(The picture is of a giraffe blocking the road and we couldn't get by. Looks like he is playing chicken with us! )

This will be my last post for this amazing mission in Africa. As I am typing this, I am packing to head to the airport. I am so happy to be going home to see my family, friends, and to remember why I am an American. Ha! (i.e. unlimited access to cell phones, internet, and free refills!)

I have missed everyone so dearly and especially cannot wait to see Brownie and the kids! Spend 3 weeks away from your wife and you'll be reminded why Adam said WOW when he saw Eve. Spend 3 weeks away from your children and you'll be reminded why you are blessed when your quiver is full. I am so blessed to have the family I have. I could not do the Lord's work without the same calling on their lives. After 3 weeks in Africa I have no doubt what God has in store for our family. Everyone of us are called to share the gospel no matter where we are, what we have done, or who we are talking to. We are to live our lives denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. There is no doubt in my mind, no doubt in my praying, and no doubt in my actions, God is going to us to do just that.

While I am certainly going to love coming home, I have only traded one emptiness with another. While the hole in my heart that my family will once again fill, will not fill in the hole that is now there for South Africa and her people! I will dearly miss them until God sees fit to send us back. I have no doubt as well, I will not come back alone either. I believe God has made a great connection between the local churches here and us. We will be coming back!

I thank God for the 16,000 people that came to our mission and over 1200 souls that gave their lives to Christ. Thank God for the university. For the 27 students that gave their lives to Christ there, the ones that found freedom from their evil family traditions of ancestry worship, and the ones who found physical healing from the great physician!

I also want to thank my God for his fortress around me the whole time. There were many times I was in danger and yet He protected me. There were many times I was outnumbered and yet I was in the majority with the presence of God there. I consider it a blessing to be able to go in His name and represent His people. May we all have the priviledge of saying that at least more than once in our lives. I pray we leave this planet better than we found it! Thanks to the cross of Jesus Christ for the good things and the bad things that have been turned to good! Knees To The Earth!

Joey

Still speaking at the university this week. (See pic) Yesterday was a full and crazy day. I woke up, had breakfast, and was out the door. My first stop was a speaking engagement at a local business called "Clicks." It would be equivalent to say a CVS pharmacy back in Birmingham. I spoke to their employees before they opened up. There were 11 people there and we met in their back office. 4 of them gave their lives to Christ and one of them rededicated their life. After that I met up with the rest of the team who had been out and we got to tour the FIFA soccer stadium. (See my facebook for Photos) Wow, to think that the world cup was just here is amazing. We as a team dreamed about the possibilities of filling up this place in the future for a crusade. I suggested we bring groups from America the next time we come back and do a Pathfinders here! We could see thousands get saved! Join us as we pray over that for the future! I then had to go to a reporting meeting where I gave my report to African Enterprise! After that I prepared for the evening where I was whisked away in a car and after changing vehicles two more times, I arrived at the tent meeting in the middle, to be honest, I have no idea where I was last night. All I know is that I was told to keep my head down and get inside the tent as quickly as possible. Once inside I found about 160 people worshipping and praising God. They were dancing all over the place. I felt like I was at my prom again. : ) I quickly was brought to the front where I met 7 of the other pastors in the area and we joined in on the worship. After the worship and offering was taken, me and my translator stepped up to the pulpit. One very interesting thing happened before I was brought up, they asked me for my Bible, in which one man carried the Word of God and laid it on the pulpit in such a way I have never seen. There is such respect for the Word of God. I learned later that they do not look kindly on someone who throws around the Word of God like a rag and especially if you put it on the ground! They treat it as if it is a Holy book. Go figure! After my translator and I delivered the message, over 40 people came down to give their lives to Christ. I prayed with nearly 100 people last night. Many of them struggling with witchcraft and demons. Many of them wanting healing in their bodies. And many of them wanting protection from the evil in their communities. I do have to say that my box has been stretched a bit to say the least. The one thing I did notice, is how many of these people are becoming followers of Christ and they do not have a Bible. Please pray that Bibles flood South Africa! We are so blessed in America. I challenge you to get yours and start reading through it! It's like what your mother always said when you didn't finish your food, "You better eat that food, there are starving children in Africa who would kill to have that kind of food on their plate." I'm just saying...

