About an hour and a half outside of the capital city of Windhoek, you turn onto a small dirt road that winds its way through the tiny village of Stinkwater. The community lies next to a wide, dry river bed that will only flow after the hard rains of a good rainy season. There are very few block houses, most are small tin shacks. There was formerly a mine nearby providing employment, but that has long since closed down. The only church is an old Rhenish building that is overgrown and unkept, and usually locked unless a visiting group could borrow it for a service. The small group of believers gather under a tree on a Sunday and lead themselves with no trained pastor. The community is as poor, desperate, and spiritually dry as the neighboring river bed. This is where our NETS mission team would minister for the next five days.
We started off our ministry with house visits, greeting people, hearing their stories, sharing an encouragement from the Bible, inviting them to church services, and praying for them if they would allow us. On Saturday morning, we waded through the overgrown plot to the old church building where the students led a service, including leading music and preaching the sermon. They did the same again under the tree on Sunday morning.
After the service, we hosted a little 'spa' day for the elderly in the community, including a soup lunch, hair and beard trims for the men, and manicures and pedicures for the ladies.
Children's ministry was also vibrant. We led Sunday school classes with the children during our church services. As we walked through the community, whenever we would find groups of children, we would play some games with them and share the gospel. Other mornings we visited a local preschool and taught the children God's Word through songs, puppets, and crafts.
And each evening we would show the Jesus film in one of the local languages, followed by one of our students giving an invitation to respond to the gospel.
It was a productive trip in more ways than one. The Word of God was faithfully proclaimed in a community with very little gospel witness. Our students got a chance to put into practice the things they have been learning in the classroom. And they also got to experience the reality of how many Namibians in rural communities live. On the last day of our trip, one exuberant student was convinced and couldn't stop talking about the need to plant a gospel-centered church in that community. Whether it's him or someone else, we pray that would be the case.
In the first week of December, just after all the schools close, Youth for Christ (YFC) in Namibia hosts their annual summer camp. The theme for camp was "But God..." from Psalm 73:26, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." I volunteered to help as the photographer / videographer and as a host for the Bible quiz "game show."
This year we had over 220 young people ages 15-25 come from all over the country. They were split into four different teams to compete in various sports and games, team spirit, as well as the Bible quiz. Each morning and evening we had sessions with messages following the theme. One morning we split up the guys and the girls for sessions related to their more unique issues. We even surprised them with a color party which only the leaders knew about in advance! Check out the video below to see what camp is like.
Each year NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary) hosts a Gospel Show, inviting the community on campus to enjoy some worship music and get to know our school a bit. Performers or choirs from various churches in the community are invited to share their talents. One student was supposed to have a young adult meeting at his church, but loaded them all on a bus and brought them to attend! Check out the video below to listen along.
At Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS), we want to give our students practical opportunities to put into practice what they are learning in the classroom. So, each year we organize domestic mission trips where our student body breaks up into smaller teams, travels to different towns across the country, and partners with local churches to advance God's kingdom in those communities. This year I went with the group to the southern coastal town of Lüderitz. We did some street evangelism, ministered at an assisted living home, hosted a gospel worship night, and students preached at various local churches on the Sunday morning. We even had a few spontaneous opportunities like praying with a police group raising funds to search for a missing colleague, and giving a 'wedding blessing' for a couple who had just been married at court that morning. Then we also squeezed in some team fellowship time at the beach, and even found some of the famous desert 'wild' horses. Check out the video below to see what our trip was like!
Growing up in my church back in the States, every year around November-ish we would participate in Operation Christmas Child (a ministry of the organization Samaritan's Purse). We would pack up this little red & green shoe box with toys and goodies for kids around the world. Then we would drop it off back at church and usually never hear about it again. But now I've finally gotten to see what happens to those boxes on the other end!
One of our SIM team members is a local coordinator for distributing these boxes through schools and churches around her community. The first stage is gathering principals and pastors to explain the program. Then those key leaders will send their religious education teachers or Sunday school teachers to a training. For two Saturdays they spend about 5-6 hours learning how to use the OCC curriculum for a 12-week course teaching the children about the gospel. Then somewhere in Feb/Mar, eleven shipping containers of about 7,200 boxes each arrive in port in Namibia to go out to each different region. When the boxes arrive, a whole team of local volunteers come together to take the boxes out to the schools and churches.
