See our team video reporting on many of the wonderful adventures, relationships and experience had by the 2010 Global Leadership Institute program.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Stories from Sierra Leone, West Africa
One pastor said that he had pastored for 20 years and never planted a church. Because of the challenge we gave the pastors to plant a church, this past year he planted two churches.
One pastor went to a village known to be one of the “most” wicked places in the country. It had a mountain in the village with a demonic presence that demanded a human sacrifice every three months. To make a long story short, while this pastor was in the village for a week, the chief of the village had a dream of a man with blood on his hands. The man in the dream opened his hands and invited the chief to come to him. Through this dream, the chief and the entire village came to Christ. Since there was no church building to meet in, the villagers took the mosque and converted it into a church for the village. That village has now planted two other churches in adjacent villages.
One pastor said that before last year, "if you were not a Christian, I would have nothing to do with you. That was hindering the ministry. But after the Global Leadership Institute last year, I prayed and God has given me the peace to work with Muslims." This past year he now has a group of 7 Muslims who have come to Christ and are meeting in a cell group on Thursdays. He has another group of 5 Muslims professing Christ that are from three different tribal backgrounds who are meeting in a cell group on Wednesdays.
One pastor went to a village that has never had a church. The chief had a problem. The pastor prayed for him and he was delivered. The chief then gave 3 lots of land to build a church. The construction is almost complete.
One pastor said he was a workaholic. He never rested and even almost collapsed in the pulpit. From the teaching last year on the biblical rhythm of rest, he realized he needed to systematically rest. He decided to take one day off a week. His relationship with his wife and children has become "so sweet" this year. He discovered there were negative things happening in his home with his children that he knew nothing about because he was always gone. He is also now in good health. Last year after the teaching on rest and renewal, this pastor asked me to meet with he and his wife and we talked about the struggles they were having. He told me at that time that he felt I had come just for him. (This is the same pastor described in the second bullet point who led a whole village to Christ this past year.)
One pastor came back to his church last year and shared with them the vision to plant a church in an unreached area. A young man came to him and asked him to come plant a church in the village he was from. This village is known as the headquarters for witchcraft in the region. In the past, that village had killed a pastor with food poisoning. When the pastor from GLI heard these details about the village, he was timid about going there. But he said he knew from the lessons given at GLI he needed boldness. So he told the young man to let him go and seek the face of God. The pastor reported, “So I asked God for his strength and grace and I really received something from God: boldness. And I went to the village. I spent three days there and planted a church.” A brother asked him to come to the village next to this one to plant a church there too. These two villages are rival villages in witchcraft, each one boasting more power than the other and using witchcraft against each other. So this pastor went to the rival village and planted a church there too, making two churches that he planted this past year.
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