Dear All,
Thursday's Bottom Line:
While Mark and Hillary were leading a DM seminar in Rwanda on Thursday to introduce the disciple-making concept, Scott and James were leading a DM summit in Kenya to encourage, equip, and challenge many current DM group members to reach out and lead groups. On Friday, each of our missionary pairs will follow the same pattern, repeating what they did today in other relatively nearby areas.
Thursday's Prayer Requests:
- Those who have attended Hillary and Mark's past three DM seminars in Uganda and Rwanda to follow through to join DM groups ASAP; strong connections among group members to form quickly.
- Those who were at James and Scott's DM summit on Thursday and who committed to lead groups to be Spirit-led in connecting with people to invite; that their enthusiasm would be contagious.
- God to watch over Scott and Mark, keeping them healthy, strong, and focused, despite their full schedules and almost daily travels.
Thursday's Details:
Scott said, "Great meeting today. All of these [pictured below] are in groups and have committed to start their own groups!"
Ready to lead their own DM groups!
He continued, "72 attended, and 10 [actually] signed up to lead a group, and many more committed to lead. The host pastor, Pastor Joseph, has committed to go to Basil, about 20 miles away, to raise up a group there. He knows the pastors fellowship there." It is amazing to me that from a handful of "seeds" (those pastors Scott has been actively discipling for a number of years), God has brought forth such a great harvest of disciple-makers here in Kenya.
Below, James is seated to the right of Scott. In appreciation for their service and leadership, they have both been "hooded" with honorary plaid shawls.
72 DM summit attendees in Kajiado
I'll close today's update with a true "small world" event.
Scott and I have very dear friends we met in Little Rock over 30 years ago. Neal and Danette Childs live in Niger, West Africa where they have a truly incredible church planting and discipleship ministry that is transforming that nation and reaching into many other nations of the world.
Today, I received this picture from Mark, who as you well know, is currently leading DM seminars with Hillary in Rwanda. Note the comment he included with this photo.
"Ran into a friend of Scott and Patty Roberts: Pastor Neal Childs"
Absolutely astounding!!!
Now, let's think about this. One pastoral friend of ours, Mark, is 7,000 miles from his home in southwest Missouri, another pastoral friend of ours, Neal, is 2,000 miles from his home in Niamey, Niger, and these two men (who both know us) just "happen" to meet?!? In Kigali, Rwanda?!?!?!? To quote a classic line from The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, "I don't think that's possible!" But we do have the picture to prove it. = ) WOW!
I am quite sure that the God who put that "chance" meeting together is big enough and strong enough and creative enough to handle any challenges our teams may face today! Thank you for joining your faith with theirs and praying for good success in all their activities during this trip.
Blessings,
Patty