Blog Archives
Sudan is on the precipice. George Clooney is helping tell why, and so am I.
I just wanted to write that to put myself up there with George Clooney. Even the lovely Ali (wife) doesn’t buy that one. Moving on.
On January 9, 2011, the Southern Sudanese will cast their votes to secede from the North or stay a unified country. This is huge, historic, and the largest matter of prayer we face as people who care at all about Sudan. HUGE! Here’s your primer on how they got there, what’s going on, and what all this means.
The tension between the arab, Muslim North and the black, animistic, Christian South actually goes back well over 100 years. Perhaps further. The arabs regularly raided the South to abduct and coerce the black Southerners into slavery in the middle east. Later Britain would claim what’s now Sudan during their era of global colonization. The borders we work within today were drawn out by the British, which is why many tribes are split by this arbitrary border.
In 1956, Sudan gained independence from Britain, and the crud pretty much immediately hit the fan. From 1956 until 1972 the North and South fought a protracted civil war. In 1972, a ceasefire was called and peace came to the country for nine, short years. In the far South of Sudan, it’s particularly heartbreaking because those who’d taken refuge in Uganda became terrorized by Idi Amin and ran into Sudan. David Kaya is one of those refugees.
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Read More | Posted by on 12/06/10 at 09:42 PM
I just got back from a 20 day stint in Sudan. As usual, I have a few stories for you.
Let’s start with John Monychol (Mon-choal). On the second half of the trip, John was the key church leader we worked with for church planting, and training. I’ve written about him once before, but this is a more extensive profile.
John has a presence. It’s difficult to articulate, but there’s a calmness and peacefulness that emanates from him. He comes across as naturally quiet. That could be due to language. He interacts as much as any other African when he’s moving amongst his people. One assumes the peace is from his walk with Christ, but it could also have been born when he was laying with the pile of dead bodies--but I’m skipping ahead.
What do you do when war comes to your village when you’re a young boy? You’re too young to fight, so you run. In John’s case he ran east following the Sobat river until it took him to Ethiopia. There he found makeshift refugee camps that also served as an outpost for the rebel army fighting for Southern Sudan. It was also then that his mother died. His father, an animist believer of traditional, tribal beliefs, slaughtered a bull and asked a spirit to protect John. That’d be the last time he’d see his father.
I tried to put myself in John’s shoes since we’re about the same age. When I was 11, I was adjusting to middle school. I cared about my haircut, the clothes I was wearing, and if I would ever be big enough to play football.
When John was 11, he joined the Southern Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA).
Read More | Posted by on 12/03/10 at 02:57 PM
Allow me to ramble a bit. No photos this time, just your mind’s imagination. Yesterday I sat on a bus with David Kaya and Edward Dima. We talked about all sorts of things. It was the three of us, on an e3 bus (yes, we have a bus now), engine off, in the shade, talking. An odd environment, but the seats are pretty comfy. A story arose. They told me that one night a woman arrived here at our main mother church. She had jerry cans in her hands, a sack of grain on her head, and her children by her side.
She approached the kitchen on the bible school grounds. This is adjacent to Seed Effect’s office, which alerted their night watchman. Some women from the kitchen and the watchman asked the woman what she was doing here in the middle of the night.
She was running away
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Read More | Posted by on 07/22/10 at 03:50 AM
As I’ve reflected on our vision, I return, always, to Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
Our mission is His mission. To preach the Good News (evangelize and disciple), to bind up the brokenhearted (holistic ministry), and to proclaim freedom and liberty from darkness and the prince of this world (vessels of Jesus’ power).
We are combining the Great Commission with the Great Commandment to embark on an holistic, church-planting adventure. Covering all of this is the absolute conviction that the Sudanese Church must stand on its own! We are partners and servants to our Sudanese brothers and sisters, not paternal bosses nor ones who demand our way.
The goal is to walk away one day. We walk away and the church multiplies on its own, supports itself, loves the poor, the widow, the orphan, and begins to look beyond the Sudan border for its’ next mission as well. This is the end goal.
Read More | Posted by on 06/28/10 at 10:42 AM
Jesus is cool. Obviously there are myriad reasons why, (understatement?) but here’s a theme for your day. On the one hand, He’s unbelievably demanding: Telling a rich guy to sell everything, instructing us that to follow Him you have to be willing to leave your own family--heck hate your family and your own life,--telling us we’ll have trouble, persecution, and more.
Yet, he also says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” And, “My yoke is easy and burden is light.”
How does this play out in Sudan? With Jason Morris, to name one of many. Let me tell you a quick story.
