2004-June-Malawi

By Randy in : Foreign Missions // Jul 29 2010

This was our first real ‘team’ we had taken on a mission trip. The team consisted of five board members of Acts III and a [soon to be] college student from our church. The team was Stan Brown, our then Chairman, James & Ruth Brown – Board members (no relation to Stan), Melissa Davis, and Randy & Julie McEwen – founders and board members of Acts III.

After the three previous trips, we all felt is was necessary for more of the Board members to see for themselves what was going on there so as to better allow them to make decisions and discern the direction over there.

Our plans for this trip included:

1. An organized Pastor’s conference to firmly establish our doctrine, expectations, etc with what had now grown to 13 Churches under Acts III’s banner in Malawi. This would be held at the Grace Bandawe Conference Centre in Blantyre.
2. Julie, Melissa and Ms. Ruth would be doing a VBS craft for all of the churces’ children as well as several local orphan care facilities our staff had started or that we support.
3. Preaching
4. Street & House to house ministry in the villages
5. Visiting & meeting with all of the church leaders.
6. Tract, Bible, Food & Medicine Distribution

The trip was from June 3 – 13, 2004.

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This trip was full of mighty moves of God, great testimonies and a lot of tears.  I want to highlight many of them for you here. We have thousands of pictures and over 30 hours of video from this trip, and really those pictures and videos speak volumes as to what we encountered there on this trip. We will work diligently to get some of the best ones online soon.

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Wednesday, June 2 – As we are finalizing the preparations for the trip, teaching and preaching times, etc., there are several things that I journaled the Lord had placed on my heart. These did not all have immediate applications, but in hindsight, they were for that season as well as foundational lessons that got overlooked. These burdens included:

1. The Tower of Babel – Here the people are all in unity for a common purpose, their own glory and defiance of God. The Lord responds by coming down and confusing their language and scattering them abroad. Now compare this with the following:
   The Day of Pentecost – Here the people are all in unity for a common purpose, to Glorify God. The Lord responds by sending His Holy Spirit to indwell and empower His children to continue His work. In both instances (a) people were working together, (b) there was a common focus, (c) there was unity and harmony, (d) their actions prompted a direct response / intervention from the Lord.  The differences were what they were focused on and how the Lord responded. When their effort was in rebellion to God and to build their own kingdom, God’s response was to send division and confusion so as to stop their work.  On the other hand, when they were walking in obedience and were unified in His purpose, the Lord sent His Spirit to indwell them and to essentially join them in their tasks and burdens.
2. This is How we are Truly Blessed: Acts 3:26 “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
3. Being Content: When you read the story of Gomer & Hosea in the book of Hosea you quickly see our tendencies to do the same thing towards God. When we lack contentment for what the Lord has provided us, are we essentially telling the Lord that He cannot meet our needs? Does our heart’s condition tell Him that He is not capable of satisfying our requirements? The Israelites in the wilderness had the same problem for 40 years with food falling from heaven and water coming from rocks. Yet despite all of their failures, the Lord, like Hosea, still chose to redeem us and buy us back from the penalty of our sin.

Thursday, June 3 – coming soon…

About the Author

Randy has written 57 articles for Acts 3 Global Ministries.