RockTheDesert

Mwaro, Burundi

Herve is our e3 partners "man on the ground" in Burundi. Due to security concerns, the North American team that was scheduled to arrive in Burundi in August for a church-planting campaign pulled out about a week before departure. In spite of this and because of the preparations already made in-country for this campaign, it was decided that the Burundi pastors committee would continue with the work as scheduled. They mobilized teams of nationals to partner in the work with them. The following summary from Herve is a testimony to God's sovereignty and grace. God's work was accomplished. Lives were changed for eternity. Churches were planted and strengthened. God was glorified.

HERVE'S SUMMARY

E3 Partner’s Ministry August 2009 Mwaro Campaign has just been successfully completed. We experienced much opposition from the onset. The team of missionaries that was planning to come did not, due to security concerns. This was regrettable, but by the grace of God we were able to complete the campaign with Local ministers. As a dear friend once told me “there is no safer place than where God wants you to be.” I can understand why the enemy would not want the Mwaro campaign to be conducted, though. The Province of Mwaro and its capital in particular have long been known to be the Hub of witchcraft and satanic practices. One particular practice known as “kubandwa” involves calling the spirit of ancestors and giving praise to one called “Kiranga” supposedly the direct representative of God. It’s a modern day cult to baal where offerings and sacrifices of animals are made to a local divinity. Many people are bound by this cult and so maintained in ignorance and poverty.

We arrived in Mwaro on Wednesday the 19th of August and set up the teams according to the different churches. We had originally planned to work with 6 churches but at the last minute one church was unable to fulfil their engagement. So we worked with 5 churches. Two churches were strengthened and three new churches established. We regularly encountered obstacles, but none that our Lord could not give us wisdom to overcome. For instance when we arrived in Mwaro we were advised that the Gas Station had no Gas so we had to have it sent from Bujumbura by bus. Eventually the gas station received gas and we were able to get our refills from Mwaro. 

It was a real blessing as every morning the whole team gathered to worship and praise God before setting off for evangelism and meeting every evening to give thanksgiving and praise to God for His faithfulness during the day. God was gracious to us to make it so that the advisor to the Governor was a personal friend to one of our Ministers, Pastor Avite who happens to be on the committee, so we had no problem with authorisation to complete the campaign.

Each day brought its load of praise reports, like one of our Ministers as he was evangelising met two young boys who were distraught, and so he took time to listen to them, and he found out that they were on their way to visit their father who’d been locked up in the local jail falsely accused of having stolen a goat. So he prayed with them and they received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and so he asked them, do you believe that Jesus can set your dad free from jail? To which they eagerly answered yes. So our minister walked with them to the Local jail and spoke to the Local authorities, and they told him that the man’s case had not yet been heard. But since the Local Superintendent thought that the case was shaky and that the evidence against the man did not hold, he released him there on the spot. And so the young boys were reunited with their father, they praised God and thanked him and decided to follow Jesus. 

When we arrived in Mwaro, there really was a gloomy feel about the area, like an oppressive cloud hovering over the town, but as the days went by the atmosphere cleared and we could feel a gentle breeze of peace breathing upon the town.

It so happens that this is the area where we’re from on my dad’s side so I was blessed to see two uncles and an aunt confess Christ right before me, and I witnessed to another Uncle who is a staunch catholic and although he did not pray the prayer of confession, because I think he felt a bit awkward, as I found him at the bar of the Hotel where we were staying having a beer, he nevertheless promised he would come to my church in Bujumbura since he also lives there . I will make sure to hold him to his promise.

The pinnacle of our week of evangelism though was on Monday. We had all agreed when we arrived in Mwaro that we would fast on this day and head to a brook called “Gasumo”. This is the centre of witchcraft in Mwaro the Mecca of sorcery in Burundi. This place is reportedly where all witches, sorcerers and enchanters come to get their power and pay homage to the object of their worship. This for lack of better definition is the very  altar of baal, the devil’s lair. We arrived there after a trek through a wood. Seemingly this appeared to be a beautiful place, a brook with flowing water and lush vegetation, but immediately upon arriving we were all overtaken by feelings of nausea, and a powerful spirit of oppression came upon us.

