A week ago Sunday I returned from four intense days in Guatemala City working with “Estrategia de Transformacion,” an initiative that supports, encourages and trains a group of ex-gang members and committed pastors engaged in transformational work with active gang members. I also visited a former Tierra Nueva colleague who now works in a project to exhume, identify and photograph the remains of indigenous people massacred by the military in the 1980s. The trip was a home-coming of sorts as Guatemala was the place God called me to work with the poor and where I’d called Gracie asking her to marry me during some of the worst violence of a civil war in 1980.

I hadn’t been to Guatemala in 20 years, but there I was, this time to go into two prisons housing some of the most violent gang members and to train chaplains and ministry workers who currently serve the poorest of the poor. What a privilege! But my memory of the terror from the violence was also rekindled. Torture, savage killings and beheading commonplace in 1980-81, fed by US policy, are still happening, now among rival gangs of young men and the police—and the fatherless young gang members are being scapegoated for nearly everything, including the violence they have inherited.

Joel Van Dyke leads this gang ministry and hosted us. Joel is a street-wise Christian Reformed pastor/missionary and Latin American Director for the Center for Transforming Mission who’s been in Guatemala 4-5 years. He’s full of vision and passion to develop the chaplaincy ministry and many other initiatives after pastoring an inner-city church in Philadelphia for some 15 years. The first day Joel and a Guatemalan chaplain took Chris, Angel David (whose been with Tierra Nueva Honduras for 25 years) and me into the gang wing of a big prison guarded by machine-gun toting soldiers.

The guards opened the doors and left us off in the midst of 180 young men, many with tattoos covering their faces and upper bodies. Unlike our local jail, marijuana smoke, cell phone calls, a prostitute and dispute over a woman made it hard to get people’s attention for the Bible study. But we were able to get away with what we do best in Skagit County Jail. Chris played and sang over the men after I asked permission to lay hands on each one and pray for God’s Presence to heal, fill and bless them. I could sense that each hardened guy softened as I prayed, but the men had to be careful not to express outwardly that they were being positively affected.

Churches are viewed as rival gangs, and often act that way—pulling people away from their most functional family of “homies” into something often marked by legalism and exclusivity. The gangs are even more legalistic and brutal. Two of the chaplains who visit another prison shared with us that five inmates who accepted Christ and expressed a desire to change were found dead the next day, executed by fellow gang members, a warning to others not to leave the flock. Yet a number of guys told me privately afterward that they appreciated the Bible study on receiving Jesus as their personal body guard—a particular reading I do of Psalm 23 and Luke 15. I was disturbed to learn from Joel, who just finished his doctoral thesis on the gangs, that as many as 80% of the gangsters are from evangelical homes. Legalism begets legalism unless it is directly confronted and healed by Jesus’ grace and love.

That afternoon we got a tour of a forensic laboratory that deeply moved me. There we saw the bones of men, women and children exhumed from mass graves in the highlands. We were shown skulls and entire skeletons that were respectfully laid out on tables so the technicians could determine, age, identity and cause of death. I was shown bullet holes in many of the skulls, including that of a 16 year old girl. We saw storage rooms full of cardboard boxes with the already inspected remains of hundreds of yet unclaimed people labeled by name, site, village and region. My former colleague told us the lab has processed 5,000 of the 200,000+ ”disappeared” by the military during the 1980s. What is the link between the violence of the civil war and the gangs? I continue to wonder.

The next day we went to Central America’s most infamous prison to visit the gang member inmates of perhaps the most notorious gang in the Western Hemisphere. They’re arch-enemies of the gang we’d visited the day before and had proved it three years before by killing and beheading 45 of their members.

Once again the guards let us in with 110 or so inmates. We hang out and talk with a number of men, some of whom had first joined the gang while living in Los Angeles before they did prison time in the US and were deported. I later heard from Joel that many of the gang members had lost their fathers to the death squads or the war in the 1980s. Adrift and afraid, many migrated as young teens to the USA, often ending up selling drugs and joining a gang.

A few days before leaving for Guatemala I had a dream of a heavily-tattooed gangster with a hole in his right side. I saw someone fitting that description, and ended up needing to ask him where I could find a bathroom. I followed him into the dark recesses of the prison, and after using the toilet he humbly asked me if I’d like to see his cell. There in the cell this man who’d been shot in his lower abdomen, sentenced to over 120 years, one of the top chiefs of this gang invited me to sit down on a plastic chair and hear about his belief in God. I offered him a CD of contemplative flute music for worship and a copy of my book Reading the Bible with the Damned, which he warmly accepted. We prayed together for God’s peace and presence in his life and he was very grateful.

From there we went straight into Chris singing over a group of 40 or so inmates, while I once again was granted permission to lay hands and pray over each one. I then led a reflection on the call of Matthew in what turned out to be a breakthrough Bible study. I described how Matthew was a tax-collector—a member of a notorious class of people that nearly everyone hated.

“Who might fit the description of tax-collectors today?” I asked. Gangs in Guatemala force businesses in their territories to pay “protection taxes” [from themselves] and taxi drivers to pay “circulation taxes”- and the men smiled and looked at each other, acknowledging that they fit the description.

