Leaving on a Jet Plane

Thank you all so much for your prayers and financial support (we raised the full amount and more!) as I embark for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. For the next two weeks, (4/13-4/28), Scott Duley and I will have the privilege of teaching the Bible to seventy-two pastors-in-training. These men are preparing to be sent out, two-by-two (in another couple of years) to plant 36 churches in totally unreached areas of Ethiopia!

Given my gifts (and my limitations), I can scarcely imagine a way for me to be more effective in the cause of global missions than the one God has given me. I get to use the gift for methodical teaching that I believe God has given me (and the Sermon on the Mount series which I preached at PRBC in 2005)…but I get to use that gift to train men who know the Ethiopian language and culture, and thus will be more effective at getting the good news to the unreached people of Ethiopia than I could ever dream of being! I cannot wait to get home and fill you in on what God will do with two American boys from the Deep South and seventy-two Ethiopian pastor trainees!

I wanted to write and give you a few prayer requests…

• How can you pray? Good question! Answer: Specifically! So, how can you pray specifically?
  
• Pray that all our travel plans would work out well (we only have an hour layover in Frankfurt!).
  
• Pray that if said plans don’t go as we expect, that I’d handle it with patience!
  
• Pray that our bodies would react well to the altitude (7,000 ft.) and the native food, etc.
  
• Pray we’ll get adequate rest after the jet lag.
  
• Pray for stamina…I’ll be teaching six hours a day.
  
• Pray that I will walk closely for the Lord for these two weeks…spending time feeding my own soul daily on His word.
  
• Pray for the translator, Haileyesus. He’ll be translating my lectures for about half the group.
  
• Pray that the lectures would be clear and helpful to these men.
  
• Pray for the men themselves…that God would give them clear minds and hearts as we study together.
  
• Pray for Amber and Anthony as they host us and handle a ton of logistics for these two weeks.
  
• Pray that these seventy-two men would get many souls when they are finally sent out to preach the gospel and plant churches in unreached areas.
  
• Pray that the Lord Jesus would be glorified in the way we teach, act, and interact with the people.
  
• Pray we make it back safely and on time!

I will be periodically (maybe 4-5 times) updating the blog while I am away. This will keep you informed on the most up-to-the-minute (as WLW says it) prayer requests. Blessings in Jesus...