With the Lord’s help we have started the third week of studies at our “Tom Gentry Bible Training Center” here in Zomba. Pastor Keith and brother Micheal are teaching the 16 students Homiletics – this amazing art of preaching! The young men will learn how to prepare and how to deliver God’s Word to the people.
Pray for the men teaching and for the men being taught!
It is almost Christmas, that time of the year when all of us are thinking about family, joy, being with the loved ones and gifts, many gifts. We would like to continue our “tradition” and give some gifts of love to the children of Kachere and Mpyupyu and we need your help.
As you know, these 173 children receive daily food and love at our two Feeding Centres, but by now they know Christmas is coming and you can see the anticipation in their precious eyes!
Help us give them a gift this Christmas.
We’ve been doing this every single year since the beginning of this ministry and we would like to continue for as long as possible. Our plan is to raise enough money to buy something useful and good for these children. We need $20/child and this totals to $3,460 – an amount well over our capabilities. This money will buy each child some necessary items like soap, tooth paste, shoes plus some things they really like: assorted sweets and toys.
You can donate online, through PayPal account or using any other ways found on our “Give” page. You can also use the form below, which will redirect you to PayPal as well. We have two requests: 1. Please give with joy and 2. Please let us know immediately so we can expect that money and know how close we are to the goal. Thank you!
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The much anticipated rainy season is now here, with rains starting today here in Zomba. As usual, it may rain on and off for a few days or even weeks, after which the full-blown rains will start. The rainy season should end sometimes around April of 2019.
Here are a couple drone pictures I took yesterday and today. You can even see the rain coming towards Zomba.
Yesterday was a day of celebration, as we had the official opening of the new aspect of our ministry: the new Tom Gentry Bible Training Center.
Tom Gentry is my late father-in-law, a man of God who went to be with the Lord back in 2011. His life was dedicated to God and to fulfill His will and he opened the ministry in Romania in 1993, a branch in Moldova in 1996 and the ministry in Malawi in 1999. Among many other plans, his vision was to have a Bible Training Center here in Zomba. 19 years after he set foot on the African continent this vision came to fruition and we decided it will be fitting to name the School in his memory.
As many of you may already know, our vision is to equip, train and send 100 young men to 100 villages in order to start 100 churches. Our vision is in line with God’s vision found in Matthew 28:19 and 20. In order to bring to perfection everything God has commanded us to do, we found it necessary to start this ministry, for His purposes and for His glory!
Given the fact most these men have different responsibilities back at home (families, gardens to tend to, etc), we decided to have 1 week of intensive courses each month. Therefore, the students will come the first week of every month and attend courses from Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. Saturday will be a day of practical work in and around Zomba (door to door evangelism, visits, passing out tracts, etc) and on Sunday they will be back home, serving in their church.
New beginnings are not always easy, but our Lord Jesus Christ promised to be with us, until the end. We’ve embarked upon this ministry by faith, believing that He will do the work that needs to be done in these students’ lives.
We need prayers, support and teachers and we have faith that God will provide for every need.
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men,
who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
2 Tim. 2:1-3
Last year, in November, I’ve mentioned for the first time about our plans to plant a church in Nasedegu. You can read about it here. Then, for the first time ever in this village, we’ve taken a movie to them. Not just any more, but the Jesus movie! Since then, the work in the village continued, despite some challenges we encounter in the beginning of the year (read about them here).
In May of this year we had the very first baptism!!! (read about it here), where 11 people showed publicly their faith in Jesus and their commitment to follow Him for the rest of their lives. How amazing is this?
Well, today I am happy to let everyone know that we have already started on the building project, not only because a church needs a building, but also because many unchurched people won’t come unless there is one (read about that here). Lord willing, the building should be done in about 1 month or so.
Would you pray for this project? I remind you that there has never been a Christian church in this place before. Even more, many people heard the Gospel for the very first time last year, during the open air Evangelism and the Jesus movie.
Pray for the men working, for strength, wisdom and grace from God. Pray for the church in Nasedegu, so they may continue to be a light in a dark place. Pray for all the lost souls in this village.
The 3 months of furlough have come to an end and, yet again, we have to jump on an airplane and go. This time, though, we’re going home. Africa home!
We left Malawi on June 18th and, after almost 40 hours (flights, layovers and driving) we arrived home, in Romania. Soon after we arrived, the camps started and we were involved in the Romanian side of the ministry for an entire month. Even before the camp season properly ended, I flew to the US where I stayed for the next 5 weeks.
I am grateful that the Lord opened doors and hearts for the ministry in Malawi both in Romania and in the US. I visited several new churches and met with different individuals who showed interest in the ministry in Malawi. Although the first half of 2018 was filled with trials and hardships, this second half was blessed by God and we can now go back to Africa knowing, once again, that His hand will continue to be on us.
