Brooks
Sometimes I
feel like I inundate you with how and what is going on in the "work" of
ministry when we travel, perhaps missing the most important aspect of
what we are doing: our developing relationships with men and women who
are passionate about Jesus and reach every man, woman and child in their
nations with the message of hope that will not only transform their own
lives, but their family's and their countries.
So, let me tell you about just one of these giants in the Kingdom:
Thomas
Thomas is Congolese and in his
mid thirties. He's also an amazing musician. During the war (one of
many) in his homeland of Eastern DR Congo, he escaped and went into
Kenya. There he learned English and through a myriad of years and
experiences ended up in a large church in Nairobi where he was the
worship leader. That church grew and grew until finally there were three
services every Sunday because of all the people.
In some of the church
structures in East Africa there is a hierarchy, beginning with the
Pastor and the Pastor's wife. When the pastor is away, the pastor's wife
takes over. There is the constant pressure for those under them—the
staff, the elders, the people—to please the pastor in order to receive
the blessings of health and prosperity from God. Once I was even told
the pastor's wife took a collection from the people so she could buy new
clothes and makeup because what would people think of her church if she
looked just "like that."
One day Thomas, who was married
by that time and had three children, was called into the pastor's
wife's office. She railed at him for this and that and told him to leave
and never come back. Hurt, rejected and feeling completely beaten up by
those he had served and loved, he and his family returned to Goma, his
vulnerable and oftentimes volatile home in the Congo. Today he lives
there. It's a hard life … war threatens daily, the volcano looms over
the ever expanding city because of the people streaming in from the
villages trying to escape soldier or rebel attacks on them and their
families, poverty is rampant. Money is scarce, living day to day for
food, rent, school fees, medical needs, and clothes is common. Yet,
Thomas, even with what his "family" has done to him, destroying his life
of economic stability, not to mention his emotional or spiritual
health, continues to look to God for love and comfort and purpose. Today
he serves his neighbors and even the far away refugees in the camps
with love and compassion; he walks among the poor proclaiming the Good
News, undaunted by his experiences. It's people, not God who has let him
down. Please pray for this man; challenges are ever present … without
God, he has nothing; with God, we know and can agree that all things are
possible.
Refugee camp
Refugee camp
Goma, DRC
Goma, DRC
Goma, DRC
Congolese church planters
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