We all immediately started rebuking and calling on the name of the Lord. We arrived there at about 9 am and we stayed there worshiping, praising God and listening to the word of God until about 4 pm. Not too long after we arrived the oppression left. There were about 30 people altogether and we had a wonderful time, an incredible feeling of peace pervaded in the whole area.

When we arrived on site we found food that had been carefully laid out in sacrifice to the divinities. There was one particular set out that was described to us as a lay out to call for the death of someone. Of course we tore it apart and prayed that whoever that had been set up for, would be saved and live long.

The week of evangelism was very successful, resulting in 3,240 presentations of the Gospel and 1,456 people confessing Christ as their personal Saviour and 213 follow ups. There was 3 new churches established and 2 Churches strengthened.

May the name of our Lord be praised now and forevermore.

 

www. Simplify. Decrease. Restore.

You know, some days my house seems way too small. Although we only have need of warm outerwear for about two weeks per year, we have a coat closet filled with coats that we've accumulated for 23 years along with blankets and extra sweatshirts. Hard to even look at this photo when it's 110 degrees outside. And then there's the stuff. Stuff threatens to spill out of every cupboard and closet. Paperwork for 4 busy adult lives seems to multiple overnight in random piles strewn on every cleared off surface. Backpacks, sports duffels, tote bags, all just about ready to put away (except for that one last rogue item) lurk in corners, behind doors, in the trunk of the car. It's like my entire life is precariously perched in the middle of "nearly organized, peaceful, uncluttered" and "tornado-just-hit-someone-call-for-help." While I fret about finding balance and "a place for everything and everything in its place," what I know I don't need to do is build bigger closets, cupboards and storage sheds (i.e., Luke 12:16-21). Continually seeking God's kingdom needs to be my everyday focus. Seeking His righteousness needs to rule over my thoughts and worries. And the stuff. The things that moths and rust will destroy. The stuff, if it takes my focus off of God and robs me of joy, well, it just has to go.

word: Simplify.

way: I must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

wisdom: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." (Psalm 51:12)

Carol's Rwanda Story

Team Berryman spent 25-days this summer in Africa on 3-different,consecutive, church planting campaigns with e3 Partners Ministry. This is just one story of God’s redeeming love that we wanted to share with you!

Carol, an e3 staff member from Texas, visited this very small house (not much bigger than the vans we ride in). Carol spent time talking with a woman and her five children. The woman confessed that she used to be a faithful Christian but after she was married, her husband led her away from the Lord. One day he took another wife and abandoned her and the kids. The woman realized she needed to get her spiritual life back on track and is thrilled there will now be a church within walking distance she can attend. Wow! Carol prayed for her and her children, and she came to the afternoon meetings at new mission point.

Although the woman and her children had a decent set of clothes to wear, it was obvious that they were very poor. Because of their faithful attendance to the meetings and re-dedication of their lives to Christ, our ministry team wanted to bless them. We gave the family six (donated to us) Christ Lutheran School shirts. We stressed that the gifts were from the church and that all praise and thanks should go solely to God. Thank you Christ Lutheran School for your generosity!

Hebrews 13:16 “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

School Days Are Back

Here's Michael (@mikeyberryman) all ready for his first day of college. He'll be taking 3 classes at the local community college. He was the first one up this morning and he didn't even complain about having "fake breakfast" (cold cereal)!

 

Here's Michael's chauffeur - his favorite sister, Alyssa, has arranged all her classes so that she's at school on the same days as Mike. I'm pretty sure Michael isn't disappointed about not having to purchase a bus pass!

 

And finally, here's Steve (#11). He's a sophomore this year. Loves his school. Loves his friends. Loves football. He was the starting varsity quarterback at their scrimmage last week.

