A few years ago I asked Pastor Meshack and Francis how they'd like to make a difference in their region and what we could do to support them. Long story short, they had heard of a distant village that had dirty drinking water and wanted to help. As you may know, our hero, "Mr. Kim" (photo at the bottom of this post) invented a filter to fulfill his dream of helping fellow Tanzanians have safe drinking water, after all many die of water born illnesses every year.
So we made the connections happen through the local church and next thing you know we were out in the village with the pastor who had invited the community in. We had a service, I had the honor of teaching a short message, then we distributed the filters (and some solar lights) to bless them and meet a very practical need. In fact THIS VIDEO shows what that outreach and another one a few days before looked like.
There's lots more to that story but let's fast forward...
That church and community was so thrilled by what occurred that day that they wanted to reach out to their neighboring village to do the same. Several churches, who previously weren't connected, joined in and not only planned an outreach (which our family got to be part of if you saw those updates last summer), but also planned a 3 day seminar to encourage fellow church leaders in the area!
Fast forward again...
Francis let me know that doors continue to open and a ripple effect is taking place! They are now gathering together on their own, visiting one another, and planning a big outreach taking place in just one month! The fellowship began with 5 pastors and is now 20! They're selecting areas with the highest level of poverty + witchcraft and developing a long term strategy of hosting conferences & outreaches in those places.
I woke up to the news of the February conference via text message yesterday morning. My response to Francis: "I am beyond encouraged by this!! This is what it's all about kaka" (kaka means "bro" in Swahili)
His response? Well I'll just take a screenshot of that message and insert it below so you can see for yourself :)
Better Together,
Mark