It was my joy to participate in some of those distribution events this past week. We visited two schools and one rural San community out in the bush. We started with a little assembly to reinforce the message that the real gift is Jesus, and you receive salvation like a gift, you don't work for it, or earn it. Then kids took their closed boxes back to their classrooms to open them together. Their joy was uncontainable as they shrieked and shouted, danced and smiled. I got many little-kid hugs of gratitude around my knees. One teacher said, "Some of these kids never even get a toy." One student commented, "This is the best day of my life." After this kickoff event, they will now continue with their 12-week lessons to help them discover the true gift of the good news of Jesus.
Distributing the boxes at a school
Opening their Christmas boxes
I was intrigued by one person's question that came up while discussing this program, asking if this doesn't reinforce a 'white saviorism' mentality. But the mission worker replied, "Not at all, because it's not really about the box. From beginning to end, this program is about sharing the gospel with the kids. Whether they are rich or poor, everyone needs a relationship with Jesus." So next time you are packing one of these boxes, may it be a reminder to you that Jesus alone is the Savior, and His gift of salvation is the real message. This box is an opportunity for a child somewhere in the world to receive that most beautiful gift of all!
In April 2022, the whole NETS community went out on a mission trip to Bushmanland and Rundu. We ministered in villages, churches, homes, schools, and on community streets. We partnered with local churches and shared God's good news with countless people. This video tells a bit of our story through photos and testimonies.
Our media people put together a series of mini-recap videos about different parts of the camp. Hopefully this can give you a little sense of what the camp was like. Enjoy!
July 4th is the day Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and their birthday as a nation. Every town across the country has their own form of celebration. There are huge parades with old cars and floats and bands and military veterans and people throwing out candy to the kids. There a flags everywhere and backyard barbecues. And of course, the day always closes of with huge fireworks displays. I haven't been in the States for a 4th of July in four years so it's nice to celebrate with the hometown crowd again! Here's some pics and video to give you a little taste of the festivities...
Food trucks at the town celebration
The 2nd Regiment Band playing some patriotic tunes and pop hits
This past weekend my church hosted their annual One Day youth camp. We had over 100 youth in attendance, plus many church members and young adults volunteering to help pull it off. I was helping out as part of the worship team. The theme for the day was HE>i (that is, "He is greater than I") and the main sessions looked at how God is greater than everything, greater than us, and greater than our mess ups. During our closing session 17 youth made decisions for Christ for the first time! Then in our worship jam session after that they sang so loud that the band couldn't even hear what we were playing in the monitors. 😂Check it out...
Each year at NETS we take a week out of our lecture schedule to send our students out on mission trips in various places around the country. Our purpose is two-fold: to reach out to our own population with the gospel of Jesus, and to help our students gain valuable practical ministry experience. This year we sent out four teams to Keetmanshoop, Rundu, Queen Sofia, and my team went to Swakopmund.
In Swakop we partnered with various local churches as well as just sharing the gospel with whoever we met on the street. Some of our students led Family Life workshops at two different churches, encouraging family members to treat each other with love. We met with various local pastors to both encourage them and share with them about NETS, but also to ask questions and learn from their years of experience. And on Sunday morning we participated in an ecumenical worship service including multiple churches from around the community.
"Missing the Mark" game at Youth Night
On Friday night our students organized a Youth Outreach Night and encouraged youth from various local churches to invite their friends. The evening was organized around the "wordless book" colors with a different activity focusing on each color: gold reminding us of heaven and a perfect relationship with God; black indicating sin; red pointing us to the blood of Christ; white teaching us of forgiveness and cleansing from sin; and green encouraging us to grow in our relationship with God. By the end of the night the youth had heard the whole message of the gospel!