I can't believe I don't have a "first-day-of-school" pic of Joshua. I will work on that. Should I show up at Phoenix Seminary and surprise him?

Hoping and praying for a fantastic year for all my kids! 

Burundi - Rwanda Border

Here's a story from Dan (aka @daninreallife). I was only able to stay for the first 1/3 of the month-long e3 campaign. I was on my way back to the USA when this event took place.

Due to the generosity of our friends at TCM International, we were able to be driven from Bujumbura to Kigali -- my first African border crossing by car.

  Tricia posed with the SUV that had our luggage securely tied to the roof. The rope was a ¼” strand of rubber from a used tire. No photographs while crossing the border, “Not Allowed!”

A Rwandan customs agent, dressed in military uniform, told us to unload the truck and open all our bags. I had one suitcase filled with over 100 Evangecubes that I thought would be confiscated or I might possibly have to pay an import tax for. I protested each bag until the “cube” bag. Sure enough, the soldier found a jackpot. He wanted me to explain why I had so many “cubes” and what we used them for. I opened one up -- when he saw the picture of Jesus he was satisfied the “cubes” were not contraband and instructed us to load up the truck. 

I instructed Manasseh, our Rwandan leader, to share the gospel using the “cube.” My motivation: he inconvenienced us, now we will inconvenience him (I know, I’m not going to win the “Missionary of the Year” award, [again]). We slowly re-loaded the truck while Manesseh shared the gospel.

I started to worry, “What about the cars behind us?” Not to worry -- it’s Africa – very few people own/drive private vehicles. We are it. There are lots of trucks and buses but no cars.

The soldier’s boss, dressed in a suit, appeared and listened for a while. Now I’m worried that we got the soldier fired. Miraculously, the boss is already a Christian. He appreciated our message.

The soldier ended up praying to receive Jesus. Unloading then re-loading the luggage turned out to be worth while after all!

Alyssa's Famous Cupcakes

I know, I know, it's not much to look at. This photo is from my iPhone, taken indoors, under sketchy lighting conditions. This cupcake was one of twelve little cakes in silver cups which were thoughtfully arranged by my artistic daughter on a lovely rectangular, white with beaded edge platter. She watched our faces intently as we bit into the cupcakes. They were absolutely perfect. I wouldn't have guessed that she used a store-bought cake mix to make them.

The cupcakes had a different texture than box-mix cupcakes usually have. More dense and spongy and moist. The frosting was fudgy and Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie crumbs were sprinkled generously on top. The "mistake" in Alyssa's recipe actually changed them from good to great! Instead of using 2/3 cup of water, for some unknown reason, she added in an extra cup of water. Yes. 1-2/3 cup of water totally changed these cupcakes to blogworthy!!

CUPCAKES

• Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix
• 2/3 Cup Water + 1 Cup Water
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/4 Cup Softened Butter (1/2 Stick)
• 1/4 Cup Applesauce (replaces half the fat calories!)

1. Prep: PREHEAT oven to 350°F.
2. Mix: BLEND dry mix, water, softened butter and eggs in large bowl at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). BEAT at medium speed for 4 minutes. POUR batter in paper-lined cupcake tins and bake immediately.
3. Bake: 15-20 minutes (18 was perfect). Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. COOL in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING

• 1-3/4 sticks butter. Yes. You read that right.
• 4 heaping Tablespoons cocoa powder - Hershey's works great
• 6 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 lb. powdered sugar (minus 1/2 cup)

1. Melt butter over med lo heat on stove.
2. Stir in cocoa powder. Bring to quick boil, keep stirring for 30 seconds then turn off heat.
3. Stir in milk.
4. Add vanilla. Mix well.
5. Stir in powdered sugar til thick and smooth.

TOPPING

Be creative. You can sprinkle any chopped nut on top. Chocolate sprinkles would work. Famous Amos cookie crumbs are wonderful.

