The Remnant is shaping a nation…

As most of you know the Lord made it very clear to Lisa, the kids and me the reason He moved us to Africa for a season was so that He would give us a remnant or prophets in hiding, in Swaziland. For 14 months we cultivated relationships, fought the government, washed, clothed and fed thousands of orphans…. and… we built strategic relationships with the royal family. Then, seemingly out of know where, God gave us pastor Gift and his family, gogo Elizabeth and a bunch of white South African farmers; the remnant was found! And they were found in a desolate, forgotten place called Nsoko.

(I believe there is a “Remnant” in every nation; a group of people/prophets that have not bowed their knee to the norm, to the religious, to compromise; these are the people that God is hiding until an appointed time to shape and change a nation) Jer 23:3 and 1Kings 19:18

This report may not seem like much too many of you, but, it is life, tears and makes all the suffering, fighting and confusion at times all worth it! (We still need staff; so, please read and ask)

Nsoko Center Executive Report

November 11, 2009

                Having returned from the AIM/CHC vision trip a couple weeks ago it is appropriate for me to submit an update on the ministries, the staff, and the ongoing management of the Nsoko Center.
 

Nsoko Ministry Overview

                Pastor Gift is excelling at leading the ministry efforts in Nsoko. He is responsive to leadership here in Gainesville. He communicates well. He does a great job directing the visiting AIM teams to productive contribution to the overall ministry there. He is working on a leadership development training for some emerging leaders there.

·         Clinic – the clinic is open and functioning. 50 children were chosen from among the surrounding care points to receive the free medical treatment. The clinic is selling vouchers at the Nsoko Spar for the community to come be seen. Vouchers cost R100. This may need to be addressed as I didn’t think we were providing a for profit clinic – we are covering the electricity costs for the clinic and since there are aircons in the building this will be a considerable added cost to our monthly budget for the center. 

·         Church – When I attended church there were around 20 Swazi’s attending. It is meeting in the community building (which we are using as a dorm see below) since the roof structure does not provide shelter in bad weather. 

·         Community Building – We’ve converted the community building in to a dorm for the visiting teams. Since the RLMT in June there have been teams staying there almost constantly from RLMT, STM, WR and soon Novas.   This has been helpful in several areas – it has benefits of keeping the team in the ministry setting 24/7 which has upsides and downsides.   The other helpful part if the teams are paying a pppn fee to stay in the housing and we are using these funds to cover maintenance of the center as well as make improvements.

·         Womens Meeting – Philile is leading the women’s ministry every Tuesday afternoon. This seems to be going well as several women attend. Philile is very busy with school.

·         HIV/AIDS Support Group – I did not witness this meeting this time but there were around 50 people in the meeting in July when I was there. Since the group is growing but also people within the group are dying there is a need for trained counselors. I suggest this be part of the leadership development piece we do in Nsoko.

·          Soccer Team – I wish you could have been there the Sunday I was there. Here is a report I have the donor for the soccer uniforms: I wish I had a video of one of the most moving scenes yet in Africa for me. We were having church (Morgan you can picture this) and the soccer team pulled up in the back of two pick-ups (picture like 30 people in the back of two Toyota trucks) singing and chanting in the rain. They had just won a match with a goal in the last 5 seconds and were returning to the Nsoko center in victory! They danced and sang outside the community building/center for some time – church just ended and we joined the celebration. Wow – it was awesome and Gift was in tears.

 

Gift tells me two of the guys on the team have offers to play at the next level in South Africa. God is bringing meaning to the lives of the men on this team – they are undefeated and tied for first place in their league.

·         Foster Home – I am working on a blog to explain this ministry. Basically there are 4 young boys and a 14 year old pregnant girl with no place to live. Gift has put them up with a nearby gogo. We are providing food for the homestead and working on donors to keep it going and add school fees and medical care.

·         Building Projects – All funds for this have come from team funds. 

1.       We are almost finished adding showers to the back of the community building for team use. 

2.       We will be adding another water tower and tank and upgrading the system there to save the wear and tear on the well pump.

3.       The septic system for the community building was not installed correctly. We will have to do it over. Sewage back-up is a problem.

4.       We hope to soon build walls under the metal roof structure to make it the new community center/church. We will also build two rooms behind it one being an office and another a storage room.

5.       This coming summer there is a returning RLMT member with his construction company father and brothers who want to fund and build another house or two like Gifts. I am working on a good floor plan that will allow maximum flexibility for use there. These will be temporary staff house and intern housing making it easier for people to some serve for several months at a time. It will also be an income generator for the center as people will pay rent.

Staff Update

                As I said Gift is doing a great job. But he needs help. Visiting people like Traci Vansumeren have been a huge help. We have a Novas team of 8 coming the end of November. I will be using them like staff there under Gift’s direction.

·         Facilities Manager – We are in need of a person who can keep things fixed and manage upcoming projects.

·         Administrator – We need someone to manage the finances, reconciling funds and keeping the ministry on budget.

·         TIP (Talent Improvement Program) – This is Gift’s idea for a leadership development program. As we get funding we will be adding Swazi staff similar to the D-Team in Manzini but they will be part of a 2 year leadership development program where they serve as staff as well as get intentional leadership development training.

Give to Nsoko here; this nation will be, is being changed day-by-day… thank you everybody.