Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
March 2010 Prayerletter
March 2010
Dear Praying Friends,
In Job 1:21 we find the words, “…the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” The verse could very well have been the motto for our life and work in Zambia over the past few months.
During this rainy season, the rains were coming, and then they weren’t. For about a month, we did not see even a drop of rain, and there were talks of a drought and famine. Over the last week, the LORD has sent the rain again . . . in buckets! This is a relief and blessing to most in Zambia and is well worth the inconvenience it poses to the work of the ministry. In fact, Sunday, the 21st of February, was the first time this season we have had rain falling during the time when people are on their way (nearly all walking, of course) to church. We were extremely encouraged with our attendance that day. We had just under 115 that day, with one visitor braving the elements to be with us. Though this is a relatively small group compared to most Sundays lately, it is still a good picture of the growth of the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church, both in numbers and in their commitment of faithfulness to the Lord. I was taught in Bible college that you can see the growth of your church not in the high days but in the low days. On our first anniversary in June 2009, we had a goal to break our record for attendance up to that time. We prayed for 100 people to come to church that day. We have seen very few weeks since then—and none so far in 2010—where we have had less than 100 people in church on Sunday. Thank God that even the rains could not hinder people from coming to hear God’s Word!
Many of you know and have been praying about our need for a larger vehicle in our “bus ministry.” A special thanks to those who have sacrificed and given toward the project. We have had a vehicle in mind . . . twice . . . and even started the process of getting the vehicle into our name, only to have the deal fall through at the last minute. It seems that all the vehicles in our price range are not up to the mechanical standard we need them to be, and all those in good running condition are out of our price range. I am sure we are not the only church ever to face such an issue. We are confident that each time the deals fall through, the Lord has something better in store for us. Please continue to pray along those lines for our vehicle need.
Finally, thanks to all who have been praying for Pastor Kebby this last month. In accordance with the verse at the top of this letter, we thought we were looking at our Zambian preacher on his deathbed, but the LORD has graciously given Pastor Kebby more days to live and serve Him. We took no pictures of him during those days he was in the hospital out of concern for offending others, but how I wish you (and Pastor Kebby himself) could see what a change God has wrought in his body. Outside of a few scars that are shrinking every day, there is little evidence of the brutal attack he suffered. His stamina is returning, and he is back to teaching and preaching in the ministry. Our plan is to search for the “Good Samaritan” who found him and took him to the hospital and invite this man to be a special guest in our church. Just as the Lord used him to give Pastor Kebby a chance at life, we are trusting the Lord to allow Pastor Kebby to present this man with a chance to accept Christ’s gift of eternal life. Please pray for this man whose name we do not yet know. Lord willing, we will have good news concerning him in our next update.
Also, please be aware of the change in mailing address for FBMI, our mission agency. The new address is 507 State Street, Hammond, IN 46320.
In His service,
Justin Warner
Dear Praying Friends,
In Job 1:21 we find the words, “…the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” The verse could very well have been the motto for our life and work in Zambia over the past few months.
During this rainy season, the rains were coming, and then they weren’t. For about a month, we did not see even a drop of rain, and there were talks of a drought and famine. Over the last week, the LORD has sent the rain again . . . in buckets! This is a relief and blessing to most in Zambia and is well worth the inconvenience it poses to the work of the ministry. In fact, Sunday, the 21st of February, was the first time this season we have had rain falling during the time when people are on their way (nearly all walking, of course) to church. We were extremely encouraged with our attendance that day. We had just under 115 that day, with one visitor braving the elements to be with us. Though this is a relatively small group compared to most Sundays lately, it is still a good picture of the growth of the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church, both in numbers and in their commitment of faithfulness to the Lord. I was taught in Bible college that you can see the growth of your church not in the high days but in the low days. On our first anniversary in June 2009, we had a goal to break our record for attendance up to that time. We prayed for 100 people to come to church that day. We have seen very few weeks since then—and none so far in 2010—where we have had less than 100 people in church on Sunday. Thank God that even the rains could not hinder people from coming to hear God’s Word!
