The Reason(s) We Came?
Our team assembled in the states, and prepared (as best we could) to lead a Youth Conference.
But the REASON we came is much larger than lectures, sessions, preaching, & teaching.
Andrew (Creator is Love) Mark (Zacchaeus)
Phil (Circle/Square/Triangle)
- Yep... we did a lot of Teaching/Preaching/Discipleship Making... Every Day of the Conference we crashed back at our banda (hut) exhausted by a full day of articulating the gospel.
It is very wearisome to Speak for hours on end.
Our sessions would average around an hour and a half (broke up with worship).
Four or more sessions a day became intense. As speakers we were amazed at the attention span of the youth. We never felt like we had to entertain, or work for their attention,
rather, it was willingly volunteered. They genuinely wanted to hear what we had to say.
Straining through multiple translators, (aprox. 5 language groups represented at the conference), Remaining focused during technical difficulties, rain storms on a tin roof, and the occasional booming announcements from the street below
(Sports Betting Bar & More - located across from the church).
Amazing resilience from the students. There was a projected 200 youth,
and we ended up hosting around 350 on sight.
If we were to include the other ministries like Hope Alive & Sisters of Hope that took place during the week then nearly 400 people were touched by the various ministries.
However, our reason for coming - was more than Teaching & Preaching
It is very wearisome to Speak for hours on end.
Our sessions would average around an hour and a half (broke up with worship).
Four or more sessions a day became intense. As speakers we were amazed at the attention span of the youth. We never felt like we had to entertain, or work for their attention,
rather, it was willingly volunteered. They genuinely wanted to hear what we had to say.
Straining through multiple translators, (aprox. 5 language groups represented at the conference), Remaining focused during technical difficulties, rain storms on a tin roof, and the occasional booming announcements from the street below
(Sports Betting Bar & More - located across from the church).
Amazing resilience from the students. There was a projected 200 youth,
and we ended up hosting around 350 on sight.
If we were to include the other ministries like Hope Alive & Sisters of Hope that took place during the week then nearly 400 people were touched by the various ministries.
However, our reason for coming - was more than Teaching & Preaching
-Yep... we shared Worship Together... amazed at the volume, animation, dexterity, and rhythm.
Teams from many different regions and tribes of Uganda and beyond.
They blessed us with a style of worship that I have never witnessed before.
It was more than a show or concert for a night it was day after day of excessive worship
- from one tribe after another - representing their own brand/style/genre
A beautiful display of interpretative dance, soulful singing, and instrumentation...
With the exception of Tori - the rest of us looked a little out of place trying to find our groove.
Tori had the opportunity to teach some of their lead dancers a few new moves,
and she impacted the entire campus with her own vocals,
when we were called on to lead a couple songs of worship.
Anna, turned the heads of many as she tickled the keys on the piano.
Many of them had never seen a woman lead-instrumentally.
and so, she inspired the ladies to do likewise...
But the week was more than Worshiping Together.
-Yep... We Prayed Together... Ate Together... Played Together... Laughed & Cried Together...
we shared testimonies, stories of great loss and tragedy, stories of great gain and victories
there was a day where permission was given to ask the hard questions, to dive in our bibles,
to test the spirit of the world in which they/we live... there were religious totems to be broken...
there were relationships to be mended (both with God and Others)...
But the week was more than Praying, Eating, Playing, and Building Relationships with each other.
Our REASON(s) for traveling to Uganda were ALL THE ABOVE
To Amplify our Lord (Master) and Savior (Rescuer) - To Make Him Known
and to be Known by Him... to be encouraged and to impart courage to those who trust in Jesus.
To Disciple and Commission the next generation of followers to Go and Make more Disciples.
To expand our own relational knowledge and trust in Jesus
beyond the norm of our western christian bubbles.
I return home - transformed by the resiliency of a people who are living out "the beatitudes"
To see God at work in ways I had not imagined - continues to blow my mind,
and stirs a renewed passion to throw off the entanglements of this world.
Furthermore, our reasons are beyond the scope of hindsight...
Many of our reasons are still yet to be played out...
we may never know this side of heaven
all the reasons...
but I'm persuaded that what God has begun - He will complete and accomplish in due time.
