Blog Archives
After wrapping up a great time in Malakal with Fellowship Bible Church, I flew to Juba got into a Landcruiser with Heather Sumner (Microfinance), Rob Sherman, and the Chuck Norris of Sudan: A guy named Mawa. We drove seven hours over the equivalent of dry creek and river beds. But when I arrived in Kajo Keji, my heart exploded with joy.
We have the largest team I’ve ever brought to Sudan, and the cool thing is that Steve Grote is really leading them. Discipleship, I’m reproducing. We’re working in nine villages, five of those are new church plants!
- But also, we have Holly Lungren doing women’s ministry.
- John Elmore leading an alcohol recovery group, which I’ve attended and wanted to weep throughout the entire meeting. It was so powerful, real and authentic. Celebrate Recovery 12-step program with a great spirit.
- David and Missy Williams, along with Heather and many others are setting up a broadband Internet cafe along with their microfinance program.
- Will Nix and David Reyerson are digging a well by hand--percussion method.
- This Friday the first 17 men graduate the Bible School.
The activity is energizing and the team reported great acts of God today.Please pray for us. Everyone is healthy and this team has a fantastic attitude!
Mike
Read More | Posted by on 06/30/09 at 02:38 PM
You know what’s fun? Team teaching with a television commercial director and a psychotherapist in Sudan. The Director, M.L. Nelson, is in Sudan for the first time. He’s been a Christian for 5 years, (He’s a shade over 60) and God is blasting his socks off. He said this is the first time he’s talked about God in front of a group this size. It’s cool to watch, and he’s a natural.
Rob Sherman, the psychotherapist, is fun to behold for other reasons. In addition to our standard curriculum, he has already delved into the root cause of tribalism, spousal abuse, and sex. He has the pastors convicted, spellbound, and laughing so hard the room shakes. He gets right to the core of things. It’s fun to watch.
Carol Zeigler and Amy Carenza are in their wheelhouse. Gifted businesswomen in America, they’re teaching 13 women the fundamentals of starting, marketing, running, and prospering a business. They’re a blast to hang out with here in Sudan.
We are in a very strategic place in Sudan. This is as front lines as it gets. How front lines? A good friend of mine who just returned from a little farther North reports of families accepting payments to put their children in Islamic schools in the North. 82 children were taken to these schools recently. Again, where is the Church? I could rant, but I’m saving it for now.
I taught the pastor’s today, and I’ll teach again tomorrow. My heart is stirred for this place. Pray for me and David Kaya. The challenge here feels overwhelming.
Pray for our e3 Team who leaves for Sudan on the 26th. I’ll be flying down to meet them on Saturday. We’re praying we can plant seven new churches that week.
And to those connected to my family, remember Ali and the kiddos. This is a long one for husband and daddy to be away.
God bless,
Mike
Read More | Posted by on 06/24/09 at 11:56 AM
These are so good, I have to share them. Read John Elmore’s latest. What God is doing with him is tremendous!
We got all misty eyed reading them here in Sudan. John’s far south of where we are. My Fellowship Bible Team and I landed in Malakal today. Pastor/leader trainining kicks off on Monday. Also, please keep the microfinance and water teams in your prayers as well.
Now, on to John....
******
We just finished talking on the Grace FM of Kajo Keji, Sudan, for 2 hours straight.
I was there with five of my new favorite people in the world...here is a little about the people you are praying for…
Scopas (a young man who I am convinced would be an instant movie star - he is lean, muscular and is the most animated talker I’ve ever met - he gestures with his hands, inflects each syllable and smiles from one corner of his mouth with bright white eyes while wearing his tattered shorts and a used-to-be-white button down - he’s getting used to my hugs slowly but surely),
Rose K. (she’s a ex-moonshine brewer and alcoholic as of last week - she professed over the radio tonight that she used to hate people like me...Christians who talked about the hope of Jesus - in fact, we first met because she was mocking me from the brew pots as I walked by her...we began talking, I told her my story of pain and addiction and the mocking stopped...she has attended every meeting since...tonight she told about her relationship with her husband and
Click Read More....
Read More | Posted by on 06/22/09 at 08:52 AM
Quick prayer requests, please:
- First half I’m going with Fellowship Bible Dallas. Training pastors (and the ladies are teaching basic business skills to Sudanese women) please pray God would speak through our team.
- Second half I meet the largest team I’ve ever brought into Sudan. Pray for Steve Grote (other e3 leader) and team.
- Ali and the kiddos. 20 days is tough. Honestly, these prayers mean the most to me.
Also, Missy and Heather with Microfinance need God’s encouragement and help with the program God’s called them to implement. Keep praying for John and for Will Nix too. Will is working on hand-dug water wells.
God stories (Him willing!!!) coming.....
Mike
Read More | Posted by on 06/16/09 at 06:57 AM
Alcoholics in Sudan-Elmore Update
Dear friends and family-Thank you for your prayers. We are safe and sound in Sudan and quickly falling in love with the people and country. The Sudanese are the most incredible people I’ve ever encountered. They are loving, generous and joyful.
For the last week, me and my translator have been walking through the stick and mud hut villages talking with alcoholics at their homes and at the moonshine stills…
Click Read More for the rest....
Read More | Posted by on 06/13/09 at 05:47 PM
Sudan Team:
We’ll also have:
- A Kids “K” (run)
- Bounce houses
- Face painting
- Food
- Live Music
- Clowns
- Balloons
- A Sudan Experiential Walk. Oh yeah, we’ll have the hut (Tukel) and everything.
We’re trying to raise $35,000 to primarily help the 300 kids we feed and educate in Sudan. The funds will:
- Repair their school building
- Pay seven teachers’ salaries
- Feed the children
- Help e3 Partners with its work in Sudan
We’d love some help. Here’s how you can plug into this event.
