Feed My Sheep

Feed My Sheep...
Christ, before departing to heaven after His resurrection, charged His disciple Peter with taking care of His church. Three times our Lord emphasized His concern with the words, “feed My sheep”. Likewise in John 17:20, before undergoing His passion, Jesus prayed for believers throughout all ages. Most of all, He underwent torture and death, to provide atonement and relationship with the Father for all who would believe-- therefore, it is no misjudgment to conclude the welfare of His followers to be of a high priority to Him.

Politickin…
It has been a long time since I have posted, and therefore, a lot has happened which I’ve not told you about. I had an experience as a politician a couple of months ago- The day started off well, as I was able to get a load of manure I needed for my garden. Afterward I decided to stroll over to the soccer field where some type of community event was going on, made obvious by the 4 large tents being constructed all morning. Entering the field, approaching one of the tents, and wearing my work clothes I hoped to indiscreetly stand in the back of one of the tents… but, as I got closer, a man in a fur headband, wearing a political flag and carrying a crowd control whip approached me. He grabbed me by the wrist and said “are you from the cottages?” On replying “yes” I was dragged toward the VIP tent (where the deputy mayor was speaking from a podium and the other political leaders were seated). The man in the fur headband attempted to seat me right behind the podium but I managed to finagle a spot two rows back. A few moments later the wife of the chief whispered in my ear that she would like me to give a presentation about Agathos and what we are doing across the river. It seems the federal government had allotted the rural communities large sums of Rand (South African currency) and the chief’s wife wanted us to have a shot at some of it. Well I put together a speech as best I could: I told them by taking in homeless children we are building future adults, which lead to strong families, which leads to strong communities, which leads to a strong South Africa… the following speaker made a joke about me by imitating president Bush, but I didn’t fully understand what he said… most important, I was able to put the Gospel in as well. Telling them that our Lord Jesus suffered and died for us. Because He gave of Himself we have also come to rural South Africa to share our lives. I received handshakes from the VIP table and some yells from the Christians in the crowd. That part of the speech was a success. We’ve not received or heard of any money as of yet. Quite honestly from what I hear, the money has most likely paid for Beemer’s and Benz’s. I don’t mean to negative but that is one of the sad truth’s about the government which this nation lives under.

Preachin…
Zamani is a seventeen year old young man who lives with me. I preached at his high school one day and a friend of his agreed to go to church and asked Zamani and I to come along. The plan was to meet him at the church he sometimes attends with his mom. Well Zamani and I showed but he didn’t. We went inside anyway and, within a few minutes, while standing and singing, the lady leading the service approached me asking if I would be willing to share the word that morning. I asked where the preacher was and found he had moved to Ladysmith. So I asked one by one about the other men in the congregation. To each she had a reason why they could not preach, so, I gladly accepted. When she walked away, I must confess, I sat down and wept. I was overwhelmed with the need for pastors, and the need for pasturing by those who are pastors. Right now I can tell you of multiple pastors i know who are not pasturing their flock on a weekly basis. I can tell you of two who have been gone from their congregation for more than a month, one for almost two months and no one knows when he’ll return.
Fortunately, for the sake of my preaching, I had been invited to a Zimbabwe church the previous week, and, not understanding whether I was expected to preach I had prepared anyway. Therefore, the sermon went unused, making ripe for the need at hand. The Holy Spirit was in it and I made friends with the congregation as well as making a friend who is here from Zambia. I returned the following week to meet the preacher, but, again he was not there and again, I was asked to preach. I was not as prepared this time, but since I study daily it wasn’t hard to put together a sermon out of the psalms. The third week I returned as well, and this time the pastor was there. It was quite a festivity with a three hour service and lunch brought in afterward. The pastor told me it is fine with him if I preach as long as I preach the gospel. Though I am happy the Gospel is his criteria for adequate preaching, the looseness in which the walls of the sheepfold are held scares me. As I have said before in my writing, seeing pastor training take place here is one of my chief passions.

At the Cottages…
While there’s new things transpiring this week with Agathos in Zambia things are continuing along in Loskop. We’ve taken in a few more kids in the last few months and done ample construction work on the existing buildings. We’ve turned what was before block rooms with metal roof/ceilings and ugly floors, into cozy two-toned rooms with carpeting and ceilings. There is a group coming in the middle of August from my home church in Seattle as well as longer-term visitors coming and going.
It seems that kung-fu is the universal language. I brought along a Chinese movie from America and showed it to the kids and they loved it. Since then I’ve got some Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies; I guess since they can scarcely understand the English movies what does it matter if the movie language is Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, or any other? I guess it all might as well be Greek. One thing they do understand is the names of the actors and that putting in one of the discs with the right name on it will bring about an hour and a half of amazing kung-fu fighting! Each evening I have children hanging on my arms asking for a Jet Li movie and the walls ring echoes of a song of praise they’ve created which lyrics say “Jet Liii… Jackie China! Jet Liii… Jackie China!” it is interesting to me to see the genuine praise ring out for that which brings pleasure to their souls. I pray their understanding will awaken one day to know the pleasure which Christ’s redemptive work brings!

Work in Lesotho…
When visiting South Africa, a three-month visa is given at the border. Its free and relatively easy to renew, simply requiring one to go outside the border and come back in. Fortunately for us Lesotho is only a four hour drive-- I’ve been there twice. This last time, we chose to check out some prehistoric dinosaur footprints for a diversion. We picked up a couple of locals to help us find our way and managed to see some pretty fascinating footprints which I was pretty skeptical about at first. The significance of this trip is that one of the locals we met was not so local. His name is Okongo Jerim from Kenya. He is a teacher at a Christian high school in Lesotho and has begun work in his area with children in high need of help. He has surveyed a relatively small area and found forty double orphans. He has taken many other steps toward advancing some long-term help and is now talking with me about what aid might be brought in. Now I look forward to returning, for a meeting with Jerim and those working with him on the project, to see what move we should make next.

Closer to home…
Things are also developing in Hlatekulu where Pastor Moses lives. I’ve met with the chief’s council and they are glad for us to be out there. Since my goal is to work with the community, (as opposed to “for” or “over”) during the meeting I was pressed to share my vision. But, I told them I don’t have one. That I don’t plan to move in and tell them how it will be, rather, I wish for them to discuss and tell what they think needs to happen. Through working together in that way there will be greater ownership taken by those local. There is such a thing out here called the “home-based caregivers”. These are the backbone of AIDS work as they are ladies who typically volunteer their time to go house to house visiting those who are sick and dying of AIDS. These ladies bathe, medicate, and cook for sufferers who are physically unable to do so for themselves. Therefore, these ladies are also aware of the children who are most in need of help. The chief’s council is planning to meet with the caregiver’s leaders and other relevant community organizations to develop a plan of strategy. Then they will call me and we’ll meet together again. This is an exciting progression, but as you can imagine it may be a year (at the earliest), likely two or three, before the vision is cast and fulfilled… I am most concerned for the children who are hungry now. The children who are living alone now-- those who are alone in their houses, susceptible to rape, cold and hunger. I looked in the eyes of one of these health workers telling me she knows of children living in houses with no adults and completely vulnerable to neighborhood men who would desire to come and rape as he pleases. So while the grand vision should be sought and done well, likely taking three years to complete, something for the immediate must be done.
Please pray for wisdom and solutions.