Despite the travel stresses and challenges I wrote about in the last blog entry, God did a great work through training in His Word both in Mali and Egypt during my most recent trip. In Mali, 13 church planters are proceeding through a seven-month training program following which they will head to unreached parts of Mali to plant churches. The training I offered them was on the front end of that training program with Tyrannus Bible School. The advantage of this is that they will be able to practice good Bible study skills throughout the rest of their program and on into their ministry.

It seemed to me that the class struggled some with grasping the concepts I was teaching them, but I think two factors were at work. One was the stifling heat – up to 104 degrees F during the day, and power was out most of the day, so we just baked in the classroom. The other factor I learned at the end of the training – they used a new translator, and according to the coordinator she was not very good, so there was much lost in translation, both in the workshop notes and verbally. However, at the end of the training, Emmanuel the coordinator did a review of all the material we covered during the week using only Bambara. The students were thoroughly engaged, responsive, and demonstrated they had learned much more than I thought they had. There were many comments at the end from students and coordinators expressing how much they had learned and were excited to use in the future.

Then in Egypt, I offered two “pre-launch conferences” to groups of pastors and preachers, one in Cairo and one four hours south of Cairo in Al-Minya. Both groups appreciated the material we covered, and were excited to launch networks in both locations (although we will probably choose just one location initially.) The Cairo group had more highly educated pastors, so the discussions had a different feel as they wrestled with passages and principles in a different way. In both cases, financial assistance was a keen point of interest and discussion as the Egyptian pound has weakened significantly as compared to the USD. It will be necessary to walk this road carefully to set up healthy patterns for the future.

I was invited to preach in two different churches, one in the morning and the other in the evening, in Al Minya.

Here is a 30 second “sound byte” of worship in Egypt.

One interesting element to the time in Al Minya was that we stayed at a church facility right next to the Nile River. I wanted to go out and walk along the river, but the local police were stationed at the doorway to the church to keep watch over me, and every time I wanted to go outside, I needed to answer an array of questions, get supervisor permission, they followed me wherever I went, and limited the amount of time I was away. All this was apparently for my protection, although it felt a bit like house arrest.

It was a good and productive trip, but I was very relieved to return home and process all that had happened. God is at work all over the world, and I appreciate your prayers and partnership so we can be involved in what He is doing.