Hi Everyone,
I am settled in, in Gulu, Uganda. I have never been this far north in Uganda. We are just 90 minutes from South Sudan, where I have never been.
It is about 230 miles from where I spent the night to Gulu. Do the math. If we were traveling on a freeway averaging even 50mph, figuring in a stop, it is 4.5 hours. I was told it was about 5 miles. Well, it took 6.5 hours due to following large, slow trucks on a road with one lane in each direction, speed bumps in every town that slows us to 15-20 mph for awhile, and three short stops for various reasons. But we made it..
A CHANGE OF DIRECTIONS
I had this report almost finished when I talked to Moses tonight after dinner. With new information, I am grieved almost to tears when I think of what could have been. First the trip but don’t close this report before the ending.
God’s Creation
The first thing to highlight up to 8pm tonight was the trip north and the authentic African scenery. Mile after mile of nature then villages and small towns followed by more miles of nature. I’ve included several pictures including one of the Nile River, which we crossed at one point. Also, a baboon family and large ant hills. Check out the pictures here.
Moses’ Vision
Another highlight was listening to Moses, Apologetics Uganda leader, talk about his vision for apologetics in Uganda. Uganda has close to 100 universities and maybe 1000 high schools. His vision is to establish an apologetics group, with leadership, on as many of these campuses as possible.
What’s the Gospel?
During another part of our conversation, he stated that churches are filled with young people, and 90% of them cannot tell you why they are a Christian. And for that matter, some pastors cannot tell you.
Reluctance to ask questions
I asked him if pastors here were as reluctant to engage Gen Z in conversations about the questions Gen Z has and he said here, Gen Z won’t ask questions
because they are afraid of what others might think of them. But they will write the questions down.
I thought the stage was set for next three days. I was to speak to three audiences: Pastors on Tuesday. Youth Pastors on Wednesday and university students on Thursday. I will be giving the same two talks to each group: Intro to Apologetics and Why Worldview Matters. What will be different is how I apply each one with each group.
NOW THE NEW INFORMATION THAT BREAKS MY HEART
Moses has learned a hard lesson. Things in northern Uganda are very expensive, comparatively speaking. That makes it difficult to do “big things” here. Because of budget restraints what could have been over 100 youth pastors attending on Wednesday and 300 university students on Thursday, there will only be 50 or each. And to add insult to injury, as the saying goes, Moses has come to realize that the 50 pastors that are coming tomorrow know a “white guy from the west” is coming and he’s has a lot of money like an ATM. I asked if they were coming mainly for the lunch and he had to admit that was a big part of their motivation. (This is not new. It’s not a universal truth but it is too often true and has been since I’ve been doing pastor’s seminars.) The challenge now is that some of these pastors are of churches where some of the students attend so there is a balancing act. What is it?
Moses has asked me at the start, when I introduce myself, to somehow share my testimony and work in the motives for ministry, that we don’t do it for any kind of personal gain but as sacrificial service to others. And then transition into my talks.
I’m reminded of Matthew 23:13-32 where Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees by declaring “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees” eight times.
Pray for me that I can gently rebuke them without them knowing it. It will be about 1AM PDT or shortly thereafter that I’ll be speaking to this group. Pray that I might be tactful yet strong and that the Spirit would convict some.
Thanks for praying
What could have been!
Here is the link to the photo album. CLICK HERE
By His grace,
Steve