I'm back!

The delay in postings had nothing to do with anything but the absence of internet connection. Actually I did get into one cyber cafe in Bauchi State, Nigeria. It was as frustrating as any other cyber cafe I have been in - slow, power interruptions that make everything go blank, and other glitches that we don't have in our homes.

That blackout began in Nigeria. I will post a few glimpses of the time there and some overall reflections.

The return flight was only 13 hours, from Lagos to Atlanta. This time instead of an imam next to me I had a Nigerian young man who was heading to New York for medical schooling. He had never left Nigeria before. For this Pentecostalist and praise band leader, this journey was surely more than he ever could imagine. We did have some good prayer time and finally separated at the Passport Control desks.

What follows are vignettes of the Nigerian part of the trip. The purpose was to give a vision of how the unreached peoples of the world need a place in the missions vision of the church. In this case the church was leaders of CANA.

I have inserted a news posting that got lost in Singapore.

Connecting US Churches with Nigerian Missions

That was the overall goal of the trip - to see how congregations here can connect with efforts of the Nigerian Anglican Church in its work among unreached peoples.

That is not an easy task. In my experience I have found that we in the West are so used to being the initiators of mission that we naturally assume that role, even when it doesn't fit. This is a case in point - seeking how to attach ourselves to something already going on in Nigeria and going quite well, thank you very much, before we arrived on the scene. The specific group is the Fulani nomads of West Africe, 20 million of them and 9 million residing in Nigeria.

I suggested, as a way for us to get a handle on the situation, that we come up with "100 ministry options" for us and the Nigerian Fulani mission. That is an essential piece of training for Strategy Coordinators. First they do the research on their group, then they examine the needs and the resources, then the 100 options.

For us thinking about 100 options took us into some profound thinking about what is and what isn't appropriate. For instance one of us pointed out early on that giving money is the least sacrificial way of connecting. We agreed to put writing checks at number 100. We also agreed that urging one of us to return to Nigeria and train as a Fulani evangelist would be pretty stupid. That was number 99.

But we did some good thinking and worked through the scenario with prudent and plausible results.

Fulani Mission - Theirs and ours

About five years ago a bishop in northern Nigeria realized that in his diocese many Fulani tribesmen lived. They wandered in after the rains, settled their families, and then moved on to other pastures with their cattle. This bishop, the Rt. Rev. William Diya, knew that the Anglican Church of Nigeria was doing nothing in the way of outreach and church planting among them.

Bishop Diya went to the Primate, the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, with this report and the request that the Nigerian Anglican Church do something. The Primate made some inquiries about the Fulani and proposed a radical and pioneering response - the assignment of a bishop to the nomads of Nigeria, wherever they may be. A year or two later Stephen Mutum was consecrated as this bishop.

Three dioceses at least are doing church planting among the Fulani - Bp. Diya's, Bp. Mutum's, and Bp. Tula of Bauchi Diocese.

Our group met with all of these, except Bp. Mutum who was not in the area, and learned about their work. The more we learned from them and the more we saw of the work, the better our conversations became among ourselves about our connections.

The best model I saw in the Bible was the relation Paul had with his friends in the Philippian church. In his introduction he laid out the top of his 100 options. He said he prayed for them, prayed with joy, kept them in his heart, sent Timothy so he could keep up with them, and wanted them to know about his own situation.

That was the least and the first that we should be doing with these leaders of the Fulani work. We have their names, we have seen their churches, have met their leaders, know the needs, heard some stories, went to their worship centers, noted the strategies for exansion. We will keep up with them all; we will pray for them; we will tell their stories to others; we (some, at least) will go back to stay in touch; and we will support the efforts in ways that they are unable to.

And for sure we will forever find ourselves lifted to a higher level of being bold and eager for the Lord's work to be done through us where we are, as they are there.

