Throughout our time in Africa, Team Ignite has had the opportunity to work with some great men and women who are wholeheartedly serving the Lord and living by faith. I would like to share the vision that God has put in the hearts of these three men.
Swaziland
Pastor Gift Dlamini was recently ordained as the head pastor of the first G42 church plant in Africa. This church is located in Nsoko, Swaziland and reaches an area that is in desperate need. Gift is a righteous man. He loves the Lord and he has a YES attitude in his heart. Whatever God asks of him, he always says YES. It is for this reason that he has been ordained by the Lord to reach the area of Nsoko. As I stated earlier, Gift lives by faith. While our team was in Nsoko, Pastor Gift was without a car and would sometimes wait for more than an hour for public transportation just to meet up with our team. When he finally got a car, it was during the week leading up to Easter Sunday and his ordination. On the first day of driving this car, something happened to where the car spun out and flipped over! Talk about being attacked. Even something like this does not keep the man down. His family is in the transition phase of moving to Nsoko from Manzini so he does not get to see them as much as he wants. It reminds me of what Paul says about the cost of discipleship. He just says YES, even when it means not getting to see his family as much. The vision in Nsoko is to see the various “Care Points” in the area self-sustained with water, production of some viable crops, education for the children, and a market that can be visited by all of the tourists that come through Nsoko. The market would provide goods that the women of the region craft themselves. Pastor Gift will help establish these different Care Points until they are self-sustained as well as run the community center that was recently built in a central location to these Care Points. We want to show these people that God is a God who provides and who does not forsake his people. Pastor Gift is a catalyst to see the Swazi children rise up and change their country. If you or someone you know would like to provide financial aid to Pastor Gift or are interested in working alongside Pastor Gift, please donate here or contact Gary Black at [email protected].
South Africa
Most of our team was able to spend some time with a couple and their daughter who work at Back Door Ministries just outside of Nelspruit, South Africa. Bob and Sue McKay along with their daughter Linda have been there for roughly a year establishing a feeding center, Bible school, a soccer team, and they are currently working to buy 60 something acres of land to start a children’s village. Bob and Sue are on staff with IRIS ministries and are looking to set up an orphanage system much like the IRIS bases in Machava and Zimpeto in Mozambique. Bob is a man full of the Spirit and full of life. He has a passion to see the children reached in South Africa because he knows that they will be the next generation. Bob’s vision for the land is to make it self-sustainable as well. The land already has 5 houses on it which will house hopefully 6-8 orphans and 2 house parents. They will look to build more houses as they are financially capable. They will also use much of the land to plant various crops to sell for added support to set up the school system on the future base. They are walking in complete faith right now that God will provide for them to purchase this land. Please pray that the Lord will meet the need of 400,000USD by the end of this month in order to buy the land. I will keep you posted on their status as I am updated.
Mozambique
Yesterday I returned from a week spent in Boane, Mozambique. Our contact there was Don Foster. Don comes from the US and is also on staff with IRIS Ministries. He is currently responsible for 13 young men in their 20s who have recently come out of the orphanage systems set up at Machava and Zimpeto. This is called the Benjamin Project and was started by Jeff and Caryn Hakes as a part of IRIS. Don has recently been placed in charge of this project and has vision to see this men come out of the orphanages to head to bolder and braver things. Don has a tremendous heart and he loves the Lord. The tough part is that he is on his own and is trying to manage the day-to-day logistics, carrying out the vision of the property, and discipling these 13 men. It is quite the task. He also takes advantage of the evangelism opportunities in the area by showing the Jesus films in Portuguese and their regional language of Shangan. The vision for the land is to begin an agricultural system for these men. To teach them farming trades as well as put them through school. Many of them were not able to go to school growing up because of the civil war. So now, they are in their 20s and trying to catch up. He has A LOT of construction and building projects including a church, visitor housing, latrines, etc. He needs financial as well as physical help. So I ask you to pray for Don and his needs. Pray for some Mozambican leadership to come in and help. Pray for people in western society to be mobilized to come help him plan out a course of action and disciple. He needs staff. Here are some pictures from a project that our team took on at his house:
These men are the workers. And they are few. The harvest is plentiful, so they need our help as intercessors and as actual laborers.
Also, stay posted on my teammates’ blogs, there are some awesome stories coming out and I’m not able to cover all of them! Look on the left under the section “My Team” to get to their blogs. Thank you so much for reading and praying for their needs.
