first outreach

This weekend was my first weekend bush outreach. Up until this point I have not been more than 15 miles outside of Pemba…which is not a great representation of the rest of Mozambique. Mostly, because it is close to a city which has tourism…so they have running water, electricity and some other things that you will never find in the bush. The villages are similar to the rest of the country with mud huts and latrines but in the bush there is not running water or electricity. And because many do not realize that they live in such poverty they are very taken by white people and digital cameras…most of the people in the bush have never actually seen themselves. The village we went to was about 6 hours south of Pemba in a Mucundi village. This particular village is the 2nd most resistant village to the Gospel since Iris has been in Pemba. They also still practice cannibalism...I was finally happy to be skinny. Of course these two bits of information were not revealed to us until we returned…probably not a bad idea. I truly felt like I was living the book of acts while we were ministering in this village. Iris had planted a church in this village and we were going to support them in the ministry. As we walked through the village our Mozambican leader was teaching us how to be praying prophetically for the village and what we were to do while we were there. There was heavy witchcraft, really severe alcoholism, and spirit of mockery and unbelief like I have never seen before. As we preached during the first afternoon many people were laughing and insulting the gospel…which caused people who truly felt God to not come forward for prayer. At the night service it was so much worse…I imagine because everyone was drunk. After we showed a film and called out the deaf and blind, a large group who were drunk and mocking the gospel approached the stage asking for prayer for anything they could think of. The language barrier made it so hard to talk to them and find out what spirits might be on them. At a point I just stopped and went back to the truck. A few minutes later the leader felt hostility and we all jumped in the truck…I was driving and he said “speed up” I wasn’t sure why until I realized that they were throwing rocks at us. It was a little different then the persecution I am accustomed to in America…like, “Christians are hypocrites.” The last day we were there was a Sunday. We spent our time encouraging the church in the village by talking to them about spiritual warfare and praying for them. The next day at the school the different teams were giving testimonies of deaf ears being opened and the mute speaking and witch doctors being saved. I thought about our experience and realized how important it is to see the unseen and be asking for the prophetic. It would have been easy to be discouraged about what we saw; however, one sows and the other reaps…we were part of the pioneering into an extremely dark place...it just looks different. I am looking forward to seeing how this experience changes the way I walk down streets in the U.S.

This website is the July newsletter for Iris Mozambique and particularly Pemba if you want to a bigger picture of the ministry here. I think Rolland wrote it.

http://www.irismin.org/news/36.php

I do not know if I mentioned it earlier but while I was here so far I have met a film crew from LA that is doing a documentary on Iris that is for a secular audience on what God is doing in Non Profit ministries…it will include the miracles they have seen while they were here…I think they filmed a blind and mute being healed and a few deaf people. I am excited to see it…Also a girl from Pittsburg is writing a book on Heidi for the same audience. Please pray for these, because I think they could be used to save so many who have become hardened to the gospel and see the church and the religion instead seeing the living God.

Also, there was book just written by the Baker’s…I forget what it is called…if anyone in West Chester is interested in reading in, I think it should be in my pile of mail at the Clark’s…you can open it and check it out. It details many of the miracles Iris has seen since being in Mozambique.

Bless You

-Steve

If you feel led, please pray that God would give me wisdom…I am getting so much vision…I just need to hear God’s voice.

first outreach

This weekend was my first weekend bush outreach. Up until this point I have not been more than 15 miles outside of Pemba…which is not a great representation of the rest of Mozambique. Mostly, because it is close to a city which has tourism…so they have running water, electricity and some other things that you will never find in the bush. The villages are similar to the rest of the country with mud huts and latrines but in the bush there is not running water or electricity. And because many do not realize that they live in such poverty they are very taken by white people and digital cameras…most of the people in the bush have never actually seen themselves. The village we went to was about 6 hours south of Pemba in a Mucundi village. This particular village is the 2nd most resistant village to the Gospel since Iris has been in Pemba. They also still practice cannibalism...I was finally happy to be skinny. Of course these two bits of information were not revealed to us until we returned…probably not a bad idea. I truly felt like I was living the book of acts while we were ministering in this village. Iris had planted a church in this village and we were going to support them in the ministry. As we walked through the village our Mozambican leader was teaching us how to be praying prophetically for the village and what we were to do while we were there. There was heavy witchcraft, really severe alcoholism, and spirit of mockery and unbelief like I have never seen before. As we preached during the first afternoon many people were laughing and insulting the gospel…which caused people who truly felt God to not come forward for prayer. At the night service it was so much worse…I imagine because everyone was drunk. After we showed a film and called out the deaf and blind, a large group who were drunk and mocking the gospel approached the stage asking for prayer for anything they could think of. The language barrier made it so hard to talk to them and find out what spirits might be on them. At a point I just stopped and went back to the truck. A few minutes later the leader felt hostility and we all jumped in the truck…I was driving and he said “speed up” I wasn’t sure why until I realized that they were throwing rocks at us. It was a little different then the persecution I am accustomed to in America…like, “Christians are hypocrites.” The last day we were there was a Sunday. We spent our time encouraging the church in the village by talking to them about spiritual warfare and praying for them. The next day at the school the different teams were giving testimonies of deaf ears being opened and the mute speaking and witch doctors being saved. I thought about our experience and realized how important it is to see the unseen and be asking for the prophetic. It would have been easy to be discouraged about what we saw; however, one sows and the other reaps…we were part of the pioneering into an extremely dark place...it just looks different. I am looking forward to seeing how this experience changes the way I walk down streets in the U.S.