Many of you know and have been praying about our need for a larger vehicle in our “bus ministry.” A special thanks to those who have sacrificed and given toward the project. We have had a vehicle in mind . . . twice . . . and even started the process of getting the vehicle into our name, only to have the deal fall through at the last minute. It seems that all the vehicles in our price range are not up to the mechanical standard we need them to be, and all those in good running condition are out of our price range. I am sure we are not the only church ever to face such an issue. We are confident that each time the deals fall through, the Lord has something better in store for us. Please continue to pray along those lines for our vehicle need.
Finally, thanks to all who have been praying for Pastor Kebby this last month. In accordance with the verse at the top of this letter, we thought we were looking at our Zambian preacher on his deathbed, but the LORD has graciously given Pastor Kebby more days to live and serve Him. We took no pictures of him during those days he was in the hospital out of concern for offending others, but how I wish you (and Pastor Kebby himself) could see what a change God has wrought in his body. Outside of a few scars that are shrinking every day, there is little evidence of the brutal attack he suffered. His stamina is returning, and he is back to teaching and preaching in the ministry. Our plan is to search for the “Good Samaritan” who found him and took him to the hospital and invite this man to be a special guest in our church. Just as the Lord used him to give Pastor Kebby a chance at life, we are trusting the Lord to allow Pastor Kebby to present this man with a chance to accept Christ’s gift of eternal life. Please pray for this man whose name we do not yet know. Lord willing, we will have good news concerning him in our next update.
Also, please be aware of the change in mailing address for FBMI, our mission agency. The new address is 507 State Street, Hammond, IN 46320.
In His service,
Justin Warner
Monday, February 1, 2010
Update on Prayer Requests
Thanks for your prayers about both Preetika’s father and Pastor Kebby. In both situations we have seen evidence of many praying people around the world.
First about Preetika’s dad, just about every report was encouraging good news. All 3 stints put in 3 ½ years ago are clear and doing their job. Despite passing out due to the overexertion, there does not appear to be any indication of another heart attack nor any new damage to the heart. For all this, we are extremely grateful. Her dad will just rest and recuperate for a week or so at home before getting back to his normal routine. Thanks for all your prayers and emails of encouragement. It sure helped sustain us through a trying time.
Now about Pastor Kebby, the news is also pretty good but he has a longer road of recovery ahead of him presumably. He was discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning (too quickly for my liking) though he still had trouble walking, had severe head aches, and was seeing double out of one eye. According to the doctors though, the swelling on his head had gone down and he was therefore ready to go home. (They actually took a tape measure to his head to determine that. I don’t know if that is standard medical procedure, but it looked a bit strange to me.) He was told to come back Tuesday to have the estimated 40 stitches removed from three separate gashes on his head. He was sent home with no medicine, but told to purchase our equivalent of Tylenol for pain. Needless to say, that has not done much to take care of the pain. Today, Monday, we took him to a private doctor for a second opinion, and his advice was to ask the hospital for a referral to the hospital in Lusaka, our capital city, to have a ct scan done. There are no such machines in all of Livingstone. His educated guess is that it Pastor Kebby either had a concussion or a blood clot somewhere between brain and skull. I don’t remember the medical term he used, but that is my understanding of what he said. He said the concussion will go away on its own while the other can be treated with drugs but only after being confirmed on a ct scan. He also mentioned that a symptom of the “blood clot” scenario was falling asleep suddenly. That has not been occurring according to Pastor Kebby’s wife, so we are encouraged that it may have been a concussion – serious enough but the best case scenario all things considered. He is still quite weak and a bit unsteady on his feet, but is much better than a few days ago. His voice is rather weak, but he is talking and seems to be understanding and remembering most anything we talk about (though still very little about the specifics of the attack and afterwards until waking up in the hospital).
