Drama...and Revival!!!

This has been a wild and busy couple months of ministry for us here in Libreville.

We began in November with our French version of the drama, "The Judgment". We had done it once before in the beginning of 2010. At that time we had to rent a facility but this time we were able to do it in our own building. We put on the drama for three nights and had a great turn out each night with 49 people making a decision to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus for salvation.

On the second night of the drama we arrived at the building to find that it had been marked for demolition as part of a greater project to 'clean up' Libreville before the African Cup of Nations that will be hosted here in January. We immediately set the saints to pray with calls to the Tucson church and others to join with us.

On the Sunday morning after the building was marked, a man came in and gave his life to Jesus. He had seen the drama the night before and was so moved that he was awake all night thinking about it. While talking with him at the final night of the drama I realized that he was not only a police man but that he also ran the tractors that demolish the buildings. He informed me that he would do his best to steer clear of our area till the final moment. Here are some pictures of the 'clean up' around town.

The next couple weeks were difficult for our church not knowing what would happen with our building. We thank God that after a couple of weeks, the government decided to suspend further demolition until after the tournament. I would like to thank those of you who prayed for us during that time and sent notes of encouragement. Your prayers made all the difference in the circumstances here.

Before we began the drama, I received a surprise phone call from a good friend of mine; Pastor Ed Gutierrez. He informed me that in December he would be preaching the Harvester's in Cameroon and that he and his wife Julie realized how close it was to Gabon. As they began looking deeper into it they realized that the price of the ticket would be the same if he stopped here in Gabon first. I was over-joyed. It had been a couple months since our last revival and I knew it would be after March before we could schedule another one. The timing was perfect, especially to follow up with the new converts we were expecting from the upcoming drama.

When Pastor Ed arrived, the timing could not have been better for us and for the church. As many of you already know, Sara and I owe much who & where we are today to Pastor Ed and his wife Julie. They were the Youth pastors in Tucson while we were in our teenage years. If it were not for my relationship with Pastor Ed at that critical time in my life, I know for a fact that we would not be here in Gabon, and may not even be preaching the gospel. His stay here was refreshing to my spiritual life and edifying for my family, which was a bonus, because he really came to minister to the church.

Pastor Ed brought such a maturity of ministry during his week here. He is a great man of God and a tremendous preacher of the gospel. The last fifteen years he has been building a powerful work for God in Fairfield, California. Each and every sermon was directly from God and perfectly timed for our church. He connected immediately with the congregation, even having most names memorized by the third night. The people were excited and grateful and the revival built momentum with each night. By the end of the week, we had seventeen people saved and fifteen filled with the Holy Spirit.

I would just like to take a moment to thank the faithful members of the Fairfield congregation, many of whom I know well, for your investment in sending your Pastor to Africa. You have no idea how much impact he has made on our congregation and in this nation. I would like to encourage you to continue. Continue your giving. Continue sending your Pastor to bless the nations of the world. Continue your monthly support of the church in Cameroon. Continue being a blessing to your Pastor and his wife. It is only in eternity that we will truly see the impact we are making now. May the Lord bless you to continue...

Intertwined in all of these events going on we were able to have a couple water baptisms; one before the revival and one after. We baptized eleven people in all and have seen a great increase in our church. The disciples are growing and taking new converts under their wings and God is being glorified. Please continue to pray for these new converts.

All of this must be said with the deepest gratitude towards the saints of the Tucson congregation who faithfully support us with their notes/calls of encouragement, prayers and finances. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you.

It's Been a While...Here's Why

Well, it has been three months since my last blog post. I have a good reason for two of the months and a decent reason for the third. Living in Africa we sometimes find ourselves at the mercy of technology (or lack thereof). Here at the King residence, we found ourselves without internet for a couple of months, between August and October. While it was a difficult time, it was also a wonderful time. As my Pastor always warns, technology can be a wonderful tool or it can become a horrible master. Sometimes it is good to step back (or be forced back) and examine what it has become in your life. I'm grateful that we had two months of 'silence' though it was not an easy time to get through.


That pretty much accounts for the first two months, but the third month of non-blogging is the result of a perfect storm of events. In the month of October, I was privileged to have the opportunity to preach in Sierra Leone for their annual Harvesters/Anniversary celebration. As an added bonus I was able to be there with Pastor Smith and see him in action in his home away from home.

As most of you already know, Twenty-Two years ago, he and Rene entered that nation as missionaries to start a work for God. They lived there preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for six years before being forced out of the country by a civil war. Though they had to leave, the gospel did not have to. Because he was faithful to make disciples in his time there, the work has carried on long after his departure. They have planted churches all over the nation of Sierra Leone now and have planted an additional 12 couples all over West and Central Africa and even into Europe. The church in Sierra Leone is a powerful testimony to the gospel and what God can do through someone who will obey His command to make disciples.

