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! 

Mexico Update

Some pictures and videos from the Mexico Trip

The team was out in the park and talked to some high school students about the Lord.  Trey did some stepping in order to get their attention and each one of us got a chance to share with the young people.

Ghana

From Spencer Shadrach who recently went to Ghana:

"God is alive and well in Ghana! The Ghanaian people are thirsty, hungry and desperate for the gospel, sound teaching, and how to make disciples of all nations. Several years ago, a man named Ben Oforinayme was taught the disciple-ship methods outlined in the Gospels. His ministry is flourishing by reproducing himself into faithful him who will do the same, teaching others to do the same also. When we arrived in the capital city of Accra, Ghana we were greeted warmly by the people and the climate. The first day we sowed the seed broadly to many pastors in the hopes that some hearts and eyes will be illuminated to the multiplicative discipleship strategy of Jesus Christ. Training nationals to train their own people is the strategy we are using for these short-term trips. Also, we look for a few men that look ripe for following Jesus’ strategy for the entire world coming to Christ.

On the second day, the teams split up with 2 men training pastors in North Niger, 2 men staying in Accra for a week and 3 men to Sunyani to teach and train local pastors, youth leaders and business people in Jesus’ discipleship strategy. These are the front lines. In North Africa, there are 200 million Muslims who have never heard the name of Jesus. These Muslims are only several hundred miles from Ghana. Reproducing intently in one man, the strategy of Jesus will have much greater impact in the long term and build quality disciples. These are the principles we taught. The 1^st century church used the same strategy culminating in a budding gospel witness to every major city in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. Faith comes by hearing the word. In order for the Muslims to hear the word of God they need to be sought out by world changers. This is who we were looking for in Ghana; WORLD CHANGERS.

I think we have found several men. One, named Michael Attufa, who is 30 years old, is catching the vision for Jesus’ strategy. In October 2012, 5 men robbed him at night and beat within inches of his life. The men claimed he was a thief and a mob began to drag him down the street. Michael thought he would be meeting his Lord and Savior very soon. They didn’t kill him but stripped him naked and put him in a gutter to die. Everyone passed him by without a care thinking he deserved being in the gutter; so no one helped. Finally a few friends got him to the hospital. Many prayers were lifted up at this time and Michael recovered quickly; within a weeks time. Nothing can stop Michael because the Lord has promised that he would be with us to the end to the end of the age. Satan tries his hardest to deter us from starting a pandemic with the gospel. I believe in the bottom of my heart that this is what was happening. Satan knows stopping Michael in the beginning could stop the flow but the Lord knows he will have such a great impact for the Kingdom." 

Some pictures from Pepper's trip to India