Each day we also split up into teams of 3 to walk around the town or the beach and share the good news with whoever we came across. We would play games with children then share with them using a "wordless bracelet." Sometimes we just prayed with people. Often they were polite but disinterested, but some were open to talk. Outside the library, I was chatting with 4 young ladies who had been studying for their grade 12 exams. Their understanding of Christianity was very religious, but had little to do with their everyday lives. At one point I was encouraging them to wait for a relationship with a good Christian guy, but they told me good guys don't exist and they would rather have someone to sleep with them even if he was bad, than to feel lonely. They would rather have someone to support them and a baby even if he cheated and didn't love them, than to wait for a guy they couldn't imagine existing. I was struck by their hopelessness. They would rather cling to the temporary tangible pleasures of sin, even with lasting consequences(!), because they couldn't imagine any other option.
As I stood on a street corner a uniformed police officer came walking down the sidewalk. I chuckled to myself wondering what the police would think of what we were doing. Apparently it showed on my face because he playfully asked me, "What are you smiling about? Do you have some good news?" Again, I chuckled to myself in wonder that he would phrase it that way, and responded with an even bigger smile, "I have the best news!"
And that's exactly what those four girls couldn't understand. That gospel says that all the pain and damage of this sinful world...it doesn't have to be this way! That really is the best news of all, but some people just aren't interested. It's like C.S. Lewis said, that we would rather go on making mud pies in the slums because we can't imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
Overall it was a great trip, not only for practical ministry experience for our students, but also as a stark reminder to me of exactly why I am here, because there are young people all across Namibia who are living and dying without hearing the true gospel.
The morning started early on what I knew would be a long day. I stopped by the supermarket on the way to the venue to pick up some donuts for the team. Mine was the first car in the parking lot, but it turns out a few others had beaten me there and were already sweeping and wiping the dust from the chairs in the main hall. Other helpers started floating in and we gathered to pray before things got crazy. For months our small group had been planning and looking forward to hosting a conference on spiritual maturity for the young adults of Windhoek and now the day had finally arrived!
Registration started slow and we were wondering if we'd set our hopes too high. But by the end of the day we had over 120 people come, and perhaps more impressively, 29 different churches were represented!
We all gathered in the main hall to start the day with a welcome, introduction and worshipping together. Likewise, members of the worship band were from 4 different churches. In a nation where denominationalism is so divisive, it was important to us that the team on stage would represent the unity in diversity that we so value. They did a great job leading us in worship, each contributing a bit of their own style. I know some of the attendees were a bit stretched experiencing the music style of different worship leaders!
Our culture has a bit of a love affair with youth. From the 'fountain of youth' to anti-aging cream, etc., the idealism and, frankly, idolatry of youth has given growing up a bad reputation. Or to put it another way, it's given maturity a bad reputation. Yet biblical authors consistently exhort their readers not to stay in the immaturity of childhood, but to grow up in maturity (e.g., Col. 1:28; Eph 4:13; Heb. 6:1)! So in our opening session I gave an exhortation to press on to spiritual maturity. We cast a vision for what spiritual maturity could look like, thinking the way that God thinks, desiring the things that God desires. You can listen to the message here.
Immediately afterward we broke up into small groups to discuss what people took away from the message and how they could apply it to their lives. My favorite part about these discussion groups was that the leaders of those groups were members of the young adult small group that I help lead on Sunday nights. Thus what they experience on Sunday nights, now they were putting into practice themselves in these little discussion groups. And the feedback from all of them was how encouraging and confidence-building it was! Some of the attendees also commented how this was one of their favorite parts of the conference.
Small group discussion
One-on-one prayer time
Following discussion groups we had some fantastic food prepared by other members of our small group. I think some of the attendees may have just come because they heard there would be free food!
Long line for food at meal time.
Serving lunch
Hanging out after lunch
After lunch we had two workshop slots where attendees could choose which topics to hear. These workshops were mostly focused outward, beyond ourselves. Immaturity is self-centered, but maturity looks outward to others. One workshop focused on missions and helping young people catch a passion for mission where they are, but also among the still many unreached people groups around the globe. Another focused on how to use your particular gifts and passions to start a ministry and reach others with the gospel. Another focused on understanding Islam and how to engage your Muslim friends with the gospel. But by far the most popular workshop was the one about maximizing your singleness for God's glory! I'm not entirely sure if attendees wanted to learn about seeking God's glory, or about who else in the group was single. ;)
"Using Your Gifts for Ministry: A Tale of Two Gamers"
"Mission is on God's Mind. And Yours?"