As I write these words our luggages are spread all over the living room floor, ready to accept their load of clothes, toys and stuff that must go to the other continent. Tomorrow, Friday, we will leave North Romania and drive for almost 7 hours. We will spend the night at my brother’s place and, Saturday night, we will board the first of the 3 planes that will take us back to Africa.
Our route is: Romania -> Qatar -> South Africa -> Malawi. Lord willing, we will arrive Monday, September 17th, at 12:05 noon.
Pray for an easy journey and for some rest on the long flight (Qatar – South Africa: over 8 hours). Pray that we, and our luggage, arrive safe in Malawi.
Thank you for your prayers and financial support. May God bless you and reward you greatly.
Africa is calling. We must go.
Yesterday I took Marc and Linda to Kachere, so they can see the work we’ve been doing there for the past 7 years now. On the way to the village we saw 4-5 boys somewhere in the filed, hunting something using locally made bow and arrows. Upon stopping and asking, we quickly found out they were hunting grasshoppers, which would later become dinner for their families.
Marc and I were talking the other day about the poverty in Malawi and how little to none of the aid sent to Africa ever reaches these villages. Millions upon millions of dollars (from the US) and euros (from Europe) are sent to Africa annually, yet most of the people live in the same abject poverty as before. 99% of them probably don’t even know that good intending people out there want to help them. Most of the donated non-perishable items also never reach the average Malawian who struggles to make ends meet. I’m talking about clothes or shoes given for the poor. What is intended to be given free of charge, ends up being sold in shops or by the side of the streets.
When it comes to food, the story is pretty much the same, though small amounts of it does sometimes reach the intended beneficiaries. I’ve seen situations where only 10 out of the 50kg of food is given to the poor, while someone else gets richer and richer. A family with 3-4 children needs a bag of maize every month just to survive, not taking into consideration other food items like: salt, oil, vegetables, meat, etc. When the same family gets only 1/5th of what they need, they are forced to look for alternatives like hunting for mice or grasshoppers. Others are forced into begging or become thieves. The unlucky ones die of starvation.
Though for a visitor these pictures can be “cool” – and they are in a way – they also show a huge problem and a great need. Hunting for grasshoppers is not a sport and it is not fun. Those boys should’ve been at school on a Thursday at 10 am. Education breaks the cycle of poverty but how can one study on an empty stomach? The situation is bad and my heart aches for those families who are waiting for the kids to return home with this type of “dinner”. While people are suffering, what are you going to do about it?
I know it is easy to blame the Government or other people/institutions. Sometimes we can even blame those who suffer, but I remember Jesus’ words from Matthew 14 (The feeding of the 5,000): “you give them something to eat“. Just like us, the disciples were quick in finding solutions which excluded their own responsibility. Let the Government take care of them, let those in power help, let the people find food for themselves, let them “buy food for themselves“. We are experts at giving good advice and then return to our comfort zone, but Jesus…
“But Jesus said, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’”
Matthew 14:16
I understand I might have confused you by now; I started saying that aid doesn’t work, and now I am asking you to take responsibility for the poor. You may think I am contradicting myself, but I am not. We live in a sinful, rotten and highly corrupt world and today, more than ever, we need to make sure our good intentions are actually aligned with the need and with God’s will. It’s extremely easy to blindly send a check or a box and then pat ourselves on the back that we’ve changed the world. Real assistance requires work and many of us simply don’t want to go through he process. When Jesus told the disciples they have to take responsibility for the need, all of a sudden they had to come with a plan. I am assuming they went through the multitudes and looked for solutions, all while Jesus was ready to teach them that He is the One who provides. You see, God’s provision does not eliminate our responsibility to act. Many times, we can be a testimony of God’s provision and He will use that to get His glory.
None of us can feed the world. None of us can feed Africa and none of us can even feed the 12 million people of Malawi. Actually, we can’t even feed an entire village but we can feed 1, 5 or 10. We can give ourselves to God first, and then to a ministry like Hope for the Future here in Malawi (2 Cor. 8:5). The little we are or have, once in God’s hands, can be used to change a nation. Sometimes we say, just like the disciples, that we have “only five loaves here and two fish.“, but our God is a Master at creating something out of nothing, isn’t He? He can take whatever is in your hands right now and use it for His glory, if you only allowed Him to!
Hope for the Future is our ministry here in Malawi and it exists to glorify God, share the Gospel and help those in need. You can be a part of an amazing work, blessed by God for the past 19 years. Among other activities, we also feed 163 orphaned children in two different villages, while we provide education for close to 700 children at our own Primary School.
We need your help to continue!