“So what was Matthew doing when Jesus called him?” I ask. The men look surprised when they note that he wasn’t following any rules, seeking God or doing anything religious, but practicing his despised trade when Jesus showed up on the street and chose him.

“So let’s see if Jesus made Matthew leave his gang to be a Christian,” I suggest, and people look closely at the next verse. There Jesus is eating at Matthew’s house with other tax-collectors and sinners and the disciples.

“So who followed whom?” I ask, excited to see people’s reaction. The men could see the Jesus had apparently followed gangster Matthew into his barrio and joined his homies for a meal.

“So what do you think you guys, would you let Jesus join your gang?” I ask, looking directly to the two chiefs of the gang? They both had big smiles as we looked at Jesus’ reaction to the Pharisees’ distain.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” I ask them if they are at all offended to think of themselves as sick—and they don’t seem to be at all. I’ve got their attention and Jesus’ final word to the religious insiders hits these guys like a spray of spiritual bullets from a drive by:

“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” I knew from experience that they were letting Jesus inside and hearing his call to follow. Last Thursday back in our local jail two groups of ten inmates all welcomed Jesus into their cells and into their lives after talking through this same Scripture with them.

But that day we still had to leave the prison. On our way out I wonder about the warden just as Joel suggests we thank him. We step into his office and shake hands. I acknowledge that he has a very complicated job needing lots of wisdom and ask if we can pray for him and bless him. “Bueno” he says, and I ask if we can lay hands on him. He accepts but just as we begin praying he suddenly pulls out his hand gun, takes out the clip and empties his pockets of other clips. “This is more proper!” he says, placing his gun and ammunition atop his file cabinet. He receives our blessing and we offer to pray for healing for an injury related to a machete fight that left his arm, shoulder and chest with shooting pain.

“All the pain is gone,” he tells us with a grin after we pray. We leave amazed by the truly special unique Spirit who disarms and loves both gangsters and warden.
That night and the next day we ministered to the seven chaplains and some 50 ministry workers, teaching on forgiveness and praying for God’s Spirit to refresh and renew people. The Holy Spirit came in beautiful ways, with lots of crying and people all wanting prayer. Angel David was delighted to see how God visibly touched these spiritually hungry men and women as we prayed together over each one.
I am sure there’s a need for more and more of God’s healing, transforming presence—brought right into the heart of the places of greatest wounding and pain. I’m also certain that honestly facing the truth of Guatemala’s violent past and of America’s participation is critical for forgiveness to lead to true reconciliation and peace.

Please pray for Joel Van Dyke, my former TN colleague, and the gang chaplains and other ministry workers in Guatemala—for strength, empowerment, wisdom and protection. Remember too the gang members both in the prisons and on the streets—that Jesus’ kindness would penetrate and transform hard hearts. Pray too for Angel David, who returned to minister in Honduras, excited to recruit younger people into active ministry to the poor and Chris who is now back in Burlington pasturing his own flock of local gang members. Please keep Gracie and I in your prayers as we leave next week to visit our son Isaac in Argentina.

I’ve felt compelled to preach lately on a story in the gospels that I’ve always disliked and wished I could delete from the Bible. I’ve called it a toxic text in that it seems to depict Jesus as exclusive, unfair, even mean. Now I’m finding this text extremely challenging and even inspiring.

In Matthew 15:21-18 a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus desperate for help for her daughter, who is “cruelly” demonized. Jesus ignores her, rejects her and humiliates her by referring to her as a dog, and then finally relents and delivers her daughter. What is happening in this story? What does it mean for us?

The Syrophonecian woman approaches Jesus desperate for breakthrough. Not a Jew herself, she “comes out” of her region, leaving her allegiances and securities to enter into Jesus’ Jewish world. She exercises exemplary prayer protocol. She cries out, and the text uses the same language as Exodus, where Israelite slaves cry out to God (Ex 3:9). She addresses Jesus by the Greek equivalent of the proper name for Israel’s God, YHWH, Kurios. “Have mercy on me Oh Lord!” She identifies Jesus as “Son of David,” a title that identifies him as Israel’s Messiah.

Jesus doesn’t answer her even a word. Yet the woman presses in, persisting dramatically in her intercession. Jesus’ disciples don’t help either. They cold-heartedly order Jesus: “Send her away, for she is shouting after us” (Matt 15:23). While Jesus doesn’t send her away, he excludes her by saying: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (15:24). How are we to understand the limited ministry priorities of Jesus “only”?

Jesus’ answer shows he still committed to his Father’s agenda to raise up Israel as the kingdom of priests called to be a blessing to every family on the earth (Gen 12:1-3). God had called Abram and Sarai out of Haran, Israel out of Egypt and then again out of Babylon to bring justice to the nations (Isaiah 42:1), to be a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, set prisoners free (Isa 42:6; 61:1ff) “so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49:6). Israel had been stiff-necked, rebellious. Yet God’s gifts and call are irrevocable. Jesus’ plan is to start with the lost sheep of the house of Israel who remain the beloved of God—in spite of their offender status. He wants to see his people mobilized. He will not give up seeking after lost sheep until he finds them. When he sends out the twelve on their first mission trip he is precise in Matthew 10:5-8 and consistent with his stance here:

“Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…”

The Syrophonecian woman refuses the Jesus’ time-line for ministry. Though she’s destined to be a future beneficiary of God’s coming Kingdom (once Israel becomes obedient), she refuses Jesus’ silence and rejects his “not yet.” Jesus’ silence and rebuttal provokes her to pursue him relentlessly in a way that makes her an exemplary intercessor. She comes and bows down before Jesus with a desperate prayer right out of the Psalms: “Lord help me!” Are we as relentless?!

