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.

Rundu Pastor's Conference

Driving north to Rundu, once you pass through the veterinary road block you realize you've entered a different world. Living in Windhoek it's easy to get wrapped up in the urban lifestyle of the concrete jungle and forget that rural areas even exists. Driving in the north it's inescapable. The roads are lined with village huts and you must be on the look out for goats or cows or donkeys crossing the road. Easy-going villagers are gathering under a central tree for shade and conversation, while others are carrying their large water jugs to the nearest tap. It's training youth workers in this foreign culture where my next challenge would lie.

This past weekend was the Pastor's Conference for the Evangelical Bible Church (EBC) denomination based in Rundu. On one of the days the youth leaders were also invited to have a separate session with me. I started as I usually do, with lots of questions. I had much to learn about youth ministry in this environment before I had anything to share. In their context, "youth" begins as a teenager and lasts as long as you're single, even up to 40 years old. Their weekly meetings are little more than choir practice as they prepare songs for Sunday morning and the annual choir competition. There's an immense generational gap between these youth who are fluent with technology and the internet and the elder generations who are the church leaders. So as you can imagine, youth ministry in this culture has its own unique challenges.

I split them into small groups to discuss the question, "What is your goal for a youth in your church?" Many of them said qualities like leadership skills, knowledge of the Bible, committed, etc. I then asked, "How many of those things could be true of your youth without them even being a Christian?" I find that everyone has great aspirations for their young people, but often we overlook the foundational ingredient: we want them to have a relationship with Jesus! Christian youth ministry is primarily about discipling young people. Other organizations can offer leadership training or entrepreneurial skills or public speaking courses. But we offer one thing that no one else offers: Jesus. And He's the most important thing we can give them!

The youth leaders seemed very encouraged by our conversation and determined to invite me back again. I love working with the youth because they have a great energy and potential, and I hope to help unleash that so it doesn't get stifled.

Main session at the EBC Pastor's Conference in Rundu

Youth leaders discussing in small groups

Making lunch of pap and fish

Breaded fish for lunch

Kavango River, border between Namibia (left) and Angola (right)

Back in the Habit

Today we are officially one quarter of the way through the first semester of the 2017 academic year at Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). Students are excitedly learning and I often see them in the library busy about their assignments. This is the point in the semester where students are still optimistic about keeping on top of their school work and not feeling too overwhelmed. Though as the weeks wear on, I know that will inevitably catch up with them. :)

My preaching class has been fun so far. They are a very interactive group of 17 second and third year students. So far we've been focusing on having only one big idea and how to find the big idea of a passage of Scripture. In the coming weeks we'll work through that process together using specific passages they'll be preaching on.

Yesterday was class picture day, so let me introduce you to our sharply-dressed student body:

NETS 1st year class

NETS 2nd year class

NETS 3rd year class

NETS 4th year class

The whole NETS community, students and staff