Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Questions…and More Questions


A good friend of ours from the Balangao tribe in the Philippines, who is now with the Lord, once told us a guideline he used when he was teaching…he stopped teaching when the questions stop. For him, questions are the ultimate proof of someone’s interest and desire to learn. We tend to agree, this is a good “rule of thumb” as to whether we should continue teaching or not. If we proceed when there are no questions, we may be guilty of “casting pearls before swine.”

We gained some excellent insights into Ugandan culture through our being with the Scripture Union Uganda (SUU) Regional Coordinators and key volunteers during the first day of the 3-day VOICE Orientation and Training of Trainers. The very first official session went 1½ hours beyond the planned time. Why? Questions and more questions and more questions…and still more questions! The SUU Director, who is an amazing communicator, shared the background of VOICE and the reasons behind the decision to take it on as one of the mainstream SUU ministries. He carefully and patiently answered each of the wide variety of questions and stopped when the questions stopped. Actually almost all of the initial sessions elicited numerous questions. Praise God for such keen interest and for a growing understanding and “owning” of the VOICE program by all of the participants. Later in the day, it was so encouraging to hear them practicing sharing VOICE with someone who hadn’t heard of it before…the enthusiasm and passion were evident! Praise God with us!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

One of Those Gideon Experiences



“Lord, what are you doing?” must have been on Gideon’s lips as God removed more and more men from his army. But, in the end, we all marvel with Gideon as God got all the glory.

A couple of weeks ago, rather suddenly, while in communication with the Scripture Union Uganda (SUU) leadership, the idea of a Training for Trainers for the six SU Regional Coordinators and key volunteers in January came up. The best (and most economical) venue is the SUU campsite, so a phone call was made to see if there was any vacancy in January. The only available dates were Jan. 25-27. Guess what, the only dates Laura and I were unavailable was Jan. 26-27—our MissionVenture quarterly meetings! But then, Beth, our friend and co-worker, “promised” she would be there…so we agreed. Then, Beth’s schedule got changed by others and she can no longer join the training. Both of our current VOICE staff members have been with us for less than 2 months and are not yet ready to take on such a training. In an urgent meeting with SUU leadership, we seriously considered if it should be postponed…but due to several matters, it seemed better to go ahead as planned. Then…SUU leadership pledged to pick up the slack and lead the topics that we nor Beth will be able to do! Hmmm…is this God’s answer to our prayer that SUU will truly “own” the program? We’ll see…but we are suspicious! Keep praying!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Cool Waters



This past week has demanded long days of meetings and Kampala rush hour commutes.  Today as we prepared to start our VOICE staff meeting to finalize the Training Schedule, one of our VOICE staff members, Patrah, received a call from someone who attended the VOICE June, 2015, Training.  An excited Kampala Church member relayed that they were using the Truth module in their Sunday School and it was making such an impact on both children and their families. The parents were helping the children complete the “Home Activity” and gave testimony that they were learning and being changed as much as their children were. Now the parents are pleading with the pastor for more Values lessons.  From one who has spent many hours almost every day among the printing/publishing offices in downtown Kampala working on getting the Honesty Module published, this news came as cool water to a thirsty soul.  Praise God for another tool being readied to share God’s truths with the next generation...in answer to your prayers!