An American Priest in the Nigerian Church

That would be me. After a process of 18 months I have been transferred from the Diocese of Virginia in the Episcopal Church to the Diocese of Makurdi in the Province of the Anglican Church in Nigeria.

The Bishop of Makurdi is the Rt. Rev. N. N.Inyom, who is also the Chairman of Anglican Frontier Missions there. It has been my privilege to work with Bishop Inyom since the Lambeth Conference of 1998.

The reason is simple to understand, for anyone aware of the theological position within the Episcopal Church. The prevailing theological stand in it undermines the voice of one stating the uniqueness of Christ and the hope God offers for salvation through His only Son whom He sent into the world. That voice is one I use as often as I can. That voice is one I want to increase in volume and effectiveness for the 1 billion 700 million people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. Speaking as a member of the Episcopal Church to others seriously reduces the credibility of that voice.

Bishop Lee gave a fair listening to my request and my rationale and then granted my transfer to the Diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria. There the voice speaking of Christ and His hope is reinforced in breadth and in depth, in sympathy, profound agreement, and evangelistic eagerness.

I'm glad to be there. I will travel there at least annually, will assist in training missionaries, and will support the vision of Anglican Frontier Missions in Nigeria from here as well as I can.

News from the "Far East"

Of course that term is out of fashion, and it is easy to see why. From China, the Far East is not so far away, so who gets to say it is in the East. Far East from where? That's the issue.

So here is some news that you in the Far West might have missed.

Tata, the company that will build a car for under $3,000, has just announced where it will have the plant - Gujurat. The decision was preceded by protests by farmers and environtalists. Farmers for their land, environmentalists for damage to the entire region. Gujurat landed the plant, place with fewer farmers and a large employment pool.

The Sport Page carries lots of articles about football - the kind with the round ball and a goalkeeper - and cricket. The teams are from many countries, but no US team in these games. Beckham has just passed to the third position in total appearances.

Saudi Arabia just beheaded its 73 person of this year. The victim was guilty of murder. The number of people beheaded is slightly down from last year.

UVA defeated East Carolina. Oh - sorry. That was from Google, not from the Straits Times. Besides, you probably knew that already.

Newton Circus is a food court for night laborers in Singapore. It is open from 5 PM until 5 AM. One night Constance and I wandered on down. We had just arrived from Virginia where it was mid-afternoon. She saw what she claims was the largest cockroach ever! Still, we enjoyed the place.

There have been complaints of "touts" there - hawkers who hang around the central refreshment area urging their stall on customers. The powers that be are restricting the number of people who can be associated with any stall.

Yom Kippur was celebrated in Singapore by the 1,000 Jews here. The pictures looked like they could have been any Jews in any country.

So you're a PROHS-ti-tute!

Great line from "Trading Places". Dan Ackroyd, an urbane and ultra sophisticated down-and-out realizes the trade of the woman who has taken him in.

That line occurred to me when the young lady sat down at my table at 6 this morning while I was eating my Egg McMuffin.

I had seen her go in the store. In a hurry, attractive, and not dressed modestly. When she came out to the area where I was sitting, she nearly stumbled and then took a seat at my table. She started chatting about her stumble, going home after work, and being tired. I asked where she worked. (Yeah, no kidding. Well, cut me some slack. How many times does this happen in Northumberland County?) She told me and had to repeat it a couple of times. I picked up the word "pub" but she sort of sloughed it off.

I was getting the picture. She asked me what I was doing. I said I was reading the Bible. It was open before me. She mnade a face. I said that the Bible would tell her how much Jesus loves her. I had a very strong sense of her inner pain, disgust with life, and misery underneath her exterior.

She listened to me about God giving her a new heart filled with His love. She listenend. Then she asked if I wanted to go with her. I asked her to come with me and I would take her to church. She declined but gave the ideas I had spoken some thought. Then she left.

Reminded me of the woman taken in adultery and the compassion Jesus had for her. I hope she looks to Him for the same love, the same transforming power.