We were joined there by many pastors from all over Sierra Leone and their wives and churches that came to celebrate 22 years of ministry. It was an overwhelming time for me as I was refreshed and renewed by my fellowship with Pastor Smith and the other Pastors there. I want to especially thank Pastor Edward and his wife Rita for their incredible hospitality during our stay there.

The other reason for my silence will be reported of and testified to in my next blog post...

As I have stepped back and reviewed my trip, one thing has become resoundingly clear; discipleship works. I hope and pray with all of my heart that one day the nation of Gabon will have a testimony similar to that which God is doing in Sierra Leone. Even as I hear reports of what God is doing in the nation of Namibia where Steve and Shirley Anderson pioneered, I am stirred once again for the nations of the world. We must do all we can to reach people with the gospel as the end times are drawing near. Make your life count, lay it down in the sacrifice and service of your Lord Jesus Christ. We need people that are willing to go and we need people that are willing to stay and hold the support ropes; there is plenty of work for all of us.

As I frequently hear Pastor Smith say, "Let's do together what we can not do alone."

Revival Report: Pastor Hamilton from Benin

We have been so blessed this past week to have Pastor David Hamilton from the nation of Benin here to preach the word of God to us. Pastor Hamilton has been in the nation of Benin for the last nine years building a powerful work of God. They have already planted a baby church that I have had the privilege to preach in which is bearing much fruit.

Pastor Hamilton reminds me so much of his Pastor; Alvin Smith. He preaches with such passion and anointing and the people here were ready and open to the word of God.

What blessed us so much was that he preached the entire revival in French which is very important in this nation. The people were overwhelmed with gladness to hear the word of God without an interpreter. This is a tremendous tribute to the work and labor that Pastor David has given to learning the French language with excellence. Most of the people had no idea that his original language was English and even after I told them they found it hard to believe. He has inspired me to press further in my language studies. By the grace of God, I will be preaching soon in French.

We began Friday night with a Men's Discipleship Class, it was a powerful time. Pastor Hamilton preached about how we respond to the will of God when it does not match our own will. On Saturday we had a special service to dedicate our new location. We had a joyous time of thanksgiving and prayer and fellowship together as a congregation as we begin this new chapter in our church's story.

Sunday morning we started the revival and took it through till Wednesday night. I wish we could have kept going. We had so many visitors out each night. many people from the neighborhood stopped in to see what was going on and ended up giving their lives to Jesus and coming back the following nights. All together we saw seventeen people pray to give their lives to Jesus.

Sunday afternoon we will be having a water baptism, their are already eight people signed up to be baptized and most of them from this revival. Please pray for us and believe God to continue this work that He has started in this nation. We will be beginning practices shortly for our Fall drama "The Judgment" which we can now do in our own building. God has given us momentum and we plan on pushing it as far as we can.

Many thanks to the Tucson congregation for your prayers and support in this time. Nothing we are doing here would be possible without your faithfulness. Every time I think of your sacrifices for the nations of the world I am overwhelmed and must stop and thank God. Your reward shall be great; both here and now in the souls being won and in eternity as you get to meet the people you are impacting face to face and hear their story of salvation. May God bless you all!!!

New Building and Remodel

We have been very busy the last couple of weeks as we were blessed to find a new and bigger building. Our old building was nice but it was small; just a hall with no facilities, not even a toilet. We were packing in people every week with the children having to sit outside on the steps. It had been like that for some time and we were diligently praying for a new building.

God answered our prayers a couple weeks ago when brother Vitalis called me on a Friday morning to tell me he may have found something. We went down together and paid within the hour to secure the building (thanks to the generosity of the Tucson church). The new building is perfectly located on the main highway with tremendous visibility. It has a proper bathroom, two nursery rooms and a storage room.

We have had to do a lot of work the last couple weeks. The building use to be a nightclub and was painted in dark colors with hardly any light fixtures, etc., so we broke down a wall to open things up a little bit.

We also added some privacy bricks in the windows so the air could flow but people can't see everything inside when we're not there. We added a window and probably need to add a couple more in the near future to allow for more airflow.

While the major work has been finished for a week or so, we have much detail work to do. We are still adding fans and light fixtures and doing some plumbing in the bathroom. God is helping us bit by bit and piece by piece and He has provided for everything we have needed so far.

We have had our first couple of services and the presence of God has been so wonderful. I thank God that the church is not a building but the people that gather together inside of it. He is faithful to be in the midst of those gathered together in His name.

On Saturday we will have a special building celebration and dedication and on Sunday we start revival with Pastor Hamilton from Benin. Pray for us that God would give us much favor in this new harvest field he has given us and that no one would be lost in transition.

