Gibson Graduates

If I didn’t know any better, you would think that I orchestrated the events to coincide.   I couldn’t have put the events together had I tried. I am simply not smart enough.  The story goes (and I am sticking to it) that I was coming to Zambia to look for Memory.  I sent word ahead of my coming to every worker and national church planter I had worked with and had their contact info.  I asked for Friday, Kalinga, Markwetti, and Gibson to help me in the search for Memory.  Since news travels painfully slow here, and I came so quickly, the news of my coming and the call for help to look for Memory never made it to Kalinga or Gibson in time.  The news made it to Gibson, but it was after we found Memory. I haven’t seen Kalinga yet:(

Gibson found out I was looking for him and calling him to Livingstone, as he was climbing out of the Zambezi Valley on foot, walking his way to the closest public transport some 9 hours walk from his home. He was already on his way into town, not Livingstone, but rather Lusaka( the capital city) to graduate from Lusaka Baptist Theological Seminary.

The story gets even more interesting.  Four years ago, when I shared Gibson’s story at GPC while we were still meeting at Bentonville High School, GPC responded with such generosity.  Gibson is a humble, faithful, and committed church planter that helped Lori and I pioneer a work into the village of Siankwakwani.  Siankwakwani was a village that had literally never even heard the words “Jesus Christ” before.  Not  to mention  any narrative of the Scriptures.  The village headman said there had never been a white man in their village before.  I was the first white man to enter the village and I came with my Zambian brothers baring “precious seed”.  The entire village showed up to hear the stories of Jesus.  As the seed took root in their heart, many became followers of Jesus.

To this day one of the highlights of our time in ministry is seeing a church born in Siankwakwani.  When we left for the States, I left Gibson as the Pastor of Siankwakwani Baptist Church.  They were 30-40 strong.  The village was steeped in spiritism, but a new Spirit was now at work in this village.   It was clear after a couple of volunteer mission adventure trips to Zambia, and 2-3 years of pastoring under Gibson’s belt, that Gibson was going to need further training.  When I told the people of GPC, they responded overwhelmingly.  We were able to pay for most of his seminary, transportation and lodging costs,  through the special gifts of our members.  He has spent the last 4 years going back and forth to Lusaka three times a year for  training as a bush pastor.  Yeah GPC, you did it again!!!  Your generosity has impacted lives around the world, lives you may never see this side of heaven.  You pulled through and gave when there was a need.

When the special gift money ran out a year or so back, we began support Gibson as he finished up his education through our Ministry Budget.  So when our members give to the Ministry Budget they can know their gifts have gone to help educate and train a bush pastor in Zambia named Gibson.

This is a long story to say, I represented GPC this weekend at the graduation of a Zambian pastor we helped to educate and train.  Friday Syabbamba and I stood in as his family when he received his diploma.  I can say I would not have come to Zambia for his graduation ceremony, but since I was in Zambia and the issue with Memory was resolved,  I sped 6 hrs North to the capital city for his graduation.

I leave Wednesday to head home, but I am going to stop for two days, after such an involved journey and drink in some Africa.  I want to smell it, breath it, taste it, see it, feel it, and smell it.  I am going to pause and rest and study.  Look for photos in the days ahead of Africa, Gibson’s graduation, and Memory and Gift on Facebook.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 2:20 am and is filed under Missions, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.