Yes, busyness, not business. Right now I am in a season of busyness. Getting the Bible College up and running took a little more work than I thought, seeing as I no longer have an assistant. I got to do all the work myself, from entering new students into the database to photocopying notes for lectures. Also, new offices are being built at the church, 4 small ones for the pastors and 1 big one for 5 pastoral interns. Starting October 1 all the pastors except the Senior Pastor will be at church Tuesday through Friday all day. The pastoral internship will also be starting, so the busyness won’t be slowing down anytime soon. Every morning there will be a time of prayer and discussion, followed by books to read and other stuff. I guess I’ll find out the other stuff on October 1. On top of that, I’m trying to finish my degree from Northwestern Theological Seminary. I hope to receive a Bachelors of Biblical Studies from them. So all this to tell you, I’m really busy, but it’s a good busy.
Kim and Malachi are doing fine. Kim is just getting over a nasty flu and Malachi is getting over a bacterial infection on his skin. Please pray for their full healing.
Things sure are busy around here these days. I am required to be at church 8 hours per day Tuesday through Friday. However, I stay for 9 hours (7:30-4:30) so that I get 40 hours of work done each week (Sundays I work 4 hours). Please pray for Kim as she now stays home all day with Malachi. There isn’t much for him to do out here because there are no parks and when he goes around the neighbourhood it’s as though he’s a tourist attraction. So Kim is stays at home with a crazy, rambunctious, hyper Malachi.
Bible College is going well, although it can be difficult trying to teach Systematic Theology for only 2 hours per week. This week I’m teaching on the Trinity, God’s plan, and Creation. I’m having tonnes of fun and it’s really helpful teaching this class because I get to solidify what I believe as well.
Last Tuesday marked the start of Calvary Chapel Bible College Uganda. We have 6 full-time students and another couple part-timers. This semester we are offering Systematic Theology, Romans, Luke, James, African Church History, Hebrews, and 2 Corinthians.
Because of the resturcture at church, I am now at the Bible College all day from Tuesday through Friday. The person who was my assistant was laid off, so it makes me pretty busy. Also, starting in October, I will be enrolled in the pastoral internship program, which will take place during the mornings every day. I am really enjoying being more involved in the Bible College, even if it makes me really busy.
Starting September 1, CCK will be going through a transition period. In order to save money to start new sites across the city, the church is going to be putting in place a pastoral internship program and cutting the budget. Unfortunately, some people are getting laid off while others are joining the pastoral internship program. Also, the church is going to be building pastors’ offices at the church and the pastors will be required to work full-time from the church (At least Josh, Kanyike, Mohan, and Mike will).
This is going to affect me in a couple of ways. I will be coming on as a pastoral intern, which is a paid position (about $400 a month). This will be a great help in our finances since right now we are about $500 below budget per month. I will still be the Director at the Bible College, which will actually take most of my time. I am teaching two classes this semester (Systematic Theology and 1/2 Peter) which will take about 20 hours or so per week. I will now be required to be at the church from 8:30-4:30 from Tuesday through Friday.
I’m really excited about this new change. It will require a lot more work from me, but I’m prepared for it. I’m looking forward to the pastoral internship program which will really help me in my ministry here.
How do people survice without running water at their homes? This past week we had a water problem. We had to fetch water from our landlord’s house with jerry cans, take baths out of buckets, and use the out-house…not the funnest way to spend a week.
We called National Water and Sewer to come and fix our problem. It was just our house because all our neighbours had water. It took them 3 days to respond, and then they told us it would take another week to fix because it was a “big problem.” This wasn’t sitting well with our landlord, so he got his own plumber to come look at the problem. They found out that the connection from the main water line to our meter had broken (thankfully on the side of the meter before the counter) so water was freely running into the ground. They fixed it in a couple hours and now we have water again. It sure is nice to take a hot shower again.
Yesterday was a very interesting day. Kim and I were driving to her sister’s house for a visit when we were randomly pulled over by the Kampala Traffic Police. They randomly stop people and check to see if they have drivers’ licences and to make sure that the cars and trucks are abiding by the laws of Uganda. The officer asked to see my license, which I gave her. Then she checked my insurance (which was up-to-date). Next she asked me to step on my breaks. When I did, she noticed that one of my break lights was out.
Here is where the story gets interesting. In Canada, an officer can choose either to let you go, give you a written warning, or write a ticket. In Uganda there is another option…the bribe. The officer told me that she had to write me up for a 50,000 shilling fine (about $25). I told her to do what she had to do. She started taking her time, an indication that if I would give her a bribe she would let me go. Neither Kim nor I said anything so she went to get the ticket book from the supervisor. She came back and said that if we wanted, she could forgive us. I said I would be really happy if that happened, to which she replied that if she helped me out in this I had to help her out too. She was hungry and wanted lunch. I told her that I would love to help her if she needed help, but I couldn’t give any money. To which she replied to Kim in Luganda to get the white man to give her lunch money. We refused. She then proceeded to write us the ticket and confiscated my license until it’s paid.
Busy busy week here. We’ve had 2 days of sessions going through the book of Philippians. It’s been really great. Today Pastor Lance from CC Oxnard spoke about Philippians 2:12-30 where Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. He said that God gives us the will and the ability to choose the right thing but we have to work too. He used the example of archery. By nature we shoot our arrows (the choices we make) but we always sin (missing the bull’s eye). We try to shoot our arrow, and then paint a bull’s eye around it and show others how good we are. Once the Spirit is within us, He is like a father teaching his son how to shoot. He aims and pulls back the bow and shoots it and we hit the bull’s eye (which is being like Jesus). It was a really great illustration. Anyways, I’m looking forward to the last day of sessions tomorrow.
Greetings once again. I am venturing back into the blogosphere world. I thought I would start by giving you all a link to our latest newsletter.
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Winning Souls for Christ 