Singapore Scenes

It's a city unlike anything we see outside the States. Here are a few examples of its uniqueness.

On the arrival card it says, in big red print, "Death to Drug Dealers by Law."

In the areas where you wait for the subway, there is no trash on the floor, and no trash cans!

To use the subway, you go to a touch screen and touch the station you want. It tells you the fare. You insert it, get change and take ticket. To get through the turn stiles, you tap a screen with the ticket. Doors open. Something about a radio something, probably the world's first radio isotope inside a subway card. After the trip, return the ticket to the machine and get a dollar back.

Today, Sunday, they were out in scores. Hundreds. Doing the favorite sport of Singaporeans - shopping. Serious shopping. Shops, malls, arcades, you name it.

It's a city not for everybody. If you like to live the American independent spirit, push the envelope, step over the line, question authority, jay walk, spit, jump in line - you get the picture - you can slow down and take a look, but you won't want to stay.

AFM International Next Steps

I passed over the results rather quickly last night. Here is a bit more about the plans for AFM and its vision.

No structure, but an International Advisory Council. Isn't that nice. No titles, no elections, no jostling to see who is in line for what. Just get on with it.

Leaders for regions of the least evanglized world. These would be East Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Middle East, South Asia, U. K., Nigeria, US. We have names of several who will take the vision on.

The area of concentration will be World A, the outline of those areas where less than 50% have heard the Gospel.

A schedule of trainings for Strategy Coordinators. We listed about five for the next 12 months.

A way to report back and tell the stories of God's working in these areas through the SC approach.

Funding guidelines. This is always the diciest issue. There is heavy reliance on the HQ (read "Richmond").


These all were pursued with enthusiasm, cooperation, and interest in each person's input. The overwhelming common denominator in it all was the realization that AFM is the only Anglican agency working exclusively among the least evangelized, and we use a highly effective, non-traditional method, the Strategy Coordinator.

Pretty amazing to hear that expressed by them, but I have to concur. Glad it is being picked up and expanded.

In the meantime, I have my oysters, my wife, and my books upstairs. (Not in that order!)

Sunday morning and retired

Kuan Kim Seng is the Dean of the Cathedral and Director of Missions for the Diocese of Singapore. He was our host and an active participant.

During the meeting he brought in a dean of a seminary in England, George Kavoor. George knew everybody there! So with great excitement the bunch is going off to hear George preach at 11 and then have lunch with him to set up Strategy Coordinator training at his theological college.

I'm heading to a place where they sell cheap old US movies and an Orthodox church in the vicinity. Julian will have a great lunch and make visionary plans with George. I'm retired.


As a post script, I'll tell you my previous encounter with George. Every three years Singapore has a missions roundtable. I have been at the prevous two. Missed this one. Ahhh.

At the last one George was distributing what he called a radical missions vision. It was all about mobilizing a new witness to the Gospel to the lukewarm West. He asked for my response. About a month later I replied. Same old, same old, I said. Take a number and get in line with those who want to bring a fresh view of the Gospel to the West. In the meantime there are only 1 billion 700 million who do not live in the West and whom he is overlooking.

He remembered.

Antioch in Singapore

For several years Singapore has been known as the modern Antioch. (For those of you who don't have instant recall of Acts 13, Antioch had a dazzlingly diverse leadership from which they sent out Paul and Barnabas as the church's first missionaries.)

Singapore is strategically situated, as was Antioch. In fact the Anglican Church here has "deaneries" - like our dioceses or districts - in Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, and one other up there somewhere. There are no mission agencies under the church here because the entire diocese is constantly in a missionary mode.

Yesterday afternoon Archbishop John Chew stopped in our meeting. I remarked on Singapore as Antioch and referred to our meeting. We were from China, India, Britain, US, Nigeria, and one other somewhere. A dazzing diversity. Furthermore we numbered no more than the list of leaders in Acts 13. I noted that out of this meeting the spirit of Antioch will go forth from Singapore to the ends of the earth.