This website is the July newsletter for Iris Mozambique and particularly Pemba if you want to a bigger picture of the ministry here. I think Rolland wrote it.

http://www.irismin.org/news/36.php

I do not know if I mentioned it earlier but while I was here so far I have met a film crew from LA that is doing a documentary on Iris that is for a secular audience on what God is doing in Non Profit ministries…it will include the miracles they have seen while they were here…I think they filmed a blind and mute being healed and a few deaf people. I am excited to see it…Also a girl from Pittsburg is writing a book on Heidi for the same audience. Please pray for these, because I think they could be used to save so many who have become hardened to the gospel and see the church and the religion instead seeing the living God.

Also, there was book just written by the Baker’s…I forget what it is called…if anyone in West Chester is interested in reading in, I think it should be in my pile of mail at the Clark’s…you can open it and check it out. It details many of the miracles Iris has seen since being in Mozambique.

Bless You

-Steve

If you feel led, please pray that God would give me wisdom…I am getting so much vision…I just need to hear God’s voice.

Blessed are the poor in spirit...

Coma esta' Heidi gave her message yesterday on the beatitudes which was the message I heard from her 3 years ago that was burned on my heart. It was one of the sessions with the Mozambican Pastors . At the beginning she talked about the nature of the poor and then asked the pastors who had lost children to stand. Almost 80% of the pastors over 30 stood up. Heidi then talked about our poverty before God and how it is easier as someone who is poor in the natural world to understand deparation, dependency, and faith when there is nothing else to depend on. I cannot begin to describe how impactful this experience was for the people in that room. You begin to ask yourself what the Kingdom of God truly looks like...how the Body of Christ is representing it...and what can I do differently. It did not seem right to be standing next to so many brothers in Christ that have lost children to Dystentary, malaria, and other diseases that we have medicine for in the West. At the end of the teaching, Heidi had all Pastors lay hands on us and ask God to make us more desparate for him...then we praed for them for healing for the suffering that they have faced...it was the most impactful time of ministry I have ever been a part of...God wants unity in the spirit!

WOW, thank You so much for conintuing to keep in touch with me and for your prayers...I can feel the support as I go through the trials of being in a radically different environment, and Ryan getting in the dirt to pray...I am impressed...I love you all. I know I am rattling off lots of things on this thing, mainly because there is so much in my heart and mind and I sort of just start typing. I want to be a little more intentional today and talk about what it takes to kill and skin a goat. j/k...but we do have one behind the house...it kept me all night. My roomate found out it was pregnant so we have to exchange it...he is a merciful guy. Anyways I thought you might be interested in who else is at this school. We have about 80 students and have about 20 countries represented. There are also some Iris staff and some older Mozambican pastors that have joined the school as well as some visitors that sneek in. I have been blessed to be around these saints for the last 2 months. It is also nice to see what God is doing in the rest of the world...mostly the same thing...INTIMACY!!! These people are some of the most desparate and in love people I have ever met. We have som bizarre calls to the dirt in the ministry times. For example, after Mattais from Holland spoke about ministering to Al Queda and going into the darkest places in the world for Jesus, I think 90% of the school felt led to recieve the call. I am so humbled to be with them...and challenged, but never condemned. Most of them operate out of the theology of Intimacy, passion, and compassion and calling birthed out of relationship with God. If miracles or prophesy ever start to be more of a focus than the Love God has for us and the father-son reltaionship...someone will always point it out. Rolland just finished his last message before he boarded the plane for two weeks and this is what he said: "There is a reason I do not talk to you about missions or miracles or healings, prophecy and is because if you do not understand how much God just wants to hang out with you and how he wants you to do everything with Joy in your heart than nothing else is worth doing." I am starting to get it...I didn't not come here to learn about miracles or how to pray for healing...I came here to learn how to love others the way God has loved me...there is a nun with us for the rest of the school...I love her...she gets drunk in the spirit all the time...it is hilarious...you need to see a nun fall on the ground laughing if you never have. Anyways, she prayed for me today and every pressure of being here and feeling like I need to get something fell off. It was awesome!!! I love God so much...I cannot wait to see you all again! Oh, and I am sorry if google is sending you stuff...I didn't realize they do that.

ahhhhhhhh!