Another highlight of the day was the Panel Discussion with all the speakers of the day. Attendees had written down questions which were then posed to the panel to hear their thoughts. There were many insightful questions regarding topics of the day like singleness and marriage, dealing with lust, pursuing spiritual maturity, and more. One of the highlight quotes regarding singleness and dating was, "Don't start cooking until you're ready to eat!" But perhaps the greatest applause and cheers came when one workshop speaker mentioned that his wife was the one who proposed to him!
After another round of small groups and dinner, we closed off the day with a last main session. The worship team again led us well in worship. Then our final talk considered the idea that 'adulting is hard.' Pressing on to spiritual maturity is hard because Jesus asks some really hard things of us. Putting fleshly desires to death is hard. Loving God more than we love the things of this world is hard. Yet it's worth it because, like the saints in Hebrews 11, we're not home yet. We're still looking forward to our reward. You can listen to this message here.
Overall it was a fantastic day where young people experienced diverse Christian community and were challenged to continue their spiritual growth. We got lots of great feedback about the day, including descriptions like "life-changing" and "in season." Most people were even asking when the next one will be! Clearly we found a niche where God's Word is desired. Please pray for us as we continue to make ourselves available to help meet that need.
Wedding bells are in the air! No, not mine. 😉 August has been a big wedding month here with weddings almost every weekend, including 3 seminary students and a couple from my church small group. I love how every culture has their own unique wedding celebrations and traditions. For example, at a village wedding no invitations are needed; everyone is invited. Guests come to the homestead and camp out for a whole weekend. They slaughter some cows or goats to feed everyone. In some traditions the bride has been in hiding for a whole week. In others, the groom has to crawl on hands and knees to get his bride from her family.
Wambo weddings are just 'a bit' louder than a typical Western wedding. When these friends in my church small group got married, after the familiar church ceremony many of the Owambo guests and family broke into some spontaneous traditional songs. Click on the video below to watch a short clip!
At a Herero village wedding the groom's party stays at their own campsite away from the bride's family's house. The weekend is filled with different events like the bridal parade and slaughtering the cow. The final event on the last morning is when the groom's party walks over to the bride's family's house to get "their" wife (They are a more communal culture rather than individualistic, so the bride is becoming part of the family.). They go into the house for some final marriage advice, then emerge with the bride. She remains covered and the couple surrounded while they make their way to the vehicle to return to the groom's camp (along with her wedding gifts and luggage in another truck). Everything is done very slowly with their heads down to mimic cattle. The ladies traditional dresses and headgear are also picturing cattle. Check out some clips in the video below.
Christian weddings not only provide a tangible picture of Christ's love for His people (according to Eph. 5:25-27), but they also provide an opportunity for non-believing friends and family to experience Christian community. For example, guests at a village wedding camp out together, eat together, celebrate together...non-Christians rubbing shoulders with and having late night conversations around the fire with Christians. When outsiders experience loving Christian community it doesn't make sense other than lives transformed by Christ. "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35). One of the young adults in my church small group recognized this. When asked how he would apply the Great Commission in his life, he said, "I want unsaved family members to see Christ's love in me and my friends at the weddings I will attend this month."
The months of December and January mark our summer break here in Namibia. So the first week of December, right after schools let out, Youth For Christ (YFC) runs their annual youth summer camp. This year we had about 480 youth and leaders from every corner of Namibia, from Oshakati to Oranjemund!
This is the third year I've been involved. I was busy hosting the Bible Quiz (almost like a Bible trivia game show), playing guitar for the worship team, and making daily videos to play before our evening sessions. This year was also special for me because we had 3 former NETS students as speakers at the camp, and another one came as a leader with her youth group. Check out the video above to get a little taste of the experience!
Every year my church hosts a one day youth conference called, creatively enough, One Day. This year the theme was "Whatever" from Philippians 4:8. We had different sessions throughout the day with speakers sharing on what it means to think about what is true, honorable, right, pure, etc. Then there were small groups for the youth to discuss what they'd been learning. And as with any big youth event there was plenty of food and, of course, t-shirts.
This year I was helping out on the worship team. Each session opened with some worship music, and then our last session in the evening was all music with a short invitation for those who wanted to make decisions to follow Jesus. Overall the day was a huge success with 165 people there altogether, and 8 young people making first-time decisions to follow Jesus!