Jesus responds by simultaneously upgrading his people’s “lost sheep” status to “children” and downgrading her to scavenger dog: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (vs. 26). Yet there on her knees at his feet, like a dog before children prone to kindness to their pets, she humbles herself further before Jesus and Israel: “Yes Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table” (vs. 27). The woman humbles herself to the extreme, acknowledging the oppressed Israelites who Jesus calls to their highest vocation are her masters.

Many scholars think there is a historical basis for arguing that this woman was wealthy. I’m not so sure. But if so this woman would then be recognizing the place of the poor as bearers of the Good News to the world and her masters!. At the same time her humble yet relentless pursuit of deliverance for her daughter there and then is a call to seek the future things of God’s kingdom here and now. Jesus is willing to change his mind, to give her and us the future now.

Are we willing to leave our region (nation, ethnicity, denomination…) in pursuit of the Gospel that has the power to save? Do we love enough to cry out, follow after, humble ourselves to such extremes so as to call in God’s future promises into the present? When we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” let us expect an acceleration of God’s coming salvation. While in Korea I found myself compelled to pray for every North Korean knee to bow every tongue to confess that Jesus is Lord—since that is in God’s future (Isa 45:23; Phil 2:10).

Now I’m on a plane to Guatemala where I and my Tierra Nueva colleagues Chris and Angel David will be crying out for healing and salvation of hard-core salvatrucha gang members incarcerated in the Guatemalan prison system. We want to see them touched and converted by Jesus’ love now, so there will be no more victims of brutal gang violence. Please pray with us as we train ex-gang member prison chaplains and at-risk urban youth workers over the weekend.

Departure from family, homeland, traditions, land of slavery are everywhere in Scripture as precursors to revelation, fruitfulness and every kind of blessing. Whether you leave in response to God’s call or are driven out by forces that oppress (Hagar, the children of Israel), an exodus is key to faith.

Jacob leaves Beer-Sheva (“well of the vows,” place of accommodation?) in Genesis 28:10, on his way to Haran (“cross-roads, paths” — the place of Abram’s original call and departure). Jacob flees the righteous wrath of his older brother Esau, who he just robbed of his father’s blessing through premeditated fraud, lies, and trickery. Far from every security, a rock under his head as a pillow, fugitive deceiver Jacob dreams of a ladder ascending to heaven. Angels are ascending and descending. God appears beside him and says:

“The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and they shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Jacob names the place Bethel—God’s House.

Men in the jail are always surprised that God doesn’t arrest Jacob and take him back to face justice. People expecting compliance with laws or other prerequisites in exchange for divine favor are intrigued that Jacob is running away and then just sleeping when God gives blessings and promises. Such grace and extreme promises of blessing to the bad guy are unheard of, especially among criminals.

I have felt compelled to share these reflections in France, Korea and here at home over the past few months. Is this good news too good to be true? How can we stay in this place of grace where help comes under an open heaven and God promises permanent presence and fruitfulness in every direction?

Jacob isn’t won over immediately. Right after waking up he even says: “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God” (Gen 28:21).

It takes Jacob 21 years of working an “infinite” amount of time (7 is symbolic for a totality of years for each of his two wives and herds) to make him finally flee Laban’s oppression. A wrestling match with God who blesses him yet again, and his enemy brother’s surprising forgiveness finally win him over. Now he is ready for God’s call to live in a place of perpetual grace:

“Arise, go up to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau” (Gen 35:1).

Limping Jacob’s hardships and experience of divine grace have made him truly understand what is required. He tells his family to put away their foreign gods, purify themselves and change their clothes– and they do it.

Jacob and his people strip themselves of every competing security as they head towards Bethel (the House of God). A terror from God falls on the cities around Jacob that keeps anyone from pursuing his clan (Gen 35:5). What would this look like for us today? What are foreign gods we lean on that need to be put away so we can live under an open heaven? What adversaries do we need to see flee from before us?

In a church in France I visited, culture and the generous social system stood out as potential idols. In Korea they were parental approval, upward mobility, and honor. In our Burlington church we thought of money, materialism, sports, self and nation.

I find myself continuing to ask the Spirit to show me what I am leaning on that is keeping me from Jesus’ life of freedom and fruitfulness. Like Jacob and Nathanael, I want to experience the blessings of living in God’s continual presence without any other props. I want to witness and experience for myself Jesus’ word to Nathanael. “You will see the heavens opened and angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jn 1:51)—each and every one of us. I want to see God’s love and grace poured out through me and others in every direction—north, south, east and west. I long to live in God’s house 24/7—here and now, before and after I die.

