Delivering a sermon at Congo Bar Church in 1986 came about through a yearning. Not a hunger to preach in a large city gathering but a stirring in my wife and me. That we were to launch from Kenya, enter another African nation, and serve there. The question was – given the continent is home to more than fifty countries – which one?
“In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.” – Proverbs 16:9
***
From a disarming “so you’re the man with the black heart” greeting by the silver-haired gent in San Antonio, Ann and I had grown fond of Carlton Spencer in the years following. That early connection had factored in to our maiden assignment to East Africa. Now finding ourselves at another missions crossroads, his remarks carried a hint of déjà vu.
Elim President Spencer stood relaxed before a company of missionaries at our annual general meeting outside Nairobi.
“Several of you have served in this beautiful land for some years. I sense the Lord’s nudge that some are perhaps to set yourselves praying about other regions, other fields on the continent. Places little-served by kingdom laborers – some more challenging to live in than here.”
Both of us, my Ann and I, felt a stir. Following conversations and times in prayer the conviction grew that we were to venture toward a new field.
“Well, we know the mission serves regions westward from here,” I mused. “And to the south as well.”
And so it happened I flew the fifteen hundred miles to Kinshasa, and found myself days later before a crowd in a renovated bar.
Aidini’s ministry had dramatically multiplied the past three decades and church congregations now numbered more than 3,000 across Zaire’s enormous landscape. The leadership-training workforce certainly needed more people.
After two weeks poising as best I could the spiritual antenna of my heart, I boarded a Nairobi flight home with no new sense of clarity. None.
Not discounting Zaire just yet, we turned our attention to Kenya’s big neighbor to the south – land of famed explorer-missionary, Dr. David Livingstone. This time I wouldn’t go alone. We crossed into Tanzania at Namanga border.
What a surprise lay ahead.
©2018 Jerry Lout