We started the first Feeding Center in Kachere almost 6 years ago, after hearing that a girl had passed away due to starvation. This was on a Sunday, after the church service, while I was getting ready to go home and enjoy my lunch. The news hit me like a ton of bricks and I remember even now how shocked I was that in our village, where we have a church, where we talk about God’s love, people die of lack of food. Long story short, next Monday we started the Feeding Center and, from 16 children then, we are up to 100 now.
Some of the boys we’ve included then were spending their days doing exactly what these boys are doing: hunting for mice and grasshoppers. Most of us will never know what true hunger means but these people are used to it.
The ministry in Malawi is involved in many villages and we have many projects. Like I said before, we feed orphans and educate children, but we also invest in and assist local church leaders. We work with thousands of people, preaching the Gospel, teaching them and assisting them with their physical needs. In short, we take care of the spiritual needs as well as their physical ones.
We need your help to continue!
This year we will give out several tons of corn to families in need and we will build one more School Block to help children in grades 7 and 8. Without exaggerating, God’s work in Malawi affects tens of thousands of people but we need your help to continue!
My family has always been relying on God for our own food. We don’t work in Malawi and legally we wouldn’t even be allowed to. We depend on God and the people He moves to help us with our needs. We’ve never taken ministry money to ourselves but we need your help to continue!
The work in Malawi is far greater than Ovi or our family. Marc and Linda are here to help and, if God so places on their hearts, they may come to help us full-time, but we can always use more missionaries and/or more interns. Can you spare a month to come to Africa? How about your summer holiday? How about spending your well-deserved vacation on a mission trip? We need your help to continue!
Here is what you can do: Pray, Give, Come. You can pick one, two or all three.
Contact me for details and ways you can help.
Between May 24 and June 1 we had a mission team from Oklahoma, led by Pastor David, who came over to help us and help the ministry in Malawi.
This is a list of activities done during that period of time:
May 24 – Arrival at Chileka Airport in Blantyre. Their flight arrived at 3:15 PM local time. After having dinner in Blantyre, we drove home to Zomba, ready for what the next few days will bring.
May 25 – Orientation and School. After breakfast we had a time called “Orientation”, in which I go through all the guidelines mission teams need to know in order to help, not hinder, the ministry in Malawi. There are ministry related facts they need to know, as well as important cultural practices. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, while the US is one of the richest. Cultures differ, mentality differ and just about everything else is different. Truly, Malawi is another world and I believe this Orientation time is not only very important, but it is the foundation for a successful mission trip. Once we were done, we headed over to Kachere, where our Hope for the Future Primary School had a “Quiz Time”. This is a public competition aimed at encouraging the kids to perform better in school while rewarding the best of them.
May 26 – Preparation for baptism. Being the Saturday before the baptism, we went to Nasedegu where we met with the candidates for baptism. We heard their stories, visited some houses and checked the river and place for baptism.
May 27 – Baptism in Nasedegu. We had an amazing time in the village, where 11 people got baptized for the first time ever in this place. Many villagers came to see the event.
May 28 – Feeding Centers visit. That day we visited both Feeding Centers, taking different gifts to these children: sleeping mats, blankets, hats, toys and candies.
May 29 – 30 – Evangelistic Camp in Seven and Nkotima. In both these villages we have churches but we’ve never organized camps before, so we used this opportunity to share the Gospel to hundreds of children. We played with them, we ate with them and then we preached to them the Gospel. Many children professed Jesus in each village. May God be glorified.
May 31 – Souvenirs & Sightseeing. This was their last full day in Malawi. In the morning they did some shopping and after that we rented two 4x4s and we took the bad road going all the way to the Zomba Plateau. We had a great time together up there, enjoying the amazing views across Malawi all the way towards Mozambique.
June 1 – Departure. At 6:30 AM we left for the airport and the team boarded their flight at around 9.
The team from OK stayed only 6 full days with us, but accomplished a lot for the glory of God. Most, if not all of them, were pushed out of their comfort zones a few times and God showed up in their lives. We believe God works best through us when we leave our comfort zone. Every member of the team brought value to our ministry and we look forward to having them back next year.
Next on our calendar is a visit from a couple from US, who come as interns, in order to find out if this is the place where God wants them full time. Initially they were supposed to arrive on Sunday, June 3, but their flights got cancelled and their new arrival time is Tuesday, June 5. They will stay with us until June 14 and, during that time, we will show them the ministry in Malawi. We pray God will work and, if it is His will, He will place on their hearts where and how they can be involved.
Since 2014 the most important need for our ministry is not financial or material, but of human resources. For the past 10 years, the Lord has graciously used us to build the ministry in Malawi to the level it is at right now, but we feel we have reached the end of what we can do just by ourselves. No, we are not giving up, quite the opposite, we want to go further and beyond and for all that to happen someone has to come and help us!