I thought it was a pretty perceptive comment. He laughed and said something about "convenience" being the mark of the church's strategic location rather than mission. He is a very humble man.

What we accomplished

We started around 10. I thought about how much we had to do and so short a time. But we got more done than we dreamed.

Reasons? God. Prayer. And the fact that we all think as strategy coordinators, wanting to get the impossible done.

Julian prepared a paper for us to work from and then led us through it. A structure. Guidelines for funding, for selecting a people group, promotion of AFM outside the US, training of strategy coordinator schedule, next meeting (Patna, India, October 5,6,7. Want to go?), and setting up regional directors.

Amazzing. Thanks for your prayers.

The Cathedral has 17 services tomorrow. MOre to come afterwards.

Travel Tidpbits - 2

What could be so complicated about getting on a bus, or ordering coffee with cream? Plenty. They don't do it the way you do at home - wherever your home is.

This afternoon I got on a bus to take us to Little India. I knew the fare was 90 cents.Had it in my paw. Got up, dropped the coins in, and the driver said something to me - in Chinese. Pointed to a machine. I looked at it rather stupidly. My friend said there was a ticket there. The driver pointed again. I held up my ticket smartly. He said there were two there. Sure enough. All that only took two changes of the street light.

And coffee? I never knew there could be so many ways to have coffee, just plain coffee and cream./ I've ordered it now about four times and haven't got it right yet. Seems so easy at the 7-11.

Ganges and Forgiveness

Ponraj mentioned that he will be having baptism in the Ganges River. He does it after 11 AM.

We asked why that hour. He replied that the Hindus use it from 5 AM until 10 AM. Then the Christians can use it.

Then someone observed how that characterizes the difference between Hinduism and Christianity. They come back over and over hoping that the waters of the river that is holy to them, the Ganges. will remove their sins. Christians believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. One has died once for all for all who put their faith in Him.

The task of the Singapore group

Here we are, the eight of us, all joined by a commitment to church planting among the least evangelized. We are addressing the question of how to expand this vision within the Anglican Communion. Here are a few of the issues we are discussing.

One is, oddly, bishops without the vision. The two bishops with us just laugh at that. They know only too well how this is a real obstacle. Ponraj has told us of his situation where he has offered his hundreds of churches to the bishop of that area. His bishop has stalled, been diverted, and has complained of slow committees. In other words...

We agree that we are in an Anglican structure and our first effort would be to work under the bishop. If he is not agreeable with the work, we feel we are morally free to get on with it without him.

Another is awareness raising. How can we get more of the Anglican Communion aware of the neglect of the 1.5 billion people who remain in the dark about Jesus? We will work on that today. We will not be starting from scratch on this. Julian has some ideas. Ponraj is great on getting reports and publishing them. So we'll have some ideas for strategy.

The third is funding. One of the bishops said that, no matter the efforts in Nigeria or wherever, we must look to the US for funds. Later Julian and I were discussing this. He is reading a book called, "When Charity destroys Dignity". It's about generosity and good intentions that bring about negative results in the places and people who are on the receiving end. Specifically Americans stunt growth of Third World churches by denying them the opportunity to invest in their own ministry. If the funds from themselves do not permit new computers and flat screen monitors, so be it.

There is lots of wisdom in this. I hope we can get that across today. Nigerian Anglicans have doubled their size in the last ten years without US money. So how come this situation changes thhings. The point is not to pass the buck, the point is for them to have the pleasure and honor and ownership by raising the funds for themselves.

So stay tuned to see how well theory meets reality! And pray for our wisdom. Thanks.

Travel tidbits

With the different time zones, hours in airports, and the change in continents, inevitably there will be the unexpected. Here are a few.

I had to change my flight leaving Mumbai for Patna. That caused half an hour waits at the counter three times. Once I counted seven persons who were invovled in the change.

