pastors of Tanzania don’t unite. There is a definite need to unite the pastors so that they can bring about changes within their denomination and the Christian faith in Tanzania overall.

After that, they asked me about America. Their biggest question was over homosexuality. Was it true that the American church condoned homosexuality. I told them that some churches did, but none of them were evangelical. And all the churches that have condoned homosexuality are watching their numbers dwindle. They seemed relieved by that.

After the session we had lunch and then concluded the conference with a closing ceremony.

Closing Ceremony

So many thank yous and pictures and hugs. I was amazed at the smiles and the applause and the joy that surrounded these men and women who had come to this conference. Afterwards I asked some of them how far they had come. One said he had driven 18 hours to make it here and it was worth every moment. He said that he now had wisdom to preach and teach the Word of God. He was excited to share about how to evangelize and reach his community. I got excited.

Pastor after pastor hugged me and thanked me.

“Asante sana!” Thank you very much.

I am about 20 years younger than most of the men here. But I am excited to see that the training I have had is now paying off in Africa of all places. There are plans for another conference next year and I am excited to be invited back. They want me to bring more of my friends who can teach them the Word of God. Will you come with me?

In Him

Chris