If you know me very well, you know I get called to every mission field I visit. Sandy asked me if I was feeling the call yet. I told her that I was but that since it is unusually mild and cool weather for Burkina Faso I was going to wait and see if I was getting a false reading. I imagine you have already read Austin’s blog and seen the numbers for the meeting yesterday. It was one of those special services that will stick in my mind for years. I wished that all of you could have been there.
My pastor preached his heart out all week but last night was the capstone. The men in the room had a real vision placed in front of them. It was the vision of them doing something great for God. Building a team and literally a new society in Burkina Faso that would shake the city and turn it on its head. The service was followed at brother Kieth’s house with a room full of men. Salif, Simon, Bado, Tali, Cofey, Gilbert, Mamadou, Pastor Zachary, Keith, Austin and I. Austin spoke about becoming a team. Keith translated and showed his heart for the men. Bado honored Austin and I on behalf of the church with a couple of beautiful globes made in Africa.
The baptism service was one of the most exciting I have been involved in. The water was extra cold. You would have to understand how hot it gets here to know how cold these people get this time of year. Austin and I are comfortable in short sleeves and most of them are bundled up in parkas or heavy jackets. They would sing and clap as Keith took each of them down. When Keith Shumaker baptizes you, resisting is not an option. You are going down and under. I have been so thoroughly impressed with their love for the people and the people for them. Reality is, these Burkinabaes are beautiful people and endear you very quickly.
We will be working hard today and packing up tonight to leave around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. By Tuesday night I should be back home to my lovely wife and daughters. Here are some baptism pictures.
Today we left early for the work in Roungou about 2 hours north of Ouagadougou. We didnt get too far out of town and experienced engine trouble. Praise God that the weather was nice and we didnt have to walk too far before finding a great place to sit and discuss a plan to grow the work in Burkina Faso.
I could not help but think about the people that I saw today and wonder why I get to go home to a soft bed and comfortable house and most of them will go home to a dirt floor and small provisions. Some will sleep in the cold with an empty stomach and worst of all, without Jesus Christ. I would have to have a great responsability that goes along with the blessing of living in America with all the abundance, and opportunity that I have been given.
Keep up with Keith and Rebekah Shumaker and the Work in Burkina Faso:
Showing off the motor to those passing by on donkeys.
Those of you that know my pastor Austin Gardner know that statement. It was one of those challenging messages to do something for God. Austin and Keith (translating) preached the message in English and French tonight to 71 people attending the services at the “Eglise Baptiste De L’eau Vive” in Burkina Faso. It was an exciting service that asked for real men to step up and be counted in the service of the great God of Heaven.
Austin challenged all those attending to come early, stay late, and realize that the will of God is the single most important thing in our lives. The building we are in is about one year into construction and has most of the roof and walls finished. Please continue to pray for the Shumakers in Burkina Faso.
We just got back from our first service at Eglise Baptiste De L’eau Vive in Burkina Faso. Brother Keith Shumaker started this church a year ago. I will be updating the pictures of the construction progress during the week on the bcwe website. The Shumakers are being greatly used of God here in Burkina Faso. You can keep up with them on their blog.
I had the privilege of challenging them for a few minutes to use what they have for God. Austin preached on turning the world upside down for Christ from Acts chapter 4. It was fun to watch him preach with an interpreter (Brother Keith). There were 65 in the service and the response appeared to be very good to the message. I was challenged again to consider all that God wants to do in my life to reach the world.
Sister Shumaker is a tireless worker and has been a great hostess to us. Someone evidently told her that I survive on coffee. It is a pleasure staying in their home. I know that my wife would love to be here and get her hands on their three adorable children. Emily, Meredith and Isaac.
Pray that God does great things this week in Burkina Faso.
Its no secret that the economy and the housing market are suffering financially. Since I have made my living in the real estate and housing industry, the last year and a half have proven difficult if not impossible at times. Still, God has a way of showing that He is in control and that we need to trust Him.
This week one of my field leaders called me to say that some of the guys thought it would be good to get together and pray that God would work in the business and help us survive this market and economy. I was expecting a handful of men and thought we would have prayer then talk then leave. This morning, the man organizing the meeting called and told me he thought about 20 men were coming. I called Austin and asked him to come preach a message on dealing with problem times. When we got there, i was greeted by 28 of our people. I was amazed. Austin preached, some of the men gave a short testimony of how God had been faithful, we prayed then went home. I was encouraged beyond words at their desire to seek God’s will for our business and life.
