Just recently, we started our weekly treks to the village again. We had taken two months off to allow farmers time to tend their fields during the first rains. The village ministry is significantly more challenging due to the long travel times, washed-out roads, linguistic barriers, and cultural traditions that keep the people from accepting the Gospel. There’s so much that undermines the work of God here, but these subtractors only remind us that the need is great. The sheer amount of open depravity and disregard for God only confirms the necessity of our presence…

Preaching the Gospel in the bush of Africa is all about ACCESS. However, there’s many challenges on the road that keep us from achieving this goal. The terrain is rugged, the path washed out and we often find ourselves where there is no road at all. It’s not uncommon for us as we head out to the village to be forced back home because the road is simply not passable. These are the regions beyond that deserve our attention and effort as we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

WITCHCRAFT is a real problem in the village. It messes with people’s minds and spreads fear in the hearts of both young and old. I was reminded of this the other day out at Chiyembekezo when some of our church ladies came and told us that a witchdoctor was standing before the chief’s council. Apparently, he was hired in a nearby village to find someone that had been missing for two days. Long story short- he made false claims that the person died and illegally searched people’s homes! Now he was being called out for it. The people were upset that his word hadn’t been accurate but I was a little upset that no one had any qualms about going to the witchdoctor in the first place! In my mind I was thinking… “Hello??! There’s a witchdoctor being employed here and we’re all OK with that?!?!?” The people were simply judging him for not delivering as advertised!