The second time I missed the connecting flight, the airlines gave me a hotel room. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? The meal was included. When the bill came, they told me I had not eaten or ordered the full fare that was allowed. Did I want anything else? Answer - I had my first banana split in eight years.

That was the end of the pleasant stay. Turns out my room was right outside an area of new construction and two bulldozers were at it from 2 AM until 5. I gave them a piece of my mind, and I gave a letter of protest to the airline.


So in the room where we are meeting are representatives from seven differerent cultures, races, languages, etc. Makes me hope I can draw on all I have learned about cross-cultural life.


I am rooming with Ponraj, from Bihar State, India. His is a small agency when it comes to expenses outside Bihar. Mine is a non-existent agency. We are exemplary in creative ways to enjoy Singapore!

On the airlines they always serve a meal. The attendant asks, "Veg or non-veg?" Many Indians, of course, are vegetarian.

I did have the privilege of a flight on Singapore Airlines. Pray that God will send you to heaven on Singapore Airlines. An amzaing way to travel. The food, the touches, all bring together a wonderful experience. One noticeable difference in the quiet of the attendants compared to the ways of those in the US. I must say, however,that I believe there is a screening for the beautiful women of Singapore Air that does not reflect well on their attitudes to women who are not of perfect complexion or figure.

An unexpected Fulani contact

We were joined today by a Rev. Sunday. Turns out he is studying here for a year and is from Ibadan in Nigeria. Some one asked what his group is that he is working on.

Fulani!

After the discussion I asked him when he is returning to Nigeria. Monday he said. How about that!

I told him to be thinking about our program, what we should be doing, how we can be involved later. He seems eager to do that very thing.

We will spend time with him and with Bp. Mutum, the diocesan bishop for Nomads. Also Zacchaeus Asun, Bp. Kafuncahn of the Fulani area, and Bishop Tula, aka The Bulldzer.

What a grand opportunity to have time with this man.

The Singapore meeting

We assembled around 11:00 in the morning, six of us. Two Africans (Bishop Inyom and Bishop Kattey), one Brit (Julian), one Yank (me), one Indian (Ponraj), and two Chinese Singaporean (Frank Teo and Kuan Kim Seng).

The Bishops and Ponraj had taken the Strategy Coordinator course. Frank had taught it. Kim Seng had organized it. I had helped to teach it. Julian is enjoying the fruit of it all.

Our goal is to come up with a design for an international AFM movement. These are one and all highly motivated, entrepreneurial, and creative. Today we all put stuff out there for discussion. Tomorrow we will put some organization around it.

Pray for God's leading and clarity and bold aspirationss.

"Overnight" to Singapore

Right, we left Delhi at 11 PM and arrived in Singapore at 7 in the morning. Only thing is the flight was 4 1/2 hours, so the night was less than an hour, counting the time for dinner.

I'm off for a long sleep, I hope.

I'll try again - Manoj amd his bride

It's quite simple. His father decides when it is time for Manoj to marry. He thought last year was right. So he (the father) then started thinking and searching for an apt mate. He found one. Manoj showed me her picture on a walk last year. I asked her name. He didn't know. That one failed because Manoj is short and she was tall.

Then he (the fathr) remembered a friend he had gone to schoolwith many years ago. This man had a daughter. Was she available? Was she a Christian? Could the two men meet? They did in Calcutta last month. It was agreed.

So - no picture this time. Had to pause to remember her name. Met her once many years ago. The wedding date is Nov. 20.

And they will probably live happily ever after.

The Marriage of Manj

The Durga Puja Festival

It goes for ten days and everything stops for the last two. Tonight is the tenth and final night, so lots of parades and idols.

The idea is that the goddess Durga will show 26 favors during the festival. She is the destroyer of evil. The Hindus build very elaborate temples and idols. Really works of art. People come and sit before her and watch and listen to the droning from the loud speakers.

