Engage the Nations

I took sometime yesterday and today to fast and pray for the upcoming ministry to Burundi. This is a powerful discipline that I have grown to appreciate whenever I am entering a season of intense ministry or tremendous personal life changes. It allows me to hear God more clearly, draw great strength and inspiration from the Holy Spirit, and focus on the mission at hand. I need all these at the moment as I prepare the messages for the thousands of people we will minister to in Africa. I had also invited our ministry leadership and travelling teams to fast and pray alongside as they are able. Over the years we have found this to be a critical piece in team preparation as we are unified in our purpose and mission. I got thinking about Jesus' encounter with the demoniac and his response to the disciples' inquiry as to why they could not cast out the demon. The story is in Matthew 17:14-22. In the story, Jesus and his disciples are surrounded by a crowd. Then a man comes fallin...

Maybe you hear this or even say this a lot: "I can't believe how fast the days are going by! It is already the end of …August." I am having my own little moments of that. We now stand only a mere eight days before our departure for the Burundi mission. When we started the Burundi outreach efforts in November 2008 and set September 2009 as the possible date for the Bujumbura Festival of Hope and conference, I felt that we had adequate time to pray, plan, fundraise, and execute the plans. The economic times then like now, were getting tougher and tougher for missionary fundraising. But with faith like a mustard seed, Suzanne and I hoped against hope. One day, a mere couple weeks before the set date for departure, while speaking at a church in Southwest Minnesota, God touched someone to donate $ 5000. We knew God was confirming our faith. Eventually we managed to raise everything that we needed to lounge the efforts with Burundi churches (about $ 16,000) during that shor...

So, I have been gone from this page for a while. Glad, however, to be back and to pick up from where I left. As you know, ministry life is busy. It is always a race between family, travel, and office house-keeping stuff such as fundraising. Here is a cool story though. This past Saturday August 22nd I joined with the congregation of Grace Church, Forest Lake, MN for an evening of outreach to their community. They had invited me to be their evangelist for the outdoor event. So, on Saturday afternoon, my wife, her sister LeeAnn and my brother-in-law Matt drove out there for the event. I spoke from Luke 21:34-36. Jesus says, "Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkness and the worries of life, and that day will come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take ...