Let’s head towards Bethel now, laying aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, fixing our eyes on Jesus—our only security.

As I watched the dramatic opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics last week (8/8/08) I kept thinking of my visit to the North Korean border five days before. The contrasts and comparisons between our day at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) with Holy Given School of Missions participants and the Olympics are messing with my head and heart.

The day before our tour a young woman from North Korean who had come to faith in Christ the night before had shown me a drawing she had done during an exercise in hearing God. She had drawn thick clouds covering her homeland. Rays of sun were barely breaking through in a few places—signs that God’s saving Presence cannot be shut out. In contrast to the lightshows, surreal lighting of the torch and spectacular fireworks of the opening ceremony in Beijing it poured rained as we crossed into the DMZ between South and North Korea into fog under dark clouds covering lush mountains.

In contrast to the parade of the fittest of athletes from nearly every nation, I followed a long line of ministry workers from frontline ministries in Kurdistan, Ukraine, Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Lesotho and 13 other countries down a narrow tunnel towards North Korea. This tunnel hewn out of rocks descending 25 stories underground was one of three that North Korea had hewn out of the rock so troops could invade S. Korea. Now it’s a heavily guarded tourist attraction that ends in a pile of razor wire—a serious impasse at the border of a hard place.

I descended with Chong Bok (Chuck), a South Korean businessman who has taken off 5 weeks to attend the Holy Given School. We discussing our callings and his growing desire to engage in ministry to the poor and oppressed.

Over the week I was In Seoul I learned that many Olympic athletes had been living and training there because of Beijing’s debilitating air pollution, flying the short distance into China for events. As our humble training was happening there in Shalom Mission Church, and I was stories of persecution and trials in North Korea and elsewhere.

Human rights in North Korea remain among the worst in the world. There is no freedom of religion and Christians are often tortured, imprisoned and murdered. Deviation from state doctrine is met with ruthless and devastating punishment. Around 200,000 are believed to be held in prison camps with no hope of release (see http://www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/north-korea/page.do?id=1011213&n1=3&n2=30&n3=963 and references below).

I have been amazed by the level of skill and dedication of Olympic athletes competing in all the events. These people have hours training to perfection, pursing records, medals and glory for their nation. Are we taking our faith and callings so seriously? Yesterday in our Tierra Nueva staff prayer we read together 1 Tim 4:6-16; 2 Tim 3:16; Heb 5:14; 12:11-12 and were struck by Paul’s emphasis on deliberate training.

“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. Prescribe and teach these things (1 Tim 4:8-11).

We discussed the challenges of our ministry to gang members, inmates, juvenile offenders, farm workers and the mainstream church. We are feeling called into a higher level of commitment both here and as we think about the larger world.

I think back to my Saturday at the border, when my friend Darrell and I stood under umbrellas and prayed with three N. Koreans at a special overlook where you can normally look into North Korea (see photo on my blog www.bobekblad.com). I looked out into the fog towards the border, praying for the fog to lift, the rain to stop, even for an instant… and it did. I saw a lush, green ridge where a North Korean guard post stood and prayed for the light of Christ to shine on the guards and the people of N. Korea.

We ended our time at the border praying together for North Korea at a sparkling train station that is poised to send trains into Pyongyang at the earliest opportunity—bringing products, a lifestyle to thirsty new consumers. I’m now home pondering how I can best prepare and train people to bring the light of Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God into the dark and thirsty places of our world. Please pray:

— for us as we prepare more courses and a ministry school through
The People’s Seminary and the completion of our retreat/training center New Earth Refuge.

— for the Holy Given School still going on In Seoul, Korea

— for the underground church in North Korea

Hear a conversation between Darrell, me and Lesley-Anne in Seoul http://pacificministries.googlepages.com/bobandlesley.WMA

For the past five days I have been teaching a group of 100 grass roots leaders from 20 countries gathered here for a month at the Holy Given School in Seoul, Korea. My friend Lesley-Anne, a veteran missionary from New Zealand is the firey founder of these radical mission schools that she coordinates around the world (www.holygiven.org). Korean pastor Deborah has gathered her friends from Korea and the world to partake in a feast of worship, teaching on the ministry of Jesus, healing, deliverance, ministry strategizing and exotic & sumptuous Korean food.

People are visibly hungry for teaching and a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit—and it’s a great joy to minister here. Healing and deliverance happen in many of the sessions– like yesterday when a young woman from N. Korea began weeping over the terror and shame of her life. Her three siblings had been killed by the authorities and she’d been raised by abusive people. She came to faith in Christ the day before. Amanda, another New Zealander gathered other women around her to pray through her pain.

I led a session on the importance of forgiveness of our fathers and mothers. Nearly everyone came forward for prayer and people wept aloud as I led them through prayers. One African man from Lesotho told how he had never been touched or shown any kind of affection by his father or grandfather. Rather they beat him regularly with sticks. Crying was not allowed, as men don’t cry. He is a pastor with a deep heart of love for his nation. He longs to see men come into his rural church but laments they see needing God as a sign of weakness that would bring them unbearable shame.