That's it. Don't try to count the calories. Just count your blessings - you're another year older, wiser, and, if you eat a cupcake while hanging out with your family, you're perfectly content to be licking fudgy frosting off your fingers and lips.

Happy Birthday To Me

Tonight my kids threw an impromptu, surprise birthday party for me. I was out of town on my actual birthday. Then we've all been really busy for the past couple of weeks. Nights and weekends have proven to be impossible to coordinate. So, after several secret phone conversations today between my kids, a perfect little family gathering came together complete with lovely gifts and delectable, homemade cupcakes. Dan was so kind as to rustle around in the garage until he found our coffee maker. Then he proceeded to brew some creme brûlée coffee to accompany the cupcakes. Now we are watching Madagascar 2 and I'm totally wired from the caffeine. I imagine I'll have plenty of awake time tonight to finish reading the entire book of John (FNC 21-day Reading Challenge).

Alyssa waited til we tasted the cupcakes to confess that she kind of unintentionally altered the recipe to the point that she thought they were unsalvageable. I've got to say that they were absolutely delicious, moist, flavorful, covered in fudgy frosting and sprinkled with Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie crumbs. Interested in the recipe? I'll post it tomorrow. It's a keeper, possibly my new favorite!!

I Live To...

Pastor Randy sent out the weekly FNC newsletter today - I read it and had to share part of it here. I plan to spend the rest of today praying through the question at the end of the letter: what's your life purpose statement? "I Live To..." Seriously, how would I end that sentence? How would YOU end that sentence? Think about it. Pray about it. Write it down. Tell someone. Then live it.

August 13, 2009 I can't quit thinking about Anna's statement. Anna, one of the e3 ministry partner's area coordinators for Rwanda, came to America for her first visit this past January. Six months later as I am listening to her share with a mixed group of Americans and Africans about her impressions from her time in the United States her words catch me off guard. She mentions the road system, the big beautiful homes, the shopping malls and some other things like that, but then she mentions food. "In the United States," she said, "every gathering is centered around eating. There's food everywhere. At every meeting there is a buffet table covered with food. In Africa, we eat to live. In America it seems that they live to eat." Seriously, do we live to eat? Is that what our lives are about? Isn't there something more important to us than the next hamburger, t-bone steak or Starbucks latte? Live to eat? I don't want that phrase to be my purpose statement. There are other phrases that I would prefer to be used to describe my life. "Live to serve." "Live to love." "Live to worship." "Live to please God." What your life purpose statement? I would love to read it. (Email it to me.)  What do you think most people in America would say is their purpose? Do you think more people today are more concerned with feeding their bellies or feeding their souls? Do they hunger more for food or God? This Sunday @ 10:30am, we will continue the teaching series, "HUNGRY?", by evaluating the hunger pangs of our souls and then learning how to satisfy those longings. Come hungry this Sunday!   Randy Shoulders Fellowship North Church

Burundi - After Hours

Much to our great surprise, some pretty decent food can be found in Bujumbura, Burundi. Each time we've worked in or near Bujumbura while on mission with e3 partners, we usually eat a couple of meals at The Ubuntu Residence - they have a beautiful restaurant called The Kiboko Grill. We usually begin with a round of Coca Colas or Fruto (passion fruit juice) and a couple of plates of samosas, which are like little meat turnovers. Then we order wood-fired pizza. The margarita pizza is just good old cheese pizza on a thin crust. The napolitan pizza has chunks of salami on a thin crust with cheese. At the end of a long day of bumpy roads in crowded buses, evangelism, preaching, singing, hanging out with the crowds and the translators and the pastors, nothing could be better than this meal, served outdoors under the inky night sky with Lake Tanganyika just a few steps away.
 
By Tuesday night we were ready for a round of Cokes & pizza. So we piled into the van and Manuel drove us to The Kiboko Grill. En route to the restaurant, Dan and Herve started telling stories about the hippos that graze along the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Herve confirmed that there used to be a lot more hippos but they were scared away by the war. Lake Tanganyika also used to boast a 22 ft long crocodile named Gustave! FYI, Lake Tanganyika is the deepest lake in Africa and holds the greatest volume of fresh water.

