Many years ago I had a vision of sorts in which I would facilitate African pastors to receive Bible training so they could then in turn go and teach others. But even before that I received my first calling in Mexico to help others know God the way He had made Himself known to me. This would be honed and refined, and yesterday I saw my vision and calling meet.
As my friends spoke in our living room and handed my students paper certificates it dawned on me that this moment in time, this occurrence is a new beginning. It is the start to something God had been doing in me (and through me) for many years, not just 2 ¾ in Mozambique. And I cried.
You see, ever since I was little I knew, just knew there was a God. I saw Him in the wind and trees, I went for walks and heard Him. I had grown up with benefits I see now are beyond the reach of so many. Unfathomable to much of the world in fact. I had (and still do have!) great parents who loved me. Loved me well and led me to Christ. I did not want for food or clothing. I never had a ‘hungry season’ or heard of my cousin or neighbor dying from diarrhea or malaria. I grew up going to church where I actually heard Bible stories and had teachers tell me what they meant. I ran in the woods, I played with friends, played football on the church front lawn every Saturday during summer and fall and hockey on the pond behind my house during the cold winter. I had so much, when I met Jesus on a missions trip in the summer of 1986 I decided to use all I had so others could know Him.
And that is the path I have traveled for the last 20-some years. Years full of highs and lows, personal struggles and loss, joys and pains, moments of epiphany and conviction of sin. Then somehow I landed here in Mozambique. Nampula is now our home and we are so thankful to live here. We have made friends and now God is using us in small ways.
In the past few years I have been studying with and teaching a few groups of men and women. In the last few months with the help of their leadership,a these six have been chosen and are meeting with me in preparation to start their own TEE classes.
Top left to right: Serafim Silva, Elisio Zecua, some missionary, Feliciano Semente
Bottom row: Antonio Rodiguez, Herminio Arlindo, Alberto Castelo
Some of them are church provincial leaders, some are church secretaries or elders but all want to learn their Bible and know God deeper. I have visited their homes, prayed with them, held their hand while they sweated out a malaria fever, I received gifts from them and we have eaten together. We traveled and shared God’s word together in the bush. These are my brothers. But yesterday they became more. Not because of a flimsy piece of paper but because of what it symbolized. It was an vision being realized. Humbly and slowly I have kept pursuing this dream that I could, somehow with all my shortcomings and laziness, be of use to the Kingdom. I have tried to be thoughtful and strategic, purposeful and attentive to what God wanted done rather than what I thought should be done and yesterday I had a moment of accomplishment. I no longer work alone. My dream to teach others has now become the dream of 6 other men.
We spent three days in training with two Mozambican Bible school teachers/pastors from down south and it was good. Some much better than hearing the same words from me. We heard challenges and practical help for the work ahead. They shared their 10 years' experience with us and practiced with the guys. At the end we each thanked the other and for a moment I thought it wouldn’t end. In truth, it will not. This is the beginning for this group…and for me.
SO if you see me crying when I talk about these men, now you know why.
FN-The two trainers come from the Infortem Bible School in Mocuba. They started a similar program 10 years ago and now have over 1200 students, 80 monitors (TEE teachers) working interdenominationaly with over eight different church denominations.