Want to participate? Easy, go here and sign up: http://www.sudanfootrace.com
Want to help out? Contact / 214.440.1177 Melanie is our primary coordinator for the event.
Right now we’re looking for:
- Media Contacts
- Sponsors!!!
- Marketing/Coordinating Assistance
And, NO, I will not be sending you tons of emails about this. A reminder or two near the event, that’s all.
Mike
Read More | Posted by on 06/10/09 at 01:59 PM
First the good news
A couple months back I sent an email letting you know that we faced some--uh--challenging financial times. Since then, primarily through two families and two churches, we have cash in hand and pledges of $156,000 for the Sudan Fund. Hallelujah! The mission continues. Thanks to all of you who gave. If you still would like to contribute, you can do so by clicking here.
Updates
Prayer please over these:
* Missy Williams is on her way to Sudan for five weeks to get the Microfinance work up and going and the Internet Cafe up and running--the only Internet cafe in the county!
* John Elmore left yesterday for a six week stay in Sudan. His goal is to set up alcohol recovery groups.
* Holly Lungren joined John on the six-week journey to disciple women in Sudan.
* Will Nix rounded out the trio. His goal is to transfer skills and know-how on hand-dug water wells with these guys: http://www.water4.org
* Patricia Caroom and Robert Gunn are putting a great plan together for the unreached people group--the Toposa--in Southeastern Sudan.
* Deirdre LaNoue is evaluating innovate curriculum for the Bible School and working on U.S. Seminary/Bible School partnership.
Challenging News
As we push into the darkness, it seems to push back. Here are some issues we’re praying over now:
* Joshua and Alfred are recovering from appendicitis. Alfred is bedridden right now.
* One of our missionaries is dealing with his wife’s devastating illness.
* Another missionary, David Sanya, has ulcers so bad, he is having severe problems eating.
* A key member of the microfinance team is battling two huge medical problems.
* One of the Sudan team leaders on the U.S. team just learned of an eye disease.
* The microfinance team’s laptops were stolen in Uganda.
* Our key missionary in Kagwada, Elias, is dealing with a very sick wife.
* Relationship issues are bubbling up on both sides of the earth.
And more good--and challenging--things are happening. But big picture: We rejoice at what God chooses to do with unqualified us.
Thanks for praying and being a part of the team!
Read More | Posted by on 06/03/09 at 10:22 AM
What the heck do I do in Sudan?
Did you know that in terms of people groups--think tribes for Sudan, primarily--Sudan is the third least reached country in the world with the Gospel? That means that only India and China (or vice versa?) have more people groups where two percent or less of those groups have ever even heard of Jesus. This is well over 100 tribes, and millions of people. This is what drives me. If we had to get to the bottom line of what I do, it’s coming up with strategies and tactics with my Sudanese brothers to get the Gospel to these people.
So why the heck are they so unreached?
Primarily due to war. Sudan received independence from Britain in 1955. From then until 1972, they fought a civil war. They took a break, then fought again from 1983 until 2005. The North is Arab and Muslim and contains a particularly radical element of Islam. The South is black Africans who are animistic (traditional beliefs) and Christian. The fighting was terrible. Villages were burned, women raped, children murdered, children served as soldiers, and on and on. Sadaam Hussein provided chemical weapons that the North used on the Southern soldiers. I’ve met men who suffer from those chemical attacks still today.
When war is happening, nothing else takes place. So in the South no roads were ever paved, much less cared for at all. They were (still a lot are) like dry creek beds. No one built an electrical grid, no one dug reservoirs, (oddly enough there are some in Darfur from the 1960s?) no one built businesses. Nothing. In 2007, both the United Nations and Foreign Policy Magazine declared Sudan the least developed country in the world. I had a man who lived there ask me, “How do you go back to the U.S. and describe nothing?”
Now e3 Partners is focused on church planting. We Equip believers to Evangelize the lost to Establish churches. Our mission is to establish churches in Sudan. When we started trying to do this in 2005/6, our model fell apart. What works great in places like Peru and India, didn’t work so great in Sudan.
Why?
Click Read More....
Read More | Posted by on 06/03/09 at 10:14 AM
How will you spend your retirement?
Robert Gunn in Toposa land
John Piper, in his book, don’t waste your life writes,
I tell you what a tragedy is. I’ll read to you from Reader’s Digest (Feb. 2000, p. 98) what a tragedy is: “Bob and Penny… took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” The American Dream: come to the end of your life – your one and only life – and let the last great work before you give an account to your Creator, be “I collected shells. See my shells.” THAT is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And I get forty minutes to plead with you: don’t buy it.
Robert Gunn is 70, and he’s not buying it. He just “retired” from the company he, and his wife Jane, built over the past couple of decades. He handed the reigns over to his son for day-to-day operations.
Robert and I first went to Sudan together in February 2007. From that point on Robert has been a key mobilizer in his home church, Hyde Park Baptist in Austin, TX. Also from that point, I’ve bugged him about leading trips for e3. He is a board member and started going on short-term missions in 1968 with the man who basically came up with the idea, Dove Jackson. So he starts out totally overqualified.
In late February, early March of this year, I asked Robert again if he’d come on staff and not just lead trips, but team up with Patricia Caroom to spend the next few years working on reaching the Toposa, a truly unreached people group. This time, the Lord gave he and Jane the green light.
Robert, Lokuuda, and Jane
So how is this retired businessman spending his golden years? Bringing the Gospel to a tribe that some say has over 700,000 members, and less than 2,000 believers.
Read the rest...Click Read More
Read More | Posted by on 05/12/09 at 02:54 PM