When we arrived at the Ubuntu Residence we entered the courtyard of the restaurant. We suddenly were blinded by flashbulbs from paparazzi. There was a long receiving line of formally-dressed dignitaries lining the sidewalk leading to the lawn. I hopped off the sidewalk and took a short-cut to a table. Dan and the others went right through the receiving line, shaking hands and being greeted cordially by these well-dressed men and women. Evidently, they were there to receive quite a few dignitaries and got some bonus handshakes from a few scruffy missionaries as well! We were told that they were part of a Congolese delegation to Burundi and were there to celebrate the Congolese Independence Day.

While driving back to our hotel, David Mitchell decided to shine his flashlight on the tall grasses along the road, hoping to spot a hippo. He was instantly rewarded with two glowing, yellow, close-set eyes looking up at the sudden light. We could make out the outline of a massive hippo standing there, calmly grazing on a lush feast. We made Manuel turn the van around and go back so we could stare and marvel at this magnificent creature. Herve said it was powerful enough to charge the van and destroy it and us if it wanted to. We tried to capture it on camera but there wasn't enough light from the moon and we didn't dare get any closer to it. Although I'm not an animal lover, I have to admit, it was a pretty amazing sight to see

Sunday Setlist -August 9, 2009

I walked in the stage door this morning and discovered the stage was still completely cleared from the wedding that took place yesterday afternoon. Our sound tech had just texted me saying he had really bad pinkeye and I told him to stay home. So guess who had to set up everything - drums, keys, amps, monitors, mics, even the snake was stashed away. Sigh... Pastor Randy continued with week 2 of the Hungry series today. This is a great message series. All about being hungry for the Word of God. Talked about following the rabbi (Jesus) so closely (by reading His Word) that you'd be covered in his dust. Very challenging. 10:27 Countdown video 10:32 Welcome 10:33 Beautiful One (Hughes) 10:38 Blessed Be Your Name (Redman) 10:43 Let The Worshippers Arise (PFOR) 10:48 Meet Greet Seat 10:50 Testimony 10:55 God of This City (Tomlin) 11:00 You Are God Alone (Foote) 11:05 Message 11:40 Reprise- Beautiful One All this talk about hungry made me follow the rabbi straight to Baskin Robbins. Just kidding. But imagine craving and devouring God's Word as religiously as a Banana Royale Sundae with luscious, creamy-yet-icy scoops of Nutty Coconut + Baseball Nut. Oh yeah...divinely inspired! For more great Worship Setlists from around the globe, check out www.FredMcKinnon.com/6KrY

Bujumbura (Rural)

Our two teenage sons were with us on our recent e3 partners trip to Burundi. They are both such great assets to our team. On this trip Dan and our oldest son, Mike, were on the same team. They encountered a couple of unique obstacles with their church site. The first obstacle was - The Location of their new church. You can see from this photo that they had quite a hike from the bottom of the canyon (where the arrow disappears into the trees) to the place where the church is. This canyon had only a Catholic church on one side of the canyon and a Jehovah Witness church on the other side. Now there is an evangelical Christian church (New Life Church) right in the middle! New Life Church has their main campus in Bujumbura. There are several families, including the new pastor, who live in this canyon. They hike / walk over 2 hours every Sunday to get to church. Sometimes they hitchhike or catch a bus for part of the way. They are overjoyed to have a church planted right in the middle of the canyon!!

The church had a blue tarp roof on Monday, but that was blown off by the wind by Tuesday.

Some new church members gathered at new church building...

The second obstacle was - The River. They had to cross a fast-moving river at the bottom of the canyon in order to evangelize the other side of the canyon. Mike was terrified to cross. He had to be carried across the river by a Burundi national. Poor little guy, look at the size of his legs compared to Michael's legs. I don't know how he made it across! 

