School in Session

Lockdown restrictions in Namibia have been lifted enough to allow NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary) to return to face-to-face classes. Naturally, we must follow all the now-typical precautionary measures like registers, temperature taking, and sanitizer upon entrance, distancing of 1 meter, and wearing mandatory face masks (though apparently that doesn't apply when taking a group photo! 😂). Our class sizes are generally small anyway, so we are able to accommodate.

Thanks to our large hall we are able to gather for Chapel once a week. We play videos of worship songs but forego actual singing. This semester lecturers will be preaching through a series called "Stories Your Momma Never Told You," consisting of strange, obscure passages throughout the OT that we rarely hear messages on. Some of these texts include cultural practices that seem very strange to us today, and thus take hard exegetical work to understand. This was illustrated as one lecturer made a piñata of a treasure chest, which students beat until the candy "treasure" came out. Similarly, we sometimes have to do hard exegetical work to figure out the treasure of a passage.

Covid-19 Update

Across Namibia, our number of Covid cases had been fairly limited into June, so the lockdown restrictions were being slowly lifted. However, a few truck drivers escaped from quarantine and took the virus back to their homes in Walvis Bay. Since then, our numbers in that coastal town have skyrocketed. The government instituted a quarantine line around 3 coastal cities that allowed travel between those towns but not into or out of that zone except for emergencies.

To date we are up to a total of 1,775 cases with 8 deaths (see live numbers here). Most of those cases are in Walvis Bay, however, lately cases have been showing up around the country from people who have traveled from there. It appears only a matter of time before the outbreak hits Windhoek as well.

Our economy is seriously struggling. Hundreds of small businesses have closed and even more jobs have been lost. The government is trying to find that line between "preserving life and also livelihood," thus avoiding another total lockdown is a priority.

Winter Vacation

June-July marks the mid-year winter break for university students in Namibia. It also marks Namibia's prime tourist season. However, the closing of international borders since mid-March due to the Covid pandemic has been devastating to our tourist industry. So joining a few friends for a short tour to the south helped hit two birds with one stone: get some rest and relaxation during our break, and also help support the struggling tourist industry.

Our first stop was the small farming town of Stampriet on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. This town has rich water resevoirs not far under the ground if you can drill through the hard granite. It now provides fresh produce to stores and lodges across the country.

Our next stop was the Quiver Tree Forest and Giant's Playground just outside of Keetmanshoop. I had never visited these sites before and it was well worth the short detour. Apparently, this farm also has a few tame cheetahs(!) but they were MIA during our visit. 😢

Quiver Tree Forest

A dusky sunbird enjoying nectar from quiver tree flowers

Giant's Playground.
It looks like mounds of large boulders stacked on top of each other,
but really small cracks in the rocks have expanded into larger creases
that gives them this unique look.

After that, we continued west to the coastal town of Luderitz, where we visited one of my favorite places in Namibia: Kolmanskop. It is an old, abandoned mining town that has been taken over by the desert. In addition to the solitude, history, and vitage appeal, it is also a photographer's paradise!

On our way back home we passed by the wild desert horses near Aus, and stopped by the Fish River Canyon, the largest canyon in Africa and (by some measurements) second largest in the world.

Everywhere we went we were the only people around. One restaurant had had only one other customer that whole day. For one roadside stall, we were the first customer's they had see in two weeks. Needless to say, they were all very thankful for a few local tourists coming to help support their business. And we were glad to have the entire tourism industry catering just for us.

Exodus Curriculum

Last year I started meeting together with a small group of people who have been lifelong church-goers, but have never done any in-depth study of the Bible. Like many who rely on topical sermons once a week, and those usually from the New Testament, they lacked an understanding of the over-arching story of the whole Bible. So we decided to start at the beginning and see where it would take us. After completing the book of Genesis last year, we continued into Exodus this year.

My dual goals are to teach the Biblical meta-narrative, but also to use the Old Testament stories to lay a foundation of theological concepts. These lessons are meant to be discussion-based, thus the guides simply draw out some observations to help direct the conversation. I provide these lesson guides here for you to use in your own context if you find them helpful!