Today I spoke at two services at the university. The morning service was incredible and even though my time was limited, I could tell God wanted to do something in the lives of these students! The evening service was not held on the campus but at their resident dorm. They had about 30 people show up for the service which I understand is good since only about 70 live in that dorm. I had more time to share the Word of God and we had two students come forward to give their lives to Christ! Praise God. One young lady who bravely stepped out among all her friends and walked down in front of everybody and prayed the prayer of salvation aloud for all to hear. WOW! Also, we had a young man come down that we had to deal with some things in his life. Pray for these South Africans. They are still into Ancestral Worship and they struggle with Jesus verses worshipping their ancestors. This is where a lot of black magic and witch doctoring comes from. Many of these students have this kind of background with their parents and they come to school trying to leave it behind but it follows them. Many Christian churches here allow worship of Jesus and worship of their ancestors to go on! So their is a tug of war going on for these kids spiritual lives. That was the case in this young man's life. We pray he is free and we pray that God is going to do great things with his life! He prayed to give his life as well to Christ! Praise God!

African Worship Service

Well today we finally got into the churches! Got to experience a true african worship service. I uploaded a video where at the end they turned it loose! Can I bring this home to High Point? hahaha! They love their music and they love to dance. I did not speak at this one, Scott Dawson did and we had 32 people come down to give their lives to Christ. To God be the glory! We left from there to do a 2 pm opening rally in the township of Kanyamazane. Very cool! Pray for me tomorrow I will be speaking at the university 3 times and possibly a rally tomorrow night. Thanks for all your prayers and all your help with my family. Love you all!

Worked with the Tshewane University’s campus ministry team to get ready for next week. I will be speaking to them at a prayer b-fast, a lunch hour service, and in the evening they will have an open forum where the students can take turns asking me questions. Pray I represent the Lord Jesus Christ with the utmost respect and preparedness! I love the fact that as I am dealing with this it is so much similar to the way students are back in the states. These guys are wanting to do great things on their campus but struggle with how to do it. Life is so much different over here and what works in the states is a roll of the dice if it works over here. So pray that I encourage them in the right manner. In the picture is Me, Lunga, Amanda, and Rose. Lunga is the African Enterprise representative in charge of organizing campus outreach for the universities. Amanda and Rose are leaders in the Christian Campus Outreach at Tshewane. They are wanting to start small bible study groups that meet once a month and I am coaching them on how to do it. Please pray for them. One idea I gave them is the project High Point has adopted called Project 333. Where you set your phone to go off at 3:33 pm to pray. Based on Jeremiah 33:3. They loved it and are going to do it. So looks like Project 333 has gone global now! Tonight we will do a prayer rally where Scott Lenning is speaking! Sunday we will have 2 large opening rally in two different Townships of Barberton and KaNymazane. Then Monday it is roughly 50 evangelistic meetings a day. There are only about 25-30 evangelists, so pray for those of us who have to speak a lot. One last thing to note for prayer, right now there is a stand off between the local labor unions and the South African Govt. It is a country wide issue and it affects schools, hospitals, and businesses. Picket Lines are drawn even in front of schools. Teachers are striking and students are not in school because of it. Pray this get’s resolved this weekend! If not, our speaking in the schools is done for. Also, if they can’t reach an agreement, they are expecting rioting and confrontation. Because we are registered with the U.S. Consulate here in SA, we are getting updates warning US citizens to avoid public places where confrontation is expected! Pray that God’s work will be done no matter what it takes and that we can use this strife as a tool to bring people to Christ!

Today was a great day. The rest of our team finally got here. Scott Dawson, Mike Greer, and Gina Handley. We picked them up at the airport and basically got them settled in. Teaching them some new African phrases! So glad they are here now. Gina wasn't in her room but about 5 minutes before she was put online to make facebook fan pages for the event. Scott Lenning is a slave driver in these parts. hahaha! Be sure to check us out on facebook to follow me doing campus ministry at the university. Type in Mbombela Campus Outreach in the search bar.

We finish up tonight on two rounds of counselor training. Songe Chibambo our African Enterprise connection is leading the training. See picture! Tomorrow we are taking a day with the team and soaking up the local culture. We are going to the open air markets. I'm glad since Brownie gave me a long list of things to buy and that just includes the things for her. hahaha We start our first rounds of evangelistic meetings this weekend. So please pray for us!