Before we left the Zambian Encounter Team on Saturday evening to head to Livingston, they presented gifts to each one of us. My gift was a portrait of me made of "millet" seeds glued to canvas. I hope it makes it back to the U.S. in one piece:) As I look at this art piece (and thank God for the improvement:)), I'm overwhelmed with the fact that I'm just a claypot vessel. I had just preached a message at Mt. Carmel before I left on the trip from 2 Cor 4, and t...

Meet Matt McMillan! He is a member of the Encounter Zambia team and is 21 years old. I watched this young man all week as he sang and ministered continually in the joy of the Lord. He has a smile that can light up a room and is flat out contagious. His parents are Jehovah's Witnesses and do not approve of him being on the Encounter team learning the Word of God and the Christian life. Before we left the team in Luanshya on Saturday evening, and said our very ...

Peter in the Bible was loud, outspoken, and a "take charge" kind of guy. The Peter I met this week was soft-spoken, humble, and modeled a gracious servant. Peter is the man who runs the Encounter Zambia farm. Until this week, he had no tools and used a butter knife as a screw driver. We painted his house, but on the inside there was nothing....."no-thing." Have you ever tried to run a 40 acre farm that is used to feed the community as a platform to share the...

A few days ago, I wrote about the mob of youth and youth workers that wanted a copy of the Scriptures at our youth conference. I've never seen 60+ people line up and almost knock one another down to get a copy of the Word of God. Jesus told us to "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and that "man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God." I'm not sure what everyone's motive was in getting a copy of the Bible on thi...

This is probably the best picture I've been able to take while in Zambia. On the day of our soccer clinic, I saw this little boy with a ball that he had made out of some old carpet. I asked him to pose for me and boy did he produce a picture that captures the heart of Zambia. He had shoes, but most of his friends did not...he had a ball, but most of his peers did not. And while he may have been fortunate enough to have shoes and a ball, he most likely had not...