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Read More | Posted by on 06/28/10 at 10:27 AM
Check this out. One church plant (where WHI drilled a well) is under a tree. The Mundari people in that area used to have a lot of killings under that tree. It was the tree of death. Now, they will worship the life-giver, Jesus Christ, under that tree. I guess you could call it the tree of life now? And just walk up a small slope and pump clean water. How cool is that?
But wait, that’s not all. The vets taught a few guys how to vaccinate cows. Those guys, shot cows for hours getting rid of worms and a lung disease. Then the three vets treated sick cow after sick cow. Around Noon each day, they’d teach the cattle keepers bible stories. Even the chief showed up. He was so happy, he gave us a goat, which made a great dinner on the last night. He and 52 other cattle keepers professed faith in Christ under a tree one day as well. Hallelujah. e3’s Sudanese missionaries, Geofrey and Fred, are planting a mobile church who will move with the nomadic cattle keepers.
But that is also a mere drop in the bucket. Did you know we have two teams on the ground right now? One with the Toposa, healing wounds, teaching discipleship, and loving on children. In Kajo Keji, a small team of mostly women are training 120 people in medical care.
Seed Effect issued their 100th loan this week!! Still they have a 100% repayment rate! Praise God!
We have a man we know now with a plan to enter Darfur!
This next week, two missionaries will land in Cale and open up a new area with the Gospel. Pray the find a person of peace.
So, so much more. Get updates almost every day here.
Mike
Read More | Posted by on 05/28/10 at 03:21 PM
The pastor’s conference had 1,630 participants. Men and women from Sudan, Congo and Uganda flooded in for teaching, preaching, encouragement and heavenesque worship.
Dr. Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, preached and taught every day. A huge honor and blessing to us. Meanwhile his wife helped plant a new church!
Read more ....
Read More | Posted by on 05/09/10 at 03:13 AM
Today, Ali and I are leaving to take Alexa to Sudan. We’re heading out a bit early to ease the jetlag on her. We can’t wait to see how God works in her life as she sees the other side of the world, and another piece of Christ’s Kingdom. We’d love your prayers for us, and for her little brother and sister staying behind with grandparents.
But she’s not the only kid going. Mark Jordan is bringing his son, Alec, who’s 11. He’ll head out a bit early as well. Joining us is a terrific crew from Prestonwood Baptist Church. They’ll be stepping into a massive pastors conference in Kajo Keji. We anticipate over 1,000 church leaders from Sudan, Uganda, and Congo.
For the Baptists on the list, we’re blessed that Dr. Danny Akin and his wife will join us and lead the teaching at the conference. Dr. Akin is the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. SEBTS is incredibly mission-oriented due to Dr. Akin’s leadership. We are tremendously excited.
I’ll send you reports as I can. After sending this team home, I’m staying in Sudan to receive another incredible team from Birmingham, Alabama and Dallas-Fort Worth. They’re going to Terekeka (Tear-uh-cake-uh). We’ll sleep at the Harvesters’ Orphanage and love on those kids, drill water wells with Water Harvest International, conduct veterinary work on cows, goats and other animals with Dr. Jason Johnson, meet healthcare needs as we can in clinics with Dr. Chris Harmon, and of course strengthen church plants by indigenous Sudanese, e3 missionaries.
We really do value your prayers. Thanks for covering us as we go.
Read More | Posted by on 04/27/10 at 06:06 AM
Remember the purple fingers from Iraq’s election? The men and women holding their fingers up, showcasing their pride in their ability to vote and determine their future? Sudan is on the cusp of their first election in nine years. It’s helpful context that the elections in 2000 were in the midst of a 23-year war, and the president (Bashir) won with 86% of the vote...after his bloodless coup in 1989.
The upcoming elections, this Sunday through Tuesday (April 11-13) are complex--in that there are a lot of moving parts and dynamics that I won’t do a great job explaining and are so fluid that by the time you read this things will have changed. You can find more details here.
Read More | Posted by on 04/08/10 at 02:09 PM
Remember the purple fingers from Iraq’s election? The men and women holding their fingers up, showcasing their pride in their ability to vote and determine their future? Sudan is on the cusp of their first election in nine years. It’s helpful context that the elections in 2000 were in the midst of a 23-year war, and the president (Bashir) won with 86% of the vote...after his bloodless coup in 1989.
The upcoming elections, this Sunday through Tuesday (April 11-13) are complex--in that there are a lot of moving parts and dynamics that I won’t do a great job explaining and are so fluid that by the time you read this things will have changed. You can find more details here.
Read More | Posted by on 04/08/10 at 01:22 PM