27 July 2007
Cameroon is not just a spiritually starved and parched land-- it is hungry and thirsty land. As I have said before, the fields are white already to harvest. The government is very open to missionaries and the people are open to the message. And God is ready to harvest, and, in fact, is already harvesting many souls in Cameroon. Ndop was another breath-taking view of God's outpoured grace. Sam, Abby, brother Providence, and I were down in the main market in Bamunka in the region of Ndop (more properly Ngokutunja) for a few hours witnessing and saw at least 7 people make confessions of faith in the Lord Jesus. Ndop is a region hungry for the Truth!
Sunday afternoon, Providence and Chrysanthus will lead a Bible study there in the main market. My prayers will be with that. I have written about several other villages like Bamunka, where we have seen God's spirit outpoured. Even in Ndop, there are 13 villages, just bereft of the light of the Gospel. PRAY, beseech, BEG the Lord of the harvest for laborers! And these millions of hungry, thirsty souls for whom Christ died will be blessed . . . "for they shall be filled."
Friday, July 27, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Wum: White Already to Harvest
23 July 2007
On Saturday, July 21st, Pastor and Mrs. Needham, Daniel Needham, Sam and Abby Sanderlin, Pastor Julius, and I all crammed into the Needhams' Isuzu Trooper for a day trip out to the large village of Wum. Stopping briefly in the main square of the town, we had multiple witnessing opportunities within a matter of ten or fifteen minutes. One young boy asked me for a handful of tracts so he could take them back to his people. As we drove on down the road we were welcomed with great honor at the "palaces" of two fons (tribal chiefs). They eagerly reaffirmed their desire to cooperate with Pastor Tom's plans to put in an airstrip near the village. As we were leaving the palace of the second fon, a great crowd met our vehicle all clamoring for tracts. They were not simply fascinated by our white skin, they were hungry to hear what message we might have to give them. This large village has no church, no missionary, no Christians at all that we know of. And the field is white and open for harvest. Oh, please pray to the Lord of the harvest to compel laborers to go! There are thousands of villages just like Wum. Thousands are dying in the darkness everyday. It's not because they will not hear; it's more often because there is no one to preach to them.
On Saturday, July 21st, Pastor and Mrs. Needham, Daniel Needham, Sam and Abby Sanderlin, Pastor Julius, and I all crammed into the Needhams' Isuzu Trooper for a day trip out to the large village of Wum. Stopping briefly in the main square of the town, we had multiple witnessing opportunities within a matter of ten or fifteen minutes. One young boy asked me for a handful of tracts so he could take them back to his people. As we drove on down the road we were welcomed with great honor at the "palaces" of two fons (tribal chiefs). They eagerly reaffirmed their desire to cooperate with Pastor Tom's plans to put in an airstrip near the village. As we were leaving the palace of the second fon, a great crowd met our vehicle all clamoring for tracts. They were not simply fascinated by our white skin, they were hungry to hear what message we might have to give them. This large village has no church, no missionary, no Christians at all that we know of. And the field is white and open for harvest. Oh, please pray to the Lord of the harvest to compel laborers to go! There are thousands of villages just like Wum. Thousands are dying in the darkness everyday. It's not because they will not hear; it's more often because there is no one to preach to them.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
the Hills
I headed up into the hills east of Sabga to stay in a Fulani house with a fellow believer. Joda was saved in 1992 at the age of 24 through the witness of Pastor Tom Needham. He has been serving the Lord faithfully in many ways since then and now lives in Bamenda traveling around to different villages as a counselor for the youth in this part of Cameroon. Joda and I stayed at his mother’s compound for one night helping tend the cattle and witnessing to the herdsman who is working for Joda’s mother. The hike and stay up in those beautiful Fulani hills was refreshing for my spirit. There is such natural beauty and majesty in the endless green views of that quiet place.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Independence Day in "the Uttermost"
written on July 4
Only once in the past three years have I been in the USA for the Fourth of July. I miss it, yet, let nothing stand between me and the Christ I follow. Celebrating Independence Day abroad is just part of being a missionary. Part of taking the Gospel to the uttermost. Can I say I do not have a desire to spend this day with my family in the beautiful countryside of my beloved homeland? To deny that would be to deny that I have natural human desires and loves. Yet, I find my fulfilling joy, my ultimate delight, the end of my pleasure only in my Christ! "Rejoice in the LORD!" May it be first and foremost in my own heart that I am a citizen of heaven and a stranger and an alien on this earth. Yes, I love the USA and I'm proud to be an American, but far stronger is the driving force in my heart of my heavenly citizenship.
Only once in the past three years have I been in the USA for the Fourth of July. I miss it, yet, let nothing stand between me and the Christ I follow. Celebrating Independence Day abroad is just part of being a missionary. Part of taking the Gospel to the uttermost. Can I say I do not have a desire to spend this day with my family in the beautiful countryside of my beloved homeland? To deny that would be to deny that I have natural human desires and loves. Yet, I find my fulfilling joy, my ultimate delight, the end of my pleasure only in my Christ! "Rejoice in the LORD!" May it be first and foremost in my own heart that I am a citizen of heaven and a stranger and an alien on this earth. Yes, I love the USA and I'm proud to be an American, but far stronger is the driving force in my heart of my heavenly citizenship.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Strangers in an Unworthy World
So what does it mean to be a stranger on this earth? What does it mean for this world not to be worthy of those heroes of faith from Hebrews 11? What does it mean to forsake all for Christ? I do not think I even know. I am a very rich man in this world-- compared to most; compared to Christ. So how can I know what it means to follow Christ, when, according to worldly "goods", I live so far above the level at which Christ Himself lived on this earth? How tightly am I holding on to the things of this world? With an open hand, but will my fingers spring shut if God begins to remove something precious from my hand?
Sunday night at church we watched "Flame in the Wind." I don't know how many times I've seen it, but this summer, my heart has been moved, rebuked, blessed everytime I watch those men face the Inquisition, suffer, stand, and die for Something they held more precious than anything in this world. They faced the flames with no fear, no grasping of anything or anyone in this world, only clinging tightly to Jesus Christ. To them, the world was not worthy of their lives. The world was death. Christ was life. And Christ alone was worthy of their affections and their life! So that's what it means-- "of whom the world was not worthy."
Sunday night at church we watched "Flame in the Wind." I don't know how many times I've seen it, but this summer, my heart has been moved, rebuked, blessed everytime I watch those men face the Inquisition, suffer, stand, and die for Something they held more precious than anything in this world. They faced the flames with no fear, no grasping of anything or anyone in this world, only clinging tightly to Jesus Christ. To them, the world was not worthy of their lives. The world was death. Christ was life. And Christ alone was worthy of their affections and their life! So that's what it means-- "of whom the world was not worthy."
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