Poland Team Leaves Today

L-R - Jeff Howard, Bryson McCabe, David Nall, & Steve Winstead (not pictured Phillip Geyer)

Please pray for the Downline team going to Poland. We will be leading a 3 day conference in Poznan and then leading 2 one day conferences with Cru.

Serbia 2013

On April 11^th, Downline led a team of 9 people to teach at an evangelical Bible school outside of Belgrade, Serbia.  The school – the only Evangelical training center of its kind in the Balkan region - consists of students who represent most of the Balkan nations.  During our week, we taught over 30 hours of discipleship training and walked through the Biblical books of Esther, Zechariah and Titus.  While the formal times of training were impactful, it is always the intentional conversations that happen outside of the classroom that seem to be the most meaningful.  This is one of the few trips where we actually stay with the people we are ministering to.  We saw our students all day, every-day, and the relationships we formed are deep and lasting.  We knew the whole trip was worth it when we heard Ivan, a Serbian student, say “I now know that God accepts me solely because of the work of Jesus.” 

 

The team with the students at the HUB school in Serbia

Many do not know that the leader of this Serbian school, Sladjan Milenkovic, is currently in Memphis as his 9-year-old daughter is battling brain cancer.  This was the first time in 4 years that Downline has been to Serbia without Sladjan being there.  I was curious to see how things were running in his absence, but I was encouraged by the faithfulness of God to remind me that His work is not dependent upon one man.  The school is still doing great, and the students’ spiritual lives seem as vibrant as ever.  In fact, the current interim director, Riste, said this past week was the greatest week he has experienced at the school thus far. 

 

Morning devotions

Every year we go to Serbia, I cannot help but anticipate a refreshing time with the Lord.  The students’ commitment to Christ is a great encouragement, and their heart for the nation of Serbia and the world is contagious.  This is one of the most strategic training trips Downline embarks upon, but at the same time I believe it is a trip where the Downline team is impacted more by the lives of the students than the students are by our teaching.  We are certainly glad to be home with our families and friends, but there is some sadness that comes with leaving new family and friends thousands of miles away.  

Ecuador

Pictures could not be uploaded and will be added later.

Day 1: Guayaquil, Ecuador

A group of us decided to go see the famous Iguana Park Sunday morning before church.   It was a beautiful little park a couple blocks from our Hotel and literally had 50 or more iguanas in every tree, just hanging out!

Sunday morning we went to Verbos Church, meaning “The Word” and Pepper and Ron had an opportunity to share a little bit of their stories and help cast a vision for discipleship in this church!  After church we spent the day with a Korean family living in Ecuador and then traveled to Pasaje and taught that night!

Day 2: Pasaje, Ecuador

Monday morning a couple of the pastors from the churches we are partnering with took us see some of the city and surrounding area!  Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas (or Bananos) in the world, so we got to stop and watch a couple of the workers get the bananos ready… from cutting them off the bunch to putting the stickers on them and boxing them up! 

After seeing the Banana plantations we hiked up to a couple of waterfalls!  They were beautiful and we had a lot of fun swimming and playing around!  We all really enjoyed spending the day with these pastors, getting to goof off with them, hear about their churches and families, and then watch them lead and serve not only us but their churches!

Last night, We went back to the church in Pasaje to teach some more!  We started off split up, Craig and Kelly both taught “The way Jesus made disciples” and then Pepper taught about multiplication! 

Day 3: Cuenca, Ecuador

Today we traveled to Cuenca, a beautiful town located in the Andes Mountains!  We will spend the next couple days here teaching and learning more about Cuenca and Ecuador! 

Ethiopia - Post 3

My body is exhausted and my heart is full after spending seven amazing days in Ethiopia with our partners in ministry from The Forsaken Children and Onesimus Child Development Association. Nega, Taye, Engeda and Ephraim served as our hosts, translators, guides, consultants and partners in training as we endeavored to serve them in their vision for stronger churches, stronger families, and fewer orphans and street children.

If you aren't familiar with these two partner organizations you can learn more by visiting their websites, http://theforsakenchildren.org and http://onesimuscda.webs.com

Downline's partnership with these organizations has always seemed to be a perfect fit since our first joint conference last year. After three visits to Ethiopia and three conferences in two cities accompanied by hours of prayer and conversation about the Ethiopian church and her needs it has been officially confirmed on multiple levels. My heart is bursting with hope for the people of Ethiopia because of the faithfulness of Christ through the servants He has positioned to meet the needs of the Ethiopian church and the homeless orphans of Africa. Their vision is a God sized one and their commitment is eternal. Their work is heart wrenching and slow going. Their God is sovereign and full of grace. When you are with the children at the drop-in-center where they come to play and experience the love of Christ for possibly the first time, you can sense the presence of the Lord and the purity of the mission to seek and to save the lost. Every single one of them, especially these innocent children, are precious in His sight but have tasted more than their share of the dark and evil brokenness of this lost and dying world. 

