Rants, thoughts, observations, and updates from Pastor Lee Cadenhead.
Our football outreach was tonight and this event is always the first one in a new season of outreach events for Ridge Road. We got a great start tonight at the WSN/TRM game. We had twenty people come out to help with the literature distribution and we managed to get out over 600 John/Romans provided to us by the Victory Baptist Press. A special thanks to everyone that partipated. We trust that God’s word will not return unto Him void.
Today we wound up the Revival meetings. It was Friend Day at the Chiwempala church and it was very well attended. There were over 50 adult visitors at the church! There were at least five saved between the invitation and personal work following the service. In addition there were 189 children there for Sunday School! Can you imagine? I preached on going in to the Promised Land, a message about victorious living. I compared the natural man, the carnal man, and the natural man (terms used in First Corinthians 2 and 3). Unfortunately the translation of “natural” and “carnal” are very close, but I think the saved people could understand. I hope the Lord will use it in spite of me (and the language difficulties). We’ll head to Lusaka tomorrow to catch a plane on Tuesday and then, praise the Lord, I’ll be en route to Alabama! Pray that my luggage makes it home this time.
I felt much better about the meeting tonight. I’m sure that I had the Lord’s message for the church (I preached on the church at Ephesus from Revelation 2). I hope He blesses it. I did have a minor mistake in my delivery that could have messed up the meeting. Zambia is a former British Colony (tomorrow is Independence Day). I’ve been trying to get acquainted with the British wording, but I had a lapse in the middle of my preaching. I was encouraging those that are laboring with patience, but pointed out that a lot of them were just “lazy bums”. As soon as it came out of my mouth it hit me. I’ve just told these people they are lazy rear-ends! Sounds like something I might have actually said in America. Thankfully Pastor Phiri caught it and didn’t translate “bum”. It could have always been worse. A veteran Brethren missionary here tells the story of a visitor that came over and got up before a church and said that he was “tickled to death” to be with them. The translator must have been confused as he explained that the man scratched himself till he died! Please pray for Friend Day on Sunday and soul-winning in the morning. God bless.
We had an early morning prayer meeting today for the Revival meetings. We also went to a neighboring town called Kitwe where we spent a little time with another missionary family. Tonight was the first night of the meetings at the Chiwempala church. This church was established several years ago and has a great national pastor. At one time it was a large church, but has dwindled a bit in recent years as many people have moved away in search of work. It is much in need of real revival. The meeting went okay. I didn’t feel nearly as good about the way it went in comparison to the earlier meeting at the Mine church. I’m still not sure what was missing. Just pray that we’re hitting on all cylinders in tomorrows meeting. Sunday is their “Friend Day”. This will have a great evangelistic potential. Last year there were a lot of people there. I’m praying the Lord will greatly bless the service. It’s been a great trip thus far, but I am home sick! I’m just going to have to travel with my family from now on! (I wonder how they would like Africa for two weeks!?!)
We had another great meeting at the Mine Church tonight. There was a tremendous turnout and the mosquitoes were minimal. I preached on the turning points in King Hezekiah’s life and it was very well received. There was a tremendous spirit in the church, especially given the age of the church and the nature of the preaching. It seems to be a particularly solid church for only three years old and built on sound doctrine and Bible preaching (as opposed to music, emotionalism, and heresy like most of the other mission works in the area. We had a lady visit last night that said that she had an appointment tonight and would not be back. God apparently canceled her appointment and she showed up tonight. She actually responded to the altar call for salvation when the invitation was extended. Someone will meet with her this week to talk with her more extensively about the gospel. When one of the pastors went to the back to deal with her he had to return for a flashlight! Remember, there’s no power yet at the mine church. That’s probably the trouble with the lack of evangelism among most Christians. They have the light of God’s word, but not enough light to illuminate the scriptures for a sinner.
Tomorrow we’ll pass out flyers around the Chiwempala church and have prayer meeting there in the evening. The meeting there starts on Thursday night. Please pray for this.
We had another very good meeting tonight at the mine church. It was faithfully attended by the church folk and there was a very good spirit during the service. To say that the church people actually came may not seem to impressive, but these people have to walk and there is no power in the church (not to mention competing with the mosquitos). It was a great testimony to the strength of this young church. It was quite unique preaching in the dark; there were only two flourescent camping lights set on the floor behind the pulpit with which to read the scripture. There were also about three visitors, probably the fruit of the approximately 350 flyers that we passed out in the morning. Tomorrow night will be the last night of the Mine-church meeting and then we’ll begin at the larger “Chiwempala” church on Thursday. Thanks again for your prayers.
Going on mission trips is great. I enjoy it so much that I plan on trying to do it at least once a year. The exposure that you get from seeing another culture is enlightening. And to see the world-wide gospel need is soul-stirring. But to be honest, spending that much money on a plane or bus ticket sort of forces you to put some extra spiritual emphasis on the time you spend in a different place. So I got to thinking, Why shouldn’t we be just as totally committed to evangelism, discipleship, and spiritual interests when we’re at home as when we’re away for that stated purpose. Read the title again. Say it to yourself. There are lost people everywhere we go. Missions is not somewhere else, missions is wherever God has put you at this very moment.