The first time that call was heard in a missions context was in Acts 16; just at the end of the previous chapter Paul starts his second missionary journey, with the purpose of visiting all the churches he has planted before. After a disagreement between ministers (yes, that does happen), Paul and Silas headed over to Derbe and Lystra. In chapter 16 Paul and Silas find Timothy and then they go to Galatia, with intentions to reach Asia Minor. The Holy Spirit stopped them and then, once they reached Mysia, they wanted to go north to Bithynia. Again, the Holy Spirit closed their doors so they headed over to Troas. At night, there on the coast of the Aegean Sea, Paul had a vision. In his vision, a man was calling him to cross the Sea to Macedonia and help them. Very interestingly, Paul wakes up and concludes: “God had called us to preach the gospel to them”.
Now Luke, the author of the book of Acts, never told us who that Macedonian man was; I wish he did, but we don’t know. Needless to say, God used that to guide Paul and his obedience brought many to faith. Lydia was converted once they arrived in Macedonia, a slave girl was cured of evil spirits, the jailer is converted, jews are converted and several churches are planted. If up until this point the Gospel had been limited to Asia, the Macedonian Call brought the Gospel and the spread of Christianity into Europe and the Western world. These churches (in Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth) were extremely important in the growth of the early church and five of the New Testament Epistles were written to these three churches. The history of the church and of the world was forever changed because of the God-given vision known as the Macedonian Call and the man who obeyed.
The point I’m trying to make is this: We, too, need help. As you are reading this, from the comfort of your life, we are telling you: Come over and help us. Paul sailed over the Sea, you can come with the plane. The seas are dangerous, the plane ride is pretty safe. Paul was imprisoned and suffered for Christ and you may suffer too, but the call is based on the same need: the Gospel has to be preached.
As I am writing this, we are in the process of planting two churches, both of them in two villages where there has never been a church before. In Kachere, the village where today we have a church, a feeding center and a school, I was the first white man many people have ever seen before. Just outside our town’s city limits there are villages, like Kalimbuka or Ntonya, where there are no churches. All throughout the Southern Region in Malawi there are hundreds of villages where Christ is not proclaimed. Many other villages have churches but the leaders are not trained. We need to Evangelize and we need to teach them and train them. Who will go to them?
If my call “Come and help us” is not sufficient for you, heed Jesus’ command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I am deeply saddened that our youth are no longer willing to go. We are afraid of the finances, we are afraid of terrorism, we are afraid of starting from 0, we are afraid of everything. Why are you afraid? Jesus promised to be with you! Go and come! Be strong and courageous.
Young people, thousands are dying every day without Christ. Go and come!
Parents, do not be afraid to encourage your children to give their lives for Jesus! They will gain everything.
Pastors, teach your youth to drop their small ideals and come over and help.
Churches, your strength is not in your seating capacity, but in your sending capacity.
Will it be easy? No. Will it be worth it? Yes, yes, yes! We will soon be celebrating our 10th year in Africa, on the mission field. We came 3 and we are now 5. One of our girls was born here and all of our children were raised here. Our kids see Africa their home!
God blessed the ministry beyond our wildest expectations. We now work with 45 churches in Malawi and we are partnering with 5 in Zambia and possibly 15 in Mozambique. We run Pastor’s Conferences and train leaders yearly and monthly. We hold Evangelistic Camps in unreached villages and plant churches in places where Christ has not been proclaimed. We have 2 Feeding Centers and close to 200 children and we also run a Primary School with over 650 pupils. Every year we have short-term mission teams who bring value to our work and expand the reach of the Gospel and every day we have a wonderful team of Malawian nationals who love the ministry and make it possible.
Just last Sunday, 7 people gave their lives to Jesus Christ and now they want me to baptize them! We don’t have a church building in Nasedegu yet and we meet under a tree but I love it! This is the New Testament way to plant churches and God can use you, as well.
YOU can pray with passion and tears for us. You may not be physically able to come but you can keep on knocking on heaven’s doors for us.
YOU can send someone to help us, not by pointing your finger to someone else, but by praying and financially supporting them.
YOU can come. You should come.
“If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”
If you reached this point – and I prayed you did – I hope your heart is stirred for missions. As your mind may be trying to convince you it is too difficult, let me make it simple. This is what you need to do:
Pray. Yes, right after you finish reading this paragraph, go on your knees and pray something like this: “Lord, I am here, send me. Show me your will, guide my path and use me for Your glory. I am ready to go wherever you send me. Send me!”
Share. Talk to your family and then to your pastor and church. Ask them to pray for you and to support you.
Prepare. Get ready for a life-changing experience the right way. If you are at this point, contact me ASAP.
Go/Come. The Lord may want you here or somewhere else but He wants you now. It’s time to buy the visa, buy the plane tickets, pack your bags, bid farewell to your friends and start doing something important for the Kingdom.