The streets are fully decorated with red and white hangings. Quite lovely. No school, no work. Today the traffic is extremely light. And therefore no newspaper.

Manoj took several of us on a tour during the day yesterday. During daylight hours, mind you. The temples were all over. Sort of a combination of New Year's Eve, 4th of July, and Christmas.

In 19 days is another major festival, Dewali, the feast of lights. That is a lovely festival with decorations of light on all the streets. I remember being in Kathmandu for Dewali one year adn the narrow streets were hung with lights. A beautiful sight.

The correlation of Dewali and the Gospel is quite an easy step. For Durga Puja I haven' t heard any such overlap. In some situations Christians will offer what amounts to a counter statement of the festival. Kind of risky here in northern India with tense relations between Hindus and Christians in Orissa.

Paul's Mission Insight

One of the books I brought along - along with a book by Jane Austen and one by Ward and Judy - is one on Paul and his missionary teaching. What I read this morning was brilliant and I'll pass it along.

The author was tracing Paul's conversion back to the influence of Stephen, who was from the same province in Turkey as Paul. Stephen clearly saw that the Temple and the Law were superseded by the death and resurrection of Christ. That mean a radical rethinking of mission from a centripetal one - where all heads inward to Jerusalem - to a centrifugal one - where the church goes out to where the unreached people are.

Stephen's emphasis was not lost on Paul. At first it so infuriated him that he conspired to have Stephen brought to the Council. After meeting Jesus on the Damascus Road, Paul forcefully taught and the Spirit's work replaces the Law and the Kingdom is not located in the place of Jerusalem but in the heart of God.

That emphasis pervades his letters. It also drove him to want to go where no one had gone before.

Still, the notion that the church goes out and seeks rather than passively waits and receives does not have the mind and soul of many churches. Fortunately we do know of one...

Next time I'll write about another that I saw up close while in Patna. Also about my walking friend Manoj who will be married in November. He might not recognize his wife since he only met her once and that was long ago.

People - 3: George and Nancy

Julian had told me there would be a US couple at the training. I forgot about them until the day I arrived. Their story shows how small the missions world is in the Episcopal Church.

George and Nancy had served with SAMS, the South American Missionary Society, in the early 90'. I knew of them, since I had just gone off that board. They served in Costa Rica.

Then they came back and settled near Melbourne. The church they joined is led by Loren Fox, a former missionary with AFM> Julian had been at this church with Ponraj earlier this year. So there at that church were 1) a chief mentor for AFM, Ponraj, 2) the Director, Julian, 3) A fromer AFM missinary and family, the Foxes, adnd 4) future AFM candidates.

Pretty amazing. We had great talks. They are in India for a month to learn about the people group that they may be serving with. Glad that our paths crossed finally in the world of the unreached.

More people - Jeremiah

Jeremiah came to the training because his boss told him to. His boss, Rev. A. Jebukamar, leads a very large ministry in several states in northern India. I was intrigued that he would send this man to Ponraj's training. Jeremiah will be the leader for this agency's work in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

I didn't have to ask him the impact of the training, he offered his views. Enthusiastically.

He had thought that he would plant 25 churches in his life. Each would take about three years and then he would move on. AFter this training he caught the vision of planting churches that plant other churches. I had always stressed multiplication of churches rather than addition. Clearly he got it.

He told of the persecution he is receiving in UP and his determination to push on. One day he was riding his motorcycle to the church - about a 15 minute ride. He knew that many thugs had threatened to beat him up. But on this ride his mother called, so he was riding on and listening to the conversation. He did notice several others coming up alongside him, but didn't pay any attention to it.

When he got to the church, the people there wondered at his being there. It seems that these thugs were determined to stop him and beat him up. Instead they just saw him going on, not showing any fear. That made quite an impression on them. Little did they know what he did not know!

