Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am happy to report to you that we  have finished our first Reaching Africa’s Unreached Pastor’s Retreat. Pastors from a number of different denominations and churches started arriving Tuesday morning and left Friday afternoon. We ended up having 32 pastors who attended the sessions.

My heart is bubbling over with joy!  So many have been working towards this since RAU’s founding in 2010. This vision  has been in my heart since my first trip here in 2007. It has brought tears to my eyes to see these pastors soaking in the Word like sponges and eager to receive solid biblical teaching. When we minister to pastors their congregations are also ministered to as well. Part of RAU’s mission and vision statement says, “…We hold that the primary work of missions is to plant local churches which in turn plant other local churches. Our goals, therefore, are to see new churches planted in unreached areas and to assist operating local churches through Biblical exposition which is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” ( 2 Timothy 3:16-17). As much as possible we will seek to instruct church leaders who can faithfully teach others (See: 2 Timothy 2:2 & Acts 19:8-10)…”

The pastors were appreciative for the teachings and literature given to them. They are going back to congregations encouraged and enriched. A double blessing of the retreat was bringing the pastors together to a place where they could fellowship and encourage each other and commit together to spread of the gospel. I was told that this was the first time in this area where pastors from different denominations came together for the sake of the gospel. We have begun our own “Gospel Coalition” here!

A wonderful, encouraging song was also brought to life by one of the young pastors who composed it based on the Great Commission.  Hopefully, soon we will be able to post a clip of that! 

Thank you for your part in helping make RAU’s vision and mission more than just a dream!

Ron Zeiner, fellow Texan, pastor and former missionary,  taught on proper biblical interpretation, leadership principles from Ezra/Nehemiah, and on the family. His excellent exposition of the scriptures brought much light and had the pastors thirsting and hungering to study Scriptures. Everyone, including myself, is hoping for him to return soon (and Carol hopes he comes with his wife)! There is a special  hunger for Old Testament teaching  as the Old Testament still has not been translated into Ma’di.

I had the joy of teaching several sessions, encouraging the pastors in the importance of discipleship and reaching out to plant churches in the many unchurched villages of the area. They, too, are eager to see the gospel expand here and to neighboring unreached areas.

During the whole retreat  construction work continued. The latrine near the tukalus was finished Wednesday and made usable on Thursday. The tile on the front of the Guesthouse veranda was completed. The cooking for the conference had to be done in the old tukalu kitchen. The new charcoal kitchen next to the Guesthouse should be done in 3-4 days. We were able to get the beds for the tukalus done by Monday evening and put mattress on them Tuesday morning. However, with our numbers, we still did not have enough room to sleep the pastors who wanted to stay. The rains made it difficult for pastors to leave for the night. Abraham who was taxiing pastors back to their homes on one evening got stuck and did not even make it home; he ended up staying with one of the other pastors. Pray with us for the funds to build at least 5 more tukalus. That would give us the ability to sleep 20 more pastors for future retreats.  It is very hard for me to turn away pastors who eagerly want biblical teaching! Making these tukalus a bit taller than our original ones would make their cost about $600 each. We are also in need of funds to bring about the completion of on going projects.

On Saturday we went to Obongi where we met for several hours with a small handful of believers. Obongi is one of the areas I told you about in my last newsletter. This Sunday morning Ron  preached in Abraham’s church and in the evening we  both  preached in the Moyo market which had many people in it. Ron leaves Monday and then on  next Saturday, three mission minded brothers from Tennessee will be joining us for several days of ministry.  A little later in November my good friend Kevin Turner with SWI and, possibly several others, will be coming to share their passion and love for the Savior with the people of this area.

The RAU container’s arrival to Kampala should be any day now. After its arrival in Kampala it takes about a week to clear customs and then its trip here from Kampala will take several days. Please continue in your prayers for its safe arrival. The Land Cruiser is STILL in transit from Japan. Al-Shabab’s activities have apparently put a kink in the ship’s offloading in Mombasa, Kenya. Keep praying my friends!

Fellowship

I  have the privilege of preaching on Sundays and throughout the week. On this Sunday afternoon I have been reminded afresh that this is the greatest privilege I have as a missionary. I pray and I ask for your prayers that I would never dismiss or take lightly this grand privilege.

James Steward has rightly said that the aim of preaching is “to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will  to the purpose of God” (Quoted in John Piper’s The Supremacy of God in Preaching page 19).  The Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 2:1-9 the kind of preaching God blesses:

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimonyof God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,  and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him” …”

I ask not only for prayers for myself but also for all  preachers here in Northwestern Uganda, Southwestern South Sudan, and Northeastern D.R. Congo. The preachers I know in this land love Jesus dearly and seek to proclaim His Word. The Lord has established R.A.U. to come alongside such men, to encourage them in sound doctrine and passionate preaching. On October 22-25 we will host our first group of pastors in what I hope will be the first retreat of many. I pray that the Lord would set a blaze, in this part of Africa, Christ exalting preaching in the church, streets, gardens, and among every unchurched village and people group.

My discipleship times with Godfrey, Leonard, and Alfred have also been  encouraging. They are the kind of young men who thrill my heart! Without prodding or poking they are pursuing King Jesus and studying His Word with an urgency which only comes from the Holy Spirit. These men and others  are ones the Lord will send our way from local churches to help equip as church planters.  As I have posted before, our eyes are currently set upon Yumbe, Obongi, and the Mubuti Pygmy Tribe. The Mubuti are across the border in Northeaster D.R. of Congo and Yumbe and Obongi are only a couple hours away. Please continue in your prayers for these endeavors.

We are closing in on the final phases of getting RAU ready to do the things which the Lord has laid before us. We are still needing about $5,000 to get our facilities to a place where we can host and disciple those God sends our way. Pray and believe God with us for these funds. Help if you can…thank you!