Please continue to pray for his full recovery as well as wisdom for us on the best way to help him recover. Also do keep the people of the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church in your prayers that many of the members will take up the slack during the recovery. God is in control and it is apparent to all of us here in Livingstone that the LORD still has further plans for Pastor Kebby. Praise God.
First about Preetika’s dad, just about every report was encouraging good news. All 3 stints put in 3 ½ years ago are clear and doing their job. Despite passing out due to the overexertion, there does not appear to be any indication of another heart attack nor any new damage to the heart. For all this, we are extremely grateful. Her dad will just rest and recuperate for a week or so at home before getting back to his normal routine. Thanks for all your prayers and emails of encouragement. It sure helped sustain us through a trying time.
Now about Pastor Kebby, the news is also pretty good but he has a longer road of recovery ahead of him presumably. He was discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning (too quickly for my liking) though he still had trouble walking, had severe head aches, and was seeing double out of one eye. According to the doctors though, the swelling on his head had gone down and he was therefore ready to go home. (They actually took a tape measure to his head to determine that. I don’t know if that is standard medical procedure, but it looked a bit strange to me.) He was told to come back Tuesday to have the estimated 40 stitches removed from three separate gashes on his head. He was sent home with no medicine, but told to purchase our equivalent of Tylenol for pain. Needless to say, that has not done much to take care of the pain. Today, Monday, we took him to a private doctor for a second opinion, and his advice was to ask the hospital for a referral to the hospital in Lusaka, our capital city, to have a ct scan done. There are no such machines in all of Livingstone. His educated guess is that it Pastor Kebby either had a concussion or a blood clot somewhere between brain and skull. I don’t remember the medical term he used, but that is my understanding of what he said. He said the concussion will go away on its own while the other can be treated with drugs but only after being confirmed on a ct scan. He also mentioned that a symptom of the “blood clot” scenario was falling asleep suddenly. That has not been occurring according to Pastor Kebby’s wife, so we are encouraged that it may have been a concussion – serious enough but the best case scenario all things considered. He is still quite weak and a bit unsteady on his feet, but is much better than a few days ago. His voice is rather weak, but he is talking and seems to be understanding and remembering most anything we talk about (though still very little about the specifics of the attack and afterwards until waking up in the hospital).
Please continue to pray for his full recovery as well as wisdom for us on the best way to help him recover. Also do keep the people of the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church in your prayers that many of the members will take up the slack during the recovery. God is in control and it is apparent to all of us here in Livingstone that the LORD still has further plans for Pastor Kebby. Praise God.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Prayer Request
Dear Praying Friends,
Preetika and I would like to bring two matters of prayer to your attention.
First, we were informed on Monday that Preetika’s father was in the hospital undergoing some heart tests after he passed out on Saturday. We have since been informed that there is no apparent heart damage and the brief loss of consciousness may have simply been due to overexertion. All other results from the tests have seemed encouraging as well – Praise the Lord! Please pray for him and the doctors as they attempt to determine the health and condition of his heart, especially in light of his previous heart attack. God has been comforting and encouraging both Preetika’s parents and us here in Zambia though it is tough to be 10,000 miles away at times like this.
Secondly, we had missed calls on our cell phones while on the phone with Preetika’s parents this morning. After returning those calls, we were informed of another serious problem. Pastor Kebby, our Zambian pastor, had been beaten and stabbed severely and was in the hospital. Upon visiting him, we saw he was in pretty terrible condition. He has loss much blood as well as several cuts and huge knots on his head, so much so that his head looks incredibly misshapen. He is extremely weak and cannot speak much. It is quite miraculous that he is even alive. The thieves left him for dead and he was found by a real-life Good Samaritan who loaded him in his taxi and took him to the hospital. The thieves had taken his phone, and he was so out of it that he was staggering in the direction of a house he used to live in thinking he was going home according to the man who found him. Without that man, we may have never found him before he died from his injuries. Pastor Kebby remembers nothing of what happened.