People in Patna - Mrityunjah

This man has translated for me several times in the past, but I never heard his story. He lived in the SW corner of Bihar State where there were no Christians, no churches.

He heard the Gospel from a radio program! That was all it took. He immediately became a follower of Jesus. An agency somewhere sent him a Bible. He started telling his friends about the Gospel. He knew that baptism was the step to take, but he didn't know any ministers.

Finally he heard of one in Calcutta and wrote him asking him to come and baptize. When the minister came, he had 64 people to baptize!

Mrityunjah stayed there a few more years and planted six churches!

Now he is on the staff of BORN, the mission agency where I was teaching this week. He has a sweet quiet spirit, but obviously he has a great amount of zeal.

Yusef, the Imam

This was the first testimony to all your prayers.

When I was boarding the plane in New York, I noticed there was an imam on the flight. And wouldn't you know that he was seated right beside me. For 14 hours.

He had a great interest in Christianity, and he opened up with these questions: What does it mean to be born again? Why is the cross so central? Why did things stop at the cross?

Questions usually don't come that easily!

The question about the cross was about people who have lived since then. Do they have the benefit of forgiveness? I talked about Thomas and Jesus saying that blessed are those who do not see and believe. Also about the Holy Spirit in the church as we are sent to tell others about Jesus and His death.

He understood the cross for sins but didn't see how we received forgiveness. That led to the Holy Spirit.

A very good talk. I have his e-mail. He lives in Atlanta.

Itinerary and Challenging Opportunities

Today I leave for New York and then, on one hop, land in Mumbai in India. I have a day there, due to my carrier to Patna deciding to cancel the Sunday flight and move it to Monday. I'll use the time well in sleeping and preparing for the challenging opportunities.

First c.o. is Patna, where I will assist in training some national evangelists to think about church planting, and churches that will plant other churches. Ponraj runs this organization, Bihar OutReach Network. It is a masterfully organized network of many layers of workers and efforts to see churches established in Bihar State, having 90 million Hindus and 60,000 Christians. This is my fourth time with Ponraj and BORN. The times there are exhilarating. Pray for presentations that move their thinking. October 5 - 9.

Second comes in Singapore. This will be a meeting from four continents of Anglican leaders working among the least evangelized peoples. We hope to set up an international board of AFM which will raise awareness and encourage involvement by more Anglicans in the unreached world. We're starting from scratch here, and we will really need the Lord to guide. No slackers among us but we will need unity of vision and a prudent but large vision. Oct. 9-14

Lastly, I meet with two from St. Stephen's, Jim and Lucy Logan, and three leaders from CANA, to see what the Anglicans of Nigeria are doing among unreached peoples. Anglicans there are doing more than any others anywhere else. We will concentrate on their work among the Fulani people of West Africa. We hope to see, listen, learn, and bring back informed passion and new ideas. I hope the impact will be a higher priority for mission to the least evangelized for CANA, and specific ideas for St. Stephen's and the Fulani. Again, all this is new and without agenda. The Lord will have to put this together, taking our experience and bringing us closer to His vision and His plans. Oct. 14 - 23.

Actually I leave on the 22nd, arriving in Richmond at 11 PM. That's very late for Constanve to be picking me up. She has reminded me of Jacob meeting Laban with several waves of gifts. Not sure why she brings that up.

There you have it - my itinerary and your prayer topics. Many thanks. Posting coming irregularly.

The Eagle has landed

That would be my visa. Today, Monday, September 29, was the last day I could receive it. If not, the Nigerian Embassy would be closed for Ramadan for three days. I leave in four days...

Much prayer in church yesterday, many people asking the Lord, and there it was.

The fact that i will miss a day in Bihar State due to a lost flight seems minor in the light of possibly not having my visa.

Now for packing. One carry-on bag for three weeks. No problem. Talcum powder. And powerful deodorant.

On to things on a higher level - the purpose of the trip.

Not yet!