On the way back, they found a narrower part of the river to cross. Here's the progression of Mike's second river crossing.

Some of the guys laid big, flat stones down across the shallowest part of the river for Michael to step on.

Mike stepped out in faith...

Mike might be changing his mind about crossing...
His piggyback ride is now his helper...do you blame him?
Sort of reached a plateau...
His team member is cheering him on...
Gathering a little more courage...
A couple more giant steps...
He did it! I'm not sure if he kissed the dry land - I'm afraid to ask him.
I'm proud of him for not giving up and pushing on, keeping his eyes on the prize (the shore) and trusting God (and his team mates) to help him across!

Sunday Setlist - August 2, 2009

This post is part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon's worship blog...click HERE for more worship setlists from around the globe!

Pastor Randy began a new series today called Hungry...here's an excerpt from the Fellowship North blog describing the series.

The fact is, we Americans like to feed our faces, but what about our souls? Do you ever crave God’s truth? Or desire to read His words as much as you long for chocolate? During the month of August, we will learn to feast on Scripture as we learn to feed ourselves!

 “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for the word of the Lord, running here and going there, but they will not find it. Beautiful girls and fine young men will grow faint and weary, thirsting for the Lord's word." Amos 8:11-13 NLT

Randy threw down a couple of great challenges for us - you just might have to order the CD and hear the whole message - sorry, we're not podcast savvy yet! All in all a great day, thematically tied together. Bread metaphor for Communion was powerful.

10:27 Countdown video
10:32 Welcome - Patty
10:33 Happy Day (Hughes)
10:38 Testify To Love (Wynonna Judd arr.) - our church loves this song!
10:43 Meet Greet Seat - Patty
10:45 Hungry (Scott)
10:50 Breathe (Barnett)
10:55 Prayer - Patty
10:57 Message - Randy
10:32 Communion - Jesus Paid It All (Stanfill)
10:40 Wrap/Conclusion - Randy
10:43 Reprise - Breathe - offering during this song
10:45 Dismiss - Patty

Gatumba - #2

When we go on church-planting trips with e3 partners, each trip is similar yet with unique "could only be God" twists and turns and circumstances and divine appointments. During our 4 days in Gatumba, there was an interesting cast of characters who were transformed by the life-changing message of the Gospel. Each afternoon, we'd return to the church, rest for about 30 minutes then begin a discipleship meeting. We provide printed discipleship materials and Bibles to the church for their use after we're gone. There's usually a few songs, some short teachings from the pastor, teaching from the North Americans, and my favorite part - the testimonies of those who professed faith in Christ that day. On Monday afternoon, I recognized three guys that came in together. I had shared with a large group of mostly young men who were gathered at a bicycle repair shop (bikes/spare parts under a small shade structure). During the testimony time, Pastor Joseph went up to one of the three guys and shook his hand and hugged him and made a huge fuss over him. My translator explained that this young man was known as the local cat burglar. He made a living breaking into homes during the night and stealing / reselling peoples' possessions. He seemed rather sheepish, definitely repentant, and there was no hardness about his demeanor at all. He publicly stated his faith in Christ and his life (and profession) was changed. Very cool. Saw him every day at the meeting. To my surprise, the muslim couple that we shared with on Monday showed up at the discipleship that same afternoon. Their names were Sidfred & Alina. They didn't really participate, but they listened and seemed rather intrigued by it all. They came up to me after the meeting and said they wanted to attend the church and learn more about God. Sidfred said he was a fisherman. That made me extremely happy. I explained to him that when Jesus called his first disciples, he called several fishermen. I told him I'd pray that Jesus would call him out to be His disciple. Tuesday afternoon, Sidfred & Alina were again at the discipleship meeting. They seemed more engaged in the singing and listened pretty intently to the teaching and testimonies. They came up to me after the meeting. They seemed very happy. They said it would be no problem for them to pray to receive Jesus as their Savior! So my translator, Innocent, led them in prayer...love when that happens!