Punctuated by some extraordinary highlights, the “safari” (swahili for trip/travel) I just returned from was an overwhelming success.

I was joined by Mark and Stacey, a husband and wife from Iowa who have a heart to bless African people and love the Pathways program.

The training Mark and I offered was a recently rewritten workshop we now call The Whole Story of the Bible. The basic principle of the workshop is that any passage we are studying and preaching on fits into the “whole story” of the Bible, thus understanding the whole story will help us understand and preach that passage better to churches today. We looked at many texts primarily from the Old Testament, to examine how to appropriately understand and preach them to people today. It is very common globally to preach passages with commands by putting people under the Law, as if we were still in the Old Covenant of obedience bringing blessing and disobedience bringing curses (cf. Deut. 28, 30, etc.). Instead, we tried to help the pastors see that Israel failed at keeping the Law, as do we, and so it is only by faith through Christ that we are saved. The pastors struggled with breaking free from their patterns they have heard and preached in their churches, but by the end I think we had made some good progress, and as they practice the Whole Story principles, I believe they will advance well in preaching passages as New Covenant believers.

Visiting, worshipping with and preaching in churches is always a highlight of our trips, and below is a video of some of the Masai worship we experienced, and also some singing at the concluding ceremony after the training.

A couple highlights outside of the training and church time were that I made an awesome connection with a dear brother in Christ who has been working for 43 years in one of the most difficult countries in Africa, facing much opposition to the Gospel. He and I were so encouraged in our conversation that he said I might be the answer to a prayer he has prayed for 15 years. We’ll see what doors God opens.

Another fun highlight was that Mark and Stacey wanted to go for a safari, so I accompanied them and we saw 22 different kinds of animals (not including different kinds of birds.) It was an epic trip, including seeing a hyena (and later the pack) take down a topi (large antelope).

Thank you for your prayers. God’s kingdom is growing and pastors are being equipped in the Word, so let us give thanks continually.