Staff Blog

    Nestled in layers and under a sleeping bag, I reflect on this week of ministry in the remotest bushes of Africa, where scarcely a missionary or white man has ever trod! At a nearby headman’s fire, Dan is gathered with local pastors and village headmen, strategizing for follow-up ministry and identification of future leaders (and they are miraculously working together interdenominationally). The testimonies we received from the ground-breaking work into the Simwatechela Kingdom with AMT and RPN (Rural Pastor’s Network) in 2009 brought us excited and expectant to a new area of this un-reached Kingdom. We’ve shared stories and scriptures with hundreds of school children; their response to the message of Jesus is unparalleled and leaves you sleeping with a smile! We’ve ministered to hundreds of adults in hut-to-hut visits and large gatherings (we shared the Gospel with just under 3000 people total).

    Yesterday afternoon we opened a small meeting with several English and African worship songs; by the end of the singing and dancing and almost getting trampled, we were literally surrounded by hundreds of men, women, and children …there is NOTHING like worshiping the ONE True God in another language with people of another culture! We transitioned into a drama of a man looking for meaning in life. After trying drugs, laziness, polygamy, drinking, and the witch doctor, he found hope & joy and true LIFE in Christ alone. I followed with an explanation that around the world, in every tongue, tribe, and country, all people search for hope and meaning and LIFE inside; and that there has and never will be an answer besides Christ!

    Between that meeting and others, we’ve literally seen hundreds of people give their lives to Christ. We talked to a couple who went from wanting a divorce to excitedly sitting together for advice and hope on how to work together. A young man went home after getting saved and burned all his tobacco and was so excited the next day to testify. An older lady who asked for prayer for sickness, (and was BURNING up) actually was seeking demonic deliverance. As Dan prayed and the demon(s) left, the fever broke instantly, and she asked that we help her burn her charms from the witch doctor.

    The stories go on … From the wee hours of the morning, getting a fire started and coffee water boiling, to the stories and laughter around the night-time campfire meals. We’re also watching the lives of 11 AMT students, and several others who joined our expedition, challenged and transformed forever! From learning to slaughter a goat, to teaching each other to “squat” properly over the long drops, to playing their hearts out in soccer against the experienced Africans, we are forever blessed and thankful to lead and be part of the Great Commission to these ways.

    Our bed-time lullaby tonight? Africans singing Tonga songs around the campfire and rejoicing in the things that the Lord did today!

    - Rachel Hoyme