The next hurdle, as is often the case in a third-world country, (as evidenced by some of the reports coming out of Haiti) is the substandard medical care. When we first saw Pastor Kebby (early this morning after being admitted in the wee hours of the morning), he still had on the same dirty and blood-covered clothes on. There were a pile of bloody sheets in the corner presumably soiled from when he had first been brought in. We were finally able to take his wife to get some clean clothes from their home. Please join us and the believers of Fallsview Bible Baptist Church in praying for Pastor Kebby, his wife, Etambuyu, and their 2 young daughters.
We are to always trust God with every need, but the condition of the Livingstone General Hospital seems to really drive that point home in this case.
Thanks for your prayers.
In Christ,
Justin & Preetika
Preetika and I would like to bring two matters of prayer to your attention.
First, we were informed on Monday that Preetika’s father was in the hospital undergoing some heart tests after he passed out on Saturday. We have since been informed that there is no apparent heart damage and the brief loss of consciousness may have simply been due to overexertion. All other results from the tests have seemed encouraging as well – Praise the Lord! Please pray for him and the doctors as they attempt to determine the health and condition of his heart, especially in light of his previous heart attack. God has been comforting and encouraging both Preetika’s parents and us here in Zambia though it is tough to be 10,000 miles away at times like this.
Secondly, we had missed calls on our cell phones while on the phone with Preetika’s parents this morning. After returning those calls, we were informed of another serious problem. Pastor Kebby, our Zambian pastor, had been beaten and stabbed severely and was in the hospital. Upon visiting him, we saw he was in pretty terrible condition. He has loss much blood as well as several cuts and huge knots on his head, so much so that his head looks incredibly misshapen. He is extremely weak and cannot speak much. It is quite miraculous that he is even alive. The thieves left him for dead and he was found by a real-life Good Samaritan who loaded him in his taxi and took him to the hospital. The thieves had taken his phone, and he was so out of it that he was staggering in the direction of a house he used to live in thinking he was going home according to the man who found him. Without that man, we may have never found him before he died from his injuries. Pastor Kebby remembers nothing of what happened.
The next hurdle, as is often the case in a third-world country, (as evidenced by some of the reports coming out of Haiti) is the substandard medical care. When we first saw Pastor Kebby (early this morning after being admitted in the wee hours of the morning), he still had on the same dirty and blood-covered clothes on. There were a pile of bloody sheets in the corner presumably soiled from when he had first been brought in. We were finally able to take his wife to get some clean clothes from their home. Please join us and the believers of Fallsview Bible Baptist Church in praying for Pastor Kebby, his wife, Etambuyu, and their 2 young daughters.
We are to always trust God with every need, but the condition of the Livingstone General Hospital seems to really drive that point home in this case.
Thanks for your prayers.
In Christ,
Justin & Preetika
Sunday, January 17, 2010
THE BAPTIST CHURCH GETS A BAPTISTRY
On the last Sunday of 2009, the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church had the privilege of seeing 24 new converts baptized. This was the first time that we were able to perform the baptism on church property. The second structure built, after our storehouse, was a baptistry. It was such a blessing for the new converts to see the work going on at our church plot as many had never seen the place before. It was also nice not to have the thought of crocodiles in the back of your mind as had been the case previously when baptizing in the river.One of those new converts baptized was a man named Trevor Rabson. He is one of the builders we hired to supervise the building of our church. He and his wife, both Zimbabweans, have been attending church for the last 6 weeks since receiving Christ. He also helped us construct the new baptisty. During that project, he expressed his desire to be the first convert baptized in the new structure. It was our privilege to fulfill his desire of being baptized and to see him be the first to be “raised to walk in newness of life” at the future home of Fallsview Bible Baptist Church
We have now baptized 60 adult converts into our church since its inception in June 2007 with 50 of them taking that first step of obedience over the last 9 months since our return from furlough! Praise God that His work is marching on.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
