Pastoral Care Ministry BLOG

Thursday: Well, we are winding down the conference here in Rwanda today. This has bee an amazing time! One pastor shared yesterday that he has seen Mazungas  (White people) come to Rwanda for a long time only to colonize them or divide the people. He has never see one come that loves them and teaches reconciliation, healing and unity. He said G-d transformed his life during the conference.

Another young pastor said that last year he saw his father for the first time in over 10 years. They began to reconcile and his dad told him about when his mother was pregnant with him the Holy Spirit came over both the mom and dad and said this son would serve G-d. I had a word for him and it said much of what he had gone through this past year. He told me that the session on forgiveness really helped him to overcome some unforgiveness that was still there between his father and him. Another session about knowing who you are helped him to begin to believe that G-d really loved him and could use him.

And old man who had been a pastor shared his story of being really angry and full of hate toward those who had caused he and his family to loose everything. At one time he had owned over 300 cattle and was fairly wealthy. The army came through and took and slaughtered every one of his cattle and left him without anything. When we talked about forgiveness he began to let some of the unforgiveness go and allow G-d to change him.

So many stories of what G-d has done in these two weeks here!!!

Today we will finish with Q&A and testimonies. I am sure there will be more stories of how G-d has met the people. And if things hold true to form there will be other stories we will never know until we get to heaven. Whether we hear them or not the important thing is that G-d is healing and changing people and setting them free to enjoy the fullness of life and freedom he intended for them.

Tomorrow we go back to Uganda. Saturday morning I go to Gulu in Northern Uganda. Sunday I am teaching three times before heading back to Kampala to fly back to America Tuesday night. Thank you for coming alone with me on this incredible journey.

Friday: We are back in Kampala safe and sound. The trip was long, but good. I got to see the countryside of Rwanda and a part of Uganda I had not see before. I was surprised by the mountains, the cool air, and the amount of agriculture (vegetable fields). The hills were terraced and every kind of Vegetable was growing. There were also larger banana plantations throughout the area.

About the time we arrived in Uganda, my family in Gulu started calling and asking “when  are you coming?” They are so anxious for me to get there. Everyone will be there except James. He is in Entebbe at school. I will get to see him next Tuesday before going to the airport.

It is hard to believe that the month is already almost gone. It has gone by very fast. The people in Kigali were very sad to see me go and threatened to tie me up so I would stay longer. I was able to convince them that that probably was not a good idea. The conference there finished well!! We took pictures, said good bye, exchanged gifts, and left looking forward to the next time G-d opens the door for me to come there.

Tonight I am staying with Pastor Ehpraim and Jova before heading to Gulu tomorrow morning sometime. They went to Masindi today and won’t be home until later this evening. My oh my… life here is almost as fast as it is in America. I guess it doesn’t matter where you are there is always something else to do before you call it a day.

History tells me that I will not have internet for the next few days… so this will most likely be the last note before I get to Brussels next Wednesday morning.

WOW!!! What a powerful day. This morning after the second session the power of the Holy Spirit fell on the place and it was absolutely awesome. The pastor kept telling me “I am so happy” over and over again. There were tears in his eyes and that was pretty much the response of the whole group. Everyone is already moaning about Thursday being the last day of the conference and of my time here. If they had their way they would, and i quote, “tie a rope around you and not let you go.” I told them they would have to fight a lot of people back home if they tried that.

Tonight we went to a friend of Moses’. Peter. He is a pastor here and he and his family have been here for 16 years. They welcomed us and said next time I had to stay at their house and not in the hotel. Everyone is speaking about next time already. The Pastors from DRC (Congo) are rally getting serious about me coming there next time. I think I could spend six months here in Africa and still not get everything done that people are asking me to do.

Thanks again for all the prayer for safety and support you all have shown. Please pray for me… there is some kind of insect that is just eating me alive. The bites look and feel like mosquitoes but I am 99% sure it is not that. Could possibly be bed bugs. I really don’t know. I do know that they are eating my arms and hands up.

WEDNESDAY: Today we started the Rwanda conference. Like other conferences we got off to a slow start just getting everything set up and figuring out what we are doing. Once we got going things went very well. Following the first session the pastor said to me: “Next year when you come you have to spend one month here.” At this point I didn’t even know if there is a next year. The thing I am finding is that the pastors and leaders here in Africa are very hungry for teaching that makes living the Christian Life practical. I am always humbled by their comments and openness to what I have to teach.

I was talking to a small group of pastors (6) from the (RDC) Congo. They are asking me to come to their country and teach deep level healing to their churches next year. There is such a need for this teaching everywhere. And when I teach there always seems to be another place or several other places that want me to come to their country or district and teach.

The fact that people are being set free makes me want to keep coming and continuing to reach out with this amazingly good news. As long as the L-rd provides finances and gives me breath I will continue to “go into all the world.”