A Great Poem

I came across this poem today in my readings and it struck the chord of my heart. I hope you will read it through a few times and savor the richness that lies therein.

Getting Home Before Dark

by J. Robertson McQuilkin

Photo of Gabon Sunset by S.King (My Beautiful Wife)

It’s sundown, Lord.

The shadows of my life stretch back,

into the dimness of the years long spent.

I fear not death, for that grim foe betrays himself at last,

thrusting me forever into life: life with You, unsoiled and free.

But I do fear.

I fear the dark specter may come too soon–or do I mean too late?

I fear that before I finish I might stain Your honor,

shame Your name, grieve Your loving heart.

Few, they tell me, finish well.

Lord, let me get home before dark.

Will my life show the darkness of a spirit grown mean and small,

fruit shriveled on the vine, bitter to the taste of my companions,

a burden to be borne by those brave few who love me still?

No, Lord, let the fruit grow lush and sweet, a joy to all who taste,

a Spirit-sign of God at work, stronger, fuller. Brighter at the end.

Lord, let me get home before dark.

Will be the darkness of tattered gifts,

rust-locked, half-spent, or ill-spent,

a life that once was used of God now set aside?

Grief for glories gone or fretting for a task God never gave?

Mourning in the hollow chambers of memory,

gazing on the faded banners of victories long gone?

Cannot I run well until the end?

Lord, let me get home before dark.

The outer me decays–I do not fret or ask reprieve.

The ebbing strength but weans me from mother earth

and grows me up for heaven.

I do not cling to shadows cast by mortality.

I do not patch the scaffold lent to build the real, eternal me.

I do not clutch about me my cocoon,

vainly struggling to hold hostage a free spirit pressing to be born.

But will I reach the gate in lingering pain–body distorted, gro-tesque?

Or will it be a mind wandering,

untethered among light phantasies or grim terrors?

Of Your grace, Father, I humbly ask…let me get home before dark.

AMEN!

Here are some more wonderful photos of Gabon sunsets that my wife has taken over the years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Truth and Love

This year our church is reading through the New Testament, one book at a time. We will generally start a new book as part of our Sunday night service. I will usually give some background, contextual and historical information to help bring greater fruitfulness to our reading. After the service I will hand out a plan which maps the chapter(s) we will be reading each day. For our Wednesday night service, I preach from the book we are currently reading. This has proven to be a fruitful and arduous task for me as a preacher because it requires me to expand my ‘comfort zone’ and force myself into a text from that week’s reading.

Last week, we began to look into the three epistles of John and I stumbled upon an interesting account of the latter part of the Apostle’s life. An early church writer named Jerome tells the story of the Apostle being carried into church because he could no longer walk. The church members would often ask him to speak and when he did, he would mostly repeat the same thing, “Little children, love one another.” The parishioners thought he was going senile until he explained, “…this is the Lord’s command and if this only is done, it is enough.”

It appears from most sources that the Apostle did his writing when he was well into his eighties and could no longer travel. It occurred to me that here is a man who walked with Jesus for three years in person and then an additional six decades by the Spirit. Through the process of sanctification, he became more and more like his savior with each passing year and we have the privilege of looking into the wisdom that occupies the mind of this old(er) disciple.

When you read through his first epistle you will notice two veins of thought; truth and love. You also see this focus throughout his gospel, as if he is highlighting it in the life of Jesus. From the accounts given to us of John, it isn't hard to believe he was a man zealous for truth. For instance, we have the time when he wanted to go “Sodom and Gomorrah’ on the Samaritans because they refused to receive Jesus into their city. Jesus rebuked him by telling him that he did not come to destroy people but to save them. I’m sure it was after that episode that they started calling him and his brother the “son’s of thunder.”

We can see from this account that the young disciple was very zealous for the truth and willing to kill anyone that would choose to reject it. Then we read that this was also the same John who was audacious enough to request a place at the side of the throne of Jesus, much to the repugnance of the other disciples and he seems largely unfazed by his own pejorative overtones toward them. Looking at these stories of his younger years, I understand and see his zeal for the truth but fail to see any love for the people Jesus is trying to reach or even His own brethren.

But now, six decades later, we see a different man. His zeal for truth is still as strong as ever as he slices through false teaching and the wolves that disperse it. However, now there is a whole new element woven into the fabric of this mans life. His zeal for truth has been balanced with a love for people. Instead of killing people, he is doing all he can to love and save them. He wants to guard the truth and he wants to guard the love. In fact, he took it so far as to say that if you don’t know love, then you don’t know God. He placed love at the apex of revelation.

There are many people zealous for truth but lacking love and there are many people so filled with love that they pay little attention to truth. Here in the life of John we find a beautiful combination of the two working side by side in the same man. Growing in God should involve growing in love; a love for His truth and a love for the people He wants to save.