Tears for the City

In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus laments for Jerusalem as he approached the city. The city that praised him and cried “Hosanna!”, Jesus preceded this glorious welcome with tears. As I meditate on this passage, I am challenged and convicted. I cannot imagine the pain Jesus felt being welcomed in such a glorious and majestic way only to be later falsely accused and crucified by the same praise givers. The twelve deserted him along with the city that welcomed him as the King of the Jews. This betrayal must have been a gut-wrenching experience for the God-man. And it was just the beginning of his isolation and lonely walk down the ‘way of suffering’. Even the closest of Jesus’ friends did not understand him and fled when their encouragement and defense was needed, yet Jesus knew this was the lot that had fallen to him. This was the cup that he submitted to drink from through sweat of blood and tears.

It is encouragement to me that Christ, among all who have lived and breathed, experienced betrayal, rejection, false accusations, suffering and even death on a level that we will never know. During this season of my life, I have been faced with betrayals, physical harm, rejection and false accusations. I look to Jesus’ example in all of this and know that He knows and understands. Although these trials cannot be avoided, it is a comfort to know that He is with me. He cries with me. He hurts with me. He will even fight for me when necessary.

My challenge remains in the preliminary action of Jesus before his passion and suffering commenced. The challenge for me are the tears…the love. Knowing what awaited him, still Jesus wept for those that he knew would spit on him, strike him and place the crown of thorns on his head. This is my prayer. In the darkest parts of the world, Lord, give me tears and love for those who ‘do not know what they are doing’. May my life be a life that silently accepts the cup of suffering while still extending grace, love and forgiveness. God, let me weep for Sierra Leone and the rest of the world who desperately needs You.

TREE OF LIFE
Your prayers are being answered and classes are multiplying. Pastor Emmanuel is teaching two classes and I just finished my own class in Makeni. We have a group and our first church plant has emerged over the last couple of months. Please be in prayer concerning these things. We are also discussing a future partnership in expanding the Tree of Life ministry and working with an investor that longs to create working moringa farms throughout the country and the world. We are in the planning stages, but pray that God would guide us and give us wisdom in the decisions that are on the horizon.

I love you all and thank you for your support! Please drop me and email and let me know how I can pray for you. GTG

Bittersweet

Let us start with the ‘sweet’: The tree of Life ministry is going well and God is blessing and moving. From the beginning it has been my biblical hope to see and organic, spirit-led and sustainable ministry that will guide people to the Truth of the Gospel and also foster healing in their relationships to themselves, others and creation. I wish I could announce the thousands who have flocked to our classes, yet our numbers-driven culture needs a check-up, nor is it a fair assessment of God’s hand at work, and that is a sermon for another day. ;-) I was reminded by a friend of the prophet Jeremiah’s 25 year ministry: and the result was two believers that followed him. Many call him the “Weeping Prophet”. But I would like to call him the “Persevering Prophet”.

One who has followed his example is Pastor Emmanuel who is working with me as an instructor/church planter with Tree of Life. Despite obstacles, he is bent on serving God and pastoring the flock God gives him. He has now begun his 4th and 5th classes. The first class has 20 students who began this week. Please pray for them as they learn holistically what health really is: spirit, body and mind. His second class has been born out of a new convert we will call “A”. “A” lives in a village not far from pastor but is an area that is very staunch in other religious beliefs. He is meeting with three people at “A’s” house weekly. God has given him a vision that this will be the first church plant from the Tree of Life ministry. It is exciting and challenging at the same time. I ask you all to pray for pastor, the classes, and particularly “A” who has a growing hunger to know our Savior.

My class graduated a couple of weeks ago in Makeni, and I am praying now that a leader will emerge to continue the work here as Pastor Emmanuel is doing in Freetown. Please also pray for an unspoken request for me as I seek wisdom and guidance and several major decisions in the coming months.

There seems to be a universal law that couples opposites purposefully. James chapter 1 tells us to “Rejoice in your suffering…for it makes you mature and complete”. Often we are blinded to this truth and tend to look at our current circumstances and think, “What the heck is going on?” We fail to see from a Divine perspective and want answers and solutions now. ‘Lament’ is not a very nice word in Christendom, yet necessary in our faith to not only show our dependence upon a Sovereign God, but to reveal the honesty of a hurting soul. I confess I have been in a season of lament with the losses that have come into my life, the betrayals and just serving in a very difficult and dark place. Many of you have, through divine timing, sent so many encouraging emails that God has used. Thank you. Keep praying as I pray for you. Keep loving God and people.

First Fruits

Tree of Life Ministries launched in October of 2012 with our first official class graduating in January upon my return. Up until that point, the vision was transforming into a curriculum sharing about health prevention and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many still do not understand the ministry fully, or feel that it is just another para-NGO focused on health training. People have gotten glimpses and slivers of truth about our ministry, yet our purpose is ultimately to make the name of Jesus known among the unreached and to make disciples. Our foundation for this is relationships, just as Jesus modeled to us. Our medium is creative, holistic and truthful on all levels: spiritually, physically and emotionally.