I beleive when men get together and pray with sincerity and a contrite heart, God hears and answers prayer. I want to encourage anyone who has not read the blog on Father Knows Best to check that out. I can tell you that my pastor is a man who can talk about trials and trusting God. I do not want to be rescued from a trial to be the man I was before the trial, but to come forth as gold and as a better servant for Him.
We just got back from Scottish Rite Hospital rounds.
Samuel Intidam is in the Emergency room awaiting surgery for his apendix. I quized him about how many chili dogs he had eaten the night before and he promised me it was not more than 3. Seriously, he was headed to surgery to have his apendix either worked on or removed. That was unclear. He was hoping to be asleep by the time they came for him. Pray for Khalid and Amy and Samuel.
On the third floor we visited Tyler Cleveland. Tyler is the son of Jennifer and Dana Cleveland. Jennifer has been my assistant at work for about 7 years. Tyler is in the pediatric intensive care unit. Tyler is 6′ 2” and not much in the way of a pediatric but is laid out with double pnuemonia. He is going to be there for several days. Please be in prayer for Tyler and for Jennifer and Dana.
We had the honor of having Kelli Canfield with us tonight for devotions. We are still working on understanding how our time has been given to us and we are to manage it for the glory of God. Tonight we looked at Scriptures that point out that salvation is not a matter for procrastination. Jesus did not have to condemn us because we, before salvaiton, are condemned already. The bible is plain that now is the accepted time to get saved.
The urgency of time when it comes to salvation is of the utmost importance. We cannot allow days to go by and not tell our friends about Jesus. These are simple lessons but very powerful.
Tonight’s devotion was powerful and convicting. It was a combination of letting distractions keep you from using time wisely and also procrastination. The one-two punch when it comes to time wasting. Jesus was concerned about the woman at the well and about her needs. The disciples were concerned about the physical needs. Hunger is a major distraction for me. Others include, being tired, being busy with work or being focused on liesure.
We discussed as a family that no amount of ministry, be it cooking and cleaning, music, teaching, treasurey, or anything else can take the place of witnessing and inviting. Even though they are all good ministries they do not excuse or take the place of our witness and testimony. We all made a committment to invite someone to church Sunday.
If you are not doing these, you are missing out.
Speaking of missing out, do not miss out on the revival with Lou Rossi which starts a week from Sunday.
The time choice for us as a family to meet for #4 was either 5:00 a.m. (when I am usually leaving the house) or 10:15 p.m. when the last of us (in this case Kristen and Kathryn) got home. I had very few votes for 5:00 a.m. so we went with 10:15. I was happy to see that everyone was ready with their time sheet for the last 24 hours. That was from devotion #3 where we were going to make an account of all that we did to find out where we might be wasting time. We didnt review them because the excercise had already had its effect. When you measure what you are doing, you waste less time because you are aware of the minutes and the tasks, plus you fear that in being accountable you will be found to be a time waster. So i didnt even ask to see them.
Devotion #4 taught us to measure our days and understand our own fragile lives. We determined that there was enough time between now and next Thursday to find a person that does not know Jesus Christ and tell them about Him. We also determined that there was enough time between now and Sunday for us to invite a new person to church. Measuing our days and knowing our end will help us walk wisely.
Do not miss out on Stewardship month.
Do not even think about missing our revival. January 13-17th. Regular service times on Sunday, 7:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Being accountable for our time and finding those areas of time that we waste is probably one of the hardest things in the world to do. We rated our time tonight first in order of those things we spend the most time on. The next part was to rate the things that were the most important use of our time. Then we found out that we had been tricked into admitting that the things that are most important do not get most of our time. That was a cold smack in the face. We are charting our time on paper for the next 24 hours and going to review it together at devotion time tomorrow night. I will admit, there was some resistance to this from the other devotees, but they soon came to see the wisdom behind my request.
Redeeming the time is vital to our work for the kingdom. Since we are not promised of tomorrow, we need to stop wasting today.
Thanks Tony Howeth for these great devotions on time.
Don’t forget to visit us for revival with Lou Rossi. We could dub this, “Revival on the Northside.”