Today I taught on reading Scripture at the margins and led a Bible study on Hagar in Genesis 16. I broke people into groups and had them identity the forces that oppress them and how they feel. I had each group name a scribe and share their answers. I sat there and took notes in amazement, feeling moved and privileged to hear people’s raw and real responses.

Koreans talked about fearing parents and authority figures who pressure them to do things they don’t want or that are beyond their capacity. A woman said she felt pressure to be recognized and approved by God. A young man told how he felt forced to conform to the misery of the status quo and his longed to move out of society and start over. An older woman said “imagine being married to the men who pressure people to conform. Many women feel oppressed by their husbands and want to escape their marriages. Sometimes we wish they would just disappear.” Men from India talked about spiritual oppression and confusion from the 3 million gods and goddesses worshiped in their nation. A young woman from Singapore said she and others of her generation feel oppressed by money and the endless pressure to achieve.

People from Mozambique, Zambia and Lesotho mentioned HIV/Aids, witchcraft, poverty, violence and polygamy. A Pakistani mentioned fear of Islamic terrorism directed against Christians. Others ministering in Islamic countries mention the fear of being discovered, persecuted or expelled for being Christians.
We talk through Sarai and Abram’s abusive treatment of their Egyptian servant Hagar in Genesis 16:1-6 and people see direct comparisons to their lives. We discuss at length in small groups how the messenger of the Lord finds her by a well and offers her a new life of dignity and hope.

“When Hagar fled into the desert she had no choice and no options. She was a slave and couldn’t return to her master or to her country. There was no other way forward for her apart from the Lord appearing to her and helping her,” a woman comments.

People are moved by how the Lord calls her by her name, asks her about her life and promises her great blessing—regardless of her low status. He sends her back, which people interpret as a call to live under structures of oppression knowing that God sees, does not approve but is with them too bless them. People look encouraged. Many will soon be going back to dark and difficult ministry contexts.

Tomorrow we go to the demilitarized zone at the border of N. Korea. Sunday I fly home after preaching. Please keep all of us in your prayers.

My 13-year-old daughter Anna and I just returned from a three-week trip to Paris (5 days), Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (3 days) and Pemba, Mozambique (the rest). In each of these distinct places we heard the groans, saw the longing in people’s faces for more meaning and transformation, and witnessed God’s Kingdom breaking in.

Paris is a city of great sensual appeal. Fashion, the arts and aesthetic beauty are ever alluring. Tastes and scents invite participation. The streets are filled with the young, the beautiful, the unique and altogether interesting. Yet in the face of all the cultural bounty I was struck by a pervasive loneliness, emptiness and entrapment. I met a young American super model in the metro who was taking home $2,000 a day. She told me the four months she’d been there were the hardest in her life. She was beautiful, successful but lonely to the point of despair. “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity and striving after the wind” was apparent in Paris.

Yet in the Eglise Reformée de Belleville where I ministered I saw people reaching out for connections deeper than any culture can offer. There in the heart of Paris’ Jewish and North African communities people come together to worship, read the Scriptures, hear the Word preached and eat together. I saw people longing for authentic community that’s not easy to come by in the hustle of urban Europe. The leadership is challenged to facilitate community in the face of emptiness. Immigrant youth are being served by an after school program. People streamed forward to receive prayer, healing and deliverance all afternoon.

Next stop was Pietermaritzburg, South Africa where we were hosted by good friends and Univ of Kwazulu-Natal professors Gerald and Bev West and Jonathan Draper. These people are veteran activists, pastors and teachers who train up theologians for all of Africa. The Aids epidemic, post-apartheid affirmative action policies, rampant violence and poverty and social chaos both at home in S. Africa and in surrounding nations like Zimbabwe have brought the Doctors of the Word down low. I was impressed by the humility of 8-10 Bible profs Anna and I met with one night for dinner and discussion. I was struck by honest grappling over ideas that matter both that night and the next day at a “theological café” where I presented my new book to profs and grad students at the University. Where is the Gospel that has the power to save? These people are hearing it, being held up by Jesus and are still in the struggle, but with no easy answers or quick fix-all plans. They seem to realize with Jesus that “these can only be cast out by prayer and fasting.”

Final stop Pemba and then Maputo, Mozambique. Iris Ministry is still in the midst of amazing growth with as many as 9,000 churches?!—900 of them in the last four or five years in a part of the country thought to be impenetrable because of an exotic mix of traditional African religion and Islam.

We did a village outreach where several thousand showed up, and it wasn’t easy. Some people came up for prayer to mock those ministering. They pretended to be sick and then sprung up and pranced off “miraculously healed” before laughing friends. Many of the visiting Canadian ministry team caught people trying to steal their cameras off their bodies. Yet truly hurting people approached us too, humbly asking for prayer.

We saw Jesus heal lots of people of all kinds of ailments. I witnessed someone get their sight restored and a deaf mute child say “mama” for the first time to his mother who was overcome with joy. We returned to the vehicle to find that Heidi Baker’s and my back packs had been pulled through a broken window in the land rover. That night the regional pastors recovered our journals, book bags and other odds and ends—but Heidi’s expensive phones, cameras and $2500 cash and our camcorder and MP3 player were lost.