Tomorrow we will cover the topics of “pride”, “deception”, and “forgiveness.” Today we covered “offenses” and “anger.” The question and answer time went twice as long as we had allowed, but it was good. I think they finally started to understand offenses and that when we are offended we need to do something about it and not wait for the one who offended us to come to us. The topics today really hit home to the Rwandan people as the wounds of the genocide are still very fresh even though it has been 17 years since all that happened.

Keep praying that these leaders will find freedom and be able to take it back to their congregations. Also, please pray for continued health, strength for each day’s schedule and grace and wisdom to answer the many questions. Some of them are very complex and can be pretty sticky theologically.

Shalom–Jim

Thanks for all your prayers!! Martin is feeling much better and we all made the trip to Kigali last night. Traveling all night is always hard on me because I do not sleep. The roads helped to make sure there was no sleep also. It was like riding a bucking bronco for 9 hours. We would hit a bump and it was like a pile driver on my back. Another good picture would be flying through a thunderstorm for 9 hours. Any way we’re here and everything is good.

Martin shared this story with me on the way to Kigali last night: The night watchman for the congregation, a quiet man who is a pre-Believer, told Martin how powerful these meetings were. He said groups of 10+ Mazungu’s (White’s) come all the time and you can’t tell they were here. This one man comes and everyone in the whole community is now happy.

In the debriefing Sunday afternoon, one man said I have to come twice a year. Another shared how they had held hate in their heart and during the week they were able to let it go. Many others shared how G-d had dealt with them on specific areas of their lives and when they were able to repent or forgive they were set free. Praise G-d for these and all the other stories which we will not get to hear until we get to heaven. Thanks for being such a big part of these adventures with me. I wouldn’t want to make them without you.

SATURDAY: This has been a very productive week and G-d has done some really great things. The teaching times were powerful and effective. Each day we would teach three sessions and have a question and answer time following. These were very rich times as the questions really went to the heart of healing hearts.

Wednesday evening we found out that there had be a bomb threat against me and that they actually found a small bomb at the hotel I was staying at. The group Al Shabab was responsible for the threat. One of the employees of the hotel is a member of that group and had tried to befriend me to find information about me. Tuesday evening he followed me to the internet cafe and sat there talking and reading everything i was trying to do. I had already opened one of the news sites I go to from Israel and he saw that. So my connection to Israel made me a target of this group. Martin called me Wednesday night and said they had some information that made it important that I move Thursday. He never told me what it was. Before I went to sleep the L-rd had told me that it was because of a threat on my life and that He was protecting me. Thursday I moved to another hotel that is secure with armed guards. I am safe and nothing happened to me. Praise G-d!! Your prayers have been a great comfort to me.

The evenings after the meetings were filled with one-on-one sessions with people. Again I was reminded of the cunning of the enemy to trap people and steal anything he can from them. One lady, before she was a Believer had dedicated her firstborn to a witch-doctor in order to guarantee that she would bear children for her husband. Since becoming a believer she has renounced all of her involvement but the firstborn son has been in trouble and involved in witchcraft his whole life. Another has a husband who is extremely abusive and involved openly in adultery bringing shame to her in her community. A young couple who are having difficulty because of another family member. the stories go on and on. It has been good to see freedom come to them and things begin to change around them already.

Today is Shabbat and I will rest. Tomorrow I teach at Ephraim’s church again then Monday we head out to Rwanda. Please continue to pray for us as we travel and as we minister to the church in Kilgali, the capital city of Rwanda. I don’t know what kind of internet I will have in Rwanda so communication might be spotty at best. I will keep you informed as often as possible.

Shabbat Shalom–Jim

WEDNESDAY: Today was another powerful day of teaching. The conference continues to be well attended and many are finding a new freedom in their life than they have ever known. I think the question and answer time is my favorite time as we get to deal with real life examples of what we have been teaching.

Today a lady pastor approached me and asked if she could have some of my time. We talked about what G-d had been teaching her over the past few years concerning deep level healing. She is trying to expand her ministry in this area and was asking for some help. Somewhere along the line she had gotten hold of a lot of my material and was wondering if there was any more she could have. It was a very good time.

She and several other pastors have already asked if I would come back and teach at their church. There has also been a lot of requests for one on one ministry. WOW… it can be so overwhelming at times because the need is so great. Another pastor has asked if I could come to Burundi another country that has gone through a lot of turmoil and devastation.

There is so much more to tell but the time and space won’t allow it. Thank you for standing with me as we together bring healing to East Africa.

THURSDAY: The conference went very well again today as we dealt with the area of Pride. There was a sweet breaking in those who were there. Following a long day of answering questions and doing some one on one ministry I am finally home in my new hotel. Don’t be too alarmed but I had to move because of a bomb threat toward me at the last hotel I was at. I am fine and everything is ok.

Today was a very good day. For our opening day and we had well over 100 who came for the conference. We are expecting around 200 by the end of the conference. We talked about the need for Deep Level Healing this morning laying a careful foundation. In the afternoon we covered offenses. We also had some very lively question and answer sessions.