After having my trip postponed a day due to a flight cancellation I was looking for some special purpose in why it was a day behind. I did get to speak with a member of the Zambian Parliament at length about the gospel on the flight from South Africa. He even took me in to a VIP waiting room at the airport and got my visa stamped along with his, bypassing the line everyone else stayed in. He invited me to come and have lunch with him at the parliament (which we decided against). He’s a lost Roman Catholic, but I gave him some things to think about. You might call it a “divine appointment”. My luggage didn’t make it from Joburg to Lusaka with my flight, but when Mike went to pick them up he got to witness to a young man at the airport at some length. Another divine appointment I guess. And then Friday night we were eating at a seafood restraunt outside of a mall when an American guy that I met in line in Joburg passed by. I stopped him and gave him a tract and Mike witnessed to him for a while. It was a great opportuniy.
I’m thankful for all of these occasions, but the truth is, most of the time we miss these “divine” appointments, because we don’t think of our day to day existence as being too divine. You don’t have to go to Africa to do evangelism. A real walk with God makes every appointment divine in a way. “To the pure all things are pure”. I hope this trip stirs me up to see Brewton more like a mission field and my self more like a missionary. After all missions is wherever you “go”.
Greetings again from Africa. It is Sunday afternoon as I here as I type this post and you folks in the states are just about to go to church. The following is the latest on what’s been happening here.
I preached the morning session of the youth conference on Friday. This was a very unique experience. I got a lot of help from the Lord in preparing this material just for these Zambian youth. In Zambia there is a tremendous cultural chasm between the young and the old and I had looked forward to addressing this scripturally with the Baptist youth groups in Lusaka. I preached the material that the Lord provided, but there was a very strange, almost resistant spirit among the teens. They were quite animated during the singing, but rather disconnected from the preaching. I can’t put my finger on it, but I do hope the messages helped someone. I pointed out that the future spiritual condition of the churches is in their hands. I was reminded from their reaction that this fact can be good or bad. We might ought to pray for these churches in the coming years.
We had some leisure in the afternoon and I tried playing squash for the first time. This is kind of like European raquet ball. Mike beat me like a drum. I think I’ll leave squash in Zambia.
Saturday we traveled to Chingola where the Dobbins family lives. I attended Bible Institute in the afternoon where Mike taught 7 or 8 nationals for two hours from the book of Acts. It was a blessing to see this training going on here and to be a small part of it by our regular support of the ministry.
Today (Sunday) was our first day of the Revival meeting at the Mine-area church. This is a small work that only started about three years ago. Today was Friend Day and they had about twelve or so first time visitors. I preached from John 12 on seeing Jesus Christ. One lady responded at the invitation time for salvation. The best part of the day however was to see the trained personal workers deal with every visitor about salvation following the church service. They are very thorough in the way they deal with people. We can rejoice that by the end of the day there were eleven that were saved! We’ll have two more meetings at the Mine church tomorrow night and Tuesday night. Then we’ll begin the Revival meetings at the Chiwempala church on Thursday evening. Thank you for your continued prayers.
I made it safely to Africa and the first day of Conference teaching went very well. I spent most of the day teaching on John 8:32. The men and women were congregated together and the conference was well attended. There was a good spirit and we closed the day with a message on the burning bush that was especially well received. I’ve enjoyed the fellowship with Bro. Dobbins a great deal as well. Tomorrow morning I’ll teach the youth and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll make the trip from Lusaka to Chingola on Saturday morning and and then begin the revival meetings on Sunday morning. Thank you for your prayers and I’ll attempt to give some further updates as the meetings progress. By the way, my luggage showed up today!
After several years of hard work on the part of liberal politicians, Congress has finally managed to pass hate crimes legislation that will provide special protection for Sodomites. I’ve made mention of the Matthew Shepherd Act in a couple of sermons over the last year or so, and commented on how this takes us one step closer to the prosecution of Bible-believing preachers for preaching on sin. The House has at last succeeded in getting this Act passed as an attachment to a Defense Policy Bill. I’m not sure what homosexuals have to do with outfitting our military and protecting our nation. For the time being the legislation is supposed to be limited to the prosecution of those who cause “bodily injury” to someone on the basis of sexual orientation. But of course this is just one more step in making those who practice gross iniquity in to a socially acceptable ”people group”. This country is in trouble.
In “unrelated” news, Martin Luther King Jr.’s money-hungry kids are fighting over who can speak on behalf of his estate to give permission for the production of a major biopic of their father’s life. It was following his assasination that federal “hate crimes” legislation was birthed. It is interesting to see the character of these who require special “civil rights” (Laodicea) constantly manifested in the most embarassing ways.