I snuck a little video from on stage during our last worship set. Check it out!
The Namibia Broadcasting Company (NBC) recently ran this clip from the graduation ceremony at Evaristus Shikongo Correctional Facility. There were 6 graduates who had completed our distance program during their incarceration. They each received a Certificate in Christian Leadership, which is our foundational correspondence course.
My parents used to tell me that ever since I was a little kid I've always been enamored with lights. Well, true to form, this holiday season I hit up three different tree lightings! And another thing I love is the music! Even though it's not socially acceptable, I confess I've been listening to Christmas music since after Halloween. ;) So here's a little video of my fun, festive holiday season filled with lights and lots of Christmas music. I hope it helps everybody get in the holiday spirit! Merry Christmas!!
Each year we divide up our student body into mission teams and send them out to different places in Namibia to share God's love and the truth of the gospel. At our last Devotions for the first semester we gave them a little sneak peak of what's to come . . .
Drawing a picture of what
spiritual maturity looks like
Christianity in Namibia has often been called "a mile wide and an inch deep." That's why, when asked to facilitate the Campus Crusade for Christ staff retreat, I chose the topic of developing the inner spiritual life. They sounded about as excited to hear about the topic as I was to share it! Not only that, but they always say the teacher learns more than the student. I must say I have greatly benefited from my reading and study in preparation for facilitating this topic.
In our first session together we looked at our goal for spirituality. What does spiritual maturity look like? We often get the idea that it's external things, like how well we dress for church or how much money we give. But spiritual maturity cannot be defined by external criteria. So we looked at inner spiritual maturity through three different lenses:
1) Spiritual maturity is becoming the kind of person who lives out a spiritual life.
2) Spiritual maturity is learning to want what God wants.
3) Spiritual maturity is thinking God's thoughts after Him.
We spent our second session diagnosing our spiritual lives with questions that reached to our inner lives and not just the surface stuff. So we didn't ask things like, "Do you read the Bible?" But rather we asked, "Do you love the Bible and allow it to have authority over your life?" These kinds of questions reach to our inner spiritual lives.
Then we looked at some hindrances to spiritual formation, or ways that we sabotage our own spiritual development. We discussed how things like Christian education, spiritual busyness, unconfessed sin, and self-deception can all hinder us from growing toward spiritual maturity.
Communion service at sunset on the dunes
Then lastly we looked at how developing the inner spiritual life takes self-discipline. We have to become masters of our sinful flesh instead of allowing it to master us. Throughout the history of the Church people have used practices called spiritual disciplines to help develop their inner spiritual lives. The disciplines aren't anything magic in themselves, but they help put us in a position to receive God's transforming grace. God is the one who does the work, but it takes discipline to allow Him the time and space to shape our inner lives.
This is easily one of my favorite topics to talk about, especially here where religion largely stops at the external. I think this is an aspect of discipleship that has generally been left in the Middle Ages. We mostly focus on the external, not the internal. But when we recognize that our external lives are simply an overflow of our inner lives, it places a greater value on developing the inner spiritual life. As we shape our inner spiritual lives by pressing deeply into the depths of God, only then can we live out of those depths in our external lives.
Learning football on the beach
But besides our main sessions, we also had a lot of fun! On the first night I taught them a new card game, Up and Down the River, and they were so hooked that we played it every night! Also, using a mini-rugby ball, I taught them American football on the beach. It took a few times of explaining the rules, but they picked it up pretty quickly. Overall it was a really nice time and great getting to know the team that ministers to our nation's university students.
They must've seen "the huddle" in a football movie somewhere.
After multiple short-term trips to Namibia, God has called me to return long-term to teach the Bible to the next generation of Namibian pastors and youth workers. Through this blog you can share in my journey and be a part of what God is doing in Namibia. Read more...
Namibia is a country of about 3 million people located along the Atlantic Ocean of south western Africa. It is ranked 5th in the world in HIV/AIDS prevalency, an epidemic that has decimated the working-age population and created a generation of orphans. While 89% of the population claim Christianity, rampant vices like immorality, abuse, and alcoholism reveal that it is religion in title only. The true gospel which frees from the bondage to sin is the only solution. Read more...
