Eastern Africa

​“This has been profound for me! The character of God is now engraved in me!
Now that I know that I am loved this much, I want to make Him known.
I want others to experience this God!”  ~ Kezzie


For the past ten days I have been in an Eastern Africa Country as a part of a training team made up of fellow colleagues from The Mission Society along with National Church leaders. My primary responsibility has been to awaken, equip, train, and deploy with confidence the one hundred participates that represent some forty-two tribes from this war-torn Country. My investment is in the area of discipleship training and this has been one of the most productive and rewarding training experiences that I have been on during the past year.

 During the full day that I spoke on this vital subject, many of the participants came up to me and said how grateful they were that I would come all this way to share with them God’s teachings on what the Bible reveals about becoming a disciplemaker. During one of the breaks a pastor quickly came to me and said, “I need you to pray for me. I have failed God. I haven’t been making disciples.” After I saw his regret and remorse, I told him that most of us who are pastors have discovered we have been focused upon many other concerns within the Church, but we have been guilty of omitting the priority of Great Commission.
As I put my arm around him, I prayed for God to ignite within him a passion to not only become a disciple of Jesus, but to resolve to become a disciplemaker.

The quote at the top of this blog is from a young lady who attended one of the four workshops that I am leading in how to disciple others in a small group setting using the Life Transformation Studies. I will never forget her eyes as she absorbed God’s truth found in John 1:18. “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He as revealed God to us.”  After realizing that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God, Kezzie responded, “God has intentionally made Himself known to me. It’s humbling that He would do this for me. I can’t help but love Him back! I now realize that I’m not following an abstract God. He’s not distant. I’m no longer groping in the dark. He wants me to make myself vulnerable to Him. I can’t worship God the same again!!!”

Brothers and sisters, words cannot describe how privileged I feel to be here among my African brothers and sisters - t learn from them and to share with them what God has imparted to me through the years. I am extremely grateful for your prayers, your support, and your words of encouragement that have made it possible for me to have such an experience.

 I pray that God will continue to challenge all of us to fully resolve to follow Jesus as His disciple throughout the world
With extreme gratitude,

Denny (standing with our brother, Duncan)

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