I am happy to be writing today to tell you about a new disciple who I will call “A”. This new disciple emerged from a relationship Pastor Emmanuel (My co-teacher with TOL) has formed over the past weeks. I visited A’s community with Pastor Emmanuel and Mark this week. The area is predominately “M” with a very prominent “M” school in the community. As we walked the long road to A’s house, I must confess that my heart was distracted with other trials happening around me currently. Hope seemed distant and out of reach, yet when we reached A’s house God opened my eyes and turned my focus to a wonderful new work taking place in this small remote community.

Pastor has been discipling A and meeting with him weekly. Now A's friends and the community have asked for the Tree of Life class/Bible teaching in their area. Not only is there a physical need because of lack of safe water and an unclean environment, there is such a need for spiritual Truth. We sat for over an hour reading scriptures about salvation through Jesus Christ and the need of a blood sacrifice to atone the wrath and judgment of God against sin. After we prayer together, A offered a place for us to have the class behind his house. He even made the comment that we could have a church there.

As I walked that dusty road to A’s house, hope seemed out of reach, but after our time of church that Sunday, hope was restored. I realized that this is the first fruits of the work taking place here. All glory goes to God! Please pray for A, his family, neighbors, Pastor Emmanuel and the new class that will be starting in the Bessberry community. God will complete this new work he has begun!

First TOL Graduation in Makeni

My heart is overflowing with gratitude to the God who is sovereign and the source of all good works through His Spirit. This past Sunday, April 28th, our first 13 graduates were given certificates celebrating the completion of their six week course. During these six weeks they were able to learn 15 health prevention lessons (i.e. HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Clean Water, etc.). Disease prevention is key here since curative medicine is often not available or very expensive to the common citizen. We also taught 3 lessons on the moringa tree, a life saving resource God has blessed the world with to give added nutrients to foods that lack sustenance. However, our class is just not focused on the physical wellness of the person, we also give 18 Bible stories from Creation to Christ to give spiritual wellness as well. These six weeks have bonded us together as friends and some as brothers and sisters in Christ. My prayer is that each student will walk away with spiritual seeds planted and educational tools that will allow them, their families, communities and world to live healthy lives enjoying God and glorifying His name throughout the earth.

Our celebration began after church. Pastor Emmanuel K. Sesay, my first teacher within Tree of Life was the chairman and guest speaker. I also was very thankful to Mr. Matthew Tholley, and their pastor Edward Kargbo for their open invitation for Tree of Life to come and share within their community. The students gave testimonies and even prepared a short play demonstrating how to avoid bacterial/parasite infections by practicing proper hygiene. I was so proud of them to see that the knowledge imparted to them (despite my imperfect Krio) was etched on their hearts and minds.

After awarding them the certificates, we all had a time of eating together and fellowshipping. It was a wonderful day to say the least. All praise, honor and glory goes to God whose Word will never return void. I pray that the seeds of truth planted, the new relationships and the knowledge given would grow and multiply.

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray that God would raise up teachers from among the classes who have the zeal, maturity and the heart to tkae this Truth to other parts of Sierra Leone and abroad. Love God – Love people.

True Shalom

It has been some time since I have written. It should be no surprise that living on the continent of Africa can often have its own set of challenges. For the past week, the internet has been down hindering my ability to communicate all that has been happening. I thank each of you in advance for your understanding. Communicating to those of you who are faithful in supporting me financially, emotionally and spiritually is a great priority to me. Think of my blogs and emails as a hug via the net. ;-)

Where to start? So much has happened in the last few weeks. We had our final class in Makeni on Tuesday and our first class in Makeni will be graduating this Sunday, April 28th. They are excited and I am extremely proud of them. Pastor Emmanuel from Freetown who leads the Tree of Life classes there will be coming as our guest speaker. I am sure it will be a grand time of celebrating with lots of loud music and spicy food! My prayer now is that teachers will begin to emerge from these classes. So far we have a total of 4 classes who have completed the Tree of Life curriculum. As of today, we have two potential ‘new’ teachers. My plan is to commit these few to prayer and prepare a workshop to train and disciple these teachers in sharing the Gospel and their community health knowledge with their own families, villages and country. “Going Out” is their challenge, yet it is the command of our Lord.

God has been teaching me volumes. Mark is now back as my security in Makeni. This has been an answered prayer and every morning we have our Bible studies. We are reading through the Bible from beginning to end. I can see the hunger for God’s word growing in him. His faith is maturing and I know that God has “plans of hope and a future for him”. Continue to pray for Mark as he still faces persecution from family for his faith and that he will continue to resist the temptations that surround him. Pray for our mutual understanding of each other despite our cultural differences and worldviews.

Today I was reading from John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” As I read these words from Jesus, I see a stark contrast in the world around me that screams due to the absence of TRUE shalom or peace. The reality is our empty and selfish pursuits which we feel is leading us to peace is actually leading us to a place where peace seems out of reach. Broken relationships with God, ourselves, others and our environment hinders any chance in our life for an everlasting peace. This peace cannot be given by the world, yet we all are guilty of searching for it there. We look to our jobs, ministries, relationships, entertainment, sin, earthly possessions, etc. to find one ounce of shalom. Yet in the end, this peace is transient and false. It will fade and leave us wanting. Lord, Your peace is TRUE, supernatural, and the only peace that will sustain and satisfy the hunger and thirst deep within our souls. Give us Your shalom.

I love you all. Continue to pray and always remember to love God and love people!