A few days later Anna joined me as I preached in pastor Juma’s home church in an impoverished village in the countryside outside Pemba. Pastor Juma is an Iris pastor who has started some 30 churches in the 6-7 years he’s been a pastor. Children, youth and adults pounded the sloping dirt floor of the church with their bare feet, dancing to wild drumming that accompanied simple choruses led by one song leader after another. After a good hour and half of exuberant worship I preached on ordinary believers’ authority and empowerment for Jesus’ ministry and had people lay hands on themselves for healing. A good thirty people were healed on the spot and we invited those still suffering to come forward for more prayer. 20-30 people came forward and we watched nearly everyone experience relief as Anna, pastor Juma and our two American Iris worker friends laid hands on people. This community had experienced numerous miracles of multiplication of food. They seemed to embody Jesus’ beatitude: “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Back at the Iris base I alternated between teaching 120 or so mission students from around the world and 110 Mozambican Bible school students. On both teaching fronts people were hungry and open. The Westerns were feeling their limits. They worshipped from the heart and responded to my invitations and the Holy Spirit came every time. Heidi asked me to help her pray for the Mozambican pastor candidates to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This was pure joy, watching seasoned Pentecostal Heidi explain being totally yielded to Jesus and open to receiving an unmerited gift. We laid hands on people and saw the Spirit touch them. Many had visions and spoke in tongues for the first time: not Portuguese, not Macua… but languages from another realm not of this world.

Anna is the third of Gracie and my three children to go with me on a mission adventure at age 13. We had a great time together watching movies on the airplanes, eating out, going to a game park, swimming and even scuba diving in the Indian Ocean, drinking coke, going on outreaches and praying for people’s healing together. Anna has had the impression that God only helps and heals poor people and criminals. But when she got violently sick on the last day in Mozambique and I sent out a desperate email for prayer and she saw God come to rescue her through many divine appointments with people who prayed for her and a doctor from Cameroon we met in the Johannesburg airport who treated her. We made it home safe and sound and invite you to pray with us for our friends in challenging places.

• For pastor Serge Jacquemus, the church elders and members at Eglise Reformee de Belleville and for Randy Greer, an American missionary friend of mine who heads us the church’s after school program for immigrant youth. For Gilles, Aude, Linda and Jan of Eglise Reformee du Marais, who lead a deliverance ministry and church in Paris. Pray for strength, wisdom and breakthrough in evangelism, discipleship and community building.

• For Professors Gerald and Bev West, Jonathan Draper and the many others at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. For Heidi and Rolland Baker, pastor Juma, and the many missionaries and African pastors and leaders working with Iris Ministries in Mozambique. For Hette Domburg and Petra Doorn and other professors of Seminário Unido de Ricatla in Maputo, Mozambique. Pray for strength, protection, ongoing fruitfulness and wisdom for all these people as they train and send out more and leaders.
• For all of us here at Tierra Nueva as we minister among immigrants, inmates, gang members and in mainstream churches and seminaries—for grace, provision, more of God’s anointing to announce the best news and break chains of addiction and oppression.

Special thanks to those who have prayed for us over the course of these three weeks in France, S. Africa and Mozambique. The trip was very demanding and extremely rich and rewarding.

The last I wrote you was to ask for prayers for Anna, who began vomiting and having intestinal problems on our last day in Mozambique. God truly helped us through a difficult time in amazing ways. We were picked up at the Maputo airport by an English couple who hosted us the night and following day of Anna’s sickness. They took care of Anna, the host mom rubbing her back as she threw up, taking her to get a malaria test to rule out malaria, watching Anna as I met with a Dutch couple who are professors in the local mainline seminary and as I taught a group of 50 Mozambican pastors.

As I was heading to teach my class on Iris’ Maputo base I ran straight into Duncan Smith from Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, who came to the house and prayed for Anna’s healing. The group of 50 or so pastors then prayed for Anna too. We made it safely to Johannesburg but Anna was weak as she’d been unable to hold down any fluids.

As I was waiting to get our boarding passes in the Air France line Anna lay exhausted on the plastic waiting room seats until she had to find a bathroom. On her way back from the bathroom there in the airport she ran into a girl from a team “Frontline Ministries” that had sat next to her on the plane. She had just spent three weeks in Swaziland ministering with Iris pastors. She gathered her team of 12 or so young people around Anna and prayed for her.

When Anna got back to the Air France counter I was in the middle of talking in French with a man from Cameroon who worked with Doctors without Borders in Maputo. He was a physician in charge of a clinic for Aids patients. He examined Anna as we stood in line and was there to help me catch her as she fainted. He then took us to the airport pharmacy and got us medications. He continued to check in with us throughout the flight to Paris.

Anna was fine throughout the 12 hour flight to Paris, three hour layover and 9 hour flight to Seattle. She is recovering and still needs some prayer for intestinal problems. We are glad to be home and very thankful to you for keeping us in your prayers. I’m mentioning below some of the highlights of our trip which you participated in through your prayers.