The Forsaken Children and Onesimus know that the long term solution and ultimate answer to the epidemic of the street children of Ethiopia is Jesus Christ. Their vision is to simultaneously seek out and serve the children of Ethiopia, introduce them to the love of Christ, and equip and prepare them to be integrated into society where they can flourish, while also seeking a restoration of biblical discipleship in and through the church and families of Ethiopia. Downline is honored to play a small role in those efforts as their vision aligns perfectly with ours.

The discipleship conferences were taught by members of the Downline team and Onesimus leadership. It was particularly exciting to hear some of Downline's discipleship lessons and biblical discipleship principles being communicated by the leaders of Ethiopia's present and future! The Downline team was well prepared both in practical terms and in prayer as they humbly and clearly shared the vision and strategy of Jesus Christ for discipleship. At the end of each conference attendees were asking what we could do to continue the partnership and keep the training going. Additionally, many publicly and humbly offered their repentance for their desire to grow church members but not disciples of Christ. God is gracious and faithful and is on the move. These pastors were responsible for congregations ranging from 500 to 4,000. Some overseeing as many as 40 churches within their denomination! The potential for the healthy growth and maturity of the Church of Ethiopia is exponential. What a joy to be a part!

Thank you for your prayers for this team and all of Downline's efforts, locally and globally.

Ethiopia - Post 2

Surely, we are tasting and seeing that the Lord is good! We have made such precious friendships in Ethiopia and have loved getting to know the stories and hearts of the men and women here. We pray they will continue to be encouraged in heart as these conferences come to an end.

We moved yesterday from Addis Ababa to Hawassa. The drive was 4 beautiful hours of Ethiopian countrside, with small villages scattered along the way. Our team of 11 jumped straight into the second discipleship conference upon arrival in Hawassa, and we have been moving non-stop since then! We are eager to continue sharing with these men and women throughout the day tomorrow, with the hope and prayer that they will leave the conference to re-teach others. Discipleship is the transference of Truth and life in the context of relationship. Our prayer is that this, the model and command of Jesus as He invested in his disciples, would consume the church in Ethiopia. These people have such a hunger for the Word of God! This harvest is plentiful, and it is ready! 

The girls (and guys!) have been LOVING (there is no other way to put it!) our time with the children. Today, we met with three different classrooms at the church/school where the conference is held, then again with a new group of 50 this afternoon. Today's lesson was about the 7 days of creation, and they learned so quickly! The last group shared a song with us in Amharic about creation. They hug our necks and kiss our cheeks and giggle when we try to speak in Amharic, and we just can't get enough! 

Each morning and afternoon, we stop for a tea/coffee break. This is a sweet time to talk to the men and women and to get to know them a little better, in a more relaxed setting. Our time with them both as a whole group and as the men's and women's groups, divided for certain sessions, has been rich and filled with edifying and challenging conversation. 

One last note, the day before we left Addis, we hiked Entoto, a mountain from which you can see almost all of Addis. It was beautiful!! (see picture!) A fun time to be together as a team! We are thankful for everyone's health and safety. We are thankful to be here!!  

Sierra Leone Recap Video

Ethiopia - Post 1

Our first day in Ethiopia started with a challenge but all turned out well and quite an adventure with Shad as our leader! We were greeted at the airport by several of the children with whom we are working this week and two of our wonderful hosts. They had the warmest smiles and sweetest hugs to share! Our luggage decided an extra day of sightseeing in D.C. would be fun, so we did not welcome its arrival until this afternoon.  Though the sun was shining brightly in the African sky, the power at the guest house was out, which includes the water (run on electric pumps), so needless to say, the interruption of the ceiling lights during tonight's candle-lit dinner (2 full days after arrival) was well-received! Cold showers followed quickly. 

We are staying in a beautiful guest house, Bethel, with two great cooks, (Busa and Marta) and Tete, who has been serving us well.  Teya and Ingida are our hosts. Teya's name means visible, and his love for Ethiopia is very visible. He showed us around on Friday, we visited Onesimus ,and the MYS seminary where the conference is held. Both are wonderful!

Onesimus is the Foresaken Children's ministry. Foresakenchildren.org They welcomed us with cake, coffee, and popcorn!   The ministry brings in street kids, and provides education classes; english, math, reading, drawing, and computer class. The kids also have the opportunity to shower there 3 times a week and  uniforms are provided for school. We have two board members with us, Randall Johnson and Susan Vrbas. We are so thankful for their presence on our team as such strategic partners in this ministry. 

We were wakened this morning around 5:00 am by the first of five daily Muslim calls to prayer, which resonate throughout the city from a Mosque nearby. The irony is that their calls to prayer serve as such a tangible reminder to us to pray for them...that they may come to know the One True and living God! We enjoyed time at the seminary for the conference and Onesimus for children's ministry today. We are excited to continue loving on and learning with and from these people!