I just wrote for an hour and it all was lost and now I have no time...I love slow computers in Mozambique...anyways...I love you. Next week I will tell you about the pastors, the chiuldren and the people I go to school with and what I meant when I used the terms "renewal movement" and "prosperity doctrine"...they are catch phrases that, as a good friend pointed out, should be avoided. peace

getting wrecked

I have been asked to a share a little of what I have been learning (per Terri Moss or Theresa--- if you go by her blogger name)…since it is this week I will give you a fresh serving of what I am learning aghora (I am trying to integrate my Portuguese). Rolland spoke yesterday and up until this point, besides Heidi, he has been having the most impact on my faith. His message was simple…There is no striving in the kingdom. Our ministry must flow out of a heart that is overflowing with intimacy and Love for Jesus and out of the joy that comes with being in the Kingdom of God. It seems overly simple, but striving seems to creep in. If I am not trying to impress God, I am trying to convince him to show up through loud and desperate prayers and my fasting. One image he used was of a friendship. Would you like a friend that is constantly trying to convince you to be your friend or one that uses bribes to get you to spend time with them? Since this talk my time with God has been so sweet. I am finding a new trust and faith in the fact that he is my savior and my father and the one who wants to love me. When you begin to realize God loves you like this, it allows you to Love others without criticism or judgment or reservation…because you begin to take on the nature of Love. This is the truth that is doing surgery on my heart…but it is not the only thing that is humbling me. Today we were looking into Isaiah and looking at the suffering servant and what it looks like in missions and cross cultural ministry. The theme was “counting the cost.” We focused on how moving in the power and Love of God does come with tremendous Joy and freedom but it also comes with suffering and persecution…she referenced Heidi and Rolland and herself (Lesley-Ann…the main speaker who has been a missionary for 30 years) to tell a little about the trial faced when you pioneer into dark regions of the world. Every day it is new subject that puts our faces in the dirt asking God for more desire to share Paul’s prayer in Philippians 3, “I want to fellowship in Christ’s sufferings and know the power of the resurrection.” (I do not have a bible but I think that is close) I think I will start the sessions in the dirt from now on to save me the trip. But it is all good…I am drawing nearer to God’s heart and becoming more humbled and childlike by being in this culture and away from home. I thank you all for helping me get here…this is the best experience of my life…and I know everything I am going through will exalt Him. He loves us so much…Receive it! I think it might be a couple of weeks before I can write again…we are having a huge wedding for two of IRIS missionaries on the beach on 7/07/07 which is taking up a lot of free time. The wedding will represent the wedding parable of inviting the poor and the marginalized to the wedding feast. I am excited to see it. For those of you going to the call…awesome!!! I will be praying for it!

Chicken, goats, and something else

Robert and James killed a chicken and cooked it for us this past Tuesday. It was an experience...this week we are killing something I cannot pronounce and next week we are going to kill a goat and cook it. I am sure it will be an experience. In three weeks, it is my turn to hold the knife...I wonder what it will be? By the way...this is our kitchen, and living room. It is a Holiday Inn at IRIS.

Robert's painting

Here is a picture from last night...our room is turning into an art studio...I love it. Robert will probably sell this painting to somone from the vistors center and then he will western union the money to his Kenyan church so they can go on an outreach this weekend. Robert lives in a mudhut with his mother and Grandmother and attends a church that meets outside on the dirt. I am treasuring this friendship that is teaching me so much about the body and Christ and how we can partner with our brothers and sisters that do not have the resources they need. If their church just had a laptop and a projector they could show the Jesus film to reach thousands that do not know the love that God has shown us through Jesus. sidenote: (so through Cheon last week I came to peace with the prosperity Gospel) The prosperity Gospel is true but it has to be handled by "kingdom minded" Christians who are walking in maturity, joy, and love and abandonment to the purposes of God. Otherwise it is perverted and people end up with a more comfortable life and nice gardens but the african bush still goes without projectors, laptops, healthcare, and clean water. Sorry...I am journaling outloud...but this is the kind of thing that is being changed within me.

Mozambique is not making me smarter

Sorry, I am almost getting the hang of this blogger thing...but not there yet. I thought my last post was gone so I wrote a new one...but the new one has a picture so it is better. Thanks again for writing me back...it is blessing me so much...I get up at 5 and we go almost nonstop until 8...so it is easy to get swept into a bubble. So your messages are bringing me back home and reminding me that I really miss everyone at home and what is happening there. I cannot wait to hear about Ecuador and the other things that are going on in your lives and the church.