• Anna and I had a great time together. Lots of fun traveling and swimming in the Indian Ocean. We even got to go scuba diving for three hours!
• Gracie and Luke experienced God’s strength and peace in our absence. Isaac also had some important breakthroughs in Argentina.
• In France we saw lots of deliverance and God’s Spirit touch many people as we ministered.
• Friendships with theologians in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa were significantly strengthened and broadened. Mainline, liberation theologian-oriented Christians are increasingly open to Holy Spirit empowered ministries like Iris. I hooked up Heidi Baker with my good friend Gerald West (Academy of the Poor) who she has now invited to teach in Pemba.
• We saw Jesus heal many many people of all kinds of ailments. Anna participated directly in praying with me for Mozambican villagers.
• I got to pray with Heidi for the 110 or so Mozambican Bible school students to be baptized in the Holy Spirit & saw the Spirit really show up and fill these humble men.
• Sessions with the Iris Missions School students went really well. I met a Scottish Presbyterian pastor couple who long to see renewal come to the Scottish Presbyterians in Glasgow.
• Everywhere we went we had divine appointments with leaders in France, S. Africa and with people from all over the world. I am expecting some invitations to Korea and Scotland and have already been invited to lead a pastors retreat for French Reformed Church pastors hungry for spiritual renewal in Paris at the end of November.
• Everywhere we went people prayed for us and blessed us in many ways. Tierra Nueva has not brought in enough for us to be paid for three months now. God is providing for us through unsolicited, unexpected gifts and honorariums. We will see where all this leads as our family grows and our actual financial needs are increasing.

So we thank you for your prayers. Pray for us

• For strength, direction and God’s increasing presence for breakthrough as we go into our season of accompanying migrant farm workers and continue our jail ministry and worshiping communities over the summer.
• For our annual conference Going Deeper: Word, Spirit, Street beginning July 13. We’d love for you to join us if you can.
• For finances so we can finish construction of New Earth Refuge, which can be completed by the end of July with another $25,000.
• For God to raise up more regular financial supporters for us for our work with Tierra Nueva and New Earth Refuge.

May Jesus continue to take you deeper and deeper into his baptism!

Bob

This past Wednesday I taught my first large group session of Iris Harvest Mission School to the 120 or so students here. I spoke on evangelism as recruitment into the ministry of Jesus and invited people feeling called by Jesus to recruit others to come up for prayer. The whole group came forward– which is not so surprising considering this is a highly motivated audience.

Right after the session Anna and I went out to Mieze, a village where there was a mobile health clinic day. There was a doctor and some nurses and lots of prayer people. Many people were helped and we saw lots of healing too. Physicians and prayer happening together. Then we returned and I gave a 7:00 talk to the students on my spiritual journey, ending with my own confession and repentance for judgments I had made against Pentecostals, Assembly of God, Four Square, Charismatics, right wing republicans, evangelicas, fundamentalists… I invited the Spirit to show people if they needed to confess their judgements against brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. Many people came to the mike and made public confessions and asked forgiveness. It was really powerful. Then I invited people to come up for fresh fire from the Spirit. Everyone seemed to come forward and the Holy Spirit was very strongly present. People were laid out all over the straw mats as the Spirit came stronger and stronger. Really amazing.

Yesterday Heidi Baker, Anna and I and some others went out to do an overnight outreach in the bush some 2-3 hours away. There was another group ahead of us showing the Jesus film, and several thousand were gathered watching when we arrived– an amazing mass of impoverished humanity! We prayed with people for what seemed like hours after the film. Anna and I saw lots of healings– backs, head aches, knees, shoulders. Then Anna got overwhelmed as we had the crowd pressing in on us. She got up on the flat bed with Heidi and I kept praying. I saw God really move to heal people– even someone who was partially or totally blind get their sight back! Then when we returned from our praying to the land rover we found a window broken out and all Heidi and Anna and my most important bags were gone! In Heidis bag there were two I-phones, $2500 cash, camera, residency documents. In ours our digital camcorder, journals, bible, water purifier, $100 or so and other things. We were disappointed, but tried not to let it get us down after seeing God move so beautifully. A bunch of local pastors rallied together and spend the whole night trying to locate our stuff. They kept coming back to wake up Heidi (who was in a tent right next to us, so we woke up too) to tell us their progress. Finally at 5:00am they came back with all of our journals, bible, back packs and other non valuables– which was great! We just returned feeling tired but full after lots of signs of Godś kingdom and great fellowship with Heidi and others.

Keep us in your prayers. I preach in Mieze, a nearby village from 8:30-1:00pm or so on Sunday. Then teach most of Monday and Tuesday. We fly out on Tuesday night to Maputo. Meet with a theologian from the mainline denominational seminary who is interested in talking on Wednesday morning. Then we fly out Wed afternoon for S. Africa, Paris and home!

Pray for safety, Gods ongoing presence and continual ministry through us and to us.

In Christ,
Bob

My 13-year-old daughter Anna and I arrived in Pemba, Mozambique yesterday afternoon after a rich three days in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. We keep seeing signs of a new move of the Spirit, though in early stages perhaps.

