A Message from Steve in Uganda:
Greetings from tropical and warm Uganda. It is Saturday about noon here and I am getting a bit of time to prepare to preach at the Palm Sunday service here in Kampala. We were in a “reclaim Kampala” service last night at a very basic post, plastic and tin sheets church that is pastored by one of Kawede’s students. My part in the service was to began at 10pm and I was to preach for an hour on the “The Work of the Devil in Kampala and How to Reclaim the City”. At 10:40p our ride had still not come to pick us up. African time!! ;-)) At 12:15am, after a lot of African praise and worship, I was introduced and asked to come and speak.
Visualize almost midnight in the dark and jungle humid hills of Kampala, far from any main road. Under a tin roof resting on various thin tree poles with a few shredded plastic sheets for side “walls” attempting to block the wind or rain. Last night the air was pretty still which allowed the tiny “mozzys” (mosquitoes) to be plentiful in what was really little more than an open air structure. When the electricity went off mid way through the singing part of the service, and the two low wattage florescence bulbs used to light this entire 50×60 ft. “sanctuary” went dark, it was blacker than black. I really thought I was going to preach in the dark and ‘trust’ that anyone was still there, much less …awake.
A simple structure filled with much joy.
Some of you may remember my little LED microlights that I use and give out here in Africa…well, when it was pitch dark and the music was still being sung, I got my little LED microlight out and used it as a ’spot light’ so the people could see the music leader. It was so dark in there that the output of my little button sized LED light, almost looked like a commercial theater spot light. Now if I can figure out how to not attract the mozzys to my little spot light, I’ll have a whole new ministry opportunity over here…supply churches that don’t have electricity, or limited electricity with light for their services.
As I shared, at 12:15am, I was asked to come speak. It was very comforting to me that even though I was quite tired and a little numb from all the travel, running around getting ready to go to Sudan, walking from town in the intense heat, and the already late hour, God seemed to just let me know that everything was going to be alright. Real problems of abject poverty, much demonic activity, and a general culture of fear humble anyone that is ask to speak to these people. They experience so much more that we could ever know. But as I said, God is faithful and He chose to speak to the hearts of these people last night. We shared from Revelations about how the enemy has already been defeated, then we shared the story of Elisha and his servant who was worried about the massive Syrian army that was surrounding he and Elisha, but Elisha “saw” the vast host of horses and chariots of fire that was surrounding the Syrian army. God blessed last night…we had maybe 6 or 7 receive Christ as their new Lord and Savior and many of the Pastors and church leaders were encourage to stop being…Ugandan…and start realizing who they really are…Children with a new name…Children of God.
Back to my room at 1:45am and pretty wound up from preaching …African style (i.e. loud and animated ;-))) Thanks for your prayers, I can really feel like I am being carried through this trip. God’s provision is so special. His capabilities are so incredible, if we will just get out of the way and let HIM do what He wants to do.`
Prayer Requests
1. Steve brought a bin of supplies from the States and it never arrived. Please pray for its arrival.
2. Tim Keller’s travel is being delayed by the airlines. Please pray that scheduling and logistics will allow him meet Steve as soon as possible.
