Last Day

It's been a trying year for many. Lots of events had to move online or be cancelled altogether. Every other week we awaited an announcement from the government telling us whether or not we would return to lockdown. But today was a celebratory day because we praised God that we could finish our entire semester with face-to-face classes without a single covid case at NETS!

This past week has been final exams for students at NETS (photo above). We finished off with a celebratory final Devotions, wrapping up our sermon series on "Stories Your Momma Never Told You" (photo left). Then we had a lunch together before everyone headed off their separate ways for summer vacation. Students will have about 2 months off before returning in late-January for next year.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

At church we are going through a series about spiritual warfare called "He Will Fight For You". I was tasked with preaching on one of the most familiar stories in the whole Bible, David and Goliath. But it is also one of the most misapplied to our lives today. Understanding David’s perspective on his battle with Goliath helps transform, not just how we view his story, but also how we view the battles in our own lives today. You can check it out here.

Truth Matters

After a two month postponement due to Covid restrictions, we were finally able to hold our annual Young Adult Conference last weekend. Even still, we took precautions by having smaller groups at four different sites across Windhoek. At our location we had 42 people from 10 different churches, but across all four sites we were over 110 people! Overall it was a great time to be back together again face-to-face and to have good discussions on what God says about certain hot topics.

We chose the theme #TruthMatters to discuss what God's Word has to say about a few of the current social issues that Namibia has dealt with in the past few months. The first talk dealt with postmodern thinking that suggests all religions get us to God and you shouldn't impose your view on anyone else. The speaker (a former NETS student!) shared from John 14:6 about the exclusive claims of Christ. The second talk dealt with the issue of racism, focusing on the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10. The third talk looked at abortion and emphasized conception as an act of worship. You can check out all the presentations for yourself here.

Social distanced during worship time

Worship Team

Watching the video presentations

Small group discussion

Preparing for lunch

Gotta have the meat!

Hanging out at break time

African Communalism and Psalm 51

Did you ever realize how much your cultural biases influence your understanding of the Bible? I hadn't until I started learning about the rich diversity of other cultures. In an article published today on The Gospel Coalition Africa website, I reflect on how the African cultural value of communalism helped me better understand the last few verses of Psalm 51. Go give it a read, then come back and leave your comments!

Covid-19 Update

On March 17, Namibia received its first two cases of Covid-19 and immediately declared a State of Emergency going into lockdown. After feeling the economic pressure of the severest lockdown restrictions, the government has increasingly been trying to keep those restrictions limited. Additionally, though our total confirmed cases has eclipse 11,000, our daily average of new cases has declined. Thus it is no surprise that 6-months later, when that State of Emergency was set to expire, they decided against extending it.

Many were celebrating, calling Sept 18th an "independence day" since we were free from lockdown. Others claimed the government is simply throwing up its collective hands and saying, "Let the best immune system win." Somewhere in the middle, I believe they are trying to do their best to protect both life and livelihood, because as they said, "Poverty also kills."

We have all now settled into the routine of preventative measures such as face masks, sanitizing, contact tracing logs, and social distancing. Those measures will continue. Group size is still limited to 50 people. But the airport has reopened and is welcoming tourists. Domestic travel is unhindered. Curfew has been removed. Contact sports are allowed. So basically we have determined to coexist with the virus and move on with life.

NETS is continuing with face-to-face classes. We have not registered any positive cases on campus. Students with symptoms or close contact with a positive case are asked to stay at home and we will make special arrangements for them. Our hope is that this remains the case and we are able to finish our semester unhindered in about 6 weeks.

Covid-19 Update

Covid has officially made itself at home in Windhoek. Up to now, our epicenter in Namibia had been Walvis Bay, our major port city on the coast. The government set a quarantine zone around the coastal cities. But apparently it was not very strict and people were traveling from the coast around the country and taking the virus with them. It has now spread to every region in the country with our capital city Windhoek being our new epicenter. To date we have nearly 7,000 cases with 65 deaths (check here for up to date numbers). But more importantly, we currently have the highest rate of increase per capita of any country in Africa.

As a result, the government has fixed another quarantine zone around the cities of Windhoek, Okahandja and Rehoboth. Travel is freely allowed within that zone, but no one is allowed to travel into or out of that zone. Additionally, there is a nation-wide curfew from 8:00pm-5:00am.

Despite the steep increase, schools and universities, including NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary), are allowed to continue face-to-face instruction with health protocols in place. Class sizes at the seminary are already small. Everyone registers, sanitizes, wears facemasks, and sits at least 1.5 meters apart. The biggest adjustment we have had to make is to move evening classes earlier so everyone can be home before curfew. We are incredibly thankful that we can continue with face-to-face classes as it is clearly the better option over distance mode.

A Stingy Father-in-Law, a Loyal Prostitute, and the Gospel of Grace

This semester at NETS Chapel we are preaching through a series called "Stories Your Momma Never Told You". It will take us through a bunch of passages in the Old Testament that pastors rarely preach on. I kicked off the series preaching on the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. At first read, it seems like an odd interruption in the ongoing story of Joseph. It also includes some strange cultural practices, and often leaves the reader wondering what is this even doing here?! But it actually fits perfectly well in the overall story of God fulfilling His promises, and teaches us a valuable lesson in the exceeding riches of God’s grace. Check out the message here.