FPC Africa Trip Days 2 – 4; April 8 – 10

Day 2: Yesterday (Wednesday) we travelled to Namutamba where we have supported children for the last 5 years. 4-hour bus ride out and about 4 hours back. A great day. Met Pastor Charles and worshiped in their church that our church helped to build. Powerful worship. Then we had lunch in the Pastor’s house.

We listened to a lecture on Opportunity International. They are starting a micro-lending bank in the village.

Finally, we got on the bus at 4 PM. We drove into Kampala and there we spent over one hour in a monumental traffic jam. I mean ‘jam’; traffic did not move. Someone said we entered Kampala during rush hour. No one was rushing anywhere. It was complete gridlock. The traffic cop at the roundabout up ahead had his back turned to us. He was letting the cross traffic flow, but not us. I sensed in my spirit that we were forgotten by him. So I rebuked the spirit of forgetfulness and cast it out of his heart. I was kind of joking but a few minutes later he turned around, looked at us, and waved this long line of traffic forward. Once we broke through the roundabout we made it back to the hotel in 30 minutes. Total travel time back: 4.5 hours. Bad traffic, but not as bad as Nairobi.

Days 3-5: We woke up early on Thursday day 3. Actually we missed our alarm. I set the phone alarm for 6:00. Unfortunately, set it for 6:00 PM, not AM. But got up in time and loaded up on the bus at 7:30. We drove to a small regional airport in Kampala. We all boarded (16 souls) 2 Cessna 208bs (12 passenger plane called a Caravan) and flew to Soroti in east-central Uganda, where we are staying for a revival conference. The day was clear. We flew over several large lakes including Lake Victoria, vast swamps and marshes, and the headwaters of the Nile river with all the waterfalls and cateracts. On the flight we saw Mt. Elgon in the distance. It is one of Africa’s great extinct shield volcanoes. It has an elevation of over 14,000 feet and is at least 50 miles wide. Arguably some of the best coffee beans in the world come from the slopes of Mt. Elgon.

We landed smoothly in Soroti. Our planes are owned and flown by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). The aircraft are impeccably maintained and the pilots are young and experienced. They fly into all sorts of dangerous places (Soroti is not one of them). Rembrandt and Greg flew us outbound and Greg flew us back to Kampala. Before we took off on each flight our pilots prayed. I am waiting for the day when the pilot on my United flight comes on the intercom before we leave the gate and prays. MAF flies missionaries and pastors all around Africa (they probably fly in other parts of the world too). It is a tremendous ministry. On the day we left Soroti, MAF was an hour or so late picking us up. They had flown earlier in the day into South Sudan to pick up a pastor or missionary who had had a stroke and brought him back to Kampala.

We landed around 10:30 on Thursday and checked into our hotel. Nice place. Had a type of AC and clean bathrooms. The beds were comfortable. Soroti is flat, rural, and not as crazy crowded as Kampala. The climate is like Houston in the summer – hot, humid, with late-afternoon thunderstorms during the rainy season. Dropped our bags and headed out to the Revival/Renewal Conference at the Soroti Community Church, led by Pastor Francis under the guidance of Bishop Julius. The church is a large structure with plastic chairs, a concrete floor, a stage, a sound system that went out 2 or 3 times a day when the power went out, and a sheet-metal roof. We stayed to worship with them until about 6:30 that evening and from 9:00 AM until 7:00 PM on Friday. The Power of God and the Presence of God filled that church. I don’t really know how to put the experience into words. Once again, the word ‘ineffable’ comes to mind.

I guess 350 to 400 people attended each day, depending upon the time of day. Pastor Peter from Gaba Community Church in Kampala, Pastor Jim from FPC Houston, and I each gave messages. Peter, 3x; Jim 2x; and me 1x. The messages generally addressed transformation. I spoke about restoration/reconciliation. I used 2 Corinthians 2: 17-20 as a text. To illustrate the meaning of restoration I used the metaphor of a car restored from a rusted-out hulk to mint condition by the loving care of a man with a passion for old cars. These messages were punctuated by worship (very intense – as one of our hosts said “This is African worship”), and times of prayer. Many came forward for prayer after each lesson. Some stood, some kneeled; the pastors and our team waded into the crowd to pray with them. Some spoke English, most did not. They speak a language called Iteso. For those who did not speak English, when we prayed I suppose our prayers sounded to them like praying in tongues. But the Holy Spirit used our words to touch their hearts. Most of the prayer requests were for healing – spiritual, emotional, and physical healing. There were some deliverances. One older woman brought her niece to be delivered from a spirit of witchcraft. Two pastors, Judy, and I labored over her in prayer for about 30 minutes. I am not sure that she was fully delivered, but some demons were expelled. I know this sounds strange, even unbelievable to the western mind, but in Africa it is common and very important. Witches have real power here, curses are commonplace, and can have significant impacts on a person’s life. Glory to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are more powerful than witches and their curses. We also have the occult and witches in America who are sending curses against the church and our leaders. We just don’t think about this aspect of spiritual warfare enough. Africa has much to teach the Church in the West.

Each day we had workshops on things like marriage, professionalism, and what it means to be a pastor. All were well attended. Those in attendance generally wanted to hear the opinions of our team members on the topic at hand. But we also listened and learned a lot.

Both days at the Revival/Renewal Conference, Friday April 9 and Saturday April 10, were similar. Everyone we met was welcoming and genuinely friendly. When we left the church at the end of the conference on Saturday, we felt like we were leaving members of our family. Our team received prayers, both for us as a group, and individually, that were powerful. During the two days I felt the movement of God and His Spirit in worship, prayer, the joy of the people, their welcome, and in my interactions with some of the Pastors (notably Francis and George) a passion for Jesus and a hunger for God. Really, much like many of the Pastors I know in America. A cynical person would probably say that all of that was put on for the ‘rich’ Americans. Truthfully, I don’t know what to point to and say “no, it was genuine” except to say that my heart was moved and I was deeply touched. I can’t speak for the rest of the team, but the hearts of Judy and I were transformed by the power, presence, and love of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus for meeting us in Soroti.