Last Day of School

This past week has been final exam week at NETS, but yesterday marked the last day of school for our first semester. Some students still had one or two last assignments to finish, but most were taking a huge sigh of relief after exiting from that last final exam. I remember those days. It's like a huge weight lifted off your shoulders...at least for the vacation until second semester starts!

Final braai to celebrate the end of the semester

After the last exam, we closed the day off with a final Community Devotions where I led in some worship songs, we celebrated the ministry of a missionary couple who will be leaving, looked forward to next semester, and heard a word from Romans 12 about loving our enemies. Then the grand conclusion that everyone was looking forward to, the final braai (cookout) to celebrate! It was a nice time to enjoy each others company one last time and celebrate their accomplishments over some boerewors (sausage-ish) and brotchens (rolls).

Students enjoying their boerewors and brotchens

Now students will all go their separate ways for the next six weeks. Many will return to their home towns throughout the country where they will have great opportunities to minister to their families and home churches. You can be praying for their safe travel and fruitful ministry opportunities. And hopefully it will be a restful time so they can return next semester refreshed and ready to learn!

Photo of the Day

This yellow mongoose browses through our garden almost daily. She checks around all the rocks

and even in a small opening under my cement patio to keep us free from snakes!

Pastor's Book Set Conference

Pastor Conrad Mbewe speaking on the gospel

A few years ago SIM organized a Pastor's Book Set Conference to resource pastors with quality study books like commentaries, Bible introductions & dictionaries, and study Bibles. This year they organized a follow up conference to equip pastors with resources applying the gospel to cultural issues of the day. Pastor Conrad Mbewe came from Zambia to talk about how the gospel relates to issues like the "Deliverance Movement" and marriage/divorce. Pastor Doug Van Meter came up from South Africa to speak on the gospel and racism. Voddie Baucham was suppose to come speak on the gospel and gender issues, but he came down sick and couldn't make it. So instead NETS' own Basilius Kasera applied the gospel to the issue of homosexuality.

Conference attendees collecting their books

In addition to great teaching, conference attendees also received 21 books related to the topics discussed. Among those books were Bloodlines by John Piper related to the topic of racism, Is God Anti-Gay by Sam Allberry, and Answers for Your Marriage by Bruce & Carol Britten. There were books on other current issues like Closing the Window by Tim Chester regarding pornography, A Christian's Response to Islam by William Miller, and Your Money Counts by Howard Dayton. And also, to build up the pastor's personal spiritual lives, there were some more devotional books like My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

Some NETS students leading worship for the conference

Pastor Doug Van Meter speaking to a full house

A NETS alumni now serving as a pastor near Rundu
is excited about receiving his set of books

The Gospel

Over the long holiday weekend (last Thursday was Cassinga Day in Namibia) I was invited to join the Campus Crusade for Christ staff to teach at their annual staff retreat. I was given seven session over 4 days (Thurs night to Sun morning) to teach on the topic of "The Gospel." It’s simultaneously a topic simple enough for children to understand, yet deep enough for theologians throughout history to have written countless volumes about. My goal was to land somewhere in the middle.

We started in our first session by casting a vision for full life with God. We compared Genesis 1-2 with Revelation 21-22. It's always good to start with a grand vision of what could be! But that's not the world we find ourselves living in today. The reason for that is the "mutiny" found in Genesis 3. In our second session we looked at the true nature of sin and the effects of the Fall. To make sure we grasped what a big deal sin really is we looked at God's holiness and the death of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6. This raises a "dilemma" of sorts: How can God be just and have a relationship with sinners?

The answer is that God provides a substitute to take the punishment for sin on their behalf. In the Old Testament that looked like animal sacrifices, but those only pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ. The scandal of grace is that God now invites sinners into relationship with Himself. We looked at Luke 7:36-50 and the contrast between Simon the Pharisee and the immoral woman. While Simon proudly clung to his self-righteousness, the woman helplessly flung herself on the mercy of Jesus. That needs to be our posture as well.

In our last two sessions we discussed the common distortions of the gospel of grace: lawlessness and legalism. One could easily say, "If I'm saved by grace, then now I can live however I want." But like the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, a life saved by God's grace will be transformed by His grace. Or one could argue, "I've been saved by grace, but now I will grow in maturity by my own effort." But the whole point of the gospel is that we can't clean ourselves up. Philip Yancey writes, “Proof of spiritual maturity is not in how ‘pure’ you are but awareness of your impurity.” Christian maturity is everyday recognizing our need for the gospel and helplessly throwing ourselves at the feet of His grace and mercy.

Clearly someone thinks I'm at the wrong retreat!

Who says dodgeball is a kid's game?

Introducing them to Code Names at game night

Acting out the Fall from Genesis 3

Acting out the Day of Atonement from Leviticus 16 -
one goat for the sacrifice, the other for the scapegoat

NETS Graduation

NETS graduates, faculty and staff

Congratulations to all our graduates at NETS! We had nine students graduating from the Distance program (green robes). Another nine students graduated from our 1 year Certificate in Theology course, seven of whom are continuing on in the Diploma program. There was one graduate from the 2 year Diploma in Theology course. He is currently leading his church's youth programs and may consider further studies in the future. Three graduates completed their Bachelors Degree in Theology. One is already serving as a full-time pastor and the other two are pursuing ordination with their denomination. We also had our first ever graduate with an Honors Degree (one year beyond the Bachelors), who is also already serving in pastoral ministry. We're excited to send them out and see how God's going to use them all in future ministry!

Anticipation

NETS choir performing

Congrats to Ephriam, winner of the Timothy award for godliness & leadership.

Dewi, one of the students I'm mentoring, receiving his Certificate

Prayer of dedication for our graduates

Our Diploma (light green hood), Bachelors (purple hoods),
and Honors (purple & red hood) graduates.

Joy In Suffering

The Bible is overwhelmingly consistent in it's message that mature Christians respond to suffering with joy. But normally, suffering is what prevents us from having joy! So what is it that mature Christians understand that lead them to find joy in suffering? That's the question I addressed in this morning's sermon. You can download it here or listen below if you'd like.

NETS on TV!

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.