Yesterday I moved back to a hotel I was at earlier. One of the young men caught me at the door and asked where I had been… he missed me and was sad that I was not there. He smiled from ear to ear when I told him I was back for the rest of the week.

Thanks for your prayers!!

Sunday was an amazing day. I taught in the morning at Dove Church and in the afternoon I was at a conference in another church. Both times went exceedingly well!! The response was really positive and humbling too. After finishing everything I had dinner with Ephraim and Jova (Pastor of Dove Christian Fellowship). Tomorrow starts the Deep Level Healing Conference at Dove Christian Fellowship Kampala. Should be a week of freedom and power. There is a lot of excitement for it.

WEDNESDAY: I arrived at Entebbe to find some really good news and some not so good news. The good news is that I survived five controlled crashes other wise know as landings on my way here. The bad news is that not everything arrived with me… yes the dreaded lost luggage monster followed me and got my luggage. Good news is that I had put all my teaching material in my carry-on. Bad news my bible was in the lost suitcase along with ALL my clothes. The good news is that Martin and Moses waited patiently for me to come out so they could bring me home… it was really good to see them after the long delay in taking care of tracking my luggage down.

So, prayer points! Please pray: 1)  they find my luggage quickly. 2) we get a really favorable exchange rate on our currency. 3) calm in the streets (the uprising is over the fact that food and fuel costs have doubled recently).

THURSDAY was mostly travel with some ministry in Masindi. We did have a great time with Pastor Caleb as he showed us all the improvements they had done since I was last here. As we were walking together he shared that since the last time I was here and spoke to the former child soldiers in his congregation that there had been a dramatic change in them as a whole. He said they had been looking forward to my return and that our time tomorrow is really being looked forward to by many.

I prayed for a lady who had been in the hospital dying just 24 hours prior our arrival. The doctors had said we can’t find anything medically wrong with you but you are dying. They told her that they had to get her to Jesus and some friends carried her to Caleb’s compound for help. As we prayed she began to feel better and today in the meetings she said she was completely better. I get so amazed at what G-d does when I come here!! The timing was perfect. If I had come last fall like we originally planned we would have completely missed this opportunity to pray for her. The issue of timing came up several times. Caleb, Moses and Martin all said this was the right time for this series of meetings and conferences.

On another note: MY LUGGAGE IS HERE. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it will be Saturday before we can go to get it. Thank you for your prayers!!!

FRIDAY: Today was a long day. We were up at 6 AM and on our way to Caleb’s church to arrived there by 8:30 AM. We shared a lot of laughs until about 10:30 when the meetings started. The day was filled with G-d’s amazing grace! I started with a session on understanding who we are then covered offenses, anger, and forgiveness. We opened things up for questions and that was probably the best part of the whole day for me. It was a chance to get up close and personal.

As we were getting ready to leave one of the former LRA child soldiers came up to me and asked me to pray for her. She had shared her story last time I was here. She had been abducted along with 31 other girls from her school. When she was finally released only she and one other girl had survived all the torture, abuse and mutilation of the soldiers. She is doing really well in the L-rd and growing fast. She asked me to pray for her school fees as she has gone back to school.

All the way back to Kampala I wrestled with the L-rd about whether she is the next “World Changer” scholar. That would be two students this next year and I don’t know where that kind of money would come from for Danielle and Faith to both be able to attend University this coming year. Stay tuned for more details as the L-rd downloads his plan to me and please pray with me for direction in this matter.

All in all it was a  very amazing and productive series of meetings in Masindi. We are all already looking forward to the next trip. The thought is to do a crusade for adults and something special for the children.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Shalom everyone. Today is a day off. We will go to get my luggage and I will change locations for lodging. Sunday morning I am supposed to teach at two different congregations. First I will be at Dove Christian Fellowship with Ephraim and Jova. Then we go to another congregation that is finishing a conference Sunday afternoon. I am to be the last speaker from what I understand. Please be praying for these two speaking engagements.

This is my adopted daughter Faith. We met last year at the youth camp and I was impressed to get to know her. I felt the L-rd was saying she is a world changer and I was to help her with her schooling. She is now finishing her first semester of university and is at the top of her class. Because this is finals week at her school, we only got to spend a few precious hours together Friday at the conference. Please continue to pray for her as she gets ready for finals. She is also a part of a ministry team that goes out to evangelize from her school. I wish you could all meet her, you would fall in love with her.

Today we finish the conference. It has been powerful and life changing for those who have attended. Somewhere around 350 people have crammed into the little church each day to hear speakers from all over Africa and me from America. Pray that we finish well.

Tomorrow I am speaking somewhere and Monday we start the youth camp. Pray for strength to run the race.

Many doors are open to expand ministry here in Africa. Mallish, the pastor from Liberia has indicated that he would like me to come there and there have been some ministries here that have asked the Pastoral Care Ministry to be their covering. I am praying, asking G-d to show me what to do and how to do it. Please join me in that prayer.

Thank you for your emails of encouragement and insights. They are so appreciated. It is always a joy to open my email and see that you have taken time to write. I am so blessed!

Shalom–Jim