I spoke to a group of professors of Scripture from the different seminaries and the school of theology associated with the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal. We had a meal together at an Oblate community on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg, where I was invited to present a summary of my new book A New Christian Manifesto. There were Catholic, evangelical and mainline Bible scholars– feminist, contemplative, liberationist. I was amazed at peoples openness and excitement. I spoke the next day at a theological cafe at the university to some 30 professors and graduate students– including a prof of Islam who is himself Muslim specializing in Islam and traditional African religion. He had some profound questions about Jesus that really moved me.

Conversations with my friends Gerald West– OT prof and his wife Bev, a theologican and Jonathan Draper, a NT prof were stimulating as usual. These people are veteran Christians who have seen all the abuses from every side. They are not easily won over by any new thing and are incredibly astute– and yet always open. I see a hunger for the Kingdom of God– but not for any variety. Rather the authentic kingdom which brings true empowerment to the poor and freedom with dignity to the least.

Mozambique has moved us already to the core. Last night we went to a worship rave at Iris, where orphan kids together with Western mission students danced with abandon under the stars. Today we worshipped for hours in Iris’ new church just a quick run from the dazzeling Indian Ocean, dancing and crying out to God for more revival in Mozambique. The poverty is worse than last year since food prices are up. Please continue to pray for Anna and I, our schedule includes lots of teaching in the both the mission school (110 Western participants) and the Mozambican Bible school (over 100). Pray for:

• I will be teaching Monday – Thursday afternoon (June 16-19) in the Iris mission school and Bible school. For wisdom in selecting teaching subjects, for God’s presence to really bring clarity, healing and empowerment.
• On Thursday-Saturday (June 19-21) Anna and I go on an outreach into the bush with Heidi Baker. Pray for protection and God’s kingdom to come.
• On the following Sunday-Wednesday I teach.
• Pray for Anna– for protection, openness and connections.
• Pray for divine appointments and friendships
• We fly home June 25 and arrive in Seattle on June 26.

Blessings in Christ,

Bob

Anna and I arrived in Johannesburg, S. Africa yesterday morning and here in Pietermaritzburg in the afternoon. We’ve almost been gone a week and things are going amazingly well. We are having a lot of fun together, starting every day in Paris with fresh pan au chocolats and croissants– and lots of amazing meals. Anna however says she’s tired of fancy things like roast duck and misses peanut butter and jelly! Here are some highlights and some new prayer requests:

1) I preached and ministered Sunday at the Eglise Reformee de Belleville– a big reformed church in Paris. I invited people to come forward if they wanted to give Jesus permission to really take them deeper into baptismal death of the flesh so they could be wholly given over as sons/daughters of God, empowered more fully by the Holy Spirit. People came forward in droves and the Spirit really touched people. Then we had another session all afternoon, praying for many many people. There was lots of deliverance, quite amazing really. I was really moved by how many people are suffering from deep loneliness and isolation.

2) On Monday we met with Gilles Boucomont and his team from another Paris church. They had just taught for a week in Burlington. This is an important connection. Then I went out with Elian Cuvillier, the New Testament prof from the Eglise Reformee seminary in Montpellier who just happened to be in Paris when we were. We really connected and I am once again amazed to see how mainline intellectual French Protestants are so hungry and open to the Holy Spirit and to entering more fully into the ministry of Jesus. We stayed the entire time with the President of the French Bible Society, Bernard Coyault and his wife who is a pastor. We had great conversations.

3) On Tuesday I ministered “prophetic presytery” style to the pastoral team of Eglise Reformee de Belleville and then did a book signing at the main bookstore of the Eglise Reformee de France’s national office. The French translation of Reading the Bible with the Damned is out and doing really well.

4) Then we were wisked off by taxi (since there was a train strike) to the airport for an all night, 12 hr flight to Johannnesburg. Last night I spoke to a gathering of all the Biblical studies professors from the seminaries in this city (Catholics, protestants, evangelicals) based at the Univ of KwaZulu Natal and elsewhere. They asked me to share about my new book A New Christian Manifesto. I shared openly about the new move of the Spirit that I see, where word, spirit and ministry to the poor/marginalized are coming together. The profs were very excited and we ended up having a long discussion. I am amazed at people’s openness– especially since these people are not from charismatic camps but are theologians of liberation, contemplative Catholics, feminists, post-colonial theologians, academics. The Spirit is truly at work bringing together the body of Christ.

5) Today I speak at a “theological cafe” before professors and students and the Univ of KwaZulu Natal and then have dinner and breakfast meetings with profs and others. Please keep us in your prayers. Tomorrow the NT prof and my good friend Jonathan Draper is taking us to a game park. Yeah! Then we fly to Johannesburg and fly out Saturday morning for Iris ministry in Pemba Mozambique.

Please pray for ongoing divine appointments and God’s wisdom, direction and annointing for conversations with professors/leaders.

Pray for Ilona Dobeyn who is suffering from cancer here. We have prayed for her and she seems to be improving.

Pray for protection for us as we travel, and for Gracie and Luke back home and for Isaac in Argentina.

Pray that God would really prepare us for our 10-11 days in Mozambique (June 16-26).
Pray for Anna, for her health and an open heart. Pray for our time together as dad/daughter– that it would be the best.

Feel free to write if you get any impressions for us ().

Blessings in Christ,

Bob