Saturday I fly to Kenya. Three teams of volunteers from Illinois, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia will be joining me in the next two months. One in Uganda. Two in Kenya. I will miss the family and being at home but a new year, 2020, is here.
Last year was marvelous. 642,612 people in Kenya, Uganda, DR Congo, South Sudan and Tanzania heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ from tens of thousands of ordinary people who had been changed by that very Gospel themselves, and then prayed to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. 16,602 of them found safe(?) water to be baptized into the name of their Savior Jesus Christ. 256,800 Bible Way books were printed and given to them to study. House churches were formed. The Bible was studied. Help was given to the neediest of families with counsel to save and start businesses. Lives were changed physically and spiritually. Thanks for your prayers. It was a very good year.
But 2020 has come and with it a fresh vision from the Lord; not for just a new year, but for a decade. In the next 10 years, 2020 - 2029, we are praying and working to see 20,000,000 people come to find Jesus as Lord and grow to become Disciple Makers in Eastern and Central Africa. This maybe a big number but it represents less than 4% of the population. This is a large challenge but it is a small vision compared to the need in Eastern and Central Africa that will number more than 550,000,000 people in population.
We believe this vision can and will be achieved by passionate men and women who have been changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are unafraid to share it with their families and friends. Their changed lives will give credibility to the message they share. There will be no mass evangelistic efforts with high powered speakers and musicians. That’s not own game plan. We are simply committed to one thing: To be passionate disciples of Jesus Christ who make other passionate disciples who are able to grow other passionate disciples. We are praying for a grassroots movement of ordinary men and women from Eastern and Central Africa who love Christ and will boldly share his message as you see in Acts 11:19-24 to win and disciple their own people for Christ. We have seen how the Lord has used this simple method to transform hundreds of thousands of drunks, drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves, murderers, con artist, gang members, prisoners and religiously blinded people to become passionate followers of Jesus in Uganda, Kenya, DR Congo, South Sudan and Tanzania over the past 6 years. We believe that what the Lord has started, He will continue through the presence and power of His Spirit and His people. We must be faithful. We must be serious. We must be passionate. We must own the vision. We must be focused. If we do, we believe the Lord will use us to reach this vision.
I want to thank you for your prayers, support and help in the past. The past 15 years have been blessed beyond our dreams. Never did we imagine a year when almost 650,000 would pray to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior through the efforts of ten’s of thousands of unpaid men and women in Africa when we started on this journey in 2005. But we have. Now we move forward with greater vision and faith. Pray for us. If the Lord leads, join us. Pray that we can take full advantage of the opportunity, health, resources and time the Lord has given us this day. Eternity is coming and with it rest. Today we must work.
Have a great 2020. May the Lord Himself richly bless you and your family. Love you guys.