Saturday had been an awesome, yet tiring day. We went to bed late and awoke in the middle of the night to an incredible thunderstorm. For a few moments i am sure we heard hail hitting the building, and i wondered if we were in the middle of a tornado…..but i’m not even sure they have them in Ghana. Sunday morning we were able to sleep in and then it was off to worship with our brothers and sisters at Central Baptist Church (where Barnabas is Pastor).
Something very funny happened before we left though. A lady who we had befriended at the lodge spent Saturday night making me a very special African shirt that i could wear to worship the next day. She thought it would be a special treat for the church to see me preaching in some more traditional African garb. It was very nice, but what was so funny was that Barnabas arrived to pick us up in a long sleeve shirt and tie. As we arrived at the church i felt like i was in the middle of “opposite day” where he dressed like us and we dressed like them. It gave us a good laugh and got the day off to a very good start.
We were welcomed by the church with open arms. They have several Sunday School classes that meet in seperate corners of the Sanctuary each week. We attended the “English speaking class” taught by Mohammed. Mohammed is a wonderful teacher and taught a lesson on the meaning of love. We had wonderful discussion and i was very impressed at how knowledgeble of scripture Mohammed was and even more impressed at how he listened and had a heart for what people were saying.
Worship began with an awesome time of praise and worship. As they worship, they incorporate many of their tribal dances in the time of praise and before long, the whole congregation was forming what looked like a conga line throughout the sanctuary…..but i promised myself years ago that my next dance would be at my daughters wedding….and i kept to it. I am pretty sure the rest of our team wanted to get out there…..but had a case of cold feet. As different as it was, it was still very worshipful and watching the faces of the people you could see that what they were doing was a sincere form of praising God. The time of praise and worship ended with the offering and then a special offering to help fund the new Women’s Resource Center that the churches have agreed to create together. They have asked every member of every church to give one extra cedi during the month of March. A cedi is the equivalent of about 70 cents to you and i, but a big sacrifice for most of these people.
When it was time for the message i shared the story of Mary visiting the empty tomb and Jesus standing behind her calling her name. In her grief she didn’t even consider it was him….but when he called her by name she knew her savior was alive. I challenged the members of Central Baptist Church to listen to the voice of God calling their name. He would give them comfort, strength, and direction in both times of joy and sadness.
After worship, lunch was provided by Grace (Pastor Barnabas’s wife) and she made us some of the best spicy rice and guiney fowl chicken that we’ve ever had…..not that we’ve had that much…..but it was darn good. Then we had a very brief meeting with all the officers of the church at Central Baptist and they stressed again the need for support because all of the churches that are being started in villages are dependent on them for leadership and it is putting a strain on the church.
In the afternoon we went to the church that we started last year in the village of Kpabgu. When we left in 2010, there were about 80 people who had asked Jesus into their hearts in this village and wanted to be a part of the church. They named the church “Robinhood Baptist Church” originally, but quickly decided to rename it “Tower Of Glory” which is a great name. A year later, when we returned we found that about 45 of those were still meeting together and were growing in their faith. Now you may think that it’s bad that almost half of the people who were saved at a crusade disappeared, but i think it’s awesome that almost half have stayed strong and committed. Their pastor’s name is Benjamin Babawam and he is a 30 year old with a pastors heart and the preaching skills of a seasoned evangelist. Ben is an awesome pastor and they are in good hands. They meet in the school house for the village, a very hot, dusty room with very little lighting and a lack of proper seating spaces for adults. They are frustrated because at times they show up for worship and someone has locked the building in an effort to keep the church from meeting. When that happens, they move outside and meet under the shade of a tree….but it is a reminder that not everyone is thrilled to see people who worship Jesus in their village.
We had an awesome time, and Janet shared a word or two of encouragement and then Jessica and Tres presented the youth of the church with a gift from us, a soccer ball with a needle and air pump. They were very excited and said “we hope you return next year and when you do we would be excited to receive another ball”. It was like Christmas morning to them.
When it was time for the message i challenged them to focus on Peter’s Confession of Christ to Jesus and Jesus’ response to Peter. He basically told Peter that the Church should be progressive, aggressive, and responsible until his return. I shared with them the meaning of those words and encouraged them to continue showing their entire village the way of God and the love of His Son.
After worship they had a question and answer session where anyone was free to share anything they wanted. The people of this church spoke one after one, all making the request for us to help them build their own church house. The cost of a building for them would be approximately $1,000 american dollars, but as i have mentioned before that’s like a million to you and I. They stated that it is discouraging to show up for worship and to have someone lock them out. It is also discouraging when they invite people to come worship with them and then have to share that they don’t have their own place to meet. They shared with us they were praying daily that God would bless them with a buiding that would become a center of light fot the village. I made no promises, but told them that my prayer would be that i could return next year and preach to them in their new building. They erupted in cheers and shed tears. Somehow, someway, i very much feel like the people of RRBC and Christians we have relationships with need to make sure these people’s prayers are answered. If anybody out there would like to bless a group of people almost beyond what words could describe…..i’d be happy to get your donation to them.
We ended the day by going by and visiting with the chief of the Kpabgu village, and he quickly reminded me that i took a picture of him last year but never sent it to him. He told me he is still waiting and he already has a spot on his wall to place it. He also thanked us for what we are doing for the church and said that the church was a good thing for the village. He asked us to pray for him and we prayed that God would give him health and wisdom as he led the village. With that, we left and ended a very successful day.