Exodus Curriculum

Exo 1 – The Great Nation Oppressed
Exo 2 – The Birth of a Deliverer
Exo 3-4 – Moses’ Call
Exo 5:1-6:13 – Confronting Pharaoh
Exo 7-10 – The First Nine Plagues
Ten Plagues Handout
Exo 11-12 – Passover
Exo 13:17-14:31 – Deliverance at the Red Sea
Exodus Handout
Exo 16:1-17:7 – Provision in the Wilderness
Exo 19 – Israel at Mt Sinai
Exo 20:1-11 – The Ten Commandments, Pt1
Exo 20:12-17 – The Ten Commandments, Pt2
The Christian and the Law
Exo 23:20-24:18 – Covenant Confirmation Ceremony
Exo 25-31 – The Tabernacle
Tabernacle Handout
Exo 32-34 – The Golden Calf Incident
Appendix A: Pharaoh's Hard Heart

Genesis Curriculum

Last year I started meeting together with a small group of people who have been lifelong church-goers, but have never done any in-depth study of the Bible. Like many who rely on topical sermons once a week, and those usually from the New Testament, they lacked an understanding of the over-arching story of the whole Bible. So we decided to start at the beginning and see where it would take us. As such, I ended up with a 26-week series through the book of Genesis.

My dual goals are to teach the Biblical meta-narrative, but also to use the Old Testament stories to lay a foundation of theological concepts. These lessons are meant to be discussion-based, thus the guides simply draw out some observations to help direct the conversation. I provide these lesson guides here for you to use in your own context if you find them helpful!

Genesis Curriculum
Gen 1 – God the Creator
Gen 2 – The First Marriage
Gen 3 – The Fall
Gen 4-5 – The Reign of Sin
Gen 6-9 – The Flood
Gen 11:1-9 – The Tower of Babel
Gen 11:27-12:9 – The Call of Abram
Abraham Handout 1
Gen 13-14 – Abram and Lot
Abraham Handout 2
Gen 15 – Abram, Father of the Faithful
Gen 16 – Hagar and Ishmael
Gen 17 – The Sign of Circumcision
Gen 18-19 – God the Just Judge
Gen 21-22 – God the Provider
Gen 24:1-25:11 – Finding a Faithful Wife
Gen 25:19-26:5 – Esau and Jacob
Gen 27:1-28:5 – Jacob Steals the Blessing
Gen 28:10-30:24 – Jacob’s Family
Gen 30:25-31:18 – God Blesses Jacob
Gen 32-33 – Jacob returns to Canaan
Gen 37 – Joseph Sold into Slavery
Gen 39 – Joseph in Potiphar’s House
Gen 40-41 – Joseph Rises to Power
Gen 42-45 – Joseph Tests His Brothers
Gen 46:1-47:12 – Jacob Goes to Egypt
Gen 47:27-49:28 – Jacob Blesses His Sons
Gen 49:29-50:26 – God the Sovereign Lord

Life in Lockdown

Like most of the world, Namibia has also extended our lockdown for another two weeks. Worldwide we've surpassed 2.5 million confirmed cases, but we've been sitting steady at only 16. Although, that is confirmed cases. There are reports of more people showing symptoms but who haven't been tested because they don't want to admit that it's spreading.

So for now, life will continue in relative isolation. For me that means being home alone, only going out shopping every week or so for perishable items. Getting most items has not been a problem, and if you shop early enough you don't have to wait in line to get in the stores.

Preaching has taken on a new level of production.

Ministry has not stopped, it has just adapted. Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS) has switched to remote learning, so I'm busy converting all my lecture notes into readings and videos. This has been a challenge considering Youth Ministry is such a practical subject! Church has been live streaming, so I've been involved in video preaching and video worship leading. Discipleship groups have tapped into Zoom video conferencing so we can continue 'meeting' without leaving home. Changing life situations don't change the Great Commission. They simply force the Church to be innovative and creative in adapting its strategies.

D-group meeting over Zoom

I am slightly annoyed by how people keep referring to this as a "new normal". To me that phrase involves a sense of permanence, like after a loved one has died. This is just a temporary normal. There are temporary restrictions put in place out of necessity for the current situation. And sure, it's been going on long enough that most of us have our lockdown routine by now. But this too shall pass. Lockdowns will end. Borders will open. Things will go back to the way they were.

But I hope we don't go back to the way we were. I hope we will have learned something from this time that does shape our new normal. I hope we walk away from this much more thankful for the good gifts God has given us. Much more appreciative of the people God has placed in our lives. Much more gracious to those who struggle with loneliness and depression. Much more generous to those who don't have the means to stock-up or survive an extended work outage. I hope this time doesn't shrivel you up on the inside, but use it to become MORE!

Two Ways to Live

My church has been doing a sermon series through the book of James on some of the practicalities of being a Christians. I got to preach on the first section of chapter 4. There James is confronting his readers about how much they've been influenced by the thinking and the desires of the world around them. Unfortunately, that same indictment can be made of the church today. But friendship with the world makes us enemies of God. Fortunately, James gives us some practical tips to stop being influenced by the world and start being friends with God. You can listen to the message here if you like.