After a night of very good sleep I wanted to say a few words about yesterday @ FBC…I loved it.
It was great seeing all the graduates on stage – this is a really fun group. Since I’ve served as Pastor at FBC longer than they’ve been alive, I’ve watched many of them grow up. Others I’ve gotten to know since they moved here and I’m going to miss this whole group. Congratulations to them and their families. By the way – the lunch they enjoyed together was GREAT!
I had fun sharing with you some of the highlights from our two weeks in Zambia and encourage those of you not able to be with us yesterday to watch the video of the sermon on the FBC website. We worked with David Petro, one of our Baptist missionaries. He is working with a small group of believers to reach the Tumbuka people in northeast Zambia. While we stayed in Lundazi, a town of about 12,000 people where the Petros live, we drove on a bumpy dirt road for one hour and fifteen minutes each way seven days to an area called Egichikeni. Once there we visited local villages, a collection of small huts where extended families live, to share Bible stories that helped those we talked with understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. On Sunday we led Sunday School and preached at the new small church plant in Egichikeni. In addition to the Bible stories, the plan of salvation was clearly presented to about 100 people and nearly 20 committed their lives to Christ.
The team did a great job and I’m proud of them. We are grateful for your prayers and support, and it was encouraging to know many of you were following us on the various social media platforms.
Here are some prayer requests:
- Pray that those who made decisions for Christ grow strong in their faith and become bold witnesses for Jesus
- Pray for the small church plant in Egichikeni to experience a powerful movement of God
- Pray for the local Pastors who sacrifice much to serve Jesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit and that God provides for their every material need in abundance
- Pray for David Petro and his family to know God’s peace and blessing
- Pray for David’s wife, Heather, who will have back surgery this summer
- Pray for our team members to get good rest this week and for our “body clocks” to adjust quickly to the six hour time difference and the very long travel time we endured
- Pray for God to move you forward in your faith and willingness to sacrificially obey His call upon your life
One final praise! A young lady who recently began attending FBC and accepted Christ had asked me about what translation of the Bible would be best for her to read. I gave her some guidance and suggested she visit a Christian book store and sit down for about an hour to read the translations I had suggested and look at the study notes to help her decide which one worked best for her. Yesterday she came to me and showed me a photo on her phone of the one she like best – she made a good choice. It was the NIV Life Application Study Bible. I’m going to get it for her this week. Please pray for her growth as a disciple and that God will protect her from all discouragement and attacks by the evil one. It is so encouraging to be reminded by experiences like this one of why the church exists in the first place. We often lose sight of our true purpose with all the other stuff that happens in life and at church.
Pastor Steve Hogg
Leave a Reply